FOR THE FEAST OF ST. MARY MAGDALENE
July 2, 1621
The mind of man is always worried, it is in continual agitations in search of human and apparent goods, which means that finding no contentment in those he meets, he remains full of trouble. From then on, thinking of freeing himself from it by the election of a real good, he comes to be more troubled by this means, because for the ordinary he leaves things high and excellent for the low, the useful and good for the bad, so much he is prone to be mistaken. From this arise the worries that we constantly experience in this mortal life and that are as natural to us. This can be seen even more particularly in the small people, in the people, of low state and condition, in the weak spirits and who have no courage and generosity; they are still stuck in grief.
This truth seems clear and manifest among the Israelites, god’s chosen and chosen people; for who has been more favored, loved and caressed than this people? God treated him with such kindness that it is wonderful; he led him through the desert with as much care as a nurse makes her young when she leads them to brighten up by the countryside (Nb XI,12). But this ungrateful, rude and ignorant people was not happy, but had fun in search of a good where they could find more suavity; and though the Lord was, by way of saying, descended from Heaven for them and had given them more than sufficient proof of the love he had for them, they did not leave it to be full of whispers and sorrow. Great case of the human spirit! The Israelites had been led into the wilderness with a thousand solicitudes by Moses and Aaron, God had abundantly provided them with all that they needed, and the wretched then only whisper and complain that they have no king. Hey, they say, other peoples are under the jurisdiction of kings and princes, they have scepters and imperial crowns; for us, we are without king and without law. (I R.VIII,5, 19,20)
O ungrateful people and whisperer! The Lord, the living but invisible God, was their King and Prince, their scepter and their imperial crown; but they are not content with it, but ask for another, although they would have seen the tyranny of the rulers of the earth, having experienced the cruelty of a Pharaoh, king of the Egyptians, quite contrary to the sweetness of their invisible King, our one Lord. Nevertheless, they do not let us think and desire to leave this property to look for a better one, although in vain, especially since it was wanting the impossible. It is not that they were devoid of earthly princes who gave them laws and who took care of their conduct; no, certainly not, for they had had Aaron and the great Moses and their successors. Now, the princes of God’s people did not do as those of this hour, because the Lord communicated his Spirit to them so much that they commanded or ordained only what they knew to be of the divine will, which they knew through the Prophets and sovereign priests of the Law to whom they addressed. They stood among the people as captains and governors dependent on the domain and authority of the Most High, and had him recognized as sovereign king and sole Legislator.
God, seeing that Israel was constantly whispering, was greatly angered and indignant, and let him know through his Prophet Samuel that he would give him a king. (I R.VIII,7,9,22) Well, he said, you are not satisfied with my gentle and debonair conduct, you want an earthly king; ha! I will give you one to govern you. He will baille you with laws and constitutions which you will follow and observe; for since you complain of being without a king, considering the other nations very happy to have one, notwithstanding that they are cruel and tyrant, but above, you will have one from now on, and you will obey him. This is the reason that, since you want a king other than me, you keep his ordinances.
All this is not about me, but I used this story to give entry to my speech. Now, what laws and constitutions will this king give to the Israelites? Here they are: You will have, says the Lord, a king who will take your sons: he will make some his carters and coachbuilders, the others his cooks, his soldiers and guardhouse; in short, he will take them away from you and use them so that their lives will pass in continual servitude and slavery. He will not take those you want, but those He will want, and you will not have the power to use them according to your designs, for He will take them away from you and use them as He sees fit. He will also take your daughters, and make some of his panetières and bakers, the other cooks and the other perfumers; so you will no longer be able to say: I dedicate this daughter to this or that, for the king will use them in the way he pleases.
Although Samuel’s prophecy to the Israelites was to testify to them God’s wrath and indignation, it was still only a figure of what Our Lord was to do in the law of grace among the Christian people, his true children and subjects, to whom, as King, he was to give laws that are none other than his holy commandments. Now, what this king did to the children of Israel represents to us the various vocations by which our divine Master calls his creatures to his service, not by using tyranny like this earthly prince, but gently and with entrails full of mercy. And so he acts towards all Christians; but to speak at this hour only of women, we will say that Our Lord calls many to his service. Some he makes them his perfumers, the others his cooks, the others his panetières and bakers (cf. Maintenance VI); which he did not only after establishing his Church, but also during the course of his life. We see it in the admirable Saint Magdalene of whom we celebrate today the feast; for she was like the queen and Mistress of all the perfumers of Our Lord, who chose her and called to him to exercise this office.
