JMJT
Jesus Carmel October 20, 1888
So tomorrow is your birthday, oh! how I would like to be the first to wish it to you! if that is not possible, at least I can do it in my heart. For your birthday, what do you want me to offer you? if I listened to myself, I would ask Jesus to send me all the sorrows, all the sadness, the troubles of the life of my darling Céline, but you see, I don't listen to myself because I would be afraid that Jesus tell me that I am selfish: I would like him to give me all the best without leaving a little for his little fiancée whom he loves so much. It is to prove his love to him that he makes him feel the separation, so I cannot ask that of Jesus. And then he is so rich, so rich, that he has enough to enrich us both...
When you think that if the good Lord gave us the whole universe, with all its treasures, that wouldn't be comparable to the slightest suffering. What a grace when in the morning we feel no courage, no strength to practice virtue, it is then the moment to put the ax at the foot of the tree; instead of wasting time picking up a few little spangles, we dip into diamonds, what a profit at the end of the day... it's true that sometimes we disdain for a few moments to amass our treasures, then it's time difficult, we are tempted to leave everything there, but in an act of love not even felt, everything is repaired and beyond that, Jesus smiles, he helps us without seeming to, and the tears that make him shed the wicked are wiped away by our poor and weak little love. Love can do everything, the most impossible things do not seem difficult to him, Jesus does not look so much at the magnitude of actions or even at their difficulty as at the love that causes these actions to be done...
Some time ago I found a word that I find very beautiful. Here it is, I believe it will make you happy: “Resignation is still quite distinct from the will of God, there is the same difference that exists between union and unity. In union we are still two, in unity we are only one. Oh ! yes let's be one with Jesus let's despise everything that happens, our thoughts must go to Heaven since that is where Jesus lives. I thought the other day that we shouldn't get attached to what surrounds us since we could be in another place than where we are, our affections and our desires wouldn't be the same, I can't tell you. explain my thought, I'm too stupid for that but when I see you, I'll tell you.
Why did you tell you all these things that you know much better than me? Forgive me, I needed to have another interview with you like those of old. But that time has not passed, we are still the same soul, and our thoughts are still the same as they were at the belvedere windows...
I look forward to the day when we celebrate in the heavenly city.
your little Sister Thérèse of the Child Jesus
Oh ! yes, it is very sad to think that the Father is going to Canada, but Jesus remains with us!...
