| Age | Sources and Pages | Code Number | Quotations | Relevant Key Words, Phrases and Their Code Numbers |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6~ 7 |
SS 47. |
29-6-1 | It is from the midst of this ineffable glory where he reigns in heaven that our dear Father obtained for us the grace to understand the vision his little Queen had at an age when illusions are not to be feared. It is from the midst of glory he obtained this sweet consolation of understanding that God, ten years before our great trial, was already showing it to us. He was doing this as a Father who gives His children a glimpse of the glorious future He is preparing for them and is pleased to have them consider in advance the priceless riches which will be their heritage. |
2-6-1 (Sufferings, Sacrifices, Crosses, Trials), 24-6-1 (Mercy of God, Graces), 25-6-2 (Glory) |
| 6~ 7 |
SS 64. |
29-10-1 | My greatest consolation when I was sick was to receive a letter from Pauline. I read and re-read it until I knew it by heart. Once, dear Mother, you sent me an hour-glass and one of my dolls dressed as a Carmelite; it was impossible for me to express my joy. Uncle wasn't too happy, and said that instead of making me think of Carmel, it would be better to remove it from my mind. I am quite convinced, on the contrary, that the thoughts of one day becoming a Carmelite made me live. |
39-10-1 (Pauline) |
| 11 | SS 79 -80. |
29-11-1 | The day after my communion, the words of Marie came to my mind. I felt born within my heart a great desire to suffer , and at the same time the interior assurance that Jesus reserved a great number of crosses for me. I felt myself flooded with consolations so great that I look upon them as one of the greatest graces of my life. Suffering became my attraction; it had charms about it which ravished me without my understanding them very well. Up until this time, I had suffered without loving suffering, but since this day I felt a real love for it. I also felt the desire of loving only God, of finding my joy only in Him. Often during my Communions, I repeated these words of the Imitation:“ O Jesus, unspeakable sweetness, change all the consolations of this earth into bitterness for me.” This prayer fell from my lips without effort, without constraint; it seemed I repeated it not with my will but like a child who repeats the words a person he loves has inspired in him. |
2-11-2 (Sufferings, Sacrifices, Crosses, Trials), 5-11-1 (Prayer, Meditation, Contemplation), 14-11-3 (The Little Way), 17-11-2 (Love Jesus, The Love of God, Charity), 18-11-2 (Holy Communion), 24-11-1 (Mercy of God, Grace) |
| 24 | LC 123, July 31. |
29-11-2 |
13. “I have found happiness
and joy on earth, but soley in suffering,
for I've suffered very much here below; you must make it known
to souls…. “Since my First Communion, since the time I asked Jesus to change all the consolations of this earth into bitterness for me, I had a perpetual desire to suffer. I wasn't thinking, however, of making suffering my joy: this is a grace that was given to me later on. Up until then, it was like a spark hidden beneath the ashes, and like blossoms on a tree that must become fruit in time. but seeing my blossoms always falling, that is, allowing myself to fall into tears whenever I suffered, I said to myself with astonishment and sadness: “But I will never go beyond the stage of desires!” |
2-24-51 (Sufferings, Sacrifices, Crosses, Trials), 14-11-7 (The Little Way), 23-24-12 (The Joy of Sufferings), 24-11-5 (Mercy of God, Graces), 47-24-3 (Consistency of Spirituality), |
| 14 | SS 109. |
29-14-1 |
…He forbade me to speak about my vocation to him until I was seventeen.
It was contrary to human prudence, he said, to have a child of fifteen
enter Carmel. This Carmelite life was, in the eyes of many, a life of
mature reflection, and it would be doing a great wrong to the religious
life to allow an inexperienced child to embrace it. Everybody would be
talking about it, etc., etc. He even said that for him to decide to allow
me to leave would require a
miracle. I saw all reasoning with him was
useless and so I left, my heart plunged into
the most profound bitterness.
