munions! In a word, where there is not charity there is no recollection, no peace, no God.
If, dear sister, factions exist in your convent, prostrate yourself before the Lord, and in his presence pour forth tears of blood and fervent supplications that by his Almighty hand he may remedy the evil. For when the spirit of faction has crept into the cloister, it can be extinguished only by the arm of omnipotence. If it be in your power to restore peace, endeavor with all your might and at all hazards to accomplish so great a good; but if the extinction of discord be beyond your reach, it is your duty at least to remain neutral, and to shun, as you would death itself, every act that may encourage the fell spirit of faction.
Remember, however, that I do not mean to censure those zealous nuns who defend the observance of Rule, and who strenuously oppose all abuses. Whoever seeks the good of the Community belongs to the party of Jesus Christ. Would to God that all were of this party! If, dear sister, you ever see an abuse introduced into the convent, I exhort you to unite with the fervent, and never to abstain from vindicating the cause of God even though you should be left alone. The Lord will reward your efforts for the maintenance of regular observance. To feel careless and to manifest indifference about the relaxation and neglect of discipline is neither virtue nor humility, but is the fruit of pusillanimity, tepidity, and of a want of divine love.
The religious, then, whom I condemn are those who maintain parties for promoting their own interests or particular friendships, or for depressing a rival or resenting an insult. From such parties I exhort you to keep aloof, though, in punishment of your neutrality, you should be reproached with ingratitude, wrong-headedness, or baseness of spirit, and even though you should be deprived of office and doomed to perpetual
