Letter 113
From Quebec, to her son 7 Sep 1648
Two principal points of the Spiritual life. Some maxims she has bound herself by vow to practise in order to conquer remaining imperfections. Perfection does not consist of thinking about virtues but of practising. She promises to tell him of her interior dispositions.

My very dear and well beloved son,

I greet you in the heart of our adorable and loveable Jesus.

Your letter completed my joy telling me that the Divine Goodness has begun to admit you to Holy Orders by which you can render Him more agreeable service. Thank you for promising to tell me when you hope to receive the final and most sacred of all the Orders. In the meantime let us bless this sweet and loving Providence who has chosen us for His service, there to consume all the moments of our lives and has led us by ways secret beyond our conception. How good it is to desire only this holy consummation, to have no inclination but for the Glory of Him who alone is worthy of Glory! My son, when we have this inclination we hold on to nothing in this life. There are only two things that help the soul at this stage while she awaits detachment from mortal life. The first is to practice the Gospel maxims, or at least to make a continual effort to do so. The second is a gentle familiarity with God who by His divine “touches” permits the soul to converse with Him, to cheer herself up with him as though she sees herself as dust and ashes in presence of his Divine Majesty. Without these two helps I don’t know how one could live in this world amid the thorns and turmoil that tend only to stifle the interior spirit. Too often nature gets interested and attached to all this busyness, and many turn back, and few persevere in the first fervour of their vocation. Perseverance requires continual death to self. That is the annihilation and consummation I am talking about.

It requires great courage and unremitting generosity, but acting thus with the help of our Divine Jesus, the soul ultimately finds herself free of ties, able to run and fly above the demands of the senses and of self-love. It is not that she does not experience at times the attacks of corrupt nature, but God gives her strength to overcome all, and she goes on easily and even with pleasure, experiencing the truth of our adorable Saviour’s words: “My yoke is easy and my burden light”. This strength is increased by the two practices I mentioned. We must not regard the Gospel maxims and counsels of perfection speculatively, as virtues not belonging to our state or interior vocation, but as fixed points to which we must cling according to our present grace. From what I wrote to you last year you can judge why I am saying all this.

Here are the maxims I practice at present and to which I oblige myself by vow:
1. Accused of a fault, not to justify myself even if innocent, nor to name the guilty, unless it be for the Glory of God, as judged by competent persons.
2. To keep guard over mind and heart so as not to complain or exaggerate when one is, or thinks herself offended, shocked, rebuffed or humiliated by word or action.
3. Not to praise self, nor disparage by silence or openly, others who are praised, or for whom charity demands praise or commendation.
4. Fly emulation and jealousy of the goods and satisfactions, interior or exterior of others, rather rejoice and consider oneself unworthy to possess the like.
5. Exercise a pious and charitable affection for those for whom we have a natural antipathy, regard their actions as innocent and judge their intentions charitably.
6. Be patient with others as prescribed in the Gospel maxims.
7. Strive to curb self-pity and superfluous reflection on persons who might have given us pain.
8. Strive for gentleness, interior and exterior, and for meekness and humility of heart as taught in the Gospel.
9. Not to take offence, judge by appearances or harbour anxiety.
10. Suffer gently and lovingly physical pain, affliction of spirit and humiliations and mortification coming from God or neighbours.
11 .Mortify certain little desires, inclinations or natural tendencies as far as possible without injury to body or spirit.
12. Obey faithfully the promptings and inspirations of God, and in all the above follow obedience and the directions of the Spiritual Father.

When I tell you we must not become attached to a list of virtues known only in theory, it is because as there are different degrees and states in the spiritual life, there is one in which the understanding is more involved than the will, and if the soul is not faithful and generous, she will not bother reflecting on the practice of solid virtue and so she will often stumble and give the impression of being unmortified. When understanding and will act in harmony, the soul works and advances easily and rapidly in purity of heart, in the practice of virtue and in righteous action. But there is another state where the soul is, as it were, obliged to the faithful practice of the imitation of Jesus Christ, and this sense of obligation is experienced in inexpressible interior peace. It is not a question of intellectual effort at the beginning nor to sensible fervour leading to self-examination and weighing of certain acts. But the soul at peace sees in one glance in her Jesus, the Divine virtues He has practiced; she sees them, I say, in a gentle loving attraction, which draws her to follow the acts of those of her Divine Prototype, and then she cannot be, nor want to be, anything but a continual holocaust to the Glory of God, in honour of the self immolation of Jesus from the moment of His Incarnation to His Death on the Cross.
There are two things in this imitation, exterior practice of the Gospel maxims and interior familiarity by communication with the interior life of Jesus. I should never have believed, my dear son, that the most sublime spiritual life consists of this, if I had not been assured of it by a means I cannot write in this letter, for times of ecstasy and rapture would seem to be more sublime; but no, our Jesus, His Holy Mother and the Holy Apostles witness to the contrary. Although all these things are good and holy when they come from the spirit of God, they are nothing in comparison with the virtues and interior dispositions of grace I have been speaking about, and that are my entire life, my strength and my support.

