Talk given to the Sisters of Charity at Seton Hill University by Denise Troll Covey

1. The Exterior and Interior Life
of Louise de Marillac
(1591-1660)
Portrait by Ponsart-Gault

2. Exterior Life
of Louise de Marillac

3. 17th Century France
• Social stratification
• War 1635-1653
• Obstacles to commerce
• Prolonged cold wet weather
• Obstinate farmers
• Catastrophic famines
• Infectious disease
• Widespread death
• Creeping pauperization Peasant family in an interior, 1642-1648
By Antoine or Louis Le Nain

4. Louise Born Aug 12, 1591
• In Meux, France
• Out of wedlock
• Into a wealthy family
• Her father, widower Louis
de Marillac, officially
recognizes his daughter,
but most of her relatives
consider her an outcast
Susanna de Vos, 1627
By Cornelis de Vos

5. Abandonment and Formation
• Jan 12, 1595 – Father remarries;
his new wife rejects Louise
• By age 4 – Louise is sent
to the Royal Monastery at Poissy
Two Young Girls, c. 1640
By Louis le Nain
• Jul 25, 1604 – Her father dies;
Uncle Michel becomes her
guardian and spiritual director
• Age 12? – Louise is sent
to a boarding school
to learn domestic skills

6. Frustration and Rejection
• Age 16? – Louise privately vows to be a Capuchin nun
– She needs a dowry; after a lengthy court battle,
she receives her inheritance Sep 7, 1610
Capuchin nun, 1727
Artist unknown
• Age 19 – The Capuchin superior
refuses her admittance
– Her health is too delicate
for the austerities of the cloister
– God has “other designs” for her

7. Adapting
• Age 20? – Louise goes
to live with her Aunt
Valence d’Atticy to help
care for her seven children
• Uncle Michel is obliged
to arrange her marriage
– Her husband cannot
be a nobleman because
of her illegitimate birth
Portrait of Louise
Artist unknown

8. Louise as a Young Woman
• Petite (4’11”)
• Fragile health, but physically strong and energetic
• Charming, courageous, creative, decisive,
empathetic, intellectual, feminine, gentle, humble,
modest, passionate, persevering, persuasive,
practical, precocious, prudent, scrupulous, sensitive
• Great leadership and organizational skills
• Unfocused thirst for the absolute
• Anxious, demanding, dramatic, emotional,
impatient, impulsive, insecure, nervous, stubborn

9. Mademoiselle Le Gras
• Feb 1613 – Louise marries
Squire Antoine Le Gras
– Her illegitimacy is noted
in the marriage banns
• Oct 1613 – Gives premature
birth to Michel-Antoine
– Louise offers him to God
Portrait of Antoine Le Gras
Artist unknown
Louise age 21-22

10. Happy Married Life
• Pious wife and mother
• Lady of the court
• Servant of the poor
A ball at the Court of Queen Marie de Medici
Artist unknown
Louise age 22-26

11. Anxiety and Depression
• 1617-1620
– Aunt Valence dies, leaving her children to Louise
– Royal disputes threaten Antoine’s job
– Son Michel’s problems continue
Louise age 26-32
The Path, 2011
By Margarita Georgiadis
• 1621-1623
– Antoine becomes terminally ill
– Family is threatened with bankruptcy
– Louise gets a new spiritual director
– She vows to remain a widow
if Antoine dies

12. May 1623 – Crisis
• Should she leave her husband
to become a nun and have
greater freedom to serve God
and neighbor?
• Did she have the capacity
to accept another spiritual
director while Bishop Camus
is away from Paris?
• Does God really exist?
Is the soul really immortal?
The Crucified Christ, 1611
By Peter Paul Rubens
Louise age 31

13. June 1623 – Lumière
• Stay with your husband; the time will come for …
vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience and life
in a community dedicated to helping your neighbor
• You will do great work under the guidance
of someone you’ve not yet met; you will assist
your neighbor amidst “much coming and going”
• Remain at peace about your director;
God will give you one in time
• God is teaching you; believe in God,
don’t doubt the rest
Christ on the Cross, 1600-1610
By El Greco
Louise age 31

14. Louise Meets Vincent
• 1624-1625 – They’re reluctant to work together
– He doesn’t want to deal with her anxiety and
insecurity, but he needs help serving the poor
– She doesn’t want to be guided by a peasant priest,
but she wants to help the poor
• They acquiesce
• He becomes her spiritual director
Louise age 33-34
Portrait of Vincent de Paul, 17th C
By Simon François de Tours

