Adrien Sylvain

“ Hast thou no promises to make to Me? I can read thy heart; thou knowest it; thou mayst deceive man, but thou canst never deceive God. Be sincere.
Art thou resolved to avoid all occasions of sin? To renounce that which tempts thee; never again to open the book that excites thine imagination? Not to bestow thine affection on one who is not devout, and whose presence steals the peace from thy soul? ”

“ It was the smile on the lips of a beloved one whom we knew to be sorrowful, that spoke to us of the sweet joy of resignation.
It was the open look of an innocent child that revealed to us all the beauty of frankness and simplicity.
Oh! if we had but treasured all the rays of light that cross our path and sparkle but for a moment; oh! if we [pg 013] had but engraved them on our hearts! what a guide and comfort they would have been to us in the days of discouragement and sorrow; what counsels to guide our actions, what consolations to soothe the broken heart! ”

“ Jesus! let me dwell on the sweetness of those words: My Father! I need not lift my eyes to heaven, Thou [pg 066] art within me, and where Thou dwellest heaven must be.
Yes! heaven is within me! heaven with all its peace and love; and if I keep free from guile this day, my day will be one of heavenly joy, and in addition, the privilege of suffering for Thee.
HALLOWED BE THY NAME To hallow Thy Name, O Lord, is to pronounce it with reverence and awe.
To-day I will pray more fervently, try to realize Thy Presence, Thy Goodness, Thy Love ”

“ Poor souls, that, perhaps, have no longer strength or will to manifest the longing they experience, and who languish for want of help, without being aware that they are perishing. Oh, mingle sometimes with your earthly help the blessed Name of God; and if there remain one little spark of life in the soul, that Name will rekindle it, and carry comfort and resignation; even as air breathed into the mouth of any one apparently dead, rushes into the lungs, and revives the sufferer, if but one breath of life remains. ”

“ Have we courage not to spare the soul the trial that we know will purify?
Does it seem too hard for you?
Ah! then you do not know what real love is. Does not God love us? Yet God lets us suffer; even sends the suffering.
Love is given us to help us onwards, nearer to God. The most blessed is that which draws us nearest to Him; [pg 082] and in proportion as it leads to God we realize its blessedness.
The essence of true love is not its tenderness, but its strength, power of endurance, its purity, its self-renunciation.
The mistake we make is when we seek to be beloved, instead of loving. ”

“ It is as the venomous plant that the gardener can never entirely eradicate. Only by a miracle can hatred be destroyed. At once then let us place a barrier in our hearts against the approach of coolness or indifference, and each Saturday night the head of the family shall thus address us: "Children, to-night we forgive, to-night we forget, and to-morrow begin life afresh in love, one towards another." ”

“ A joyous heart amid our work imparts to duty a brilliancy that charms the eyes of others, while it prevents those feeling wounded who cannot perform it equally well.
Joy, with us, is like a lever, by which we lift the weights that without its help would crush us. ”

“ Do you see, my child, how much may lie beneath those simple words, a little, that the daisy gave you, and that you seem so much to despise!
Never scorn anything that seems wanting in brilliancy, and remember to be really happy we must have—
More virtue than knowledge,
More love than tenderness,
More guidance than cleverness,
More health than riches,
More repose than profit. [pg 139]
VI. Each day is like a furrow lying before us; our thoughts, desires, and actions are the seed that each minute we drop into it, without seeming to perceive it. ”

“ God never leaves His creatures in absolute need. God may deprive a face of beauty, a character of amiability, a mind of brilliancy, but He will never take away a heart of love; with the faculty of loving, He adds the power of prayer, and the promise always to listen to and answer it.
As long as we can love and pray, life has charms for us.
Love produces devotion, and devotion brings happiness, even though we may not understand it. ”

“ The furrow finished, we commence upon another, then another, and again another; each day presents a fresh one, and so on to the end of life ... sowing, ever sowing. And all we have sown springs up, grows and bears fruit, almost unknown to us; even if by chance we cast a backward glance we fail to recognize our work. ”

“ My child, I would prefer for you the words not at all, as applied to fortune, external charms, and all that goes by the name of glory, success, and fascination in the world. I know it may seem a hard sentence, involving a continual self-denial, and exacting incessant hard labor to obtain the bare necessities of life for those we love. ”

“ Pleasures of the heart cause anxiety, bitterness, rendings, and fears.
Pleasures of the mind produce a void, vanity, jealousy, coldness, and humiliations! Teach me that all must pass away ... that nothing is true, nothing is good, nothing is eternal, but Thou, Thou only, O my God! ”

“ What is contrary to God's Will, grieves Him, and does you harm, that alone you need fear,—the thought that will stain your soul; the wish that troubles your heart; that unwholesome action, that will weaken your intellect, and destroy your peace. ”

“ O Jesus! grant that I may feel and understand all the pain that timidity, [pg 190] shyness, or reserve keep buried within the recesses of the soul. Grant me the tact and discretion that draws near without paining, that asks without repulsing, without humiliating, and thus enable me to bring peace and comfort to the wounded heart.
O Jesus! seeking some one as faithful dispenser of Thy blessings, grant much to me, that I may have much to bestow on others. ”