Consider here as this good Master reduces all vocations to two main chefs, namely, perfumers and cooks and panetières. This excellent Madeleine was her perfumer, a job she exercised all her life, always having with her perfumes to anoint her divine Master. On the day of her conversion she wore precious ointment from which she embalmed her (Lk VII,37,38); when she went to find him at the supper which took place after the resurrection of Lazarus, it was with his vase of perfume (Mt XXVI,7; Jn XII,1-3), and at the burial of the Savior, she was still in charge of it (Mk XVI,1). In short, by everything and always she has done the office of perfumer, Our Lord having chosen her for this.
Saint Martha, her sister, was the cook of our dear Master. Great saint that this one! She was preparing her food, and you will hear in eight days the glorious Saint Luke (X,38-40) who wanted to praise her highly says that she prepared the bread of the Lord, that she treated it in her house and had a very great care that nothing failed her; in such a way that he took it up one day (Lk X,41) as we will see below. These are the two main leaders of all vocations.
Saint Magdalene followed Our Lord with admirable purity, charity and dilection. We do not notice in Sacred Scripture that she went to find him with a love that was even a little interested, neither for the inside nor for the outside; that which is not found in any other of those who have gone after the divine Savior. The women who accompanied him to Calvary did so out of a natural pity and compassion, which was the cause that they wept over him, from which Our Lord took them back (Lk XXIII,27,28). Others followed him when he preached, but it was for whatever good they expected. The poor Samaritan woman had not come to seek Our Lord; nevertheless, attracted and enticed by the offers and promises he made to her, she followed him and converted to him. Certainly, our dear Savior loved her well this Samaritan woman, because afterwards she worked a lot for her glory, preaching highly and boldly the coming of the Messiah, which was the cause of the conversion of Samaria (Jn IV, 7-42). The adulterous woman was brought to Jesus, her head bowed, all ashamed and full of fear; he received her and forgave her (Jn VIII,3-11). The Canaanite came in a hurry of her daughter’s affliction (Mt XV, 22-28); the woman hemorrhoids, to receive the health that she had not been able to recover by any art or remedy (Mk V,25-29). In short, all went to Our Lord with self-interested attractions and love.
But as for this admirable Madeleine, we do not read anywhere in the Gospel any trait of self-love or of any kind of research; but she went to find the Savior with pure and righteous intention, not to love Him, but to love Him better. When she first came to him to the Pharisee, she loved him, she felt his heart burning with love for the One who attracted her and set ablaze with a holy dilection. So she went to him to love him even more, and with this “holy impudence” as St. Augustine says (Sermon XCIX, c1), she entered the house of the Pharisee where she knew that her gentle Master was, and throwing herself at his feet, she wept for her sins in such a way that they were all forgiven to her (Lk VII, 36-48). There she looked and was looked at by the Savior, and so sorry for his love that she made at that moment a complete conversion which, by the vehemence and strength of this love, passed even to the transformation of her mind and heart into that of her God. Therefore, he communicated himself to her in a very intimate and abundant way, so much so that from great sinner that she was she became a great Saint.
I said a great sinner, for in praising Saint Magdalene one should not be flattering and imply that she was not so great a sinner as the world believes her. It would be wrong to use these terms, since we do not find them in any place of Sacred Scripture, but because it was sinful: the Evangelists say so (Lk VII,37; Mk XVI,9), and they must be believed. The Church places her among the sinners and does not allow her to be called a virgin, but she forbids on the day that her feast is celebrated to recite the antiphon proper to the Virgins. There is therefore no doubt that she was and committed those great sins for which women are called sinners. I am well aware that it was not public; o no, we must not think so, because being a lady of very good place and having a generous heart, she could not have abandoned herself in this way. But alas, she had plunged so much her affections and thoughts into vanity and sensuality, that to be twisted in this way it is not possible that she did not commit very serious mistakes.
