I feel in myself a great emptiness, which neither friendship nor study seem to fill. I do not know who will come to fill it: will it be God? Will it be another creature? If it is a creature, I pray that it will take some time in coming, when I have become worthy.

I pray that it will bring with it the necessary external charms so as not to leave any room for regret. But I especially pray that this creature, she, will come with an excellent soul, will bring great virtue, and will be much better than I am, that she draw me upward, that she not drag me down, that she be generous because I am often timid, that she be fervent because I am lukewarm in the things of God, and, finally, that she be compassionate so that I, in my inferiority, may not have to blush before her.

Do not forsake me, Lord. Grant that I may be loved. You know it is not only sweetness that I seek in Love; it is the contempt for all baseness, it is the strength to fight for the Good, for the True.

Amen.”