when I feel that so I am: compliments, on the contrary, cause me nothing but displeasure.
COUNSELS AND REMINISCENCES
A novice confided to her that she
made no progress and felt quite discouraged.
"Till the age of fourteen," said Thérèse, "I practised virtue without feeling its sweetness. I wished for suffering but had no thought of finding my joy therein; that is a grace which has been granted me later. My soul was like a beautiful tree whose blossoms no sooner opened than they fell.
"Offer to the good God the sacrifice of never gathering the fruits of your labours. If He so will that during your whole life you feel a repugnance to suffer and to be humiliated, if He permit that all the flowers of your desires and of your good-will fall to earth without fruit, be not troubled. At the moment of your death He will know well how to bring to perfection, in the twinkling of
