IN order to love Jesus, to be His victim of love, the more weak and miserable we are, the more fitting are we for the operations of this consuming and transforming Love . . . The sole desire to be victim suffices; but we must consent to remain always poor and without strength, and there lies the difficulty, for _where shall be found the truly poor in spirit? He must be sought afar off_, [7] saith the author of the _Imitation_ . . . He did not say that we must seek him amongst great souls, but afar off, that is to say in lowliness, in nothingness . . . Oh! let us keep _afar off_ from all that glitters, let us love our littleness, and be satisfied to feel nothing, then shall we be truly poor in spirit, and Jesus will come to seek us how far soever we may be; He will transform us into flames of Love! . . . VI LETTER TO SŒUR MARIE DU SACRÉ-CŒUR _(Her sister Marie.)_ [7] _Cf._ Imit., II, xi, 4. TO be truly a Victim of Love requires absolute self-surrender. _The soul is consumed by Love only in so far as she surrenders herself to Love._ COUNSELS AND REMINISCENCES IT appears to me that for Victims of Love there will be no judgment, but rather, that the good God will hasten to recompense with eternal delights His own Love, which He will see burning in their hearts. COUNSELS AND REMINISCENCES AT any cost I will cull the palm of Saint Agnes; if not by shedding my blood then it must be by Love. . . IV LETTER TO MÈRE AGNÈS DE JÉSUS O MY God, Thou knowest I have never desired but to love Thee alone. I seek no other glory. Thy Love has gone before me from my childhood, it has grown with my growth, and now it is an abyss the depths of which I cannot fathom. HIST. D'UNE AME, CH. XI LOVE attracts love, mine rushes forth unto Thee, it would fain fill up the abyss which attracts it; but alas! it is not even as one drop of dew lost in the Ocean. To love Thee as Thou lovest me I must borrow Thy very love--then only, can I find rest. HIST. D'UNE AME, CH. XI JUST as a torrent sweeps along with it unto the depths of the sea whatsoever it encounters on its course, even so, my Jesus, does the soul which plunges into the boundless ocean of Thy Love draw after her all her treasures. Lord, Thou knowest that for me these treasures are the souls it has pleased Thee to unite to mine. HIST. D'UNE AME, CH. XI CHARITY gave me the key to my vocation. I understood that the Church being a body composed of different members, the most essential, the most noble of all the organs would not be wanting to her; I understood that the Church has _a heart_ and that this heart is burning with love; that it is love alone which makes the members work, that if love were to die away apostles would no longer preach the Gospel, martyrs would refuse to shed their blood. I understood that love comprises all vocations, that love is everything, that it embraces all times and all places because it is eternal! HIST. D'UNE AME, CH. XI