In the same way must we dread human prudence and human considerations in the reception of subjects (the good choice of which is essential for the preservation of the Institute); above all of subjects who are infirm or defective in body. You will tell me that this has been so often recommended in our writings that there is no need for me to speak of it here. Yes, this is true, yet I cannot refrain from repeating myself, because I see that this article on the reception of those who have some bodily defect is often combated by wise persons, and is quite contrary to natural prudence, which sometimes furnishes so many good reasons that poor charity has trouble enough to hold herself above it. Wherefore, to observe this point intact we need great courage, and we should often call to mind that it is the end of our Institute, and the desire of desires of our holy Institutor, as is shown by his warning to those who infringe it. And see how by this law he has provided us with a means of practising the two cherished virtues of our Congregation to which he so constantly exhorted us: gentle charity towards our neighbour, and love of our own humiliation. All that can help us to gain these virtues ought to be very dear to us, since they are the foundation and mainstay of the whole spiritual edifice of the Visitation. Let us then cleave to them, humbling ourselves more and more, so that we may accept lovingly and with a welcome all that is abject in the eyes of the world. Thus may we esteem ourselves very poor and little in comparison to others, desiring no other excellence than not to excel, depending wholly on the good pleasure of God, seeking in all things only His glory, for this, as you know, is the characteristic of the daughters of the Visitation. Oh! my dearest daughters, how we should prize it! It is the one thing worth caring about. For the love of God, let us preserve it in its entirety, and beware of the desire of excelling and of self-esteem, which would rob us of it. Continually bear in mind all that our Blessed Father has both left us in his writings and said to us on this subject, so that our undertakings may be adorned with this holy virtue. I shudder as I write and cannot keep back my tears from the fear that some day this spirit will be lessened or lost. Oh my God! permit not this, but rather let our Institute cease to be. My Sisters, I entreat you to be faithful. When I recall the labours, cares, and pains through which our holy Founder established and confirmed us as we now are, and his intense desire that this spirit should continue unimpaired, I feel that I would willingly give my life to preserve it. With all the strength of my soul then I say: Be jealous of it, for it is the supreme means of drawing down upon us the grace of God, in whose hands Our Blessed Father has left us with the assurance that within the paternal Arms of the sovereign Providence of God we shall never lack grace to maintain our Institute in its first