God hides himself a great deal in himself and in souls. Often he is not where he seems to be and he is where he does not appear to be. That is an idea, if I am not mistaken, from the book of Job.
I find that the desire of the girl is considerable and especially five or six months after she was sent away. But we must take note of where she gained knowledge of your religious community. I would give her two months to visit you once a week and I would make her speak with Monsieur S. for fifteen or so days. I would order her to present herself to God in church each time she comes and to station herself every day three times before God in her church, at 9 am, noon, and at 5 pm, to speak to him, saying, “My God, I pray you to lead me towards my goal by the intercession of the Holy Mother”, nothing more, and then to kiss the ground. And every time she will see raised up the Body of the Son of God at mass, she will say the same prayer and kiss the ground in the church even before the eyes of everyone. Every time she comes to see you, she will tell you how she spent the week.
After the two months, you will give her your answer. But take care to do the same thing yourself on her behalf that you will have prescribed for her to assure yourself of the will of God. That is all the answer that I can give you as well as that you should not hurry to receive girls taking no count of what anyone tells you about them until you yourself have experienced the spirit of Jesus Christ. It is difficult in our times to find girls who have a true vocation for religion.
You can excuse her from kissing the ground if she finds it distasteful. But her aversion will not be a very good sign if doing it causes her pain. If she turns elsewhere to some other community, all the better, it is a sign that God has not destined her to you. We must receive religious persons to the novitiate as in former times great sinners were given public penance to put them to the test and were tested often, sometimes for months. We must not do anything hurriedly for delays are necessary to test souls and discern a calling from God. Jesus Christ taught us that by his example and by the delays he inserted in all his mysteries.
Translated from the French by Daniel McNeill
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