However, having found the divine Master, she made this admirable conversion: from a stinking carcass that she was, she became a vessel of great price, fit to receive the very precious and fragrant liquor of grace, from which she later perfumed her Savior. The one which was a manure of very bad smell became by this conversion a very beautiful lily, a flower of very sweet smell, and all the more so since it was rotten and stinky, it was purified and renewed. We see this wonder in nature every day: the flowers take their growth and beauty from a stinking and rotten matter, and the more the earth is filled with it, the more also the lilies and flowers planted there grow and are beautiful. Experience shows us daily: at the beginning of spring the earth is filled with manure, and the plants that grow there get a substance that makes them more pleasant and excellent. Thus our Saint, who was all infected with sin, was afterwards made all the more beautiful by the contrition and love with which she did penance.
We can therefore rightly appoint her as the queen of all Christians and children of the Church, who are divided into three classes: the first are the righteous, the second the penitents, and the third the sinners. Some are even sinners, but they do not want to die in their sin; the others are the stubborn sinners who do not want forgiveness, but who die in their iniquity. We must not talk about them, because such kinds of people no longer have a claim to Heaven: hell is prepared for them and will be their inheritance. Unhappy as they are, because as they vow to die in their obstinacy, they therefore do so to be damned.
It is not of these sinners that a Saint Magdalene is the queen, but of those who want to get out of their iniquity; for having been a sinner, as we have said and as the Gospel teaches us, she came out of her sin and asked God for forgiveness with true contrition and a firm resolve to leave him, thus provoking all sinners to imitate her example. As for his penance, how generous was it! How much did she mourn her sins, what did she do to erase them and during and after the Savior’s life and death! She shed tears in such abundance that they surpassed those of David who said (Ps VI,7): I wept night and day my iniquity so that my bed swam in the torrent of waters that I was spreading. He said this with a pathetic emphasis to show the extent and bitterness of his contrition.
Sacred Scripture (Jn III,4-10; Mt XII,41; Lk XI,30,32) speaks and does not put anything before our eyes as much as the penance of the Ninevites, which was so great that it is admirable to see what they did and the effects effected by the words of Jonah. Those, says the Sacred Text, who wore silk clothes left them to put on haire and cilice; those who covered their hair with gold powder covered it with ash. They fasted every day to the little children; and, what is more, they fasted their horses and oxen for greater austerity, in penance for the faults of their Masters. But although this atonement was so general, I find that that of the Madeleine is even more so. As she had offended God with all her heart, with all her soul, and with much of the members of her body, so she employed them to do penance; she made it with all her heart, with all her body and soul, without any reservation, but she was generally and totally involved in the works of icelle. That is why she may well call herself queen of penitents, since she has surpassed them all.
Secondly, she is queen of the righteous. Indeed, although she is not called a virgin, if because of the supereminent purity she had after her conversion she must be called arch-virgin, because having been purified in the furnace of sacred love, she was filled with excellent chastity and endowed with such perfect dilection that after the Mother of God it was she who loved Our Lord more. She loved him as much as the Seraphim, but she was even more admirable than they were in this love, because they have love without pain and also keep it without difficulty; but this Saint acquired it with great sweat and care and kept it with fear and solicitude. God gave him as a reward a very strong and ardent love, accompanied by a very great purity; and all the way that the divine Bridegroom saddened her heart (Cant.IV,9), so she wounded hers with desires, sighs and a love impulses. It must be believed that she often said these words of the Bride (Cant. I,1): “Let him kiss me with a kiss from his mouth”, a kiss so desired of human nature, so much requested by the Patriarchs and Prophets, which is none other than the Incarnation and the union of the divine nature with the human, it is this close union after which this holy lover sighed.
See, then, how Saint Magdalene is queen of the righteous; for what could make her more righteous than this dilection, joined with her great humility and componction that always made her be at the feet of the Savior? So he loved her with the tender and delicate love of which he loves the righteous, which was the cause that he could not suffer that she was touched or taken from something without taking his side. Look at her at the house of Simon the Pharisee who wanted to please the Master began to whisper against her, accusing Our Lord that he was suffering her near him. But he taunted him by defending his servant, showing her that she surpassed him in merit and charity (Lk VII,39-48). Here she is at the feet of her Master while her good sister Martha hastened to prepare what was necessary to live the Lord. She complained of Mary to the Savior, as wanting her to disapprove of what she did not do as she did; but he cannot suffer it, but takes Martha back from her eagerness, as if he were saying to her: Beware of blaming Madeleine, who has in herself nothing worthy of reprehension; for she has chosen the best part, and you rush too much. Only one thing is necessary, which is the one Mary chose (Lk X,39-42);; know, therefore, that if you come to disapprove of it, you yourself will incur the blame. Notice how much he loved her tenderly: he sees her crying at the monument, he appears to her in the shape of a gardener and asks her why she cries (Jn XX,14,15), as if he could not suffer to see herself sought any longer by this and all pure lover.
