title of Novice Mistress.

[8] Ps. 118[119]:141.

[9] Ps. 118[119]:100, 105, 106.

[10] Luke 1:49.

[11] Cf. John 1:5.

[12] Cf. Luke 18:13.

[13] Ps. 91[92]:5.

[14] Ps. 143[144]:1, 2.

[15] Ps. 132[133]:1.

[16] Matt. 22:39.

[17] Cf. Matt. 7:21.

[18] Cf. John 13:34.

[19] John 15:12.

[20] Luke 11:33.

[21] John 15:12.

[22] 1 Cor. 4:3,4.

[23] Luke 6:37.

[24] Matt. 5:43, 44.

[25] Luke 6:32.

[26] Luke 6:30.

[27] Matt. 11:30.

[28] Matt. 5:40.

[29] Matt. 5:41.

[30] Matt. 5:42.

[31] Luke 6:34, 35.

[32] Prov. 1:27.

[33] Prov. 10:12.

[34] Ps. 118[119]:32.

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CHAPTER X
THE NEW COMMANDMENT

Dear Mother, God in His infinite goodness has given me a clear
insight into the deep mysteries of Charity. If I could but express
what I know, you would hear a heavenly music; but alas! I can only
stammer like a child, and if God's own words were not my support,
I should be tempted to beg leave to hold my peace. When the Divine
Master tells me to give to whosoever asks of me, and to let what
is mine be taken without asking it again, it seems to me that He
speaks not only of the goods of earth, but also of the goods of
Heaven. Besides, neither one nor the other are really mine; I
renounced the former by the vow of poverty, and the latter gifts
are simply lent. If God withdraw them, I have no right to complain.

But our very own ideas, the fruit of our mind and heart, form a
treasury on which none dare lay hands. For instance, if I reveal
to a Sister some light given me in prayer, and she repeats it
later on as though it were her own, it seems as though she
appropriates what is mine. Or, if during recreation someone makes
an apt and witty remark, which her neighbour repeats to the
Community, without acknowledging whence it came, it is a sort of
theft; and the person who originated the remark is naturally
inclined to seize the first opportunity of delicately insinuating
that her thoughts have been borrowed.

I could not so well explain all these weaknesses of human nature
had I not experienced them. I should have preferred to indulge in
the illusion that I was the only one who suffered thus, had you
not bidden me advise the novices in their difficulties. I have
learnt much in the discharge of this duty, and especially I feel
bound to put in practice what I teach.

I can say with truth that by God's grace I am no more attached to
the gifts of t