My only consolation was prayer. I begged
Jesus to perform the miracle
demanded, since at this price only I'd be able to answer His call. …I knew Jesus was there sleeping in my boat, but the night was so black it was impossible to see Him; nothing gave me any light, not a single flash came to break the dark clouds. No doubt, lightning is a dismal light, but at least if the storm had broken out in earnest I would have been able to see Jesus for one passing moment. But it was night! The dark night of the soul! I felt I was all alone in the garden of Gethsemani like Jesus, and I found no consolation on earth or from heaven; God Himself seemed to have abandoned me…. |
2-14-7 (Sufferings, Sacrifices, Crosses, Trials), 5-14-2 (Prayer, Meditation, Contemplation), 43-14-1 (Darkness) |
| 15 | SS 149. |
29-15-1 | This is so true that, a few months after I entered, Father Pichon, having come for the Profession of Sister Marie of the Sacred Heart, was surprised to see what God was doing in my soul. He told me that he was watching me at prayer in the choir one evening, and that he believed my fervor was childish and my way was very sweet. My interview with the good Father was a great consolation to me, but it was veiled in tears because I experienced much difficulty in confiding in him. I made a general confession, something I had never made before, and at its termination he spoke the most consoling words I ever heard in my life: “In the presence of God, the Blessed Virgin, and all the Saints, I DECLARE THAT YOU HAVE NEVER COMMITTED A MORTAL SIN.” Than (sic.) he added: “Thank God for what He had done for you; had He abandoned you, instead of being a little angel, you would have become a little demon.” I had no difficulty in believing it; I felt how weak and imperfect I was and gratitude flooded my soul. |
5-15-1 (Prayer, Meditation, Contemplation), 8-15-1 (Weakness, Frailty), 26-15-1 (Confession), 27-15-1 (Sinners, Sins) |
| 16? | SS 157. |
29-16-1 | …My desire for suffering was answered, and yet my attraction for it did not diminish. My soul soon shared in the sufferings of my heart. Spiritual aridity was my daily bread and, deprived of all consolation, I was still the happiest of creatures since all desires had been satisfied. |
2-16-4 (Sufferings, Sacrifices, Crosses, Trials) |
| 16 | GCI 504, Jan. 7, 1889, LT 76: to Sr. Agnes of Jesus. |
29-16-2 |
How good He is to me, He who will soon be my Fiancee; how
divinely lovable He is when not wanting to allow me
to attach myself to ANY created thing.
He knows well that
if He were to give me a shadow of HAPPINESS, I would attach
myself to it with all my energy, all the strength of my heart,
and this shadow He is refusing me; He prefers leaving me in
darkness to giving me a false light which would not be
Himself!… Since I can't find any creature that contents me,
I want to give all to Jesus, and I don't want to give to
the creature even one atom of my love. My Jesus always makes
me understand that He alone is perfect joy, when He appears
to be absent!… Today more than yesterday, if that were possible, I was deprived of all consolations. I thank Jesus, who finds this good for my soul, and that, perhaps if He were to console me, I would stop at this sweetness; but He wants that all be for Himself!… Well, then, all will be for Him, all, even when I feel I am able to offer nothing; so, just like this evening, I will give Him this nothing! Although Jesus is giving no consolation, He is giving me a peace so great that it is doing me more good!… |
7-16-5 (Renunciation, Forget Self), 11-16-2 (Nothingness), 17-16-2 (Love Jesus, The Love of God, Charity), 28-16-1 (Peace), 39-16-3 (Pauline), 43-16-1 (Darkness) |
| 16 | GCI 504, Jan.7, 1889, LT 76: to Sr. Agnes of Jesus. |
29-16-3 | And Father's letter? I find it heavenly, and my heart finds many beautiful things in it, but joy?… Oh, no! no joy…. joy is to be found only in suffering and in suffering without any consolation!… |
2-16-12 (Sufferings, Sacrifices, Crosses, Trials), 23-16-5 (The Joy of Sufferings), 39-16-4 (Pauline) |
| 16 | GCI 511, Jan. 8, 1889, LT 78: to Sr. Agnes of Jesus. |
29-16-4 |
…The lamb is mistaken in believing that Jesus' toy is not in
darkness! it
is immersed in darkness. Perhaps, and the little lamb agrees with this, this
darkness is light, but in spite of everything it is darkness….
Its only
consolation is a strength and a very great
peace, and, then, it wants to be
as Jesus wills it to be; that is its joy,
otherwise, all is sadness…. If you only knew how great my joy is not to have anything with which to please Jesus!… It is a refined joy (but in no way felt). |
2-16-14 (Sufferings, Sacrifices, Crosses, Trials), 16-16-4 (His Will, Perfection, Sanctity), 23-16-6 (The Joy of Suffering), 28-16-2 (Peace), 39-16-5 (Pauline), 41-16-1 (Unfelt Love), 43-16-2 (Darkness) |
| 16 | GCI 559, Apr. 27, 1889, LC 111: from Fr. P. Pichon. |
29-16-5 | The great peace which you are enjoying is a treasure par excellence which Our Lord has bequeathed to us in His divine testament. Be very grateful and guard this gift from God. May Jesus be ever free to sever us from our consolations and from all the most seductive Thabors. Your Calvary is worth more, dark as it is. |
28-16-4 (Peace) |
| 16 | GCI 576, July 14, 1889, LT 93: to Marie Guerin. |
29-16-6 |
Don't be troubled about feeling
no consolation in your Communions; this
is a trial that you must bear with love.