Saint Magdalene can therefore rightly name herself the queen of all Christians in the way we have shown. How happy you will be, my dear souls, if you follow her; for she sets an example for all, but especially for the nuns, to speak at this hour only of them. It teaches them how they must do to enter Religion, that is, for what purpose they must enter it, which is not only to love God. All Christians must love him and are obliged to do what they do by the motive of love, and if not with so much purity, it is at least with some self-serving love; for it is necessary to love God and neighbor to be saved and to go to Paradise, otherwise one will go to hell.
But especially as the hassles of the world cool and put charity at random, one enters religion. And why? Maybe to love God? O no, but to love him better. And to be saved? No, but to be better saved; not to please God, but to please Him better (Interview VI). Not to have ecstasies, revelations, suspensions or such other things, o no certainly; so many movements, lights, sensitive feelings, which are almost commonly desired by all, are not necessary for our salvation nor required to maintain and perfect our love. There are great saints in Heaven in very high degrees of glory who have never had visions or revelations; as on the contrary there are many in the underworld who have had these extraordinary tastes and things (Intro. to the devout life, IV, c.13; Tr. of the Love of God VII, c.7). This is not, my dear daughters, what we must seek in Religion, but we must, following the example of this great Madeleine, come to be small and always at the feet of Our Lord, as our only refuge.
This Saint was admirable in this, because from the moment of her conversion until death she did not leave the feet of her good Master. I do not remember having seen in any place that she ever came out of these sacred feet: at her conversion, she entered from behind and threw herself at her feet, washed them with her tears and wiped them with her hair (Lk VII,38); when she went to find him at the feast that took place after the resurrection of Lazarus, she carried the vase of precious perfumes and ointments and prostrated herself again at his feet. It is true that once she took this loving confidence to spread her and break her vase on her august head (Mt XXVI,7; Mk XIV,3), that from there he might pour out on his sacred body and descend by everything; but she had first thrown herself at his feet, and then she returned immediately. At the death of the Savior, when he was tied to the cross, it always remained under his feet (Jn XIX,25), and when he was taken down she quickly won them. In her resurrection she threw herself just as early at her feet (Jn XX,17), wanting them to kiss her as usual; in short, she never left them, but she constantly held her heart and thoughts, living in very deep humility and baseness.
O God, what error and deception would be in our century if someone wanted, after a few years of Religion, to stand as perfect and professed! One day a great servant of God asked a good religious what he wanted to be all his life. He replied that he desired to stand as a novice, so small, submissive, mortified, and subject to continual censorship, reprehension, and mortification; in a word, that he never wanted for anything in the world, to leave the feet of Our Lord. O how happy he was! And how happy you will be, my dear daughters, if all your life you do not leave for anything these sacred feet, if you live in humility and submission, imitating and following your queen, and even more so the Queen of all queens, the sacred Virgin, our dear Mistress, to whom Saint Magdalene was so devout that she never abandoned her. Our Lady also loved her greatly and more than any of the women who followed her. She accompanied him to the death of her Son, to the burial, to his return, at last she did not part with him until she went to the Sainte Baume near Marseilles, to complete her penance. There she led a life more divine than human, being seven times the day raised by the angels, without her heart rising from the feet of her Savior.
So do not come to Religion to be consoled, but to sacrifice yourself, to be the panetières and cooks of Our Lord, even his perfumers, when he pleases him and not when he pleases you. O how happy you will be if you make entire sacrifices of yourself to the divine Majesty, if you do not reserve the use of any thing, however small it may be! God asks you this. We see that men being offended demand that they be satisfied according to the offense; for example, if they have been robbed of an ecu, they want an ecu returned to them; if one has caused damage to others, it requires satisfaction on an equal footing with the loss one has caused.
