Dear Marg,
(…) I am writing to you in wonderful sunny weather, still from the forest; it is located in the area of artillery shells, which fall about ten times a day and night into the tall underbrush with thunderous noise, without causing any excitement. In the air above us, around ten balloons are floating. Moreover, the front seems incredibly calm…
There is no reason for you to be worried about me. Just pray more earnestly to our Lord that I may adhere more closely to His Will in these days and do what may serve Him. When I think about it, it is good to be a “stone worn smooth” by the Divine Ocean. And then also – as you seem to have understood more clearly yourself – everything that is lost from ourselves in enforced service is a solid gain, the work of our being stored securely with finality.
(Pierre Teilhard de Chardin SJ /1881–1955/, letter from the front, to his cousin, July 10, 1916;
quoted from the book Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, The Birth of Thought. Letters 1914–1919, 2021)
