Heart (de Amicis)/Hope
HOPE
Sunday, 29th.
Very beautiful, Enrico, was the impulse which made you fling yourself on your mother's heart on your return from your lesson on religion. Yes, your master said grand and consoling things to you. God threw us in each other's arms; he will never part us. When I die, when your father dies, we shall not speak to each other those despairing words, “Mamma, papa, Enrico, I shall never see you again!” We shall see each other again in another life, where he who has suffered much in this life will receive reward; where he who has loved much on earth will find again the souls whom he has loved, in a world without sin, without sorrow, and without death.
But we must all render ourselves worthy of that other life. Reflect, my son. Every good action of yours, every impulse of affection for those who love you, every courteous act towards your companions, every noble thought of yours, is like a leap towards that other world. And every misfortune, also, serves to raise you towards that world; every sorrow, since it is the expiation of a sin, just as every tear blots out a stain. Make it your rule to become better and more loving every day than the day before. Say every morning, “To-day I shall do something for which my conscience will praise me, and with which my father will be satisfied; something which will render me beloved by such or such a comrade, by my teacher, by my brother, or by others.” And pray God to give you the strength to put your resolution into practice. “Lord, I wish to be good, noble, courageous, gentle, sincere; help me; grant that every night, when my mother gives me her last kiss, I may be able to say to her, ‘You kiss this night a nobler and more worthy boy than you kissed last night.’”
Keep always in your thoughts that other supernatural and blessed Enrico which you may be after this life. And pray. You cannot imagine the sweetness that you experience,—how much better a mother feels when she sees her child with hands clasped in prayer. When I behold you praying, it seems impossible to me that there should not be some one there gazing at you and listening to you. Then I believe more firmly that there is a Supreme goodness and an Infinite pity; I love you more, I work with more ardor, I endure with more force, I forgive with all my heart, and I think of death with serenity.
O great and good God! To hear once more after death the voice of my mother, to meet my children again, to see my Enrico once more, my Enrico, blessed and immortal, and to clasp him in an embrace which shall nevermore be loosed, nevermore, nevermore to all eternity! Oh, pray! let us pray, let us love each other, let us be good, let us bear this celestial hope in our hearts and souls, my adored child!
Your Mother.