In the old Law, he who gave a bellows to his neighbor was obliged to undergo another; to the one who tore a tooth from his brother was also torn from him. Now, although this law is entirely abolished among men, if it is still practiced today between Our Lord and those who dedicate themselves to him. He makes the same requests to them, namely, that he be returned, as far as possible, on an equal footing with the fault committed; that is, He wants us to do as much for Him as we have done for the world. It is not too much to demand of us that this, for if we have done so much for the world, allowing ourselves to be attracted by its vain attractions, what should we not do for the attractions of grace which are so sweet and so sweet? Of course, it is not wrong for us to ask this of us; therefore, as one has used one’s heart, soul, affections, eyes, words, hair for the world, one must also employ and sacrifice them in the service of sacred dilection.
There are some who give their hair, but they do not give their eyes; others still give their eyes, but for their words, not at all; others give the three together, but they don’t give their perfumes. Since you have given everything to the world, you must give everything to God and not reserve anything for yourself. What is hair? This is the most vile and abject thing to the human body, (..) a superfluity and something of no price; no account is taken of them, not even those of kings, for they are trampled underfoot as having no value, and nevertheless the human spirit constitutes its glory in erious. Our Lord therefore asks for the hair. Now, what do they represent to us, if not only the thoughts not only bad, but also useless, which must be cut and subtracted? That is what these girls must hear when they are cut off; for why do you think the nuns are being groped? It is said that this is healthy; I believe so, but this is not the main cause, but to teach them that as they are removed from objects that could give them evil thoughts, they must also not run after the vain and worldly things they have left, but forget everything to apply themselves totally to God. It is easy for them to be entertained by guilty cogitations, because having no present opportunity and being in places where they see nothing but pious subjects, where they read only good books, where they hear only about God and spiritual things, they make it easier for them to leave.
But this is still nothing, it is also necessary to sacrifice one’s eyes; for why do you believe that you have been put sails on your head, if not in order to teach you to no longer use your eyes to see and weep only when grace excites you, and not for the nonsense and tenderness for which women are subject to tears, crazy tears and vain, certainly! I would like to do that, but I cannot. What to do with this? Oh! you have to cry. And why? Hey God, because I don’t do what I want. I am contradicted, corrected and mortified; the remedy is that you have to cry. Great misery that this one! You will see a woman all grieving; He is asked: What are you crying about? Oh! I mourn my husband who is dead. Alas, what useless tears! As if because of the hell Our Lord was obliged to resurrect your husband. Another mourns that she lost her case. What madness! As if by this means the sentence had to be revoked. Another weeps that her house is burned; Hey, poor people, are you thinking of extinguishing with your tears the fire that has already burned your house? All such and similar tears are vain and useless; it is therefore no longer necessary to serve them, but to mortify these tendernesses and softnesses. It is true that nature is a little excusable: you will see, for example, a girl who will be very melancholy; and who will not excuse this? Another will be very joyful, and for this she will sometimes exceed to laugh; this is bearable. Another will be tender to weep, which is still forgivable, provided that these imperfections are nourished, but mortified to bring the supernatural to life.
On connaît par les yeux et par les paroles quelle est l’âme et l’esprit de l’homme, les yeux servant à l’âme comme la montre à l’horloge. C’est par les yeux et par les cheveux que le divin Epoux dit au Cantique des Cantiques que son Epouse lui a navré le cœur;néanmoins les paroles qui sortent de la bouche expriment bien mieux encore que les yeux les mouvements et sentiments intérieurs. On s’offense quelquefois par la croyance qu’on nous regarde de travers; en quoi l’on se trompe bien souvent, car cela peut arriver parce qu’on a les yeux bouffis, n’ayant assez dormi, ou pour avoir quelque chose en tête, ce qui est cause qu’on n’a pas les yeux doux. Mais en ces accidents, la langue vient témoigner ce qui est du mouvement du cœur : Hé! Dit-elle, vous avez fait tel jugement de mon regard; néanmoins je vous assure que je n’ai rien moins pensé que cela. Il est vrai pourtant que la langue exprime mieux le courroux et ressentiment que les yeux.
