CONSIDERATIONS FOR THE DAY OF HOLY MADELEINE
We must, my very beloved Sisters, imitate Saint Magdalene in this way: First, we must convert from sin to grace, and from ourselves to God, and from self-love to divine love. She left the world to do penance, embarking on the calm sea of holy religion, to sail there with the wind of the spirit of penance. Jesus will be our pilot, as he was hers, if we seek him for the love of himself, as she sought him. She went to hide in the desert of Sainte-Baume; Likewise, we often have to withdraw into the desert of our heart, in order to drive out the venomous beasts, which are our self-esteem, and our passions and bad inclinations. In this desert there is a very high mountain where this saint climbed; likewise we must climb the mountain of perfection, which is inaccessible without mortification. You have to go through the low valleys of humility and humiliation. There is a cave where the saint withdrew; the plague of the sacred side of Our Lord Jesus Christ will be ours. There was a stone in this cave where she rested; the Sacred Heart will be the place of our rest. And, as there is a source of water which flows continuously, the water of grace must flow constantly in our souls, from this source of the living waters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. And as this place is called “Sainte-Baume,” it is necessary that holy love is the precious balm that spreads its good odor on all that we have just said and that we want to practice, so that it elevates us seven times a day, as he raised this faithful lover, to make us converse with the angels, separated from the trade of creatures, to enjoy the lovers talks of our Beloved. We will elevate our spirit to heaven seven times during this octave, to ask the Sacred Heart for the gift of his pure love for us and for all hearts capable of loving him, and the spirit of penance for hardened hearts.