Mystery of the Cross

...[which are] known, are truly not treated there at depth; but there are here and there certain traces original: "vestiges" which lead very far on the trail of solid Truth; but they will only appear to those who have good spectacles A metaphor for spiritual discernment or intellectual clarity.: for although I had to be obscure, I did not want to explain myself more clearly, so that the reader might also give some occupation to his research and to his meditation.

IX.

I have certainly felt, moreover, that the French language is too soft and effeminate In the 17th and 18th centuries, writers often characterized French as a language of "sweetness" and "politeness," contrasting it with the perceived "vigor" or "energy" of Latin and German for theological or philosophical works. for these kinds of matters of such a sharp edge, and that it has neither the energy nor the unction unction From the French "onction" and Latin "unctio," referring to a spiritual quality that moves the soul or indicates divine influence. of the Latin and German languages: but as several of your friends and mine do not understand these languages, one must try to satisfy them with the one they know; and pray to the Spirit of grace and unction to be willing to supply, through His strength and light, for my weaknesses and ignorance,

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