15. Grief
• Dec 21, 1625 – Antoine dies
Louise age 34-35
• Louise questions the meaning of life
– Resumes her maiden name
– Moves to a poorer neighborhood
– Worries about her son
– Repents her sins
– Renews baptismal promises and vow of widowhood
– Consecrates herself to God: “… I now repent with
my whole heart, relying on the death of my Savior
as the only ground of my hope ….”
– Increases prayers, sacraments, austerities, charities
• Vincent tells her “Adore Divine Providence”
Trauernde Maria (detail)
1437-1446, By Fra Angelico

16. Finding Purpose
• 1626 – Vincent realizes only meaningful activity will
prevent Louise’s self-examination and self-contempt
• By 1627, Louise is working with the Confraternities
– Preparing clothing for distribution
– Visiting the poor in their homes
– Finding accommodations for girls in distress
• 1628 – She perceives God calling her to dedicate
herself exclusively to serving the poor
– Vincent says no; make retreats;
receive the Eucharist;
consult the will of God
Louise age 36-37

17. Collaboration Begins
• May 1629 – Vincent sends Louise to study, correct,
and revive the Confraternity of Charity at Montmirail
• Impressed by her report and success,
he henceforth calls her “Mademoiselle Le Gras”
and tasks her to visit other Confraternities
• By mid-Feb 1630 – He is sending peasant girls
to Louise to train to assist the Ladies of Charity
• Louise suggests the girls live
together in community
– Vincent says no
Louise age 37-38
Marguerite Naseau
Artist unknown

18. 1630 – Enthusiasm
• Louise visits several Confraternities
and establishes a Confraternity
• In December Vincent cautions:
“The spirit of God urges one gently
to do the good that can be done
reasonably, so that it may be done
perseveringly and for a long time.”
Stained glass, Louise de Marillac and child
Church of St. Mary of the Assumption
Fort Worth, Texas
Louise age 38-39

19. 1631-1632 – “No”
• Louise wants to devote all her energy to training
– Vincent says no; continue visiting Confraternities
• She again recommends the girls live in community
– Vincent says no; consecrated life is reserved for girls
from good families (refinement; dowry; cloister)
• She’s convinced God wants her total commitment
to Christ in the poor
– Vincent again says no; he agrees
God wants more from her,
but is concerned her anxiety
about her son is preventing
her from doing God’s will
Allegory of Tension, 20th C
By Alfredo Da Silva
Louise age 40-41

20. 1631-1633 – Obedience
• Louise visits confraternities
– Reorganizes; corrects finances;
vivifies spirit; inspires membership;
leads by example
• She establishes confraternities
– Consults parish priests; discover
what the poor need; obtain funds
and alms to satisfy those needs;
procure space; provide service
• She gives conferences
• She trains the “good village girls”
Louise age 40-42
Louise distributing
bread to a girl
Gumpendorf, Vienna

21. “Daughters of Charity”
• May-Oct 1633 – Prayer and discernment
• Nov 29, 1633 – Establish the “Company”
– 4-6 women join Louise in her rented house in Paris
– It becomes the center for training girls to help the
Ladies of Charity organize and provide corporal and
spiritual service to the sick and poor in their homes
– Training includes literacy, manners,
spiritual formation, and practical skills
• Mar 25, 1634 – Louise consecrates
herself to the work of the Company
Daughter of Charity, 17th C
Louise age 42-43

22. Radical!
• Poor, uneducated women living a consecrated life
in community outside the cloister
• Pious lay women with a spiritual mission
(social justice)
• Peasants working with aristocrats
(transcended class barriers)
The Good Samaritan, 1890
Vincent Van Gogh

23. 1634 – Draft Rule
• Foundation: respect
• Attitude: kindness and gentleness
• Principles: mobility and flexibility
• Formation: faith; prayer; the poor are Christ;
Mary is the model
• Spirituality: incarnational; mystical;
missional; Christ crucified is central
• Dress alike: clothing of rural woman
Louise age 42-43

24. Excerpt from the Rule
“The Confraternity of widows and village girls has
been instituted to honor Our Lord … and the Blessed
Virgin, and to imitate … the women and young girls
of the Gospel…. While doing this they will work at
their own perfection, … and for the corporal and
spiritual assistance of the sick poor….
They shall cheerfully go whenever they are sent …
and they shall return in the same spirit whenever
they are called…. They shall do all this for the love
of God and without any remuneration.”

