À une de ses sœurs
The Gentleness of the Cross
The author encourages his sister to embrace daily crosses with a spirit of gentle, patient obedience.
July 20, 1607. Madame, my dearest sister, I can't help but write to you whenever the opportunity arises. Don't rush; no, believe me—train yourself to serve our Lord with a strong and careful gentleness: that's the true method of this service. Don't try to do everything, but only something, and without a doubt you'll do a great deal. Practice the mortifications that come your way most often, for that is the work that must come first; after that, we'll take on others. Often kiss, from the heart, the crosses that our Lord Himself has placed upon your arms. Don't worry about whether they're made of precious or fragrant wood; they are more truly crosses when they're made of base, contemptible, foul-smelling wood. It's remarkable how this always comes back to my mind, and that I know only this song.1 Without a doubt, my dear sister, it's the canticle of the Lamb: it's a little sad, but it's harmonious and beautiful. My Father, let it be done not as I want, but as you want.
The Gardener of the Soul
Using the image of Mary Magdalene meeting the Risen Lord, the author explains that God is present in the humble, mundane trials of life.
Mary Magdalene seeks our Lord while she holds him: she asks him about himself; she did not see him in the form she wanted; that is why she isn't content to see him that way, and seeks him so she can find him otherwise; she wanted to see him in his robe of glory, and not in a lowly gardener's clothes; and yet at last she knew it was him, when he said to her: Mary. You see, my dear sister, my daughter: it is our Lord in the gardener's clothes that you meet every day, here and there, in the ordinary mortifications that come your way.✦2 You'd so like him to offer you other, finer mortifications. O God! The finest ones aren't the best. Don't you believe he's saying to you: Mary, Mary?✦ No: before you see him in his glory, he wants to plant in your garden a great many small, lowly flowers—but ones after his own heart. That's why he's dressed this way. May our hearts forever be united to his, and our wills to his good pleasure. I remain yours without end and without measure, Madame my sister.3
Living for God Alone
The letter concludes with a final exhortation to remain steadfast and to live entirely for God.
Your brother, and so on. Take heart, and don't be astonished. Amen. Let's belong only to God, for God is ours.
Read the original Latin
20 juillet 1607.
Madame ma très-chère sœur, il ne m'est pas possible de me contenir de vous écrire à toutes sortes d'occasions qui s'en présentent. Ne vous empressez point; non, croyez-moi, exercez-vous à servir notre Seigneur avec une forte et soigneuse douceur : c'est la vraie méthode de ce service. Ne voulez pas tout faire, mais seulement quelque chose, et sans doute vous ferez beaucoup. Pratiquez les mortifications desquelles le sujet se présente plus souvent à vous : car c'est une besogne qu'il faut faire la première; après celle-là nous en ferons d'autres. Baisez souvent de cœur les croix que notre Seigneur vous a lui-même mises sur les bras. Ne regardez point si elles sont d'un bois précieux ou odorant : elles sont plus croix, quand elles sont d'un bois vil, abject, puant. C'est grand cas que ceci me revient toujours en l'esprit, et que je ne sais que cette chanson. Sans doute, ma chère sœur, c'est le cantique de l'Agneau : il est un peu triste, mais il est harmonieux et beau.
Mon père, qu'il soit fait, non pas selon que je veux, mais selon que vous voulez.
Madeleine cherche notre Seigneur en le tenant : elle le demande à lui-même; elle ne le voyoit pas en la forme qu'elle vouloit; c'est pourquoi elle ne se contente pas de le voir ainsi, et le cherche pour le trouver autrement; elle le vouloit voir en son habit de gloire, et non pas dans un vil habit de jardinier; mais néanmoins enfin elle connut que c'étoit lui, quand il lui dit : Marie.
Voyez-vous, ma chère sœur, ma fille, c'est notre Seigneur en l'habit de jardinier que vous rencontrez tous les jours çà et là es occurrences des mortifications ordinaires qui se présentent à vous. Vous voudriez bien qu'il vous offrît d'autres plus belles mortifications. O Dieu! les plus belles ne sont pas les meilleures. Croyez-vous pas qu'il vous dit : Marie, Marie? Non : avant que vous le voyiez en sa gloire, il veut planter dedans votre jardin beaucoup de fleurs petites et basses, mais à son gré : c'est pourquoi il est ainsi vêtu. Qu'à jamais nos cœurs soient unis au sien, et nos volontés à son bon plaisir. Je suis sans fin et sans mesure, Madame ma sœur.
Votre frère, etc.
Ayez bon courage, ne vous étonnez point. Amen. Soyons seulement à Dieu, car Dieu est nôtre.
Scripture echoes
- ↩John.20.15 — Jesus said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?" She, thinking that he was the gardener, said to him, "Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away."
- ↩John.20.16 — Jesus said to her, "Mary." She turned and said to him in Hebrew, "Rabboni" (which means "Teacher").
Notes
- 1 ↩C'est grand cas: idiomatic 'it's a striking/remarkable thing.' Je ne sais que cette chanson: 'I know nothing but this song' / 'this is the only song I can sing.'
- 2 ↩Archaic French 'es occurrences' is taken as 'aux occurrences' (in the occasions of).
- 3 ↩Epistolary closing formula: 'Je suis sans fin et sans mesure' implies devoted belonging/service, not bare existential 'I am.'
Letters of Spiritual Direction (de Sales and de Chantal) companion
Rule yourself daily, not just on retreat
Chosen Portion turns the mirror into a daily practice — a short reading and examining question each morning before you lead anyone.
Chosen Portion makes the mirror daily: the ruler-formation questions this collection preserves become a two-minute morning examination in the app.
- A daily formation reading drawn from centuries of counsel to those in authority
- One pointed examination question a day — two minutes, before the meetings start
- Track your practice over weeks and watch the examined life become a habit