À une dame
Walking the Heavenly Path
The author encourages the recipient to walk cheerfully in her vocation by embracing God's providence in all things.
June 10, 1605. Madame, my dearest sister, here I am ready to write to you—but I don't know what to say, except that you should keep walking cheerfully along this wholly heavenly path where God has set you. I'll bless him all my life for the graces he has prepared for you: for your part, prepare for him too, in gratitude, great resignations, and courageously set your heart to carrying out the things you know he wants of you, despite everything that might stand in the way. Don't focus on the substance of the things you do, but on the honor they have—however lowly—of being willed by God, of belonging to the order of his providence, and of being arranged by his wisdom. In a word, being pleasing to God and recognized as such, to whom should they be displeasing?
The Purity of Moderation
True purity of heart is found in weighing all things by the will of God and avoiding excessive ardor even in virtuous pursuits.
Be careful, my dearest daughter, to make your heart purer every day. Now this purity consists in valuing all things, and weighing them by the weight of the sanctuary, which is nothing other than the will of God.✦1 I beg you, don't love anything too intensely—not even the virtues, which people sometimes lose when they go beyond the bounds of moderation. I don't know whether you understand me, but I think you do: what I'm saying concerns your desires and your ardors.
Being What God Intends
We must honor God by fulfilling our specific vocation well, rather than desiring to be something other than what He has created us to be.
It doesn't seem to me that it's in the nature of roses to be white, for the crimson ones are more beautiful and have a better scent; that, on the contrary, is the nature of lilies. Let's be who we are, and let's be it well, so that we honor the Master whose work we are. People mocked the painter who, intending to depict a horse, created a bull that was perfect in every detail: the work was beautiful in itself, but it brought little honor to the craftsman, who had intended something else and had only succeeded by chance. Let's be what God wants, as long as we're wholly devoted to Him, and not what we want against His intention; for even if we were the finest creatures in heaven, what good would that do us if we weren't in keeping with God's will?✦ Maybe I say that too often—but I won't talk about it so much from now on, because our Lord has already strengthened you a great deal on this point.
A Closing Exhortation
The letter concludes with a request for the recipient's prayer reflections and a final blessing of peace.
Give me the pleasure of knowing the subject of your meditations for the present year. I'll be delighted to know it, as well as the fruit they produce in you. Rejoice in our Lord, my dear sister, and keep your heart at peace.✦ I greet your husband, and I remain forever, madam, etc.2
Read the original Latin
10 juin 1605.
Madame ma très-chère sœur, me voici dans la disposition de vous écrire : mais je ne sais que dire, sinon que vous marchiez toujours gaiement dans ce chemin tout céleste où Dieu vous a mise. Je le bénirai toute ma vie des grâces qu'il vous a préparées : préparez-lui aussi de votre côté, en reconnoissance, de grandes résignations, et portez courageusement votre cœur à l'exécution des choses que vous savez qu'il veut de vous, malgré tout ce qui pourroit s'y opposer.
Ne regardez nullement à la substance des choses que vous ferez, mais à l'honneur qu'elles ont, toutes chétives qu'elles peuvent être, d'être voulues de Dieu, d'être dans l'ordre de sa providence et disposées par sa sagesse. En un mot, étant agréables à Dieu, et reconnues pour telles, à qui doivent-elles être désagréables?
Soyez attentive, ma très-chère fille, à vous rendre tous les jours plus pure de cœur. Or, cette pureté consiste à estimer toutes choses, et à les peser au poids du sanctuaire, qui n'est autre que la volonté de Dieu.
N'aimez rien trop ardemment, je vous supplie, pas même les vertus, que l'on perd quelquefois en passant les bornes de la modération. Je ne sais si vous m'entendez, mais je le crois : mon discours regarde vos désirs et vos ardeurs.
Ce n'est pas le propre des roses d'être blanches, ce me semble, car les vermeilles sont plus belles, et de meilleure odeur; c'est au contraire le propre des lis.
Soyons ce que nous sommes, et soyons-le bien pour faire honneur au maître dont nous sommes l'ouvrage. On se moqua du peintre qui, voulant représenter un cheval, fit un taureau accompli en toutes ses parties : l'ouvrage étoit beau en lui-même, mais peu honorable à l'ouvrier qui avoit un autre dessein, et n'avoit bien fait que par hasard.
Soyons ce que Dieu veut, pourvu que nous lui soyons tout dévoués, et ne soyons pas ce que nous voulons contre son intention; car quand nous serions les plus excellentes créatures du ciel, de quoi cela nous serviroit-il, si nous ne sommes au gré de la volonté de Dieu?
Peut-être que je dis cela trop souvent : mais je n'en parlerai pas tant par la suite, parce que notre Seigneur vous a déjà beaucoup fortifiée sur cet article.
Donnez-moi la satisfaction de m'avertir du sujet de vos méditations pour l'année présente. Je serai charmé de le savoir, aussi bien que le fruit qu'elles produisent en vous. Réjouissez-vous en notre Seigneur, ma chère sœur, et tenez votre cœur en paix. Je salue monsieur votre mari, et je suis éternellement, madame, etc.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Exod.30.13;Lev.27.25 — This is what everyone who is counted in the census shall give: half a shekel according to the shekel of the sanctuary — the shekel is twenty gerahs — half a shekel as an offering to the LORD. Lev.27.25 — Every valuation shall be according to the sanctuary shekel: twenty gerahs shall be the shekel.
- ↩Mark.8.36;Matt.16.26 — For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? Matt.16.26 — For what will it benefit a person if they gain the whole world but forfeit their life? Or what will a person give in exchange for their life?
- ↩Phil.4.4;Phil.3.1 — Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Phil.3.1 — Finally, my brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you is not troublesome for me, and it is a safeguard for you.
Notes
- 1 ↩"Au poids du sanctuaire" is a biblical image for the sacred standard of judgment (the sanctuary shekel/weights); Sales identifies that standard with God's will.
- 2 ↩Closing formula is abbreviated in the source ("je suis éternellement, madame, etc."); English keeps the truncated epistolary close rather than inventing the usual "yours devotedly" fill-in.
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