25. Earning a Living
• Sewing
• Spinning
• Washing clothes
• Raising livestock
• Making preserves
Scheveningen Woman Sewing, 1881
Vincent Van Gogh

26. Louise Envisions Survival
• The Sisters will not survive if
they’re not motivated or don’t
understand the fundamentals
of the life they chose
• The Confraternities will not
survive if they rely on Ladies
to provide hands-on service

27. Expanding Care
• 1634 – Hospital patients (plague is rampant)
• 1635 – France goes to war
• 1638 – Abandoned infants and children
• 1639 – Galley slaves; prisoners; hospital at Angers;
Louise travels to Angers (372 miles to/fro)
• 1640 – Hospital administration (Angers); foster care
• 1641 – 7-16 houses
of Daughters of Charity
Louise age 43-49

28. Annual Vows
• March 25, 1642 – Louise and four others vow
to commit themselves to poverty, chastity, and
obedience, and to the “corporal and spiritual
service of the sick poor, our true Masters”
– Perpetual vows could lead to the cloister:
farewell to serving the poor
Louise age 50
• Ceiling of the Motherhouse collapses
– No one is injured, although …
– Vincent and Louise see it as a sign
that God is protecting the Company

29. Security
• 1640-1642 – Louise urges Vincent to seek recognition
to keep Sisters safe from enclosure
• 1645 – He petitions the Archbishop of Paris
• 1646 – Archbishop places Sisters under his authority
• 1647 – Louise livid; implores Vincent
• 1650? – Louise meets with Procurator
General of Parliament (secular)
• 1655 – Cardinal places Sisters
under the authority of the superior
of the Congregation of the Mission
• 1668 – Pope Clement confirms
the Sisters’ non-cloistered status
Council of Trent, 1711
By Nicolo Dorigati
1563 – Council of Trent mandates enclosure of nuns

30. May 1647
• Vincent reads the Rule to the Sisters
– Louise disapproves, but begs for the election
of a new Superior for a three-year term
– Vincent and the Sisters decline
“It’s God’s usual method of acting to preserve
by extraordinary means those who are necessary
for the accomplishment of His works; and if you
think about it, Mademoiselle, you really haven’t
been alive for more than ten years now—
at least in the ordinary way.”
Louise age 55

31. Crises
• 1644-1645 – Son Michel
– Disappears for months at a time
• 1645-1648 – Daughters of Charity
– Illness, death, disruption, departure
 Life in community is too demanding
 Serving the poor is too difficult
 Projects are failing
 Refusal to go where sent
 Complaints about food, work,
leadership, one another
• Louise takes it personally
Louise de Marillac
Brazil, Artist unknown
Louise age 53-57

32. Expanding Care
• 1646 – Hospital at Le Mans fails; hospital at Nantes;
Louise travels to Nantes (478 miles to/fro)
• 1648 – Soldiers and refugees; civil war begins
• 1652 – Battlefield nursing;
Sisters expand into Poland;
Louise increasingly fragile
• 1653 – Elderly; occupational therapy; hospice
• 1655 – Mentally ill
Louise age 55-64

33. Patience and Trust
• 1655 – Vincent reads the Rule to the Sisters
– Each sister signs her name at the bottom
• 1656 – Louise falls, suffers from rib fracture;
Royal edict outlaws begging in Paris
• 1657 – Louise extremely ill, expected to die
• 1659 – 35-40+ houses of Daughters of Charity
Louise age 64-68

34. Communication
0
20
40
60
80
100
1627
1630
1635
1638
1640
1642
1644
1646
1648
1650
1652
1654
1656
1658
1660
851 letters
“In the love of Christ crucified”

35. Farewell Vincent – No Response
• Louise suffering from gangrene in her left arm
• Dec 1659 – She has nothing to offer God except
her loving acceptance of Divine Providence
that ordains she never again see Vincent
• Jan 1660 – Her concerns about the future
– A comfortable life will prevent the Sisters
from serving and identifying with those who suffer
– Bifurcation
 Pretentious specialists and lowly practitioners
 Cloistered contemplatives and externs

36. Farewell Louise
• Mar 1660 – “You are the first to set out;
if God forgives me my sins, I hope soon
to rejoin you in Heaven.”
– Delivered verbally by messenger

