’To-night I lay on the sofa, and saw how the flame shot up from beneath, through the mass of coal that had been piled above.  It shot up in wild beautiful jets, and then unexpectedly sank again, and all was black, unsightly and forlorn.  And thus, I thought, is it with my life at present.  Yet if the fire beneath persists and conquers, that black dead mass will become all radiant, life-giving, fit for the altar or the domestic hearth.  Yes, and it shall be so.’

* * * * *

’My tendency at present is to the deepest privacy.  Where can I hide till I am given to myself?  Yet I love the others more and more.  When they are with me I must give them the best from my scrip.  I see their infirmities, and would fain heal them, forgetful of my own!  But am I left one moment alone, then, a poor wandering pilgrim, but no saint, I would seek the shrine, and would therein die to the world.  Then if from the poor relics some miracles might be wrought, that should be for my fellows.  Yet some of the saints were able to work in their generation, for they had renounced all!’

* * * * *

’Forget, if you can, all of petulant or overstrained that may have displeased you in me, and commend me in your prayers to my best self.  When, in the solitude of the spirit, comes upon you some air from the distance, a breath of aspiration, of faith, of pure tenderness, then believe that the Power which has guided me so faithfully, emboldens my thoughts to frame a prayer for you.’

* * * * *

’Beneath all pain inflicted by Nature, be not only serene, but more; let it avail thee in prayer.  Put up, at the moment of greatest suffering, a prayer; not for thy own escape, but for the enfranchisement of some being dear to thee, and the Sovereign Spirit will accept thy ransom.’

* * * * *

’Strive, strive, my soul, to be innocent; yes! beneficent.  Does any man wound thee? not only forgive, but Work into thy thought intelligence of the kind of pain, that thou mayest never inflict it on another spirit.  Then its work is done; it will never search thy whole nature again.  O, love much, and be forgiven!’

* * * * *

’No! we cannot leave society while one clod remains unpervaded by divine life.  We cannot live and grow in consecrated earth, alone.  Let us rather learn to stand up like the Holy Father, and with extended arms bless the whole world.’

* * * * *