Mary of the Eucharist
11 July
"I advise you, when you have fights against Charity, to read this chapter of the Imitation: That it is necessary to support the faults of others ". You will see that your fights will fall; well, it is very good and very true.”
18 July
I asked her to obtain great graces for me when she was in Heaven, and she replied:
" Oh ! when I will be in Heaven, I will do many things, great things "... It is impossible that it is not the good God who gives me this desire Himself", I am sure that He will grant me! - And then again, when I'm up there, I'm the one who'll follow you closely!...”.
And as I was telling her that she might scare me:
“Does your Guardian Angel frighten you?... He tails you, however, all the time; hey! Well, I'll follow you the same way, and close again! I won't let you miss anything..."
July
“It always hurts God a little bit when you reason a little bit about what the Mother Prioress says; and it hurts him a lot when you reason a lot, even in his heart. »
2 August
“I find no natural pleasure in being loved, pampered, but I find a very great one in being humiliated. When I've done something stupid that humiliates me and makes me see what I am, oh! then, it is there that I experience a natural pleasure; I feel a real joy as you would feel in being loved. »
11 September
“You would have to become very gentle; never harsh words, harsh tone; never look harsh, always be gentle.
“So yesterday you hurt S.r xx; a few moments later, a sister made him too. What happened?... She cried!... Hey! Well, if you hadn't treated her harshly, she would have accepted the second sentence better, which would have passed unnoticed. But two sorrows so close together put her in a state of very great sadness; whereas if you had been gentle, nothing would have happened. »
One day she made me promise to be a saint; she asked me if I was making any progress; so I answered her: “I promise to be holy to you when you go to Heaven; at that time, I will do it with all my heart.
- Oh ! don't wait for that, she replied. Start now. The month that preceded my entry into Carmel remained for me as a sweet memory. At the beginning, I said to myself like you: "I will be a saint when I am in Carmel; in the meantime, I will not get in the way- But the good Lord showed me the price of time; I did the very opposite of what I thought; I wanted to prepare myself for my entry by being very faithful; and this is one of the most beautiful months of my life.
“Believe me, never wait until tomorrow to start becoming holy. »
Mary of the Trinity
1
(...) I have always present the three long months of agony of our Angel (...) I had the prohibition to speak to him, under the pretext that being young I could contract his disease! (I was however sure of the contrary because Sr. Th. of the EJ had told me that no one would catch her disease, that she had asked the good Lord.) The news of her health was every day more sadder; I was suffocating with difficulty... One day I went to take the air in the garden, I saw him in his sick car under the chestnut trees; she was alone, she beckoned me to approach: “Oh! no, I told him, we would be seen and I don't have permission. I entered the hermitage of the Holy Face where I began to cry. Raising my head, I saw with surprise my little sister Thérèse of the Child Jesus sitting on a tree trunk, next to me. She tells me :
“Me, I have no prohibition to come to you, even if I die of it, I want to comfort you. »
She wiped away my tears by resting my head on her heart. I begged her to go back to her car, because she was shaking with fever:
"Yes, but not before you laugh at me!" »
Which I did immediately, for fear that she would get sick, and I helped her back to her car.
2
I was very sorry to see her ill and I often repeated to her: “Oh! how sad life is! But she corrected me immediately, saying:
“Life is not sad! on the contrary, she is very cheerful. If you said: "Exile is sad", I would understand you. We make a mistake by giving the name of life to what must end. It is only to the things of heaven, to that which must never die, that we must give this true name; and, as such, life is not sad, but cheerful, very cheerful!...”
3
One holiday in the refectory, they had forgotten to give me dessert. After dinner, I went to see Sr. Th. de l'Enf Jesus in the infirmary and, finding my neighbor at the table there, I made her understand quite skilfully that I had been forgotten. ST Th. de l'Enf J. having heard me, forced me to go and inform the Sister in charge of the service, and as I begged her not to impose it on me:
"No, she said to me, it will be your penance, you are not worthy of the sacrifices that the good Lord asks of you, He asked you to be deprived of your dessert, because it is He who allowed you to be forgotten. He thought you generous enough for this sacrifice, and you deceive his expectation by going to claim it! »
I can say that his lesson bore fruit and cured me forever of the desire to start over.
