Sr. Véronique Thiébaut, RA
Hello ! This is the liturgical coat of St. Marie Eugénie. It recalls the white garment that the baptized receive on the day of their baptism! The first Sisters wore them during liturgical services as a sign of light and resurrection. It is like the man born blind of today Gospel. HE Receives a light even greater than that which his eyes now behold; it is an inner light, the warmth which envelops him as a result of his encounter with Christ... Marie Eugénie said: “The only true light is the light that shines inward.[1] It is the Lord who is “the light of our souls”[2].We can draw close to him so that he may shine within us[3]...
Marie Eugénie would like us to remember that “God is within our souls... like a sun shining through crystal.”[4] She also says: “When a cathedral is oriented, it presents itself to the rays of the sun in a certain way. It offers its apse to the light.”This raises a question: is our soul usually oriented towards the Lord, “turned” towards Him?[5] Several times a day, we can reorient our existence, turn it towards the Lord through an inner movement. Every day, we can prolong our daily prayer, we can think of him, entrust our life at the beginning of a an encounter, a meeting, a trip... Then He will be able to transform us.
Because wearing a white clothe is not enough! Our way of living and acting must correspond to the white garment we received at baptism. “It is not enough to be baptized (...),” says Marie-Eugénie, “Our Lord tells us: ‘Let your light shine before other people.” And she asks:“Are we under the influence of this light?“[6] she asks. In our daily lives...
She even says that God shares with us ”a ray of his light“![7] She encourages the sisters to become ”women of light"[8]! And like Saint Paul in his letter to the Ephesians, she believes that the fruits of the divine light are goodness, justice, and truth[9]. According to her, the more we place ourselves under the influence and action of Christ, the more the light that grows in our hearts spread around us through these truly evangelical attitudes![10] So we can ask ourselves: who influences my life, my actions, my thoughts? Towards whom do I direct my existence? For Marie Eugénie, it's simple: she has chosen her influencer, and that is Christ!
[1] ME, Chapter Instruction, February 25, 1877
[2] ME, Chapter Instruction, August 6, 1871
[3] ME, Chapter Instruction, August 6, 1873
[4] ME, Chapter Instruction, December 21, 1879
[5] ME, Chapter Instruction, August 25, 1878
[6] ME, Chapter Instruction, July 4, 1880
[7] Cf. ME, Chapter Instruction, August 29, 1880
[8] ME, Chapter Instruction, December 21, 1879
[9] ME, Chapter Instruction, March 16, 1879
[10] ME, Chapter Instruction, December 21, 1879