right, I say
with a sigh of relief: "Thank God! It is not a novice, and I am
not obliged to correct"; and at once I try to find excuses, and
credit the doer with the good intentions she no doubt possesses.

Your devotedness, dear Mother, now that I am ill, has also taught
me many a lesson of charity. No remedy is too costly, and if one
does not succeed, you unhesitatingly try something new. When I am
present at recreation, how careful you are to shield me from
draughts. I feel that I ought to be as compassionate for the
spiritual infirmities of my Sisters as you are for my bodily ills.

I have noticed that it is the holiest nuns who are most deeply
loved; everyone is anxious to seek their company, and do them
service, without even being asked. These very souls who are well
able to bear with want of affection and little attentions are
always surrounded by an atmosphere of love. Our Father, St. John
of the Cross, says with great truth: "All good things have come
unto me, since I no longer sought them for myself."

Imperfect souls, on the contrary, are left alone. They are
treated, it is true, with the measure of politeness which
religious life demands; yet their company is avoided, lest a word
might be said which would hurt their feelings. When I say
imperfect souls, I am not referring to souls with spiritual
imperfections only, for the holiest souls will not be perfect till
they are in heaven. I mean those who are also afflicted with want
of tact and refinement, as well as ultra-sensitive souls. I know
such defects are incurable, but I also know how patient you would
be, in nursing and striving to relieve me, were my illness to last
for many years.

From all this I draw the conclusion:--I ought to seek the
companionship of those Sisters towards whom I feel a natural
aversion, and try to be their good Samaritan. A word or a smile is
often enough to put fresh life in a despondent soul. And yet it is
not merely in the hope of giving consolation that I try to be
kind. If it were, I know that I should soon be discouraged, for
well-intentioned words are often totally misunderstood.
Consequently, not to lose my time or labour, I try to act solely
to please Our Lord, and follow this precept of the Gospel: "When
thou makest a dinner or a supper, call not thy friends or thy
brethren, lest perhaps they also invite thee again and a
recompense be made to thee. But when thou makest a feast, call the
poor, the maimed, the blind