Don't lose any of the thorns you
are meeting every day; with one of them you can save a soul!… Ah, if you only knew how much God is offended! Your soul is so well made for consoling Him … love Him to folly for all those who don't love Him!… |
2-16-27 (Sufferings, Sacrifices, Crosses, Trials), 17-16-12 (Love Jesus, The Love of God, Charity), 18-16-2 (Holy Communion), 22-16-4 (Salvation of Souls) |
| 17~18 | SS 172 -173. |
29-17-1 | …All this, however, does not prevent both distractions and sleepiness from visiting me, but at the end of the thanksgiving when I see that I've made it so badly I make a resolution to be thankful all through the rest of the day. You see, dear Mother, that I am far from being on the way of fear; I always find a way of being happy and of profiting from my miseries; no doubt this does not displease Jesus since He seems to encourage me on this road. Contrary to my usual state of mind, one day I was a little disturbed when going to Communion; it seemed to me that God was not satisfied with me and I said to myself: Ah! if I receive only half a host today, this will cause me great sorrow, and I shall believe that Jesus comes regretfully into my heart. I approached, and oh, what joy! For the first time in my life I saw the priest take two hosts which were well separated from each other and place them on my tongue! You can understand my joy and the sweet tears of consolation I shed when beholding a mercy so great! |
2-17-2 (Sufferings, Sacrifices, Crosses, Trials), 18-17-1 (Holy Communion), 23-17-1 (The Joy of Sufferings), 24-17-3 (Mercy of God, Graces), 32-17-1 (Uncertainty of her Faith) |
| 17 | GCI 614, May 3, 1890, LC 127: from Sr. Agnes of Jesus. |
29-17-2 | …Ah! let us both remember that on earth there can be only suffering for those who love and seek with ardor the gentle, suffering Face of Jesus…. Let us not be so cowardly as to desire consolations with such a love in our heart!… |
2-17-5 (Sufferings, Sacrifices, Crosses, Trials), 39-17-2 (Pauline) |
| 17 | GCI 615. May 5-6, 1890, LT 104: to Sr. Agnes of Jesus. (Frag- ments.) |
29-17-3 |
It doesn't surprise me that you are having no consolation, for Jesus is
so little consoled that He is happy when He finds a soul in whom He may
take His rest without a lot of ceremony…. How proud I am to be your sister! And your little daughter, too, for it's you who taught me to love Jesus, to seek Him only …and to despise all creatures…. |
17-17-2 (Love Jesus, The Love of God, Charity), 39-17-3 (Pauline) |
| 17 | GCI 618, May 10, 1890, LT 105: to Celine. |
29-17-4 | … Ah! little sister, let us detach ourselves from this earth, let us fly to the mountain of love where the beautiful Lily of our souls is to be found…. Let us detach ourselves from the consolations of Jesus in order to attach ourselves to Him!… |
2-17-6 (Sufferings, Sacrifices, Cross, Trials)
7-17-2 (Renunciation, Forget Self) |
| 17 | GCI 630- 631, July 18, 1890, LT 109: to Celine. |
29-17-5 |
(Open to me, my sister, my beloved, for my
face is covered with dew, my
locks with the drops of night) (Cant. of Cant. 5:2.). That is what Jesus says
to our soul when He is abandoned and forgotten!…
Celine, forgetfulness,
it seems to me that it's this which causes Him the greatest
sorrow!… Papa!… Ah, Celine, I cannot tell you all I am thinking, it would take too long, and how say things that the mind itself can hardly express, deep things that are in the innermost recesses of the soul…. Jesus has sent us the best chosen Cross that He was able to find in His immense love…how can we complain when He Himself was looked upon as a man struck by God and humbled!… The divine charm delights my soul and consoles it in a marvelous way, at each moment of the day!… Ah, the tears of Jesus, what smiles!… |
2-17-10 (Sufferings, Sacrifices, Crosses, Trials), 12-17-1 (Humility, Humbleness), 17-17-5 (Love Jesus, The Love of God, Charity), 37-17-2 (Time), 50-17-1 (Jesus's Wounds, Pains and Tears), |
| 17 | GCI 665, Sep. 3, 1890, LC 137: from Sr. Agnes of Jesus. |
29-17-6 | …He isn't giving you any consolation because you are in His arms, and you are not walking, He is carrying you…. Does the child in its Father's arms need any other consolation?… and so I can picture Jesus carrying His little grain of sand, and, burdened with this light load, He is running in search of souls…. The little grain of sand stirs, it leaps when it sees some poor wounded lambs hidden in the bushes…. And Jesus is pleased with its desires. He saves the poor sinners with the help of His little grain of sand…. |
