Sister Susan Marie: In our Living Jesus Chat Room Sunday, we discussed some points:
Think of St Jane’s love of God, and how we first began to love the Lord.
What has helped our love to grow over the years? Think of events in St Jane’s life, such as the adversity in her married life.
What can be good about shunning society in the way that St Jane did?
How do we reach the level of unselfishness of St Jane?
Aug 10 2014, 7:10 PM
Sister Susan Marie: http://visitationspirit.org/2014/08/st-jane-de-chantalone-of-gods-greatest-lovers/
Sister Susan Marie: How familiar are you with St Jane de Chantal?
Daw: was just catching up on your chat
Sister Susan Marie: She is our Foundress , was wife widow, mother too
Daw: today was first I read of her
Sister Susan Marie: She is a hidden Saint
Sister Susan Marie: Extraordinary life tho both in events and in her spiritual journey
Daw: Just watched movie on EWTN – St Jane was sister of St Therese why was she the only sister to be Visitation sister and not Carmelite
what is a hidden Saint?
Sister Susan Marie: That’s Leonie Martin, not St Jane
Hidden meaning not well known
Ca: Wasn’t her sister Leonie also a Visantidine?
Sister Susan Marie: Yes it was Leonie who was the Visitandine
Aug 10 2014, 7:35 PM
Daw: thank you for correction Sr
Sister Susan Marie: St Jane was the Foundrerss of the Visitation with St Francis de Sales
St Jane was from a privileged background and married at 20 but already had a deep heart for the poor serving washing them etc
A young widow at 28 with 4 children to care for
She met St Francis de Sales who became her spiritual director
She suffered alot of losses, 3 of her 4 children pre-deceased hePM
Her interior life was very deep, as Cardinal Berulle pointed out- yet she suffered alsl from dryness
Her prayer life is what we hope to grow into- a simple gaze upon God
K (guest): Did St. Jane think about religious life before she heard St. Frances de Sales speak?
Daw is dryness where we not not feel the presence of God yet we know He is there?
Aug 10 2014, 7:41 PM
Sister Susan Marie: Yes , she and her husband had made a promise that if one died the other
Ki(guest): Awe! I didn’t remember that.
Sister Susan Marie: Yes in dryness one does not feel His Presence
Sister Susan Marie: if I can find the reference I will
As a widow she spent much time in prayer and wanted to be a religious but her children were so young-one omly an infant
Car: what does it mean that she stayed away from all conversation not required by civility? Does it mean she only spoke when spoken to?
Sister Susan Marie: That yearning for something not easy to achieve or find.. common to many of us in different ways
: Her life as “nobility” demanded many parties and things like that. She tried to avoid those social events
People were also great conversationalists in those days, cultured, in her class, but it was worldly and she was trying to be more reserved and focus on God
Aug 10 2014, 7:45 PM
Car: so it was only frivolous conversation he’s talking about?
Sister Susan Marie: Yes I think that’s the idea
Sister Susan Marie: For ex even when she met St Francis he told her to cut the lace off her dress because it looked like she wanted a husband and was advertising- so she did so as she did not want to re marry- frivolous in that sense- the lace
Car: Thanks!
it always sounds like they never spoke at all.
Sister Susan Marie: Impossible with 4 little kids
She had a very strict director before St Francis de Sales
K (guest): Strict in what ways? Prayer maybe?
Sister Susan Marie: Made her do all kinds of prayers, had someone follow her around even, very constraining
Rigid
She was hesitant to go to St Francis because the other priest had said she could not open her conscience to anyone else
but St Francis helped her with that
She is known for her liberty of spirit which sshe encouraged in the Srs- but she needed to grow into that herself
Ki(guest): What is liberty of spirit?
Aug 10 2014, 7:50 PM
Sister Susan Marie: Also forgiveness she really needed to grow in
K (guest): So there is hope for me!
Sister Susan Marie: Being able to be flexible, within limits
It took her years, maybe 5 or more to forgive the man who accidently shot her husband. St Francis had to help her with that
K (guest): Making those changes must have been very difficult for her. Impossible apart from the grace of God.
Sister Susan Marie: Eventually she was able to be godmother for his child
Sister Susan Marie: Very hard. She lived with her father in law and his mistress for a while- a real Cinderella story there too
St Jane did receive much grace- God had a plan for her life
Daw: she suffered much it sounds.
K (guest): I think he still has great plans for her!
Sister Susan Marie: Yes alot of suffering. What do you mean ?
