And do you not think that on their side the great Saints, seeing what they owe to quite little souls, will love them with an incomparable love? Delightful and surprising will be the friendships found there--I am sure of it. The favoured companion of an Apostle or a great Doctor of the Church, will perhaps be a young shepherd lad; and a simple little child may be the intimate friend of a Patriarch. Oh! how I long to dwell in that Kingdom of Love.... COUNSELS AND REMINISCENCES A sister showed her a photograph representing Joan of Arc consoled in the prison by her Voices. Sœur Thérèse said: “I too am consoled by an interior voice. The Saints encourage me from above, they say to me: ‘So long as thou art in fetters thou canst not fulfil thy mission; but later, after thy death--_then_ will be the time of thy conquests.’” COUNSELS AND REMINISCENCES In Heaven the good God will do all I wish, because I have never done my own will upon earth. COUNSELS AND REMINISCENCES Even now I know it; yes, all my hopes will be fulfilled ... yes ... the Lord will work wonders for me which will surpass infinitely my immeasurable desires. VIII LETTER TO MÈRE AGNÈS DE JÉSUS FOOTNOTES: [23] I Cor., ii, 9. _Cf._ Is., lxiv, 4. [24] I Cor., vii, 31. [25] _Cf._ Ps. cxxxvi, 2. [26] _Cf._ Ps., cxxxvi, 1, 4. [Illustration] HUMILITY It appears to me that humility is the truth. I know not whether I am humble, but I know that I see the truth in all things. COUNSELS AND REMINISCENCES I have understood what true glory is. He whose _Kingdom is not of this world_[27] showed me that the only enviable royalty consists in loving _to be unknown and esteemed as nothing_,[28] and finding our joy in contempt of self. I wished that like the Face of Jesus, mine might be _as it were hidden and despised_.[29] _That none upon earth might esteem me._ I thirsted to suffer and to be forgotten. HIST. D’UNE AME, CH. VII Jesus made me understand that the true, the only glory is that which will last for ever; that to attain to it we need not perform wonderful deeds, but rather, those hidden from the eyes of others and from self, so that _the left hand knoweth not what the right hand doth_.[30] HIST. D’UNE AME, CH. IV Thérèse is weak, very weak; of this she has new and salutary experience every day. But Jesus takes pleasure in teaching her how to _glory in her infirmities_.[31] It is a great grace this, for herein is found peace and tranquillity. When we see ourselves so miserable, we wish no longer to look at self but only on the Well-Beloved. II LETTER TO HER COUSIN MARIE GUÉRIN