Oh adorable Face, which causes the devils to tremble, have mercy on us.

Let us adore the adorable Face of Jesus, before which every knee must bow in heaven, on earth and in hell, allowing the devil to draw nigh and contemplate its features. Under the veil of humanity, his divinity has only to manifest itself, and one moment suffices to cast the enemy of God and of all righteousness into the abyss.

1st POINT. — TEMPTATION IS NOT AN EVIL.

Jesus willed to be tempted by the devil; he willed to undergo his assaults. Uncreated light did no fear at being often in presence of the angel of darkness.

In the desert the tempter approaches him, and suggests to the divine penitent the three temptations which have their source in the triple concupiscence of pride, of love of earthly things, and of sensuality. Jesus combats them with nothing, except sweetness and patience. He rebuts them with calmness, energy and dignity, by a look of his eyes, a word uttered by his divine mouth.

Often he will have occasion to chase away the impure spirit out of the bodies of the possessed and out of the souls of poor sinners; his conduct will be the same. He wishes to teach us that, as long as we are on earth, we shall have to fight against this “roaring lion which runs about, seeking whom he may devour(1).”

If the master was treated with rigor, the disciple ought equally to be so. Did not the saints undergo the trial of temptation in proportion to the height of holiness which they attained! Temptation is not a sin. Sin consists in a perverse will, and in consent; the will remains always free. The devil may make a roaring noise about the heart; he cannot, if we do not will it, enter into it and soil its purity.

What is requisite, oh my God, in order not to succumb? Distrust of creatures, confidence in thy grace, recourse to thy power: “Lord, show us thy Face, and we shall be saved.” Oh good Jesus, at the hour of peril, at the hour when the waters of iniquity are about to overflow my heart, show me thy divine Face; and the devil, disarmed and vanquished, will take flight in confusion into his black abysses: Ostende Faciem tuam, et salvi erimus(2).

2nd POINT. — TEMPTATION MAY BE A BLESSING.

It is at the hour of danger that chickens take refuge beneath the wing of their mother, and sheep beneath the crook of their shepherd. When we are at rest in the pastures of the Lord, we have nothing to fear from the darts of the enemy; we may for a moment forget him whence all our help comes; but let the enemy suddenly present himself, and it is then that we shall hasten to throw ourselves on the bosom of the Father, who can defend us. Armed with the thought that we are under the eye of God, we shall combat like good soldiers under the eve of their leader, we shall prove to God our fidelity and our love, we shall strive against the enemy, and we shall triumph over his plots by flying from sin and the occasion: which lead to it. In temptations to pride, the Christian soul has only to consider the Face of its God covered with opprobrium, bleeding and disfigured in order to expiate the revolts of the guilty creature; in temptations to sensuality, it has only to think of his sufferings; in temptations of attachment to sublunary goods, if has only to contemplate Christ naked upon the cross, and at such sight who is there that will not feel himself strengthened to fight the good fight of the Lord?

The devil once appeared to one of the servants of Christ, who had already inflicted upon him the most ignominious defeats. Martin was a prayer in his cell. All at once he beheld it bathed in purple light: then soon afterwards he saw before his eyes a personage resplendent with light, with a serene countenance and joyous air, covered with a royal robe, his brow crowned with a diadem. “Martin,” said the demon, “I am Christ, adore me.” The holy bishop pauses and reflects a moment. “My Lord Jesus,” he answers, “did not announce to me that he would appear clad in purple and crowned with a diadem. As for me, if I do not see him with the face and exterior beneath which he suffered, with his stigmata and his cross, I will not believe that it is he.” At these words the phantom vanished.

Do we wish to put the devil to flight, let us then recall to ourselves the Passion of our Lord, and contemplate his Holy Face disfigured by sin.

SPIRITUAL BOUQUET

Christo igitur passo in carne, et vos eadem cogitatione amamini (I Petr, IV, 1.)

Let us arm ourselves against the demon with the thought of Christ crucified.

THE CARMEL OF TOURS.

There I found the holy Infant Child Jesus, and the Holy Family.

(Words spoken by the postulant).

I left Rennes, writes Sister Saint- Pierre, accompanied by my excellent father, on the 11th November 1839, the day of the feast of St Martin, my dear protector, and went to Touraine, my new country. I arrived at Tours on the 13th, and I betook myself at once to the Carmelite Convent. It was five o’clock in the evening, and it is remarkable that St Martin himself presented me to “all the Saints of Carmel”, whose feast is celebrated on the following day. I was certain that these good saints would not refuse to receive me on the day of so beautiful a feast, for I had very earnestly prayed them to receive me into their family: and they could not have given me a greater proof of my perseverance than by receiving me on such a day.

On descending from the diligence, my father took me to the Carmelites; he gave me his blessing, and said to me, overcome with emotion as he was when embracing me for the last time, that it was the will of God that he should make this sacrifice. Poor father! how abundantly will our merciful God recompense your admirable obedience to his orders! Soon the door opens, and my father gives me up into the hands of my new family, who present themselves to receive me. If at that moment I made to God the sacrifice of a good father, he gave me, in place of him, a kind mother who was destined, in her great charity, to render to my soul services of inestimable value. It was the very reverend Mother Mary of the Incarnation who was, at that time, both Prioress and Mother of novices. I felt as though our Savior had once intimated to me, when I was still leading a secular life, that the mother he had chosen for me would have special grace given her to direct me in his ways. It is at least certain that it was what took place when she became acquainted with my inmost heart, which however did not happen immediately, but only when God deemed it to be expedient for his glory and the salvation of my soul.

The following day, I assisted at the divine office, and there I was attacked by a rather absurd temptation, the only one which I remember to have experienced against my vocation, and which I will now relate. Seeing the hebdomadairian, the chantres, the versiculaires and certain others of the Nuns advance to the middle of the choir, bow and say some words in Latin, then return to their places whilst others followed in their place. I was greatly alarmed by so many ceremonies, and feared I should never be capable of performing them, or of knowing when my turn came to take part in them.

I was conducted to the Novitiate: there I found the holy Infant Jesus and the Holy Family, the cherished objects of my heart. Thenceforth this holy Family for whose sake I had left the world to go and serve them in the Carmel, which I knew to be specially devoted to them, made me find everything easy and agreeable: it seemed to me as though I had already spent several years there. It was then I perfectly understood, by my own experience. that there is not only the vocation to a certain order, but also a vocation to a certain house, for I did not feel drawn towards any other convent: on the contrary, as soon as I entered that of Tours, I felt I was where God willed me to be.

INVOCATION OF SISTER SAINT-PIERRE.

I salute thee, I adore thee, and I love thee, oh adorable Face of Jesus, my beloved, noble seal of the divinity; I apply myself to thee with all the powers of my soul, and I most humbly pray thee to impress upon us the features of thy divine resemblance. Amen.

(1) Diabolus, tanquam leo rugiens, circuit quaerens quem devoret. (I Petr. v, 8.)

(2) Ps. LXXIX, 6.