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Ms C 32r
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[32r°] Mother, it would be impossible for me to express my happiness. My desire, answered in this unexpected way, gave birth in my heart to a joy which I can describe only as that of a child. I would really have to go back to my childhood days to recapture once more the memory of joys so great that the soul [5] is too little to contain them, and not for years had I experienced this kind of happiness. I felt my soul was renewed; it was as if someone had struck for the first time musical strings left forgotten until then. I understood fully the obligation I was imposing upon myself and I set to work [10] by trying to redouble my fervor. I must admit that at first I had no consolations for stimulating my zeal. After writing one charming letter filled with noble aspirations in which he thanked Mother Agnes of Jesus, my little brother gave no further sign of life until the following July, except that in November he sent a notice [15] saying he had entered the military service. Dear Mother, it was to you that God reserved the completion of the work already begun. No doubt it is through prayer and sacrifice that we can help missionaries, but when it pleases Jesus to join two souls for His glory, He permits them to communicate their [20] thoughts from time to time in order to incite each other to love God more. However, the express permission of authority is necessary for this, for it seems to me that this correspondence would do more harm than good, if not to the missionary, then at least to the Carmelite because of her type of life
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