Dear Marguerite,
You are just starting a new school year, … for me it is the eve of returning to the trenches… If it were to happen that I were struck by one of those unfortunate bullets, I would feel stronger and calmer at the thought that you firmly hold my view of You, which, I hope, aligns with the judgment of our Lord; - in His very name, I have always tried to speak to you and comfort you.
Well, above all, I believe that you are in your place, in that for which you were created and for which the sequence of events has prepared you, events that have been painful and confusing for your heart and eyes, yet nonetheless intended by God. I believe that the fact that you are in your place is perfectly compatible with the ongoing state of rebellion and distaste that our Lord allows you to survive, and at times even to drown in, perhaps to bring about a certain shade of holiness within you. I do not know – but surely it is to make you more humble, trusting, detached, all the more sanctifying and strong in your works, as you believe less in yourself and focus less on your personal success. – Nevertheless, I believe (even though the opposite could be possible and should not confuse you if it occurs) that you will not remain forever in this trial; as I have told you several times, I think you are in a phase of transformation, in a crisis that will one day resolve itself into the peace and flourishing of absolute surrender to God's will, as soon as this will finally penetrates and conquers you. Yet every transformation, every maturation requires time – a time that cannot be shortened physically, organically below a certain threshold; – it is a time during which we do not know where we are going and if we will ever arrive there – yet it must be traversed with closed eyes and carried solely by trust.
(Pierre Teilhard de Chardin SJ /1881–1955/, letter from the front, to his cousin, September 20, 1915;
quoted from the book Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, The Birth of Thought. Letters 1914–1919, Malvern 2021)
