d, to sustain him. His sufferings only increase my sympathy and
love for him in our Lord. My health is still feeble, but all is well
in the depths of my heart. God is there.

REPROVE IN LOVE.

It is important to use great care and sweetness in reproving others.
Reprove only when alone with the person, and take not your own time,
but the moment of God. As we are not free from faults ourselves, we
must not expect too much from others. Be yourself very humble and
child-like, and this character will act sympathetically on others.
Jesus Christ was full of sweetness and charity. How patiently did he
bear with his imperfect disciples, even with Judas, without anger,
without bitterness, and even without coldness.

How lowly was Jesus! He "did not break the bruised reed." He imparts
to his little ones no tyrannic power. They use no violence in dealing
with souls, but say with John, "Behold the _Lamb of God_, who taketh
away the sins of the world." Our Lord, "rejoiced in spirit," in an
unusual manner, such as we find nowhere else in Scripture, when he
said, "I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou
hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and revealed them unto
_babes_." How happy are we in the presence of a little child; how much
at ease! It imposes on us no burden of restraint, of fear, of
management! It is in this childlike disposition of meekness, of
sweetness, of innocency, that we should seek to benefit others.

In the love of Jesus, yours.

SILENT OPERATION OF GRACE.

I perceive, by your letter, you are in doubt about the grace which
passes interiorly from heart to heart. We notice an illustration of
this in the woman who touched our Lord, when he said: "I perceive that
virtue is gone out of me." In a similar manner, without words, one
heart may communicate grace to another heart, as God imparts grace to
the soul. But if the soul is not in a state to receive it, the grace
of the interior is not communicated, as is expressed in another
passage; "If they are not children of peace, your peace will return to
you again." This illustrates, according to my view, pure interior
communications of the grace of God, from heart to heart, which the soul
relishes in silence, and which silence is often more efficacious than a
multitude of words.

At our last interviews I had an inclination for silence, but finding in
you an aversion to silent communion, I entered into conve