Dear child,
Once I wrote you a letter, did you receive it? I sent you many postcards, but I have the impression that they got lost on the way to you! And every week I try to send you a package of chocolate or figs. I received your letters, your kind letters, safely. How painful it is, however, that I cannot connect with you, that I cannot send you any help! (...)
I earnestly ask Jesus, to whom no suffering, no anxiety is unknown, to send His light into your hearts, to transform all your troubles into love. I ask Him to send me a part of that. If only I could bear even a small part of all this with you. Oh… this great trial forces us to open our hearts wide, it causes us to dive deep into the mystery of evil and darkness, but also into the Savior's love! How great a love He has for each of you when His love encompasses such great trials meant to sanctify and illuminate you. I envy you, dear child, that you are suffering in this way; I believe that you are truly living. All those moments in time are precious for Eternity. Those thoughts that I constantly carry with me, I entrust to the Virgin Mary when I go to Bourguillon. I pray so much for her on your behalf. May you experience the rays of her tenderness! The more I suffer in not being able to help you directly, the more I ask her to illuminate your pains. (...)
Please convey to your kind parents that I think of them with deep love. Greet all dear friends in Laskách and believe, dear child, in my deep and enduring affection in Jesus, whose love is stronger than all the depths of evil!
Yours
Abbé J.
(Cardinal Charles Journet /1891–1975/, letter to occupied Poland, February 6, 1940)
