APRIL

TRUST

April 1: All I ask of the good God is that you may love Him with your whole heart. You see, when we love the good God very much we do everything well, very well. But if we do not love Him, whatever we may possess, we do nothing of any value for Heaven.

2: I can find nothing better to say to you, my good daughters, than what the Beloved Disciple used to say: “Love one another” for the love of God. And God? Love Him above all things.

3: The more you trust the good God, the more He will love you. Would you, my dear good daughters, could you refuse Him the consolation of loving you as if there were no one else in the world?

4: How good God is! Let us love Him, let us love Him, my dear good daughters, big and little, all of us, everyone.

5: The good God is our loving Father. It is in Him that we must put all our trust. This is the solid foundation on which we must build. God alone, God alone. Oh, happy, a thousand times happy are those who lean only on the good God. There they find a strong support. Their trust is like a tree planted by running water, which is always green. The mark of true confidence in God is never shaken, no matter what happens.

6: We must constantly ask ourselves this question: “My soul, why didst thou come hither?” “To love my God and to serve Him, but to do both well.” I must say once and for all, “I am determined to do this,” and then all will go well.

7: See only, in all the events of life, my child, God alone. That is all we need ever seek, what we must never lose sight of. He holds all the events of our life in His hand, and knows well how to gain glory even from what seems to us most vexatious.

8: We must constantly say, “How good is the Good God,” always and everywhere. “I will bless the Lord at all times.”

9: Let us love the good God, let us love him very much. Imprint His love deep in your hearts, and promise to love Him a little more everyday. In the end you will see that you really do so. May our good Jesus always reign in the hearts of all.

10. Let us always love the God of all goodness. Let us give Him all our love, and let us try everyday to love Him more. Since He is so jealous of our hearts, let us give them to Him for they are His by every title.

11: All for the greater glory of God, let us no longer wish for anything but that. Put everything else aside, abandon everything, every sort of sensible support. GOD ALONE! GOD ALONE!

12: How many foolish things we do! That is all that can be expected of us. Be well assured that the good God will always bless your good intentions. Let us look at things as they concern ourselves as little as possible. Try to preserve the sense of God’s presence, leaving the rest to Him.

13: Friend, let us cast ourselves, anchor ourselves upon God alone. There only is to be found true peace, and a foretaste of the very happiness of Heaven.

14: Do not be anxious; go straight on forgetful of self, letting the spirit of God act instead of your own. Sometimes it depends on some apparent trifle, a mere nothing, whether the good God can act freely in us or not.

15. Confidence, love, total abandonment into the hands of God. This is our strength and our support. How good it is to trust in God alone, God alone.

16: God treats us like a kind Father: let us await from His divine Goodness, day by day, all that His adorable Hand sees fit to give. Let us bless the adorable Hand that strikes us: it is the Hand of a loving Father.

17: Let us cast ourselves into the care of the good God by a total abandonment of ourselves into His Hands, seeking nothing, desiring nothing save only His good pleasure and greater glory. Everything else is nothing, nothing at all.

18: The more we count upon grace the more we shall mistrust our own weakness and the more we shall advance in confidence in the mercy of God, who will never fail us when the work is for His glory.

19: Let us do what the good God shows us moment by moment, never desiring anything except what seems to be indicated by His adorable Providence.

20: I see more and more how we ought to trust Our Lord in all things. He is our sole strength, our sole support.

21: The good God is very good! It does us good to leave everything in His hands. Let us cast ourselves into the bosom of the good God. Things do not always go as we like, dear friend, and they only go well when the good God directs them. Let us abandon ourselves entirely to His Divine Providence.

22: A Sister of Notre Dame who has kept her Holy Rule perfectly will have great consolation at the hour of death. She will be able to say to Our Lord with truth: “I have observed my rule as well as I could. I die contented and come trustfully to Thee, my God, hoping Thou hast forgiven my frailties.”

23: Be steadfast, daughters, and have no fear of Satan. He cannot hurt you, if you have great trust in God, and great fidelity to all your duties.

24: I constantly ask the good God that you may belong entirely to Him in the manner that is most pleasing to Him: that He alone may possess your heart. How jealous He is lest we should withdraw from Him that heart made for Himself alone.

25: Do not shrink at the first difficulty which presents itself, for difficulties are almost always the work of the good God. He would test us to see if we have courage enough to go on to the end, and to abandon ourselves completely into what His Divine Providence has marked out for us.

26: Do you think that a God, who is so generous, will not take note of all you suffer for His sake from morning till night, and from one year’s end to another? He will surely do this, for you have a right to His grace in all your needs.

27: Let us work harder yet, dear daughters, to make God reign supreme in our hearts. If you only knew the wonderful effects He produces in souls who let Him act in them, untrammeled and unhindered! How He ennobles their whole soul, and in some sort divinizes them! A favor such as this is well worth the trouble of a few years of labor.

28: When we abandon ourselves completely, leaving ourselves freely in God’s hands, saying: “Take me my God, do not spare me, cut, prune away whatever You please,” then indeed, the reign of God is soon established within us. And this is not so difficult as it sounds.

29: Courage, Courage! The good God will be our strength, our support through all. Only God, my God, how sweet it is to love Thee, to sacrifice everything for love of Thee alone, for Thee alone Who are all love for us.

30: You know...that I have always advised you not to yield to anxious thoughts about the future, which serves no purpose, and only plunges the soul into trouble. Sufficient for the day is the evil thereof! Recall to your mind, dear child, all the care which the good God has taken of you, even before you turned your whole heart to Him. What will He not do now, when you desire to serve Him as well as ever you can? You ought to have great trust that the good God will protect you in every circumstance.