* * * * * *

I was regretting a pin which I had been asked for, and which I had found most useful.  “How rich you are,” said Therese, “you will never be happy!”

* * * * * *

The grotto of the Holy Child was in her charge, and, knowing that one of our Mothers greatly disliked perfumes, she never put any sweet-smelling flowers there, not even a tiny violet.  This cost her many a real sacrifice.  One day, just as she had placed a beautiful artificial rose at the foot of the statue, the Mother called her.  Soeur Therese, surmising that it was to bid her remove the rose, was anxious to spare her any humiliation.  She therefore took the flower to the good Sister, and, forestalling all observations, said:  “Look, Mother, how well nature is imitated nowadays:  would you not think this rose had been freshly gathered from the garden?”

* * * * * *

“There are moments,” she told us, “when we are so miserable within, that there is nothing for it but to get away from ourselves.  At those times God does not oblige us to remain at home.  He even permits our own company to become distasteful to us in order that we may leave it.  Now I know no other means of exit save through the doorway of charitable works, on a visit to Jesus and Mary.”

* * * * * *

“When I picture the Holy Family, the thought that does me most good is —­the simplicity of their home-life.  Our Lady and St. Joseph were well aware that Jesus was God, while at the same time great wonders were hidden from them, and—­like us—­they lived by faith.  You have heard those words of the Gospel:  ’They understood not the word that He spoke unto them’;[15] and those others no less mysterious:  ’His Father and Mother were wondering at those things which were spoken concerning Him.’[16] They seemed to be learning something new, for this word ‘wondering’ implies a certain amount of surprise.”

* * * * * *

“There is a verse in the Divine Office which I recite each day with reluctance:  ’I have inclined my heart to do Thy justifications for ever, because of the reward.’[17] I hasten to add in my heart:  ’My Jesus, Thou knowest I do not serve Thee for sake of reward, but solely out of love, and a desire to win Thee souls.”

* * * * * *

“In Heaven only shall we be in possession of the clear truth.  On earth, even in matters of Holy Scripture, our vision is dim.  It distresses me to see the differences in its translations, and had I been a Priest I would have learned Hebrew, so as to read the Word of God as He deigned to utter it in human speech.”

* * * * * *

Soeur Therese often spoke to me of a well-known toy with which she had amused herself when a child.  This was the kaleidoscope, shaped like a small telescope, through which, as it is made to revolve, one perceives an endless variety of pretty-coloured figures.