37. Louise Dies March 15, 1660
For decades, she had helped the sick poor of all ages,
in their homes, in hospitals, prisons and galleys,
in the country and in the city, in war and in peace,
in support of their earthly life and eternal salvation.
Wax figure covering the relics of St. Louise
1660 – 35-40+ houses of Daughters of Charity in France
1789 – 426 houses in France
1934 – Saint Louise
1960 – Patron Saint of Social Workers

38. Interior Life
of Louise de Marillac

39. Her active exterior
life of virtue (Martha)
arose from her
contemplative interior
life of grace (Mary).
Christ in the House of Martha and Mary, before 1655
By Johannes Vermeer
Louise’s Accomplishments

40. 17th C French Catholic Spirituality
• Scriptural
• Ecclesial
• Missional
The Crucifixion, 1597-1600
By El Greco
“I have been crucified with Christ.
It is no longer I who live,
but Christ who lives in me.”
(Galatians 2:20)
• Instructional
• Mystical
• Experiential

41. Stages of Louise’s Interior Life
1. Spirituality of “I”
– Personal relationship
2. Spirituality of “We”
– Sisters’ relationship
3. Spirituality of Union
– Mystical marriage
Mystical marriage of Catherine
of Siena, c. 1770 (detail)
By Clemente de Torres

42. Spirituality of “I”
• Begins at the Royal Monastery, Poissy
• Continues at the boarding school and into young
adulthood under spiritual direction of Uncle Michel
• 1618-1620 – Louise is happily married,
but anxious and interiorly troubled
– Insecure, controlling
– Intellectual, driven
– Self-critical, self-contempt
– Full of doubt about
progress toward God

43. 1621-1622 – Interior Trials
“I fell into a state of depression …. I experienced
discouragement, annihilation of myself and desertion
by God which I had merited…. The force of my
emotions sometimes resulted in physical pain.”
– An Interior Trial, c. 1621
“All day, I suffered from great interior trials….
I reflected on how Jesus destroyed all the obstacles
to the operation of His divine will both in Saint Paul
and in the entire Gentile community. This thought
produced … a sudden painful sensation within me.”
– On the Desire to Give Oneself to God, c. 1622
Louise age 30-31

44. Spiritual Direction
1604-1622 – Uncle Michel
– Be patient and humble
– Bear uncertainty in peace
– Wait for God; trust in His mercy
– Forget yourself
– Abandon yourself to God
• 1618? – Visit from Francis de Sales
– Focus on doing the will of God
– Recommends the hair shirt
Michel de Marillac
Artist unknown
Francis de Sales
Artist unknown

45. Spiritual Direction
1622-1625 – Bishop Camus
– Fix her gaze on Jesus; stay recollected
– Recommends The Imitation of Christ
– Moderate her fervor and penances
– Use spiritual exercises like honey,
“rarely and in moderation,
because you give evidence
of a certain spiritual avidity
which needs to be controlled”
– Fails to restrain her self-analysis
Portrait of Jean-Pierre Camus
By Philippe de Champaigne
Louise age 31-34

46. June 1623 – Lumière
• Stay with your husband; the time will come for …
vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience and life
in a community dedicated to helping your neighbor
• You will do great work under the guidance
of someone you’ve not yet met; you will assist
your neighbor amidst “much coming and going”
• Remain at peace about your director;
God will give you one in time
• God is teaching you; believe in God,
don’t doubt the rest
Christ on the Cross, 1600-1610
By El Greco
Louise age 31

47. Spiritual Direction
1625-1660
Vincent de Paul
– Healthy detachment
from earthly loves
– Total attachment
to Divine Providence
– Imitating the interior states
and exterior conduct
of Jesus Christ
Portrait of Vincent de Paul
Artist unknown
Louise age 34-68

48. 1626
Louise age 35
• Louise consecrates herself to God, desires union
with God, but is unable to abandon herself to God
• Vincent says
– Be humble, submissive, confident, content
– Wait for God; let Him direct you
– Adore Divine Providence
• He realizes only meaningful
activity will prevent her
self-examination and
self-contempt
Saint Vincent de Paul
By Jean-Jules-Antoine Lecomte du Nouÿ

49. 1626
Louise age 35
• Contemplating the intimate union of Jesus and
Mary in the Divine Plan, Louise perceives Mary’s
immaculate conception
– Oblation to the Blessed Virgin
Immaculate Conception, 1678
By Bartolomé Esteban Murillo

