XXXIII To Mother Péronne Marie de Châtel, Superior at Grenoble
Vive ✠ Jésus!
Paris, 1619.
You ask me, my dear daughter, if we are poor. Yes, indeed we are, but I hardly ever give it a thought. Heaven and earth may pass away, but the word of God remains eternally as the foundation of our hope. He has said that if we seek His kingdom and His justice all the rest shall be added unto us. I believe Him, and I trust in Him. The extreme necessity in which we sometimes find ourselves gives us opportunities of practising holy confidence in God and rare perfection. Truly we already see how wise it is to adhere to Him and to hope in Him against all human hope, for our foundation has been a thousand times more successful than we dared to anticipate.