We are neither idlers nor spendthrifts.  Our Divine Master has taken our defence upon Himself.  Remember the scene in the house of Lazarus:  Martha was serving, while Mary had no thought of food but only of how she could please her Beloved.  And “she broke her alabaster box, and poured out upon her Saviour’s Head the precious spikenard,[50] and the house was filled with the odour of the ointment."[51]

The Apostles murmured against Magdalen.  This still happens, for so do men murmur against us.  Even some fervent Catholics think our ways are exaggerated, and that—­with Martha—­we ought to wait upon Jesus, instead of pouring out on Him the odorous ointment of our lives.  Yet what does it matter if these ointment-jars—­our lives—­be broken, since Our Lord is consoled, and the world in spite of itself is forced to inhale the perfumes they give forth?  It has much need of these perfumes to purify the unwholesome air it breathes.

For a while only, good-bye, dearest sister.  Your barque is near to port.  The breezes filling its sails are the zephyrs of Love—­breezes that speed more swiftly than the lightning-flash.  Good-bye! in a few days we shall be together within these Carmel walls . . . and in the after days together in Paradise.  Did not Jesus say during His Passion:  “Hereafter you shall see the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of the power of God and coming in the clouds of heaven"?[52] . . .  We shall be there!

THERESE.
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[1] Matt. 3:10.

[2] Matt. 5:48.

[3] Apoc. 21:4.

[4] St. John of the Cross.

[5] Mme. Swetchine.

[6] Exodus 4:25.

[7] I Cor. 7:31.

[8] Cf.  Ps. 136:2.

[9] Cf.  Ps. 136:1, 4.

[10] I Cor. 2:9.

[11] It is remarkable that Soeur Therese applied this name to her sister Celine, who, under her inspiration, was later to reproduce so faithfully the true likeness of Our Lord, from the Holy Winding Sheet of Turin. [Ed.] [Remainder of long footnote, discussing this likeness, its reproduction, and related matters, omitted from this electronic edition.]

[12] Isa. 63:3.

[13] Cf.  Isa. 63:5.

[14] Isa. 53:3.

[15] Cant. 5:2.

[16] Is. 53:4.

[17] Soeur Therese received the veil on September 24, 1890.

[18] St. John of the Cross:  The Night of the Soul, 8th stanza.

[19] John 4:35.

[20] Matt. 9:37, 38.

[21] St. John of the Cross.

[22] Luke 19:5.

[23] John 1:38.

[24] Luke 9:58.

[25] Cant. 2:1.

[26] Malachias 4:2.

[27] Matt. 26:23.

[28] Matt. 25:34-36.

[29] Imit., Bk.  I, ch. ii. 3.

[30] Ib., Bk.  II, ch. xi. 4.

[31] Ib., Bk.  III, ch. xlix. 7.

[32] Ps. 126[127]:1.