led me and guided me in my days of exile and
offered me to Our Lord. As a child loves its mother, I love you;
in Heaven only will you realise the gratitude with which my heart
is full to overflowing.

Your little daughter,

Teresa of the Child Jesus.
_____________________________

[1] Eccles. 24:29.

[2] Apoc. 21:4.

[3] Isa. 53:3.

[4] She alludes to the Statue of the Holy Child in the cloister,
which was under her own special care. [Ed.]

[5] Luke 16:2.

[6] Luke 22:42.

[7] Cf. _Imit.,_ II, xi. 4.

_____________________________

LETTERS TO SISTER FRANCES TERESA[1]

I

August 13, 1893.

DEAR LITTLE SISTER,--At last your desires are satisfied. Like the
dove sent forth from the ark, you have been unable to find a spot
on earth whereon to rest, and have long been on the wing seeking
to re-enter the blessed abode where your heart had for ever fixed
its home. Jesus has kept you waiting, but at last, touched by the
plaintive cry of His dove, He has put forth His Divine Hand, and,
taking hold of it, has set it in His Heart--that sanctuary of His
Love.

It is quite a spiritual joy, this joy of mine. For I shall never
look upon you again, never hear your voice as I outpour my heart
into yours. Yet I know that earth is but a halting-place to us who
journey towards a Heavenly Home. What matter if the routes we
follow lie apart? Our goal is the same--that Heaven where we shall
meet, no more to be separated. There we shall taste for ever the
sweets of our earthly home. We shall have much to tell one another
when this exile is ended. Speech here below is so inadequate, but
a single glance will be enough for perfect understanding in our
home beyond; and I believe that our happiness will be greater than
if we had never been parted here.

Meanwhile we must live by sacrifice. Without it there would be no
merit in the religious life. As someone told us in a conference:
"The reason why the forest oak raises its head so high is because,
hemmed in on all sides, it wastes no sap in putting forth branches
underneath, but towers aloft. Thus in the religious life the soul,
hedged in all around by the rule and by the practice of community
life, of necessity finds there a means of lifting a high head
towards Heaven."

Dearest sister, pray for your little Therese that she may draw
profit from her exile on earth and from the plentiful means
granted her of meriting Heaven.

II

January, 1895.

DEAR LITTLE SIS