Sr Véronique Thiébaut, RA
To understand the spirit of the Kingdom and to immerse ourselves in the style of Jesus, we cannot ignore the Lord’s Passion. Marie Eugénie herself meditated on the Passion every day. For her, it was a ‘source of inner life’ (cf. ME, Inst. 2 March 1879).
She recommended that the sisters practise this exercise very regularly, particularly during Lent. Like Bossuet, she believed that “when we have reached the point of meditating on the Passion, we find there everything we need; we need nothing else; in the sufferings and humiliations of our Lord we have the greatest examples that can be given to us” (cf. ME, Inst. 27 January 1894).
“If you wish,” she said, “for light to bear in you all these fruits of goodness, justice and truth, you must strive to let this light shine within you, through the entire Passion of Jesus Christ, and place you in a state of mind to accept whatever is in the Passion of Jesus Christ—and everything is there! ” (ME, Inst. 16 March 1879)
Let us consider the immense suffering of Jesus, betrayed by Judas, betrayed by one of his close friends. Let us enter into his immense solitude.
Let us recognise on his face all human suffering. When we suffer, let us consider that he suffered far more than we did (cf. ME, Inst. 16 March 1879).
Let us contemplate the Virgin Mary “during the Passion of her divine Son. She sees the Apostles, who… were to form the most perfect community…”, who scatter and abandon their Lord. She sees Judas’ betrayal, Saint Peter’s denial.
“Is the Blessed Virgin disillusioned? Does the Blessed Virgin say: ‘What is going to happen? … So many failings, so many imperfections …!’ No, the Blessed Virgin does not speak in this way. She endures everything in silence, with faith, with patience, without discouragement.
She practised this throughout her life, “moving from one grace to another, from one fidelity to a greater fidelity.” (ME, Inst., 15 September 1872)
“It is above all on the Way of the Cross that our Lord showed the power of his silence…”, which consents to injustice. (ME, Inst. 2 March 1879) Marie Eugénie often returns to this strength of silence: Christ, in his Passion, is the model of the silence of humility (cf. ME, Inst. 30 March 1879). It challenges our reflexes of justification, resistance and selfishness. Let us ask him, with her, to dare to embrace the silence of the humble.
This week, as Marie Eugénie invites us, let us contemplate the Passion of Christ step by step: ‘lovingly’, entering into it ‘through the Sacred Heart of our Lord’, taking care ‘to go through and delve into every detail, every circumstance’, responding to surrender with surrender, to generosity with generosity.