My desires for martyrdom are nothing, they do not give me the unlimited trust that I feel in my heart. To be honest, spiritual wealth makes a person unjust when it finds pleasure in them and when it thinks that it is something great… These desires are a comfort granted by Jesus sometimes to weak souls like mine (and there are many such souls). But when this comfort is not given, it is a grace and a privilege. (…) Beloved sister, how can you say after all this that my desires are a sign of my love?... Ah, I feel well that this is not at all what pleases the Lord God in my little soul. He likes that I love my littleness and my poverty; He likes my blind hope in His mercy… That is my only treasure. Beloved godmother, why can't it be your treasure too?...
(Thérèse of Lisieux, letter 197, to Sister Marie of the Sacred Heart, September 17, 1896)