4
(...) This reminds me of a memory of intimacy with my little sister Th. de l'Enf.-J. It was about a month before his death; the whole Community was very sad, and I certainly did not yield to anyone in grief. Going to see her in the Infirmary, I saw at the foot of her bed a big red balloon that had been given to her to distract her. This ball aroused my desire and I could not help saying to him: "That I would like to play with!" She smiled, but as her weakness was so great that she could not bear any noise, she said to me:
"Get behind me while no one is around, and then play with it, I'll close my eyes so it doesn't make me dizzy." »
Delighted, I take the ball and I took so much pleasure in my game that little Thérèse blinked to look at me without seeming to and couldn't help laughing. So, I tell him: “It's too long to be sad for me! I can not stand it anymore ! I have temptations to distract myself, desires to play the spinning top you gave me at Christmas; but if they see me, they are capable of being scandalized and saying that I have no heart.
- No no, she replied, I'm forcing you to take your spinning top and go and play for an hour in the Novitiate attic, no one will hear you there and if anyone notices you'll say it was I who told you so. Go quickly, I'm glad to think you're going to have fun. »
5
(...) eight days before his death, I had cried a whole evening thinking of his imminent departure. She noticed it and said to me:
“You cried. - Is it in the shell? »
I couldn't lie and my confession saddened him. She resumed:
“I am going to die, and I will not be safe on your account, if you do not promise me to follow my recommendation faithfully. I attach great importance to it for your soul. »
I had only to surrender and I gave my word, asking however, as a grace, permission to mourn freely for his death.
“Why mourn my death? These are very useless tears. You will mourn my happiness! Finally, I pity your weakness and allow you to weep for the first few days. But, after that, it will be necessary to resume the shell. »
6
We can add to these memories the two words recorded by Sister Marie de la Trinité, on images made by her:
1° Cardboard support, 10,7 X 6,5 cm, comprising a vignette of the portrait called “Thérèse ovale” (charcoal by Sister Geneviève) and a linen flower, pasted, accompanied by this inscription, by Sister Marie de the Trinity :
“Flower of pink flax picked and caressed by Sr Thérèse of the Child Jesus and which she offered to one of her novices, saying to her: “ It will be a memory of me. »
For the flower to have been picked by Thérèse herself, this episode must take place no later than June 1897, when the patient was still going out in the garden.
2° Cardboard support of 10,5 X 7,4 cm, comprising a vignette of “Thérèse aux roses”, and a glued daisy, near which it is written:
“A few days before her death, Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus gave me this daisy after having kissed it, saying to me: “ Here is your picture! “Sr Marie de la Trinité rci”
She told me the following story, which happened five months before her death:
“One evening, the nurse came to put a bottle of hot water on my feet and tincture of iodine on my chest. I was consumed by fever, an ardent thirst devoured me. While undergoing these remedies, I could not help complaining to Our Lord: "My Jesus, I said to him, you are witness to it, I am burning and they are still bringing me heat and fire! Ah, if I had half a glass of water instead of all that!... My Jesus, your little girl is very thirsty! like you and to save souls." Soon the nurse left me, and I did not expect to see her again until the next morning, when to my great surprise she returned a few minutes later, bringing a refreshing drink.... Oh! How good is our Jesus! How sweet it is to confide in Him! »
Therese of St-Augustin
1
When she (Thérèse) went down to the infirmary she said to me " may your dream come true ».
When I went to see her I asked her: “And the black door? We knew what that meant.
1 This dream is recounted in great detail on pp. 7-10 of the same document. This is how Mother Agnès of Jesus summed it up in Sister Thérèse of Saint-Augustin's circular, p. 7:
“On January 8, 1897, she had had this dream:
“I found myself, she says, in a very dark apartment, closed by a heavy black door, under which pierced a ray of dazzling light. From the neighboring apartment, which I guessed was dazzlingly bright, a voice rose: - We want Sister Thérèse of the Child Jesus! And then I had the impression that beside me, in an even darker part of the dark apartment, my dear little Sister was being prepared to respond to this call. What were they doing to her, I don't know, but I heard the same voice insist: - She must be very beautiful! And thereupon I awoke, convinced that my Sister Thérèse of the Child Jesus would soon leave us for Heaven.”
