When Mother Maddalena was fearful that her mission to found the Poor Clare life in the United States would fail, she wrote to the saintly Father Hecker, who replied: Your letter shows clearly that God has taken your affairs in His own hands. He leaves you no human prospect whatever. Every door appears shut against you. O blessed obscurity which forces the soul to look for light and guidance to God alone! A blessed perplexity which throws the soul in entire dependence on God! This is the real contemplative life! Do you not believe that the Holy Spirit could change and would change the minds and hearts of those to whom you have appealed, were it best to do so? That He does not, is not this His not-doing also a sign of His divine action and a mark of His favour?