Be a Light to your Children and your Neighbors

And next we come to the exterior duties which are, as I have already said, that outward manifestation of our inward condition. You have duties toward your children, and have to look after their mode of life, their work, etc. Al this should be done without exaggerating anything, or allowing yourself to be absorbed by one thing at the cost of another, or by one child to the detriment of the rest.

The duty of a mother, who is not dependent upon her own exertions from the material point of view, is to provide for and arrange everything, watching over all, but not claiming the right to do everything herself. These household cares and the organization and arrangement of her home, accounts, etc., do not take up all her thoughts, when things are done regularly day by day, and all is in the right plan. What a mother ought to do, and what she alone can do, is to look after her children's moral development, to acquire an insight into their minds, and to awaken in them the highest aspirations. By merely coming into contact with them, she can give them a sense of quiet strength that nothing is able to ruffle, and thus she becomes a second conscience to them. Whoever is happy enough to be able to pass on to her children the results of her own inward experiences is bound to do so.

Toward those whom we call by the pleasant name of neighbors, you, who enjoy a favored existence, have duties and responsibilities. You are responsible because you possess means, intellect, and moral worth. You are an educated woman, whose heart and mind can grasp and sympathize with many things; you enjoy the privilege, in this age of hostility, of hating nothing but hatred, and so you do much good, if you know where to look. The heart has a power of insight, more or less keen, which enables us to discover needs and sufferings that others would pass unnoticed. My own experience of life has convinced me that never a day goes by without our meeting someone in distress of body or soul, some case of sorrow or poverty, and there must certainly be many such that we overlook. Look around you, my dear friend, and you will soon find out that your good heart does not need spectacles.

Let me give you this little book, written in haste, for in it I have put a scrap of my heart for you. It still contains a reserve of affection, sufferings, and personal experiences, for which it thanks God daily, and which it offers you whenever you like to draw upon it. What proceeds from God must be given back to Him in the form of love for all our fellow travelers on our earthly way; and this is a very pleasant duty in the case of a companion such as yourself.

- Elisabeth Leseur, The Secret Diary of Elisabeth Leseur: the Woman whose Goodness Changed her Husband from Atheist to Priest, Sophia Institute Press, 2002

(Elisabeth addressed this to a friend who was an unbeliever)

Practice Meditation and Examination of Conscience

You must not fancy that the moral life has no need of sustenance; a soul, just as much as a body, can be ill, strong, or anemic. Unless it is to waste away, it must have its daily food, and instead of prayer - that incomparable source of life - two things must be practiced: meditation and examination of conscience. Every soul of any depth recognizes that these things are indispensable, and they were practiced by Marcus Aurelius (1) and Maine de Biran (2), just as much as by St. Francis de Sales and the lowliest Christian.

Meditation is the withdrawal of oneself into the very depths of one's being, to that point where, as theologians tell us, amid the silence of outward things, we find God; where you will find the source of all good, strength, and beauty (and this is God), where you will steep yourself in the thought of what is eternal in preparation for the strife of this world; and where you will understand, as your ideal becomes daily more clearly defined, both your own weakness and all that you can do here below in the cause of righteousness. A very definite subject must be taken for meditation, which otherwise is apt to become vague and dreamy, and, in that case, the remedy would be worse than the evil. Meditation should end in a practical resolution that can be applied at once; and it should be made every day, all the more when one is disinclined for it. It is in time of sickness that one most needs a physician.

Examination of conscience is also indispensable every evening; it ought to be sharp and clear, neither vague nor scrupulous. It does not take long to question oneself as to the use of one's time and the discharge of various duties, when these duties are well classified, and a systematic distribution has been made of one's time. This is a fundamental duty tending to restore and strengthen the soul day by day.

- Elisabeth Leseur, The Secret Diary of Elisabeth Leseur: the Woman's Whose Goodness Changed her Husband from Atheist to Priest, Sophia Institute Press, 2002

(1) Marcus Aurelius (121-180), Roman Emperor.
(2) Maine de Biran (1766-1824), French philosopher

(Elisabeth addressed this to a friend who was an unbeliever)

Your Life Must be Orderly*

Therefore life is for all men a serious matter, and it ought not to be spent recklessly. Whether we regard it as a prelude or outline of the fuller, higher life that we cannot enjoy here below, or whether we look at it by itself as a fruit (a very bitter fruit sometimes) and not as a seed, we arrive at the conclusion that every life involves responsibility, and we are answerable not only for the evil that we do, but also for the good that we fail to do. We become convinced also that the most trifling actions and the most secret sacrifices echo on in time and space, and we continue forever the good or evil that we have once begun.

Consequently, nothing is indifferent in our moral life; the neglect of the smallest duty has results such as we never suspect. This is why we must arrange our life in such a way that no duty, great or small, may be sacrificed, and why we must not allow the aim in view to be lost in the clouds, but set to work at once in order to attain it. The important thing is not so much to succeed at once, but to begin and go on. Therefore, we ought to make each day a sort of summary of life as a whole, and bring into it each of the duties that make up our existence. These are duties toward our family and toward society, and, in your case, I will say moral rather than religious duties.