Car: she did suffer so much-I can’t imagine
K (guest): “What can separate us from the love of Christ – tribulation, distress….” Romans 8:35 Those things bring us even closer to the love of God.
Yes because we grow closer to Christ in His suffering – become one with Him – one heart.
Ca it depends on how other people react–it was marvelous that St Jane cared so much for the man who killed her husband-but what if he had not accepted the forgiveness?
Daw: for me, yes. I have had much suffering in my life…it was the unbearable that turned me to see Christ.
Aug 10 2014, 7:59 PM
Sister Susan Marie: Good point- we can’t force others- but I don’t think St Jane would backtrack on her own growth- so she would love him in prayer and in silence and not expect more if he could not give
Sister Susan Marie: We are united in our sufferings, all of us
Ki(guest): Yes Daw. Sometimes we turn to God because we need Him so desperately. Hello Sister Mary Roberta.
Mary Roberta Viano: SFdS says our love is God is “acquired by the determination to do and suffer much for Him.” [letter to SJFdC]
Sister Susan Marie: The fire of love is within our hearts and it is hard to measure- but it shows thru our actions, our eyes, and in suffering, silent uncomplaining suffering, that must be how it was for St Jane, that enflames the love more
Mary Roberta Viano: love of God
Daw: I was not aware at beginning I was turning to Him….maybe that makes o sense….words really can confuse things sometimes!
8:04 PM
Mary Roberta Viano: It’s the “silent, uncomplaining” suffering that’s so hard!
Aug 10 2014, 8:04 PM
Car: that is so true!
K (guest): And that is not at all what our culture fosters.
Mary Roberta Viano: We like to spread our suffering out to the people around us by complaining. That seems to lessen our own suffering.
Daw: yes, this is what I have become aware of more. to keep silent and take it to Christ. it is hard to be quiet…
Ca: often though, the complaining, etc, is covering up the unspoken hurts that never come to light
Daw yes yes Sr Mary!
K (guest): Yes Ca Maybe a person is reaching out for help when they complain.
Daw: but what is your experience…when you suffer quietly?
Mary Roberta Viano: True, Ca. So the complaining of others sometimes helps us know who needs us.
Ca: that people assume they know what I am thinking/feeling.
Kguest): To suffer quietly one would have to be in very close communion with God.
Aug 10 2014, 8:08 PM
Mary Roberta Viano: I like to turn to one of the saints, like our own St. Jane de C., who suffered a lot, as an intercessor.
Car: when I don’t speak when something hurts me, others often assume they know what I’m experiencing interiorly. On the occasions when people ask and I answer, they seldom believe the answer!
Mary Roberta Viano: It’s sad, though, when people are passive/aggressive in their “not-complaining” about hurts.
Ca: It is always better to take things to Him-He allows the suffering, and knows the reason for it, so He knows what to say
Mary Roberta Viano: I’d rather they speak up, so I can help or so that we can clear the air, when it’s an emotional hurt.
Ca: Yes, Sr. Silence is not a weapon, but a tool. We carry on normally when we are not “speaking”
Daw: how wonderful to have lived in a time when there were less secular distractions, less business, and more spiritual directors
Mary Roberta Viano: One thing I’ve learned in my years in the monastery is the importance of keeping my own counsel (i.e., keeping my mouth shut)!
Mary Roberta Viano: The more silence in the monastery, the more peace there is among the sisters.
K (guest): I agree Daw. But I suppose these distractions are a source of suffering for one who desires solitude with God, like St. Jane.
Aug 10 2014, 8:13 PM
Daw St Teresa of Avila…clositered
I wrote down “keeping my own counsel” to help me remember this
Mary Roberta Viano: I don’t keep my own counsel with Our Lord, though – just the opposite1
Daw it just means to take it to Him, correct?
Ca: I think one needn’t have an opinion about everything, but only speak if it’s instructive. As the saying goes, don’t sweat the small stuff
Aug 10 2014, 8:15 PM
Mary Roberta Viano: I’m so grateful I can pour my heart out to Him before the Tabernacle.
K (guest): Oh, to live under the same roof with Him!
Mary Roberta Viano: And that’s why silence is “do-able” in the monastery: Our Lord gets all our “noise,” in the form of complaints, et
Mary Roberta Viano: -and then He calms us – just being in His Presence
Mary Roberta Viano: I love seeing in movies seeing the saints holding a crucifix in their sufferings.
