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Seeing from your letter your welcoming and complacent entry into the holy monastery, we attribute this to the title and Providence of God, which cares about your salvation; We thank and glorify His goodness, and we rejoice with you that He has made you worthy to know the vanity and charm of the world and desire to betroth your virginity to the heavenly Bridegroom, Christ. You entered the monastery on the day of the Exaltation of the Cross of the Lord - this is a good sign: we are saved by the cross, and you should keep in memory this day of the suffering of Christ, which also reminds us of the words of Christ: whoever wants to walk after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me (Matthew 16:24). Denial of oneself is a struggle with the passions that are hidden in us, and we only recognize them when there are guilts that irritate them; having learned, we must resist them, under a reliable banner - the cross of Christ, having prayer with humility as weapons. It is appropriate to remind you, not to frighten you, but to warn you: you cannot always have the same Favor that you had when you joined; one must also be at Golgotha; Spiritual joys without the cross are fragile, and every good deed is either preceded or followed by temptation; and without this it cannot be strong. And in order to follow the right path, without going astray at any time, not to excel and not to become impoverished in exploits, you must not at all follow your mind and your will, but submit them to another leader, which I wrote to you about before and you yourself understand this; without this the path is narrow and sorrowful, but with it the yoke is easy and the burden is easy. In choosing mentors, they must also follow not their own mind and will, but those who have learned from experience those who are able to lead. You write that you have entrusted yourself to the abbess and m. L–e and it seems to you that you have already done everything; but on the contrary: Mother Abbess is without a doubt your mother and mentor, and is obliged to give an answer for your soul; but she finds herself that she cannot go into detail into your internal situations, because of her position and for other reasons, she has the right and duty to entrust you to the old woman for care, such as she chooses, knowing her spiritual mind; You, without losing faith in her in the least, must obey her in everything unquestioningly. I will tell you that I see great arrogance in your letter. You say: you shouldn’t let your donkey sleep; think you can fix something; be sure that you will soon recognize your weakness: and without this you will not resign yourself. Ask them to give you a good rod for it; Here is a rod for you: cut off your will and reason, and follow what I wrote to you. If I didn’t want your benefit and salvation, I wouldn’t rack my brains so much, because I don’t have time at all. September 27. You might be interested in: