.

[3] Cf. Ps. 33[34]:6.

[4] Ps. 111[112]:4.

[5] Prov. 18:19.

[6] John 10:12.

[7] Cf. 2 Kings 16:10.

[8] Mark 7:28.

[9] Cf. Luke 14:12, 13, 14.

[10] 2 Cor. 9:7.

[11] Matt. 25:40.

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CHAPTER XI A CANTICLE OF LOVE

It is not only when He is about to send me some trial that Our
Lord gives me warning and awakens my desire for it. For years I
had cherished a longing which seemed impossible of realisation--to
have a brother a Priest. I often used to think that if my little
brothers had not gone to Heaven, I should have had the happiness
of seeing them at the Altar. I greatly regretted being deprived of
this joy. Yet God went beyond my dream; I only asked for one
brother who would remember me each day at the Holy Altar, and He
has united me in the bonds of spiritual friendship with two of His
apostles. I should like to tell you, dear Mother, how Our Divine
Master fulfilled my desire.

In 1895 our holy Mother, St. Teresa, sent my first brother as a
gift for my feast. It was washing day, and I was busy at my work,
when Mother Agnes of Jesus, then Prioress, called me aside and
read me a letter from a young Seminarist, in which he said he had
been inspired by St. Teresa to ask for a sister who would devote
herself specially to his salvation, and to the salvation of his
future flock. He promised always to remember this spiritual sister
when saying Mass, and the choice fell upon me. Dear Mother, I
cannot tell you how happy this made me. Such unlooked-for
fulfillment of my desire awoke in my heart the joy of a child; it
carried me back to those early days, when pleasures were so keen,
that my heart seemed too small to contain them. Years had passed
since I had tasted a like happiness, so fresh, so unfamiliar, as
if forgotten chords had been stirred within me.

Fully aware of my obligations, I set to work, and strove to
redouble my fervour. Now and again I wrote to my new brother.
Undoubtedly, it is by prayer and sacrifice that we can help our
missionaries, but sometimes, when it pleases Our Lord to unite two
souls for His Glory, He permits them to communicate their
thoughts, and thus inspire each other to love God more. Of course
an express command from those in authority is needed for this,
otherwise, it seems to me, that such a correspondence would do
more harm than good, if not to the missionary, at least to the
Carmelite, whose manner of life tends to continual introv