The co-foundress of the Order of the Visitation, St. Jane de Chantal, was a “Daughter of the Heart of Jesus”. And she counselled her own spiritual daughters, the first members of the Institute, in this way: ” If the Sisters of the Visitation are very humble and faithful to God, they shall have the Heart of Jesus for a dwelling and sojourn in this world.”
This “dwelling” would set the pattern for the prayer life of a Visitandine. St. Jane de Chantal explained how St. Francis de Sales understood this. ” Our blessed Father,who understood excellently well all sorts of prayer, has always approved of this [the prayer of simple regard]. He said that, whilst others ate diverse viands at the Lord’s table, we ought to rest our soul and all our affections on His loving breast.”
This prayer would in turn affect the way we interact with each other. To quote St. Jane, “Not, of course, that in this contemplation you should forget the neighbor. Oh, this dear neighbor ! You must always think of him. But St. Francis de Sales wishes that his daughters see him no more except in the Heart of Jesus and as if through His Sacred Breast. “
And finally, one of St. Jane’s meditations stated,
” Consider that the sweet Saviour not only showed His love for us, as well as for all other Christians, by the work of our redemption; but that He obliges us especially, as daughters of the Visitation, by the gift and favor that He has made to our Order and to each of us in particular of His Heart, or rather of the virtues it contains, since He has founded our most lovely Institute on these two precepts: Learn of Me that I am meek and humble of heart. This is the portion of His treasures that has fallen to us. Having given to other Orders, to one eminent prayer, to another solitude, to another austerity, He bequeathed to us what, undoubtedly, He esteemed more dear, since His precious Heart is its depository. Ah, could we but have this satisfaction, could we learn and practise well the lesson that this loving Saviour gives us, we should then be honored in bearing the title of ‘Daughters of the Heart of Jesus’ ”