I will write to you what you ask, but why have you not told me what the other thing is that you want from me. If it were possible for me I would not refuse. To send you now what you ask would be difficult. I could not do it before the ships leave. Some have not yet arrived. Those that are here are preparing to depart, it was late when they sailed last year, and they were nearly wrecked. If God so wills I will send you what you ask later, or others will do it for me. When letters of obligation are dealt with, I’ll write and have it ready to send when Providence ordains.

All that I have written to you now is the sequel to what I wrote last year. I am more consoled than I can tell you when I see you in such religious dispositions and I agree with you that our communications should tend to the end to which we aspire. I admit that my only solid consolation in life is the desire of that blessed end. Obtain for me from God that I may take the right means and not go astray, or seek self instead of Him, for the imitation of Him is our way. There is nothing we should fear more than out-of-the-way-devotions not based on the maxims or life of Jesus Christ, normally they lead to disaster. I hear from France that frightening things have happened to some religious persons not far from you; you may know it better than I do.

I do not doubt that you wish me a death as happy as Father Jogues’, but alas! I am far from deserving it. It seems to me that it would be the greatest consolation imaginable, but I have good reason to distrust myself and to fear that I should turn my back on sufferings whereas the holy martyr embraced them like a true disciple of Jesus Christ.
I am grateful to you for telling me of the progress of your Congregation. I am interested in its ups and downs, for apart from the fact that I belong to it and it belongs to me, and my interest in it on your account, I can learn from it how to conduct our affairs. I must tell you that Rome will not give us the Bulls, because there is no Bishop here. This refusal has obliged us to take other measures and to consult the Canonists about the bulls satisfying our Congregations. These learned men have found them good, and judge that legitimately they can apply to Canada with the approval of the Prelates who sent us here. So without further Bulls from Rome we may receive novices and have them professed and fulfil all the functions of our Institute as if we were in France. We are acting accordingly and with the help of Grace, we have two novices for profession on the feast of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin.

As for the doctrines that are making so much noise in France at present I take good care not to have anything to do with them, not to speak of them, still less to write about them, so stating my sentiments or those of others concerning Monsieur Arnauld’s affairs. A person in France who is very much involved wrote to me about it. I did not answer her for fear she would continue the correspondence. I am grateful for the opinion you sent me, I’ll use it for my own guidance. I am glad you have finished your studies. All the time you have to devote to different subjects could distract from the sweetness of the interior spirit. What you have been at lately are holy things and could only fill you with good sentiments. I am certain that you will love your retreat after so much intellectual work. When you are in retreat let us join together interiorely to praise the Divine Mercy and Goodness. You hope to find in your retreat that twofold interior spirit to which you aspire. I am sure if you have not it already Our Lord will make you a present of it. I ask it of Him every day for His Greater Glory and the sanctification of your soul. Do not get discouraged but with loving confidence await this grace from his goodness. Rather let us unite in spirit to ask it of God, one for the other, even though I am the most unworthy and abject creature in the world, I expect it from Him who refuses nothing to those who abandon themselves to His Guidance. I am consoled by your resignation to your throat ailment. The ways of God are secret; He knows the paths along which He will guide our life. Perhaps He means to sanctify you in solitude. It is not preaching that sanctifies the preacher. An act of solid virtue, of humility, charity or patience, is often more pleasing to Him. However both are compatible and if He gives them to you I will bless Him with you, and ask Him to give you the grace to make good use of them so that you can appear in His presence full of good works. Ask Him to give me too the grace to correspond and fidelity to the end. Let us live in Jesus.

Quebec. 7 September 1648.
p. 132 – 135.