Selected Letters of Saint Jane Frances de ChantalChantal, Jeanne-Françoise de, Saint
Religion
Selected Letters of Saint Jane Frances de Chantal
Chantal, Jeanne-Françoise de, Saint
Chantal, Jeanne-Françoise de, Saint, 1572-1641 -- Correspondence
But, if your Reverence wishes to see clearly the state of this holy
soul on these points, read, if you please, the three or four last
chapters in the "Divine Love."[B] All his actions were animated with the
sole motive of pleasing God, and truly (as he says in this sacred book)
he asked nought of heaven nor of earth but to see the will of God
accomplished. How many times has he not repeated over to me those words
of David: "O! Lord, what have I in heaven, and besides Thee what do I
desire on earth? Thou art my portion and my eternal inheritance." He
lived on the principle that what was not God was nothing to him. His
eminent virtue and that universal indifference which was remarked in him
by all were the product of this perfect union. I never read those
chapters which treat of it in the ninth book of "Divine Love" without
seeing clearly that as occasions arose he practised what he taught.
That admirable but little known maxim, _Ask for nothing, desire nothing,
refuse nothing_, which he faithfully carried out to the very end of his
life, could not originate with one who was not entirely indifferent and
dead to self. In regard to his actions such incomparable equality of
mind did he possess that there was no changeableness in his attitude. He
unquestionably felt keen resentment when subjected to rudeness or
insult, above all when God was offended, or his neighbour oppressed; but
on such occasions, as is mentioned in his memoirs, he exercised complete
self-control and would retire into himself with God and remain silent.
Yet he none the less set to work, and that promptly, to remedy the evil,
for he was the refuge, the succour, the support of all.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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