A few days later, Sister Thérèse of Saint-Augustin told this dream to Thérèse, who replied:
" How beautiful ! it's not a dream it's a dream and you had it for me. (...) If you knew the good you do me; did I not speak to you of the state of my soul? (...) I do not believe in eternal life, it seems to me that after this mortal life there is nothing. I cannot express to you the darkness in which I am plunged. What you have just told me is exactly the state of my soul. The preparation that I am made and especially the black door is so well the image of what is happening in me. You have only seen red in this door so dark, that is to say, everything has disappeared for me and all I have left is love. »
"Oh! she replied, growing darker and darker. Your dream is my only ray of light, I have no other. I know it by heart down to the smallest details. » Two days before her death she said to one of her sisters: - « You cannot imagine how many times I think of the dream of my Sister Thérèse of Saint Augustine. If people knew the good he did me and what consolations he gave me during my illness, he helped me to bear it. »
2
A few days after her arrival at the infirmary, I went to see her. As soon as she saw me she held out her arms to me and exclaimed with an accent of inexpressible tenderness:
« Oh ! it is my Sister Thérèse of Saint Augustin. »
Then addressing the young Sisters who were present:
“Please leave me alone with her, I see her so little. »
When we were alone she again told me how happy she was to see me. Each of my visits was for her a new source of joy. Once among others
The circular goes on to attribute these words to Thérèse: “What a consoling omen in my dark night!... And it is through you that the good Lord grants it to me!” She insisted on these words: through you... and tears filled her eyes.
"Until her death, our dear little Saint showed her who had thus consoled her, her gratitude and her affection, willingly returning with us, in private, to this delicacy of the good God, who had told her so much about it. long in the heart..."
3
Another day I said to him: “You suffer a lot, but you will be well rewarded.
- No, not for the reward, to please him. How unhappy I would be if I were not abandoned to the will of God. Today the Doctor says I'm lost, tomorrow I'm better, he even seems to hint that I might be here in April. That this alternative would be tiring; but all that does not touch my soul and does not disturb its peace. I surrender.
- You are right not to worry. I know more than him and I assure you that you are lost, that most certainly you will not be here in April, but I fear that you will suffer a lot.
- Oh ! don't worry about that. The good Lord won't give me more than I can bear, I have to let Him do it."
4
“Tell me if you had any fights.
- Oh ! if I had any. I had an uncomfortable nature, it didn't appear but I felt it well, I can assure you that I was not a single day without suffering, not a single one.
- But they say you didn't.
- Ah! judgments of creatures. Because they don't see, they don't believe. »
Hermance of the Heart of Jesus
Last year, during the illness of our angelic little sister Thérèse of the Child Jesus, we were reading the life of Saint Louis de Gonzague in the refectory when our dear Mother was struck by the touching and reciprocal affection of the young Saint and a venerable religious of the Society of Jesus, Father Corbinelli: “You are little Louis, she said to our holy child, and I am old Father Corbinelli; when you are in Heaven, remember me!
- Would you like me, Mother, to come and get you soon?
- No, not yet, I haven't suffered enough.
- O my Mother, I tell you that you have suffered enough!...”
And Mother of the Heart of Jesus to answer: “I still don't dare to say yes to you... For such a serious thing, we need the sanction of the authority. »
_ Indeed, the request was addressed to us, and, without attaching any importance to it, we gave an affirmative answer. Now, one of the last days of her life, Sister Thérèse of the Child Jesus, who could hardly speak any more, because of her great weakness, received from our dear Mother a small bouquet of flowers, with an earnest prayer to the nurse to send him then, as a thank you, a single word from our angel. And here is what this truly prophetic word was:
« Tell Mother Coeur de Jesus that this morning, during Mass, I saw the tomb of Father Corbinelli very close to that of little Louis.
Mary of the Angels
Mother Agnès of Jesus said to her, one day when the Community was gathered near her bed: “If you throw flowers at the Community!
- Oh ! no, my dear mother, she answered, don't ask me that, please; I don't want to throw flowers at creatures. I still want it for the Blessed Virgin and Saint Joseph, but not for other creatures. »
Martha of Jesus
A few weeks before her death she called me and said:
"I won't be easy on your account, you must promise me to recite a memorial to the Blessed Virgin every day." »
I promised him and was faithful to it.
