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