50. 1627
• Louise writes to Vincent: “For the past month
our good God has permitted my soul to be
unusually aware of Him, nevertheless I remain
constantly in my imperfections.”
• Still trying to control her spiritual progress,
she writes a rigid Rule for herself
Louise age 36
Forgiven, 2004
By Greg Olsen
• Vincent tells her
– Do your exercises “leisurely”
– Develop peace, trust, moderation
– Her interior life should drive
her service of the poor

51. 1628-1630 – Consent
“’I thirst.’ Jesus addresses
these words to us so that
we might understand that
His death is not sufficient
to save us if we do not apply
the merits to ourselves and
this can only be done by the
personal consent of each
individual soul ...”
– Thoughts on the Passion
of Our Lord, 1628-1630?
Louise age 37-39
Crucifixion, 1660-1665
By Gabriel Metsu

52. 1630 – Spiritual Espousal
“At the moment of Holy Communion, it seemed
to me that Our Lord inspired me to receive Him
as the Spouse of my soul and that this Communion
was a manner of espousal. I felt myself
more closely united to Him
by this consideration which was
extraordinary for me. I also felt
moved to leave everything
to follow my Spouse….”
– Visits to the Confraternities
of Asnières and Saint-Cloud,
February 1630 Saint Catherine of Siena
Artist unknown
Louise age 38

53. 1631-1632 – “No”
Louise wants to commit her life
to serving Christ in the poor.
Vincent says no.
– She won’t be “fit and ready
to serve Him” until she
develops a tranquil heart.
– Her “excessive affection”
for her son shows a lack
of faith; trust God the Father
to provide for him.
Head of Christ, 1648-1655
By Rembrandt
Louise age 39-41

54. 1631-1632 – “No”
Louise wants to devote all
her time to training the girls;
wants girls to live together
Vincent says no.
– “I beg you , once and for
all, …. You are trying to
become the servant of
those poor young women,
and God wants you to be
His own.”
– Wait, pray, ask
for clearer signs Christ with Thorns, before 1890
By Carl Heinrich Bloch
Louise age 39-41

55. 1632 – Retreat
“I must perseveringly await the coming
of the Holy Spirit although I do not
know when that will be. I must accept
this uncertainty as well as my inability
clearly to perceive at this time the path
which God wishes me to follow ….
I must abandon myself entirely to His
Providence so as to be completely His.
In order to prepare my soul for this,
I must willingly renounce all things
to follow Him.”
– Retreat, 1632
Louise age 40-41
Crucifixion, 1506-1520
By Lucas Cranach the Elder

56. 1633 – Renunciation
“… I realized that it was my evil
inclinations which must die and that
I must die completely to myself by
deadening my passions and desires.
I saw clearly that of myself I could
never hope to achieve this, but it
seemed to me that our good God
was asking it of me. Therefore, I gave
Him my full consent to operate in me
by His power whatever He willed
to see accomplished.”
– Renunciation of Self, c. 1633
Annunciation
Ca. 1400
Netherlands
Louise age 41-42

57. Spirituality of “We”
• Louise focuses on transmitting
to the Sisters the source and
motivation of spiritual growth
– Contemplate Christ
(pure love, total sacrifice)
– Imitate Christ
– Strive to discover and
implement the will of God

58. Pray
“… speak to Our Lord with great simplicity and
innocent familiarity. Do not be concerned whether
or not you experience any consolation; God wants
only our hearts. He placed within our power only
the capacity to make a
simple act of the will.
He considers this alone
and the deeds resulting
from it.”
– Undated letter
To Madame
Religion, 1897
By Charles Sprague Pearce

59. Pursue Perfection
“… find the occasion to practice many virtues and
to acquire a high degree of perfection. Without it
you will accomplish nothing worthwhile.... How
troublesome self-love is!”
– To Sisters at Angers, 1641
Louise’s watercolor painting
The Holy Family
“We are greatly deceiving
ourselves if we think …
we can attain this perfection
by our own efforts.”
– To Françoise Carcireux, 1656

60. Conform to the Will of God
“... while practicing charity … take time to think
of your perfection. This you can do by observing
your little Rule. Interior acts can also accomplish this
to the same or to a greater extent than exterior ones.
… In light of this, we must truly conform ourselves
to the will of God, accepting
from His Providence anything
that happens to us ….”
– To My Dear Sister
Élisabeth Martin, 1647
Louise’s watercolor painting
Writing the Name of Jesus

