After earth’s exile I trust to possess Thee in the Home of our Father; but I do not seek to lay up treasures in Heaven.  I wish to labour for Thy Love alone—­with the sole aim of pleasing Thee, of consoling Thy Sacred Heart, and of saving souls who will love Thee through eternity.

When comes the evening of life, I shall stand before Thee with empty hands, because I do not ask Thee, my God, to take account of my works.  All our works of justice are blemished in Thine Eyes.  I wish therefore to be robed with Thine own Justice, and to receive from Thy Love the everlasting gift of Thyself.  I desire no other Throne, no other Crown but Thee, O my Beloved!

In Thy sight time is naught—­“one day is a thousand years."[2] Thou canst in a single instant prepare me to appear before Thee.

* * * * * * *

In order that my life may be one Act of perfect Love, I offer myself as a Victim of Holocaust to Thy Merciful Love, imploring Thee to consume me unceasingly, and to allow the floods of infinite tenderness gathered up in Thee to overflow into my soul, that so I may become a very martyr of Thy Love, O my God!  May this martyrdom, after having prepared me to appear in Thy Presence, free me from this life at the last, and may my soul take its flight—­without delay—­into the eternal embrace of Thy Merciful Love!

* * * * * * *

O my Beloved, I desire at every beat of my heart to renew this Oblation an infinite number of times, “till the shadows retire,"[3] and everlastingly I can tell Thee my love face to face.

MARY FRANCES TERESA OF THE CHILD JESUS AND OF THE HOLY FACE.

The ninth of June, Feast of the Most Blessed Trinity, In the year of grace, 1895.

A MORNING PRAYER

O my God!  I offer Thee all my actions of this day for the intentions and for the glory of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.  I desire to sanctify every beat of my heart, my every thought, my simplest works, by uniting them to Its infinite merits; and I wish to make reparation for my sins by casting them into the furnace of Its Merciful Love.

O my God!  I ask of Thee for myself and for those whom I hold dear, the grace to fulfil perfectly Thy Holy Will, to accept for love of Thee the joys and sorrows of this passing life, so that we may one day be united together in Heaven for all Eternity.  Amen.

AN ACT OF CONSECRATION TO THE HOLY FACE

Written for the Novices

O Adorable Face of Jesus, since Thou hast deigned to make special choice of our souls, in order to give Thyself to them, we come to consecrate these souls to Thee.  We seem, O Jesus, to hear Thee say:  “Open to Me, My Sisters, My Spouses, for My Face is wet with the dew, and My Locks with the drops of the night."[4] Our souls understand Thy language of love; we desire to wipe Thy sweet Face, and to console Thee for the contempt of the wicked.  In their eyes Thou art still “as it were hidden . . . they esteem Thee an object of reproach."[5]