_"The just man shall correct me in mercy and reprove me; but let not the oil of the sinner anoint my head_. [15] I cannot be corrected or tried except by the just, inasmuch as all my Sisters are pleasing to God. It is less bitter to be reproved by a sinner than by the just; but _through compassion for sinners_, to obtain their conversion, I pray Thee, O my God, that I may be bruised by the just souls who are round about me. Again, I beg that the oil of praise, so sweet to nature, _anoint not my head_, that is to say, enervate not my mind, by making me believe that I possess virtues which I have only with difficulty practised several times. "O my Jesus! _Thy Name is as oil poured out;_ [16] it is in this divine perfume that I wish to be wholly bathed, far away from the notice of creatures." COUNSELS AND REMINISCENCES [15] Ps., cxl, 5. [16] Cant., i, 2. AT the close of her life she was able to say: "I used so to rise above all things, that I drew strength from humiliations." HIST. D'UNE AME, CH. XII "GOD has a special love for you," remarked a young Sister, "since to you He entrusts other souls." "That does not add anything to me, and I am only really just what I am in God's sight . . . It does not follow that He loves me more, because He wills that I should be His interpreter to you; rather, He makes me your little servant. It is for you and not for me that He has given me the charms and virtues apparent to you. "Often I compare myself to a little bowl which God fills with good things of every kind. All the _kittens_ come to it to take their share, and sometimes there is a contest as to which shall have most. But the Child Jesus is there, keeping watch: 'I am very willing that you drink from my little bowl' saith He, 'but take care lest you overturn it and break it.' "Truth to tell, the danger is not great, because I am placed on the ground. It is otherwise with Prioresses: they, being set on tables run many more risks. Honours are always dangerous. "Oh! how poisonous the praises served up day by day to those who hold high places. What baneful incense! And how necessary it is that the soul be detached from self, that so she may escape unharmed." COUNSELS AND REMINISCENCES TO help a novice to accept a humiliation she said to her in confidence: "If I had not been received into Carmel I would have entered a Refuge, to live there unknown and despised in the midst of the poor penitents. To pass for such in the eyes of all would have been my happiness. I should have been the apostle of my companions telling them what I think of the Mercy of the good God." "But how would you have been able to hide your innocence from your Confessor?" "I would have told him that while in the world I had made a general confession and had been forbidden to do so again." COUNSELS AND REMINISCENCES