Page:Thoughts of the servant of God, Thérèse of the Child Jesus; the Little flower of Jesus, Carmelite of the monastery of Lisieux, 1873-1897 (IA thoughtsofservan00thrs).pdf/103

 to indulge myself by seeking some little consolations, that I was obliged to go quickly past our Mother's cell, and cling to the banisters of the staircase so that I should not turn back. There would come to mind a number of permissions to ask, a hundred pretexts for deciding in favour of my natural inclinations and gratifying them. How glad I am now of having denied myself from the outset of my life in religion! Already I enjoy the reward promised to those who fight courageously. No longer do I feel the necessity of refusing myself consolations of the heart; for my heart is firmly fixed in God Because it has loved Him above all, it has gradually enlarged, even so as to love those who are dear to it with a love incomparably deeper than if it were centred in a selfish and fruitless affection.

In everything I must find self-denial and sacrifice; thus I feel that a letter will not bear fruit unless I write it with a