23-25 (?) January 1889
JMJT Jesus and his cross!...
dear sister,
Yes, darling of my heart, Jesus is there with his cross! Privileged by his love, he wants to make you like him, why are you afraid of not being able to carry this cross without weakening? Jesus on the road to Calvary fell three times, and you, poor little child, you would not be like your husband, you would not want to fall 100 times if necessary to prove your love to him by getting up with more stronger than before your fall!...
Céline... Jesus must love you with a special love to test you in this way. Do you know that I'm almost jealous? To those who love more he gives more, to those who love less he gives less!...
But you don't feel your love for your husband, you would like your heart to be a flame that rises towards him without the slightest smoke, be careful that the smoke which surrounds you is only for you; to take away all the sight of your love for Jesus, the flame is only seen by him, at least then he has it all, because as long as he shows it to us a little, love quickly -clean comes like a fatal wind that extinguishes everything!...
At this moment you have the effect on me of a person who is surrounded by immense wealth... the view is lost on the horizon... This person wants to turn his back because, she says, too much wealth there. would get in the way, she would not know what to do with them, it is better to let them lose, or else be taken by another!... This other will not come, because these riches are prepared for the bride of Jesus... and for her alone !... God would turn the world to find suffering in order to give it to a soul on which his divine gaze was fixed with an unspeakable love!...
What does it matter to us... the things of this earth... Could it be our fatherland, this silt so unworthy of an immortal soul... and what does it matter to us that puny men cut the mold that grows on this silt, the more our heart is in Heaven, the less we feel these pinpricks...
But do not believe that it is a grace and a great one to feel them because then our life is a martyrdom and one day Jesus will give us the palm. Suffer and be despised! What bitterness but what glory! This is the motto of Le Lys-immortelle!... No other could suit it. My heart follows you in the noble task that Jesus entrusted to you. You are not a Soldier but a General... To suffer and again and again... But everything passes.
