Saturday January 14 is the 103rd anniversary of the passing of Visitandine Foundress and Mystic, Mother Marie-Madeleine Ponnet (+ 1914).
She entered the Visitation of Lyon-Fourvière, and led the foundation of Lyon-Vassieux in 1896, which was established as the abode of the Heart of Jesus”. She wrote “Thoughts” that nourished the prayer of generations of Visitandines.
Devoted with zeal for the salvation of souls, she taught “that the fidelity to animate each of our actions with the fervor of charity, would attract much more to the world the floods of love contained in the Heart of Jesus than all other practices “. Referring to the mission of the Visitation received on July 2, 1688, “to make use of the treasures of the Heart of Jesus”, she asks: “On the Day of Judgment when Our Lord will ask us what we have done with His Heart, she then composed a poem in twenty-five stanzas. Here are a few translated into English.
Daughter of the Visitation, what have you done with my Heart?
For you I wanted to burn with unspeakable ardor,
And you, being nothing but an insensible ice,
To love you I took it and I made it into my Heart.
Daughter of the Visitation, what have you done with my Heart?
I have distributed it as a poor man who gives
The infinite treasure which the rich man abandons;
All I have had: deadened, righteous, holy or sinful.
Daughter of the Visitation, what have you done with my Heart?
I wanted to take him by humble sacrifices,
In the Church of God these were my offices:
See if, for your Love, they are filled, Lord.