4-17-2 (Trust, Confidence, Abandonment), 22-17-3 (Salvation of Souls), 27-17-1 (Sinners), 39-17-6 (Pauline) |
| 17 | GCI 667, Sep. 4, 1890, LT 115: to Sr. Agnes of Jesus. |
29-17-7 |
…
My soul is always in the subterranean passage, but it is very happy,
yes, happy to have no consolation whatsoever, for I find that then
its love is not like the love of earthly fiancees who are always
looking at the hands of their fiances to see if they have brought
them any gifts, or else at their faces to catch there a smile of
love which delights them… But the poor little fiancee of Jesus feels that she loves Jesus for Himself alone, and she wants to look at her Beloved's face only to catch there the tears which flow from His eyes which have delighted her by their hidden charms!… |
17-17-8 (Love Jesus, The Love of God, Charity), 23-17-3 (The Joy of Sufferings), 39-17-7 (Pauline) |
| 20 | GCII 794 -795, Jul. 6, 1893, LT 142: to Celine. |
29-20-1 | …Now here we are, all five of us, on our way. What joy to be able to say: “I am sure of doing God's will.” This holy will is clearly manifested with regard to Celine. She is the one whom Jesus has chosen among us all to be the crown, the reward of the holy patriarch who has delighted heaven by his fidelity. How dare you say you have been forgotten, less loved than the others? I say you have been CHOSEN by privilege, your mission is all the more beautiful because, while remaining our dear Father's visible angel, you are at the same time the spouse of Jesus. This is true, perhaps Celine thinks, but I am not doing less than the others for God. I have more consolations and consequently less merits. “ My thoughts are not your thoughts,” says the Lord. Merit does not consist in doing or in giving much, but rather in receiving, in loving much…. It is said, it is much sweeter to give than to receive, and it is true. But when Jesus wills to take for Himself the sweetness of giving, it would not be gracious to refuse. Let us allow Him to take and give all He wills. Perfection consists in doing His will, and the soul that surrenders itself totally to Him is called by Jesus Himself “His mother, His sister,” and His whole family. And elsewhere: “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word (that is, he will do my will) and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our abode with him.” (John 14:23.) Oh, Celine how easy it is to please Jesus, to delight His Heart, one has only to love Him, without looking at one's self, without examining one's faults too much…. |
14-20-2 (The Little Way), 16-20-1 (His Will, Perfection, Sanctity), 17-20-2 (Love Jesus, The Love of God, Charity) |
| 22 | SS 187 |
29-22-1 | Do not believe I am swimming in consolations; oh, no, my consolation is to have none on earth. Without showing Himself, without making His voice heard, Jesus teaches me in secret; it is not by means of books, for I do not understand what I am reading…. |
35-22-3 (Books) |
| 23 | GCII 1041 -1042, Dec. 26, 1896, LT 213: to l'abbe Bell- iere. |
29-23-1 |
I assure you, Monsieur l'Abbe, I am doing all that is within my power
to obtain the graces necessary for you; these graces certainly will
be granted to you
since Our Lord never asks sacrifices from us above
our strength. At times, it is true, this divine Saviour makes us feel
all the bitterness of the chalice that He is offering our soul. When
He asks the sacrifice of all that is dearest in this world, it is
impossible, without a very special grace, not to cry out like Him in
the garden of agony: “
Father, let this chalice pass from me…however,
may your will be done and not mine.” (Matthew 26:39.) It is very consoling to think that Jesus, the Strong God, knew our weaknesses, that He trembled at the sight of the bitter chalice, this chalice that He had in the past so ardently desired to drink. Monsieur l'Abbe, your lot is really beautiful since Our Lord chose it for Himself and since He first wet His lips with the cup He is offering you. A Saint has said: “The greatest honor God can give a soul is not to give it much but to ask much from it!” Jesus is treating you then as a privileged one. He wills that you already begin your mission and that through suffering you may save souls. Is it not in suffering, in dying that He Himself redeemed the world?… Monsieur l'Abbe, you come seeking consolations from her whom Jesus has given you as a sister, and you have the right. Since Reverend Mother allows me to write you, I would like to respond to the sweet mission entrusted to me, but I feel the surest means of reaching my goal is to pray and to suffer…. Let us work together for the salvation of souls; we have only the one day of this life to save them and thus to give the Lord proofs of our love. |
