XCIII. To Sister Bonne Marie de Haraucourt at Nancy.[A]
London Visitation Nuns (Harrow translation
XCIII. To Sister Bonne Marie de Haraucourt at Nancy.[A]
Vive ✠ Jésus!
Annecy, 1633.
God bless you, my dearest daughter, for the good news you send me of the convalescence of the good prelate....
To return to yourself, whom I so dearly love. Repose in peace in your state of spiritual poverty. Blessed are the poor, for God will reclothe them. How happy should we be if our hearts were stript of all that is not God, and if we loved so to be. What a blessed thing it is to be in obscurity, with no devotion, no spiritual enlightenment, no consolation from creatures. Oh, my daughter, when a soul finds herself in this state, what can she do save hide herself like a little fledgeling, and nestle under the wing of her good mother Providence, remaining hidden there, not venturing to come out for fear the kite might capture her—this, then, is your place of repose where there is naught to fear, and in what better place could you be? And what richer clothing could you have than to be covered beneath the shelter of the sweet providence of your heavenly Father? Dwell there, and be well content to possess this singular privilege. You know, my daughter, that you have a place in my heart from which no one can ever dislodge you.
Yours, etc.