Page 76 In Love With The Divine Outcast

(P.76) To live by Love is to hold fast within

A Treasure in a fragile vase of earth.

Alas! I fear my weakness prone to sin,

I am no Angel of celestial birth.

But, if I trembling fall at every hour,

Thou wilt embrace me, lifting me above,

At Thine approach, Thou gives me new power

To live by Love.

A novice, evidently on the brink of discouragement, made complaint to St. Little Thérèse that she seemed to make no progress. The Saint replied with these memorable words: 'Up to the age of fourteen I practiced virtue without tasting its sweetness. I desired suffering, but I did not think of making it my joy; that grace was vouchsafed me later. My soul was like a beautiful tree, the flowers of which had scarcely opened when they fell. Offer to God the sacrifice of never gathering any fruit off your tree. If it be His Will that throughout your whole life you should feel repugnance to suffering and humiliation, if He permits all the flowers of your desires and your goodwill to fall to the ground without any fruit appearing, do not worry. At the hour of death in the twinkling of an eye, He will cause rich fruits to ripen on the tree of your soul.'

Let us not be discouraged! Rather at each broken resolution, at each petty fall, (P.77) let us rise courageously, and bravely resume our road, though our knees be bleeding and broken.

Start at the Very Beginning!