This Dedication Festival is the anniversary of the first Mass said at the Assumption and a fond memory for us. Therefore, when our Lord took possession of this little tabernacle, it was a great joy for us, and the Congregation has never forgotten to celebrate the anniversary of November 9 together with the first Mass said in an Assumption chapel.
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Hello, we are in Auteuil, in the oratory of the General Community of the Religious of the Assumption, in front of a tabernacle that is important to our history. In fact, it is the tabernacle of the first Mass celebrated at a community of Religious of the Assumption. It was November 9, 1839. The small community, then composed of four young women, after having spent the summer outside of Paris, had settled for a few weeks, on rue de Vaugirard, in an apartment that Mr. de Lamennais had occupied before the Sisters. A letter from Marie Eugénie to Joséphine de Commarque (Sister Marie-Thérèse) testifies to her deep desire to feel the presence of the Lord. She writes: "On our return to Paris, if we are lucky enough to find a suitable house, we will be able to get a chapel at home. We have been promised this, and God will not deny our prayers; yet if this happiness were to be further delayed, Our Lord would, I hope, compensate us by at least making Himself master of our hearts and all His desires. "(ME, Letter to Mary Teresa, n°1184, August 27, 1839) Hope and wisdom. The Lord wanted to make himself present and Marie Eugénie recounts: "On November 9 the first Mass was held there and from that day on we had the happiness of possessing Our Lady in our midst. (Memories of the foundation, n°1505) The account of the Origins shows how much this day was filled with emotion. Much later, in 1888, Marie Eugénie, in a chapter dated November 18, recalls this day: "Mother Thérèse- Emmanuel and I had prepared the first tabernacle, the first altar, this first chapel! Poor and miserable chapel, it is true, but it seemed very beautiful to us then, because we had decorated it as best we could and with all our love! "Poverty and love. In the same chapter, she speaks of Zacchaeus and his strong desire to see, to know Jesus, his joy in welcoming him into his home... She invites the sisters to experience great joy at the thought that "our Lord deigns to come and live in our homes"! She invites the sisters to experience great joy at the thought that "our Lord deigns to come and live in our houses"! She calls them to reawaken their faith and to always remain grateful for the call received to live in the house of God, to live under the same roof as the Lord. Faith and Joy. To this feeling of the most vivid, ardent love," she says, "must be added respect." This first Eucharist also reminds us that our life, as St. Marie Eugénie says, can be "a continual Mass" (ME, Instr. March 26, 1876), a happy and living gift for the Lord. Everything in us can adore the one who makes himself present at every moment.