the Carmel
Therese's correspondence LT 161 – To Celine – April 26, 1894

DE  
MARTIN Thérèse, Sister Thérèse of the Child Jesus
À 
MARTIN Céline, Sister Geneviève of the Holy Face

26/04/1894

JMJT

Jesus

April 26, 1894

                Dear little Lyre of Jesus

                To celebrate your 25th birthday, I am sending you a little poetry that I composed thinking of you!...
                Celine! I am sure that you will understand all that my canticle would like to say to you, alas! it would take another language to express the beauty of the abandonment of a soul into the hands of Jesus, my heart could only stammer what it feels... Céline, the story of Cécile (the Saint of abandonment) is also your story! Jesus has placed near you an angel from Heaven who keeps you always, he carries you in his hands lest your foot strike against the stone, you do not see him, and yet it is he who for 25 years has preserved your soul, which has preserved its virginal whiteness, it is he who takes away from you the occasions of sin... It is he who showed himself to you in a mysterious dream that he sent you into your childhood. You saw an angel carrying a torch and walking in front of our dear Father, no doubt he wanted to make you understand the mission that you would have to fulfill, it is you now who are the visible angel of the one who will soon be going to unite with the angels of the heavenly city! Céline, do not fear the storms of the earth... Your guardian angel covers you with his wings and in your heart rests Jesus, the purity of virgins, you do not see your treasures, Jesus sleeps and the angel remains in his mysterious silence, however they are there with Mary who also hides you under her veil!...
                Don't be afraid, my darling Céline, as long as your lyre doesn't stop singing for Jesus, it will never break... Doubtless it is fragile, more fragile than crystal; if you gave it to an inexperienced musician, it would soon be broken, but it is Jesus who makes the lyre of your heart vibrate... It is happy that you feel your weakness; it is He who imprints in your soul feelings of distrust of itself. Celine darling, thank Jesus. He fills you with his graces of choice, if you always remain faithful to pleasing Him in the little things, He will find himself obliged to help you in the big ones... The apostles without Our Lord worked all night and did not take of fish, but their work was pleasing to Jesus, He wanted to prove to them that He alone can give us something, He wanted the apostles to humble themselves... eat? “Lord,” replied St. Peter, “we fished all night and caught nothing”. Perhaps if he had caught a few small fish Jesus would not have done a miracle, but he had nothing, so Jesus soon filled his net so that it almost broke. This is the character of Jesus. He gives in God but he wants humility of heart...
                The whole earth is before Him like that little grain of sand which hardly gives the slightest inclination to the balance or like a drop of morning dew which falls on the earth (Sag. chap. 11).
                (Céline darling, if you can read me it's very extraordinary but I don't have time to look twice at what I'm writing to you...)
                Time passes like a shadow, soon we will be reunited up there. Didn't Jesus say during his passion: "But for the rest, you will soon see the Son of man seated at the right hand of God and coming on the clouds of Heaven"...
                We'll be there !...

Therese of the Child Jesus

[Thérèse attaches a tiny image that she colored herself - see the following letter LT-162]

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