2-23-14 (Sufferings, Sacrifices, Crosses, Trials), 5-23-1 (Prayer, Meditation, Contemplation), 8-23-7 (Weakness, Frailty), 14-23-8 (The Little Way), 16-23-5 (His Will, Perfection, Sanctity), 17-23-15 (Love Jesus, The Love of God, Charity), 22-23-5 (Salvation of Souls), 24-23-4 (Mercy of God, Graces), 37-23-2 (Time) |
| 24 | SS 237. |
29-24-1 |
…Love is nourished only by sacrifices,
and the more a soul refuses natural
satisfactions, the stronger and more disinterested becomes her
tenderness…. …in a word, dear Mother, I found a thousand reasons for pleasing my nature. How happy I am now for having deprived myself from the very beginning of my religious life! I already enjoy the reward promised to those who fight courageously. I no longer feel the necessity of refusing all human consolations, for my soul is strengthened by Him whom I wanted to love uniquely. I can see with joy that in loving Him the heart expands and can give to those who are dear to it incomparably more tenderness than if it had concentrated upon one egotistical and unfruitful love. |
1-24-2 (Self-love, Nature), 2-24-13 (Sufferings, Sacrifices, Crosses, Trials), 7-24-4 (Renunciation, Forget Self), 14-24-6 (The Little Way), 17-24-5 (Love Jesus, The Love of God, Charity) |
| 24 | LC 44, May, 15. |
29-24-2 | 6. “I would really love to go to Hanoi, to suffer very much for God. I'd like to go there in order to be all alone, having no earthly consolations. As for the thought of making myself useful there, it doesn't even enter into my mind; I know very well I would do nothing at all.” | 2-24-28 (Sufferings, Sacrifices, Crosses, Trials) |
| 24 | LC 56 -57, June 4. |
29-24-3 |
2. A little later, being
alone with her, and seeing her
suffer very much, I said: “Well, you wanted to suffer,
and God hasn't forgotten it.” “I wanted to suffer and I've been heard. I have suffered very much for several days now. One morning, during my act of thanksgiving after Communion, I felt the agonies of death…and with it no consolation. 3. “I accept everything out of love for God, even all sorts of extravagant thoughts that come into my mind.” |
2-24-33 (Sufferings, Sacrifices, Crosses, Trials), 17-24-21 (Love Jesus, The Love of God, Charity) |
| 24 | LC 137, Aug. 6. |
29-24-4 |
4. “
I can depend on nothing, on no good works
of my own in order
to have confidence. For example, I'd like to be able to say
that I've carried out all my obligations of reciting my prayers
for the dead. This poverty, however, was a real light and a grace
for me. I was thinking that never in my life would I be able
to pay my debts to God; this was real riches, real strength for me,
if I wanted to take it in this way. “Then I made this prayer to God: O my God, I beg You, pay the debt that I have acquired with regard to the souls in purgatory, but do it as God, so that it be infinitely better than if I had said my Offices for the Dead. And then I remembered with great consolation these words of St. John of the Cross' canticle: ‘Pay all debts.’ I had always applied this to Love. I felt this grace can't be expressed in words; it's far too sweet! We experience such great peace when we're totally poor, when we depend upon no one except God.” |
4-24-17 (Trust, Confidence, Abandonment), 5-24-8 (Prayer, Meditation, Contemplation), 8-24-18 (Weakness, Frailty), 9-24-3 (Poor in Spirit), 14-24-24 (The Little Way), 16-24-31 (His Will, Perfection, Sanctity), 17-24-27 (Love Jesus, The Love of God, Charity), 24-24-22 (Mercy of God, Graces), 28-24-12 (Peace), 42-24-9 (Works, Actions, Great Actions) |
| 24 | LC 164, Aug. 22. |
29-24-5 |
9. “I have experienced pleasure at the thought that they are praying
for me; then I told God that I wanted all these
prayers applied
to sinners.” I asked: “You don't want them for your own consolation?” “No!” |
5-24-10 (Prayer, Meditation, Contemplation), 27-24-12 (Sinners, Sins) |