61. Imitate Christ
“… we can have no peace with God, with our
neighbor or with ourselves unless Jesus Christ gives
it to us … He will only give it to us through the merits
of His wounds and sufferings, which will only be
applied to us through our
mortification of self, which
we acquire by imitating Him
in accomplishing the most
holy will of God.”
– Letter to Sisters at Nantes,
1647
Christ in the Wilderness, 1515-1520
By Moretto da Brescia

62. Communicate Worthily
The Last Supperr, 1530
By Joos Van Cleve
“… as one of the effects of Holy Communion, and
the principal one, is union with God, we should
strive … to remove all hindrances to this union….
it is essential for us to give ourselves to God,
to have only one will with Him,
if we are to participate in the
fruits of Holy Communion”
– On Communion,
August 18, 1647

63. Spirituality of Union
Pentecost 1642 – Ceiling of motherhouse collapses
“… it was a grace from God, permitted for an end
that we do not know and that God, by means of it,
was asking something of each of us”
– On the Conduct of Divine
Providence, 1646
Mystic marriage of Catherine of Siena
1460, By Giovanni di Paolo
• Abandon everything to God
to preserve the Company
• Adore Divine Providence
• Render glory to God
• Live in union

64. Receive the Holy Spirit
“… to be in a state of receptivity, the soul must
imitate the obedience of the Apostles by freely
confessing its powerlessness and by detaching itself
completely …. The Holy Spirit, upon entering souls
that are so disposed, will certainly remove any
obstacle to His divine operations by the ardor of His
love…. The love which we are obliged to bring
to God must be so pure that when we receive His
most particular graces, we must hope for nothing
other than the glory of His Son….”
– The Purity of Love Necessary
to Receive the Holy Spirit, 1655-1656

65. Receive the Holy Spirit
“… all the disorders of life
are caused by the failure
to give oneself to God so as
to receive the Holy Spirit.”
– Reasons for Giving
Oneself to God in Order
to Receive the Holy Spirit,
1657
Altar of the Mystic Lamb
1426-1432, By Jan van Eyck

66. Recollect and Abandon Yourself
“Strive to acquire interior recollection in the midst
of your occupations. Be particularly submissive
to the good pleasure of God and abandon yourselves
to His Providence. However, avoid mournful
probing to discover everything that is
going on within you. This often leads
in the end to imaginary virtues, puts
you in a bad mood, and wears you out….”
– To the Sisters of the HôteI-Dieu
of Nantes, 1658
Crucifixion, 1631
By Rembrandt

67. Raise Your Mind to God
“… our interior conversation with God should
consist in the continuous remembrance of His holy
presence…. We must strive to use all the things
that strike our senses as means to raise our minds
to God…. we must develop the
practice of making frequent acts
of the desire to know God
and ourselves.”
– On the Interior Spirit Necessary
for the Daughters of Charity,
1658-1659
Gethsemane, 1873
By Carl Bloch

68. Trust Divine Providence
“If you completely entrust everything to the
guidance of Divine Providence and love the most
holy will of God, this will contribute greatly to your
peace of mind and heart. In fact, this is one
of the most essential practices I know of
for growth in holiness.”
– Letter to Mathurine Guérin,
1659
Louise’s watercolor painting
The Good Shepherd

69. The First Step
“… the first step in following Him … is to exclaim,
‘l desire it thus, my dear Spouse …. As proof
thereof, I am going to follow You to the foot
of Your Cross …. There, I shall leave behind
all earthly affections …. I sacrifice
everything that might prevent me
from loving, with all the purity
that You expect of me.’”
– On the Pure Love We Have
Vowed to God, 1658-1659
Louise’s painting
The Heart of Jesus

70. “Interior Communication”
“… as I was receiving Holy Communion, I felt …
an extraordinary thirst which had its origin in the
belief that Jesus wanted to give Himself to me ….
When I was receiving Him and for a long time
afterward, my mind was filled by an interior
communication which led me to understand
that Jesus was bringing not only Himself to me
but also all the merits of His mysteries. This
communication lasted all day. It was not a forced,
interior preoccupation. It was rather a presence
or a recurrent recollection ….”
–On Holy Communion, 1660

71. Refuse to be a “parked” Christian
“…. each of us individually may desire
and, indeed, has the power to become
His well-beloved.”
– Retreat, c. 1632
“aspire to the perfection of pure
divine love, … our beloved Master and
Spouse … teaches us … that we may
hope for this and that such aspirations
are in keeping with His plan….”
– On the Pure Love We
Have Vowed to God, 1658-59
Baltimore Cathedral