| Age | Sources and Pages | Code Number | Quotations | Relevant Key Words, Phrases and Their Code Numbers |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 15 | GCI 449 -450, July 23, 1888, LT57: to Celine. |
40-15-1 | Life is burdensome. What bitterness… but what sweetness. Yes, life is painful for us. It is hard to begin a day of work. The feeble bud has seen it just as the beautiful lily has. If we feel Jesus present, oh! then we would really do all for Him, but no, He seems a thousand leagues away. We are all alone with ourselves. Oh! what annoying company when Jesus is not there. But what is this sweet Friend doing then? Doesn't He see our anguish, the weight that is oppressing us? Where is He? Why doesn't He come to console us since we have Him alone for a friend? Alas, He is not far; He is there, very close. He is looking at us, and He is begging this sorrow, this agony from us. He needs it for souls and for our soul. He wants to give us such a beautiful recompense, and His ambitions for us are very great. But how can He say: “My turn,” (A Note: Fr. Arminjon) if ours hasn't come, if we have given Him nothing? Alas, it does pain Him to give us sorrows to drink, but He knows this is the only means of preparing us to “know Him as He knows Himself and to become Gods ourselves.” Oh! what a destiny. How great is our soul…. |
2-15-13 (Sufferings, Sacrifices, Crosses, Trials), 14-15-4 (The Little Way), 22-15-3 (Salvation of Souls), 23-15-3 (Joy of Suffering) |
| 16 | GCI 546- 547, March 12, 1889, LT 85: to Celine. |
40-16-1 |
Jesus' love for Celine can be understood only by Jesus!… Jesus
had
done foolish things for Celine…. Let Celine do foolish things for
Jesus…. Love is repaid by love alone, and the
wounds of love are
healed only by love. Let us really offer our sufferings to Jesus to save souls, poor souls!… They have less grace than we have, and still all the Blood of a God was shed to save them…. And yet Jesus wills to make their salvation depend on one sigh from our heart….What a mystery! If one sigh can save a soul, what can sufferings like ours not do?… Let us refuse Jesus nothing!… |
2-16-22 (Sufferings, Sacrifices, Crosses, , Trials), 7-16-8 (Renunciation, Forget Self), 14-16-9 (The Little Way), 16-16-9 (His Will, Perfection, Sanctity), 17-16-10 (Love Jesus, The Love of God, Charity), 22-16-3 (Salvation of Souls), 24-16-4 (Mercy of God, Graces), 50-16-2 (Jesus's Wounds, Pains and Tears) |
| 16 | GCI 587- 588, Oct. 15, 1889, LT 96: to Celine. |
40-16-2 | Yes, life is a treasure…each moment is an eternity, an eternity of joy in heaven, an eternity of seeing God face to face, of being one with Him!… There is only Jesus who is; all the rest is not…. Let us love Him, then, unto folly; let us save souls for Him. Ah! Celine, I feel that Jesus is asking both us to quench His thirst by giving Him souls, the souls of priests especially. I feel that Jesus wills that I say this to you, for our mission is to forget ourselves and to reduce ourselves to nothing…. We are so insignificant …and yet Jesus wills that the salvation of souls depends on the sacrifices of our love. He is begging souls from us…. Ah, let us understand His look! There are so few who understand it. Jesus is giving us a hidden light!… Celine… life will be short, eternity is without end…. Let us make our life a continual sacrifice, a martyrdom of love, in order to console Jesus. He wants only a look, a sigh, but a look and a sigh that are for Him alone!… Let all the moments of our life be for Him alone!; let creatures touch us only in passing. There is only one thing to do during the night, the one night of life which will come only once, and this is to love, to love Jesus with all the strength of our heart and to save souls for Him so that He may be loved.… Oh, make Jesus loved!… |
2-16-33 (Sufferings, Sacrifices, Crosses, Trials), 3-16-4 (Silence, Hidden), 7-16-13 (Renunciation, Forget Self), 11-16-5 (Nothingness), 14-16-13 (The Little Way), 16-16-13 (His Will, Perfection, Sanctity), 17-16-15 (Love Jesus, The Love of God, Charity), 22-16-7 (Salvation of Souls), 37-16-12 (Time) |
| 19 | GCII 752 -753, Aug. 15, 1892, LT 135: to Celine. |
40-19-1 |
…And this Beloved instructs my soul, he speaks to it in silence, in
darkness…. Recently, there came a thought to me which I have to tell
my Celine. It was one day when I was thinking of what I could do
to save souls, a word of the gospel gave me a real light. In days
gone by, Jesus said to His disciples when showing them the fields of
ripe corn: “
Lift up your
eyes and see how
the fields are already white
enough to be harvested,” (John 4:35.) and a little later: “
In truth, the harvest
is abundant but the number of laborers is small, ask then the master
of the harvest to send laborers.” (Matthew 9:37-38.) What a
mystery!… Is not Jesus
all-powerful? Are not creatures His who made them? Why, then, does
Jesus say: “Ask the Lord of the harvest that he send some
workers?” Why?… Ah!
it is because Jesus has so incomprehensible a love for us
that He wills that we have a share with Him in the salvation of souls.
