Dear Madam,
I am completely unable to express how great a concern your anxious states cause me. You blame yourself for insignificant trifles that you conjure up, not God. You go so far as to harm your health, turning your inner life into a wasteland and rejecting every spiritual and material help for things so trivial that a seven-year-old child wouldn't imagine them. God does not concern Himself with such trivialities.
Certainly, He pays attention to our mistakes, but He does so kindly, and even His rejection is comforting. He gently humbles us and allows us to see our wrongdoings through His eyes, so that His peace may alleviate the misery of our guilt: "The Lord was not in the earthquake."
Do not nourish your exaggerated anxieties. Strive to remain peaceful and train yourself to disregard anything that would distract your attention from God. Learn to feel only as much sorrow over your light sins as the quiet presence of God suggests to you.
(François Fénelon /1651–1715/, letter to Countess Elisabeth de Grammont, June 23, 1702)
