near and draw
her to His Heavenly Home, she is glad; she has understood that God
has need of no one to do good upon earth, still less of her than
of others. Meantime I know your will, dear Mother. You wish me to
carry out, at your side, a work which is both sweet and easy,[7]
and this work I shall complete in Heaven. You have said to me, as
Our Lord said to St. Peter: "Feed my lambs." I am amazed, for I
feel that I am so little. I have entreated you to feed your little
lambs yourself and to keep me among them. You have complied in
part with my reasonable wish, and have called me their companion,
rather than their mistress, telling me nevertheless to lead them
through fertile and shady pastures, to point out where the grass
is sweetest and best, and warn them against the brilliant but
poisonous flowers, which they must never touch except to crush
under foot.

How is it, dear Mother, that my youth and inexperience have not
frightened you? Are you not afraid that I shall let your lambs
stray afar? In acting as you have done, perhaps you remembered
that Our Lord is often pleased to give wisdom to little ones.

On this earth it is rare indeed to find souls who do not measure
God's Omnipotence by their own narrow thoughts. The world is
always ready to admit exceptions everywhere here below. God alone
is denied this liberty. It has long been the custom among men to
reckon experience by age, for in his youth the holy King David
sang to His Lord: "I am young and despised,"[8] but in the same
Psalm he does not fear to say: "I have had understanding above old
men, because I have sought Thy commandments, Thy word is a lamp to
my feet, and a light to my paths; I have sworn, and I am
determined, to keep the judgments of Thy Justice."[9]

And you did not even consider it imprudent to assure me one day,
that the Divine Master had enlightened my soul and given me the
experience of years. I am too little now to be guilty of vanity; I
am likewise too little to endeavour to prove my humility by
fine-sounding words. I prefer to own in all simplicity that "He
that is mighty hath done great things to me"--[10] and the
greatest is that He has shown me my littleness and how incapable I
am of anything good.

My soul has known trials of many kinds. I have suffered much on
this earth. In my childhood I suffered with sadness, but now I
find sweetness in all things. Anyone but you, dear Mother, who
know me thoroughly, would smile at reading t