Pray for them. _I_ can draw them back to thee if they are necessary to the sanctification of thy soul. _What are the joys of which thou hast to tell Me?_ Let Me share thy pleasures; tell Me of all that has occurred since yesterday to comfort thee, please thee, to give thee joy! That fear suddenly dispelled, that unexpected success, that token of affection, the trial that proved thee stronger than thou thoughtest.... My child, _I_ sent it all; why not show some gratitude, and simply thank thy LORD? Gratitude draws down a blessing, and the Great Benefactor likes His children to remind Him of His Goodness. _Hast thou no promises to make to Me?_ I can read thy heart; thou knowest it; thou mayst deceive man, but thou canst never deceive God. Be sincere. _Art thou resolved to avoid all occasions of sin?_ To renounce that which tempts thee; never again to open the book that excites thine imagination? Not to bestow thine affection on one who is not devout, and whose presence steals the peace from thy soul? Wilt thou go now and be loving and forbearing towards one who has vexed thee?... Good, My child!... Go, then, return to thy daily toil; be silent, humble, resigned, charitable; then return to Me with a heart yet more loving and devoted, and _I_ shall have for thee fresh blessings. XXIII. "There will soon be none left," said S. Francis de Sales, "who will love poor sinners but GOD and myself." Oh! why do we fail in love towards those poor sinful ones! Are they not very much to be pitied? When they are prosperous, pray for them; but when misfortune comes (and trouble weighs heavily upon the wicked), death depriving them of the only beings they did not hate, afflicting them with a loathsome disease, delivering them up to scorn and misery--oh! then, when all this comes upon them, love them freely. It is by affection alone that we can reach the worst characters, and the souls that are steeped in sin. How many have died impenitent, who, if only some one had cared for them and shown them love, might have become at last saints in heaven! Oh! the sins that are committed, oh! the souls we suffer to wander from GOD, and all because we are so wanting in love towards them. XXIV. Let us always be on our guard against _Prejudice_. Some women have a way (of which they themselves are unconscious) of turning the cold shoulder to some one member of their family. For what reason? They cannot say, simply because the cause is never very clearly defined and in this lies all the mischief. Perhaps an air of indifference they may have fancied, and which arose merely from fatigue, or trouble that could not be confided to them. A word misinterpreted, because heard at a time when they felt discontented, and their morbid imagination made everything appear in a false light. Some scandal to which they ought never to have listened, or, at least, should have endeavored to fathom, going direct to the person concerned and seeking an explanation.