The golden trail
In the evening at that moment when the sun seems to bathe itself in the immensity of the waves, leaving a luminous trail behind, I went and sat down on the huge rock with Pauline. Then I recalled the touching story of the “Golden Trail.”46 I contemplated this luminous trail for a long time. It was to me the image of God’s grace shedding its light across the path the little white-sailed vessel had to travel. And near Pauline, I made the resolution never to wander far away from the glance of Jesus in order to travel peacefully toward the eternal shore!
46. This story appears in a collection of readings called La Tirelire aux histoires by Madame Louise Belloc. This meditation, though, didn’t take place on the 8th of August, 1878, but on another occasion sometime between 1879 and 1881.
My life passed tranquilly and happily. The affection with which I was surrounded at Les Buissonnets helped me grow. I was undoubtedly big enough now to commence the struggle, to commence knowing the world and the miseries with which it was filled.