- loved wills to sleep I shall not hinder
Him; I am too happy in seeing that He does not treat me like a stranger, that He is not constrained with me. He pierces His little ball through and through with pin-pricks sore indeed. . . . When it is this tender Friend who Himself pierces His ball, the pain is naught but sweetness—so gentle is His Hand. How different when creatures pierce it!
Yet I am happy, yes, truly happy to suffer. If Jesus does not Himself directly pierce His little ball, it is certainly He who guides the hand that wounds!
II LETTER TO MÈRE AGNÈS DE JÉSUS
Yes, I desire them, those heart-thrusts,
those pin-pricks that give so
much pain. . . . Sacrifice I prefer to all
ecstacies: therein lies happiness for me,
I find it nowhere else. The little reed
has no fear of breaking, for it is planted
on the shore of the waters of Love; and
so, when it bends, that beneficent wave
invigorates it, and makes it long for
another storm to come and bow down its