He wills to do nothing without us. The Creator of the universe awaits
the prayer of a poor little soul to save other souls redeemed like it
at the price of all His Blood. Our own vocation is not to go out
to harvest the fields of ripe corn. Jesus does not say to us: “Lower
your eyes, look at the fields and go harvest them.” Our mission is
still more sublime. These are the words of Jesus: “
Lift your eyes and
see.” See how in my heaven there are empty places; it is up to you
to fill them, you are my Moses praying on the mountain, ask me for
workers and I shall send them, I await only a prayer, a sigh from
your heart! Is not the apostolate of prayer, so to speak, more elevated than that of the word? Our mission as Carmelites is to form evangelical workers who will save thousands of souls whose mothers we shall be…. |
3-19-1 (Silence, Hidden), 5-19-1 (Prayer, Meditation, Contemplation), 14-19-1 (The Little Way), 16-19-1 (His Will, Perfection, Sanctity), 22-19-1 (Salvation of Souls), 43-19-1 (Darkness) |
| 20 | GCII 808- 809, Aug. 2, 1893, LT 145: to Celine. |
40-20-1 |
…Jesus does not will that we find His adorable presence in repose;
He hides
Himself; He wraps Himself in darkness. It was not thus that He acted with
the
crowd of Jews, for we see in the
gospel that the people were CARRIED AWAY
when He was speaking.
Jesus used to charm weak souls with His divine words,
He was trying to make them strong for the day of trial…. But how
small was
the number of Our Lord's friends when He was SILENT before his
judges!…
Oh! what a melody for my heart is this silence of Jesus…. He made Himself
poor that we might be able to give Him love.
He holds out His hand to us like a
beggar so that on the radiant
day of judgment when He will appear
in His glory, He may have us hear those sweet words: “
Come, blessed of
my Father, for I was hungry and you gave to eat; I was thirsty, and you
gave me to drink; I did not know where to lodge, and you gave me a home.
I was in prison, sick, and you helped me.” (Matthew 25:34-36.) It
is Jesus Himself who spoke
these words;
it is He who wants our love, who begs for
it.… He places
Himself, so to speak, at our mercy, He does not want to take anything
unless we give it to Him, and the smallest thing is precious in His
divine eyes…. Jesus is a hidden treasure, an inestimable good which few souls can find, for it is hidden, and the world loves what sparkles. Ah! if Jesus had willed to show Himself to all souls with His ineffable gifts, no doubt there is not one of them that would have despised Him. However, He does not will that we love Him for His gifts, He Himself must be our reward. To find a hidden thing one must hide oneself; our life must then be a mystery. We must be like Jesus, Jesus whose face was hidden…. “Do you want to learn something that may be of use to you?” says the Imitation. “Love to be unknown and accounted for nothing…. And elsewhere; “After you have left everything, you must above all leave yourself; let one man boast of one thing, another of something else; as for you, place your joy only in contempt of yourself.” What peace these words give to the soul, Celine. |
2-20-3 (Sufferings, Sacrifices, Crosses, Trials), 3-20-2 (Silence, Hidden), 14-20-5 (The Little Way), 16-20-3 (His Will, Perfection, Sanctity), 19-20-1 (The Words of God), 25-20-1 (Glory), 28-20-3 (Peace), 43-20-2 (Darkness) |
| 22 | SS 189. |
40-22-1 | …He has no need of our works but only of our love, for the same God who declares He has no need to tell us when He is hungry did not fear to beg for a little water from the Samaritan woman. He was thirsty. But when He said: “Give me to drink,” (John 4:7.) it was the love of His poor creature the Creator of the universe was seeking. He was thirsty for love. Ah! I feel it more than ever before, Jesus is parched, for He meets only the ungrateful and indifferent among His disciples in the world, and among His own disciples, alas, He finds few hearts who surrender to Him without reservations, who understand the real tenderness of His infinite Love. |
4-22-4 (Trust, Confidence, Abandonment), 7-22-4 (Renunciation, Forget Self), 14-22-6 (The Little Way), 17-22-11 (Love Jesus, The Love of God, Charity), 42-22-3 (Works, Actions, Great Actions) |