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Reflect that the most delicate flower loses its fragrance and withers fastest; therefore guard yourself against seeking to walk in a spirit of delight, for you will not be constant. Choose rather for yourself a robust spirit, detached from everything, and you will discover abundant peace and sweetness, for delicious and durable fruit is gathered in a cold and dry climate.

The soul which does not attain to the degree of purity corresponding with the light and vocation it has received from God can never be wholly content and at peace.

Today I had the joy of offering Jesus several sacrifices with respect to my dominant fault, but how much they cost me! There I recognized my weakness. When I am unjustly reproved, I feel as though the blood were boiling in my veins. My whole being rises in revolt! ... but Our Lord was with me. I heard His voice deep down in my heart and then I was ready to bear everything for love of Him.

If you knew how good it is to love God and give Him what He asks, above all when it costs us something, you would not be so slow to listen to me. At first you will be aware only of the sacrifice, but later you will experience a delightful peace.

Here, however, the understanding being more vigilant and the powers more on the alert, we cannot avoid hearing the fighting and cannonading around us. For now the devils set on us the reptiles, that is to say, thoughts about the world and its joys which they picture as unending; they remind us of the high esteem men held us in, of our friends and relations; they tell us how the penances which souls in this mansion always begin to wish to perform would injure our health: in fine, the evil spirits place a thousand impediments in the way.

The cross and peace are my portion. But the cross and discouragement are the portion of the enemy and of those who listen to the enemy.

The exemplar of the soul is God, who must be stamped thereon as the seal on the wax, as the stamp on the object. Now that is fully realized only if the reason is completely enlightened by the knowledge of God, the will riveted into the love of the sovereign Good, and the memory totally absorbed in contemplating and enjoying the eternal happiness.

How sweet is the way of love. True, one can fall or commit infidelities, but, knowing how to draw profit from everything, love quickly consumes everything that can be displeasing to Jesus; it leaves nothing but a humble and profound peace in the depths of the heart.

The very pure spirit does not bother about the regard of others or human respect, but communes inwardly with God, alone and in solitude as to all forms, and with delightful tranquility, for the knowledge of God is received in divine silence.

Oh, would that I could tell everyone what sources of strength, of peace and also of happiness they would find if they consented to live in this intimate union with Him. Only they do not know how to wait. If God does not bestow Himself in a manner they can feel, they leave His holy presence and when He comes to them, laden with graces, He finds nobody there. The soul has gone away into exterior things; it no longer dwells in its center. Recollect yourself from time to time.

Would you like to be the plaything
Of this Child so fair and sweet?
Would you, dear one! like to please Him?
Then lie humbly at His feet.
If He chooses to caress you,
If He lifts you to His breast,
Yes, if He seems tired of you,
Count yourself among the blest.
Be His happy Christmas plaything,
Seeking just to do His will;
And in heaven with countless blessings
He, your happy heart, will fill.

I cannot believe that one who has approached so near to Mercy Himself, Who has shown the soul what it really is and all that God has pardoned it, would not instantly and most willingly forgive, and be at peace, and remain well-affected towards anyone who has injured her.