Mary Roberta Viano: I can’t remember. I’ll have to go back to E.Stopp’s biography of her.
K (guest): I think the discussion point asking us to think about how we first began to love the Lord is interesting.
Sister Susan Marie: Yes
Mary Roberta Viano: How did you, Ki
K (guest): In thinking about that the first thing that came to my mind was singing in Sunday School (Baptist Church) songs like Jesus Loves Me, Jesus Loves the Little Children and Oh, How I Love Jesus.
I really don’t remember “beginning” to love Him.
Mary Roberta Viano: SFdS says our love of God “is not extracted from our hearts but is poured into them like a heavenly liquor by the supernatural providence of His divine majesty.” (TLG)
Ki(guest): Beautiful!
Aug 10 2014, 8:23 PM
Daw: for me, my first communion, I kept pulling veil over my face and was “getting married”. then many things happened -and again much later I saw how He had always been with me
Mary Roberta Viano: We’re born with the seed of that love in us, I think – don’t you?
Daw: yes, I think so
Ca: yes, I think we are.
Mary Roberta Viano: because, again as SFdS says, “Whatever does not tend to eternal love tends to eternal death.”
K (guest): Yes, it just needs to be watered.
Aug 10 2014, 8:25 PM
Mary Roberta Viano: and we know that intuitively
Sister Susan Marie: I remember a time when I was drawn to God and goodness as a child but could not say that i loved Him.But when I accepted the truth of Jesus later in life the love built esp after seeing others in love with Jesus. I wanted that.
Mary Roberta Viano: There’s a beautiful transparency in those who really love God – very attractive.
Mary Roberta Viano: I can see God “through” them.
K (guest): God Is Love!
Mary Roberta Viano: Yes, and it was that verse in I John 4 that first drew me: “Whoever loves God has God in him/her.”
Aug 10 2014, 8:29 PM
K (guest): A definition of “grace” – the very life of God in us!
Mary Roberta Viano: so the love of God isn’t really an emotion but a way of life
Mary Roberta Viano: the life of grace
Daw: is it being with God, union with God. that is the goal grace has placed in my heart
Mary Roberta Viano: SFdS to God: “I must love you more than my own being, since my being subsists by you…since I am all yours and all in you.” (TLG)
K (guest): This is reminding me of St. Jane and the “Martyrdom of Love”. To continue to live and love even when it is very difficult.
Mary Roberta Viano: Yes, I think her motto must have been: JUST DO IT; JUST LOVE!
Mary Roberta Viano: That’s why I find her such a powerful intercessor!
Sister Susan Marie: That martyrdom cuts to the very quick of the soul
Ca: it is good to have the help of those who have already figured out how to do it!
Mary Roberta Viano: and Christ’s Sacred Heart is our place of refuge in all our difficulties.
K (guest): We should share our knowledge of and love for Saint Jane with others. Maybe God doesn’t want her to remain hidden.
Aug 10 2014, 8:36 PM
Sister Susan Marie: One sister asked what form this martyrdom took. The saint answered: “Yield yourself fully to God, and you will find out! Divine love takes its sword to the hidden recesses of our inmost soul and divides us from ourselves.
Martyrdom of Love | Visitation Spirit
Daw: that is beautiful profound insight!
Mary Roberta Viano: That’s REAL love!
Aug 10 2014, 8:37 PM
Sister Susan Marie: In fact there is a group in Milwaukee who follow her somewhat. Just discovered it the other day-
Mary Roberta Viano: Who are they?
Sister Susan Marie: A Fr Hying leads them I think- maybe a parish group
Mary Roberta Viano: She lived 20 years after SFdS died and yet she’s not known as well as he.
Sister Susan Marie: He;s a Bishop Auxiliary
Mary Roberta Viano: maybe we can explore her more in another chat?
Sister Susan Marie: Here is the group: http://annebender.blogspot.com/2014/03/the-de-chantal-societyst-catherine-of.html
Imprisoned in my Bones: The de Chantal Society/St. Catherine of Siena
Aug 10 2014, 8:39 PM
Ki(guest): Thank you Mother Susan.
Sister Susan Marie: Yes let’s do that SR
Aug 10 2014, 8:40 PM
Daw: I hope to. thank you for introducing this hidden Saint. goodnight everyone
Mary Roberta Viano: and in the meantime ask her intercession for us this week!
Aug 10 2014, 8:40 PM
Sister Susan Marie: Yes and Happy Feast on Tues! Good night!