First of all, we must decide clearly what our real duties are, and here there are two pitfalls to be avoided. We must not be too ready to imagine that certain so-called obligations are really binding upon us, or we shall allow ourselves to be worried and distracted by a multitude of useless trifles; nor, on the other hand, must we neglect what are real duties, from which nothing can dispense us. We should carefully arrange our duties in order, never letting those of lowest rank encroach upon the more important. Highest of all stands moral duty, and, if I give it precedence over the rest, it is because it includes them all, and because the way in which we discharge our other duties will depend upon the way in which we fulfill and understand this one.

- Elisabeth Leseur, The Secret Diary of Elisabeth Leseur: the Woman Whose Goodness Changed her Husband from Atheist to Priest, page 198-199, Sophia Institute Press, 2002

* Elisabeth addressed this to a friend who was an unbeliever.

Living the Spiritual Life

To Madame E- A-,**
Every Christian believes that there is a mysterious, supernatural connection between himself and all the other children of the same Father. By virtue of this connection, which we call the Communion of Saints, the efforts, merits, and sufferings of each individual benefit all the rest. A similar law exists in the natural order, and if we reflect a little, we shall be convinced that our words and deeds have a much more profound and far-reaching effect than we are apt to suppose. Hence it is an absolute duty for everyone who understands what absolute and duty mean to refrain from doing or saying not merely what is bad, but also what is indifferent, since there can be no neutrality in matters of morality.

Moreover, it is also his duty to labor day by day with continuous efforts at his interior perfection, for, whether we wish it or not, the effect that we produce will be the reflection and expression of what we bear within us. Let us lay up for ourselves a store of lofty thoughts, energy, and strong, intense affection, and then we may be sure that sooner or later, perhaps without our being aware of it, the overflow will reach the hearts of others.

I admit that the task is difficult for one who relies only on reason, for reason is itself to some extent an instrument, and many circumstances may falsify it or hinder its action. I have absolute confidence, however, in God's method of dealing with souls, even with those who never mention His name and yet render Him genuine homage by their love of what is good, just, and beautiful. I believe that He prompts and directs all honest reasoning, and everyone who walks in its light. Therefore, setting aside all that belongs to another sphere, I want to limit myself to what is the sphere of all, Christians and unbelievers alike, for a Christian is also a rational "being," and reason carries him just as far as anyone else - to the point of which Pascal said that the last step taken by reason is to recognize the existence of innumerable things beyond its ken.

- Elisabeth Leseur, from The Secret Diary of Elisabeth Leseur: the Woman Whose Goodness Changed Her Husband from Atheist to Priest, 197-198 - Sophia Institute Press, 2002

**Elisabeth addressed this to a friend who was an unbeliever

Monthly Spiritual Retreat - February

Second Month – February
Mortification

Penance is obligatory for us all; it is a matter of precept, not of counsel, and our Lord, in the Gospel, lays upon us the duty of doing penance (Matt. 3:2; Mark 1:15). No Christian can say that this commandment is not binding upon him, nor can he shirk the obligations imposed by the Church: fasting, abstinence and self-sacrifice. Even if some lawful reason renders an individual exempt from the literal fulfillment of these duties, yet the principle remains, and penance is rigorously required.

In the case, however, of those upon whom God lavishes special care and love, whom He has chosen, called, and set apart, counsel becomes precept, and penance ought to be the foundation of their spiritual life.

Lord, I am one of those souls. Thou hast treated me as a favorite child, and hast heaped graces upon me, even when I did not deserve them. In order to overcome me and save me, Thou hast made use of means most carefully chosen and unforeseen.

Therefore Thou desirest something of me, and I am Thy creature, in the fullest sense of the word. Thou art keeping and preparing me to be Thy tool. And first I must discharge the duty laid especially upon those whom Thou hast chosen; I must make reparation – for my own sins and for those of all men, near or distant. By my love and penance, I ought to give consolation to Jesus Christ. Mortification is the manifestation of the spirit of penance.

I must mortify my soul in its pride and selfishness, and struggle against self-love and the subtle assaults of egotism. Means to be employed: humiliations, self-abasement, privations endured or self-imposed. As far as it is possible without attracting attention or failing in my duty to edify others, I will be quick to avail myself of opportunities for remaining in the background, keeping silence or revealing my faults in all that does not affect God’s honor. I must aim at making those about me understand that He alone is the author of whatever good there is in me, and that all is bad or weak that proceeds from myself.

I will mortify my body – by enduring the weariness and annoyances of sickness and of daily life; by means of privations, especially by giving up outward gratification and food, insofar as this can be done without injury to my health. Almost every hour of the day supplies some opportunity for mortification.

I will choose by preference mortifications which involve a little humiliation, or which give my soul increased dominion over my body, and accustom my body to submit and to endure ill treatment willingly. I will never speak of these mortifications, but I will offer them up in a spirit of penance and reparation.

In society, I will strive to become more hospitable and accessible, more calm and gentle. I will take an interest in my neighbors and in everything good and beautiful – even in the pleasures of others.

Penance ought to impart additional life to the soul, and far from making the soul passive, penance should enlarge and strengthen, not restrict and weaken it.

From “The Secret Diary of Elisabeth Leseur: the Woman Whose Goodness Changed Her Husband from Atheist to Priest,” Sophia Institute Press®, Manchester, New Hampshire, © 2002