Whatever Mother Barat saw in prayer, she tried to put into practice. She did not just talk about humility and suffering but lived what she said. She terminated the conference given at the end of her retreat by asking to kiss the feet of the novices. In her Journal she admitted: "The next day I had to stay in bed because of an attack of rheumatism." This attack was very painful and lasted several days. Mother Barat noted: "I was delighted to have something to suffer, but thanked God that the attack had not come during the retreat for I would not have been able to continue it."
Shortly before the retreat Mother Barat had learned that a projected foundation to be made at Niort had fallen through because the owner of the boarding school decided not to turn it over to her. Always seeing God's action in people, events, and circumstances, Mother Barat accepted this calmly. Her humility made her turn to God and she included in her Journal a prayer straight from her heart:
O God, you know what we are and what we can do by ourselves: if you do not sustain us by your grace and hold our your hand to us, what can we do? Poor, ignorant, and weak, are we capable of doing anything without your help?...But it is a consolation to know that you do have need of human help to carry our your plans. Did you not choose a dozen poor and ignorant apostles to preach the Gospel to the whole world? Our weakness does not discourage me; on the contrary, ordinarily you choose the weakest to confound the strongest."
2 comments:
I admire St Madeleine Sophie's deep faith very much. I hope that one day I may be like her in some way, but of course that will require much work. To be holy is certainly a challenge!
To be holy is a life-long challenge, but think of the reward of a life well-lived!! The consoling thing is that we always have the grace to be holy; we are called to be saints!
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