her month; but every day, she was forced to throw up what she had taken, and that with so much difficulty, that it was necessary to assist her by every possible means.
As I was frequently witness of this Buffering, I felt an extreme compassion for her, and I counseled her to let men talk, and spare herself such torture; she answered me with a smile: " Is it not better to expiate my sins at present, and not be punished during all eternity ? The judgments of men are very profitable to me, since they cause me to avoid infinite pains by enduring these transient ones; no ! I certainly ought not to shun God's justice, and the great grace he accords me of allowing me to make satisfaction in this world." She was so convinced that she was thus paying a debt of justice to God, that she said to her companions: " Come let us do fit justice to this miserable sinner." In this way all the persecutions of men and all the attacks of Satan contributed to her perfection.
One day as we were conversing together of God's graces, she said to me: "Did we but know how to use the graces that God bestows on us, we would profit by all that happens to us. In favorable events or in contradictions, say always: "I must reap something from this. were you to act thus, you would very soon be rich." Alas ! how much I might have profited by this lesson and numerous others. But you, my reader, do not imitate me, but meditate her instruction and follow her example. I entreat the Author of all good to enlighten you, and grant me also light to imitate this holy soul with courage and perseverance, with this I terminate this chapter, in which I have just told what I learned from Catherine her self or the Confessor that preceded me.