“ Picture to yourself, standing before you, a child—a child perhaps who may have injured you deeply, and yet whose sincerity at this moment you cannot doubt, who is actuated neither by fear nor self-seeking, but simply by a penitent heart, and who comes to say to you words of love, such as those above, do you feel no emotion, no feeling of pity? ”

“ Jesus, grant me to desire it!
[pg 063] Oh, if God hearkens,—and hearken He surely will, if your prayer has been sincere,—what joy in your heart, what peace on your countenance, what sweetness will pervade your whole life!
More than half one's troubles arise from an exaggerated idea of one's own importance, and the efforts we make to increase our position in the world. Lacordaire says, that the sweetest thing on earth is to be forgotten by all, with the exception of those who love us. All else brings more trouble than joy ”

“ You need only be careful about one thing, never to displease God, and you will see how lovingly God will direct all that concerns you—material interests, sympathies, worldly cares; you will be astonished at the sudden enlightenment that will come to you, and the wondrous peace that will result from your labor and your toil.
Then, welcome trial, sickness, ennui, privations, injustice ... all of it can only come directed by God's Hand, and will wound the soul only in order to cleanse some spot within. ”

“ Nothing so smooths and sweetens life as Prayer.
There is the solitary prayer, when the soul isolated from all creatures is alone with God and feels thus towards Him: "God and I;" God to love; I to adore, praise, glorify, thank. ”

“ Curiosity lays the soul open to all external things, fills it with a thousand fancies and questionings, pleasing or vexatious, absorbing the mind, and making it quite impossible to retire within one's self and be recollected. Then follow distaste, sloth, and ennui for all that savors of silence, retirement, and meditation. ”

“ For a wounded heart no balm is so efficacious as forbearance.
To forbear is to forget every night the little vexations of the past day; to say every morning: "To-day I shall be braver and calmer than yesterday." Forbearance even sometimes leads us to detect in ourselves a little want of good nature, condescension, and charity. ”

“ Deep devotion is sometimes a little erratic; always afraid of doing too little, doing it badly or inopportunely. Oftener still the tokens of affection are checked, because we think we could show it in some better way; we put off till brighter days the dreams we cherished, the sweet yearning to open the heart to the loved ones, and let them see for once what a large place they fill there. ”

“ Self-renunciation is to root out all that encumbers the heart, all that impedes the free action of the Holy Spirit within—longings after an imaginary perfection or well-being, unreal sentiments that trouble us in prayer, in work, in slumber, that fascinate us, but the result of which is to destroy all real application.
Self-renunciation is to resist all the allurements of the senses, that would [pg 098] only give pleasure to self, and satisfy the conscience, by whispering, "It is no sin." ”

“ Strength to rise again after some failure, some humiliating fault, some depressing weakness; rise again lovingly, confidingly, and with the thought, "Never mind, it is a good Father, a kind Master, with Whom I have to deal." Confess your sin, humble yourself, and while awaiting the assurance of pardon go on with your daily work with the same zeal as before.
Fortitude against the desertion and forgetfulness of others.
We have two things to fortify us,—Prayer and Labor. ”

“ God does not forbid patient, submissive pleading, but murmuring fears are displeasing to Him, and He withdraws from the soul that will not lean on Him. Cowardice manifests itself when in the trials of life we rebel against the Divine will that sends us illness, calumny, privation, desertion; when in dryness of soul we leave off our prayers and communions because we feel no sensible sweetness in them; when we feel a sickness of the soul that makes us uneasy, and fearful that God has forsaken us. ”

“ To pray is to remain, so long as our prayer lasts, in the Presence of God, with the certainty that we can never weary Him, no matter what may be the subject of our prayer, or at those times when we are speechless, and as in the case of the good peasant quoted by the Curé d'Ars, we are content to place ourselves before God, with only the recollection of His Presence.
To pray is to act towards God as the child does to its mother, the poor man towards the rich, eager to do him good, the friend towards his friend, who longs to show him affection. ”

“ Wednesday SELF-RENUNCIATION Do not be afraid of that word Renunciation. To you, perhaps, it only means, weariness, restraint, ennui.
But it means also, love, perfection, sanctification.
Who cannot renounce, cannot love.
Who cannot renounce, cannot become perfect.
[pg 097] Who cannot renounce, cannot be made holy.
Self-renunciation means devotion to our duty, going on with it in spite of difficulties, disgust, ennui, want of success.
Self-renunciation is self-sacrifice, under whatever form it presents itself,—prayer, labor, love ... ”

“ Love to repeat to God the prayer that Christ Himself has taught, and for His sake is always accepted.
Look upon yourself as a hired servant of God, to whom He has promised a rich reward at the end of the day He calls life; each morning hold yourself in readiness to obey all His commands, in the way He wills, and with the means He appoints. ”

“ Speak of the happiness of devotion, the charm of purity, the blessing of the few minutes' meditation at the feet of Jesus, the peace procured by entire resignation to Providence, and the sweetness of a life spent beneath God's Fatherly Eye, the comfort the thought [pg 112] of heaven brings in the midst of trouble, the hope of the meeting again above, the certainty of eternal happiness. This is doing good to others, drawing them nearer to God, and teaching them more and more of holiness. ”