Il faut donc sacrifier ses cheveux, ses paroles et ses yeux à Dieu, ne s’en servant point pour des niaiseries, et ne pleurant point de ces larmes tendres et molles, ni moins des naturelles. Notre vaillante reine sainte Marie-Madeleine n’a pleuré qu’une fois de ces larmes naturelles, lesquelles étaient tellement mêlées de piété qu’elles furent approuvées de notre Sauveur: ce fut sur la mort de Lazare son frère. Elle avait averti son bon Maître de sa maladie; mais icelui vint quatre jours après cette mort, et la bonne sainte, croyait que déjà le défunt serait pourri, pleura pour la grande affliction qu’elle sentait de se voir séparée de lui. Alors le Sauveur en fut touché, se troubla et frémit (Jn XI, 32-35), compatissant ainsi à la douleur de cette sienne amie; car il ne fut pas ému de voir Lazare mort, d’autant qu’il le savait bien, mais il laissa troubler son âme pour l’amour qu’il portait à sainte Madeleine.
All the other tears of this Saint were of contrition and love. She wept at the monument for the absence of her good Master. Why are you crying? say the angels. Hey, she replies, I do not know where they put it (Jn XX,11); I will cry and keep crying until I meet him. But you have found angels. Oh! this does not console me, for it is not the angels I seek, but my Master. Do you see how it teaches us to seek only God, to weep except for his absence caused by our sins, or what he is so little known and glorified by neighbor. These tears are pure, and all the others are vain and useless.
With what on it, it is still necessary to offer the perfume. What is perfume? That is an excellent thing; also, the one who is fragrant feels something excellent. Spanish musk is highly esteemed among the world; But the perfume that must be offered to Our Lord is the self-esteem, a perfume so common that there is no one who can say he is exempt. Indeed, one of the great miseries of the human mind is that everyone is believed, and you cannot think how difficult it is to get out of this perfume. We remember the houses, the extractions, we find out if his grandfather and great grandfather is not from the race of Abraham. Great madness that this one! Then we overestimate ourselves above the others and then we come to say: I am from such a house and this one from such and such.
I must add this again: I cannot bear this great softness of the daughter of Marshal de Brissac, who is now dead, but holy. The story is very recent. This girl could not bring herself to call ‘sister’ another nun who was of lower condition than her; if he had to make great efforts on himself for this. In the time of St. Benedict (S. Gregor. Mag., in vita ejus, c.XX), so did one of his religious, who, being of good house, remembered it on one occasion when he rendered some service to the Saint, if his heart was full of whispers; for his glorious Father having made him hold the candle while he was doing something, he began to think: I who am of such a house and family, here I must hold the candle before a man who is of lower condition than me! But the Saint, knowing his thought, told him what it was necessary, and this religious returning to himself acknowledged his fault. However, this self-esteem is the fragrance that must be offered.
It is therefore necessary, my dear daughters, to make this perfect holocaust of your souls, your hearts, your eyes, your hair, your words and your perfumes. You enter the novitiate today, having completed your trial. O that you will be happy if you make this whole sacrifice, using your thoughts, your words, your eyes or your perfumes only for the service of “the dilection of” your Bridegroom (Constitution XLIV). As for what is self-esteem, oh! do not remember where you are, but these words: Listen, my daughter, lend me your ear, forget your father’s house, your homeland and your extraction, and the King will covet your beauty (Ps XLIV, 11, 12).” It is therefore necessary to enter with a resolution to “die to yourself to live to God” embracing the Cross of the Savior, and renouncing yourself entirely. Carry your cross and follow me, he said (Mt XVI,24). You see, Religion “is a mount of Calvary” (Constitution XLIV), you have not been received there to give you consolations; o no, of course, because nothing less is asked of you than to be crucified (Constitution XLIV). In Religion nature is killed, affections and inclinations are thwarted in order to make grace reign; in short, you are stripped of the old Adam to put on the new(Eph.IV,22-24), and this is not done without suffering.
We do not hide it from you, perfection is not acquired without difficulty. It is therefore necessary to have good courage in such a high enterprise begun in the feast of such a valiant warrior, because although you do not bear the name, it will not let to be your protector. One of you has devotion to Saint Dorothy, the other to Saint Bonaventure and the third to Saint Agnes. And who would not love Saint Dorothy? As she was led to martyrdom, a lawyer named Theophilus, who was present, hearing her assure her that where Jesus Christ was and where she was going, there were apples in all seasons and roses that never wilted, he said to her, as if mocking her: Dorothy, do me so much favor as to send me from the garden of your Bridegroom of those roses and apples of which you make us so great case. She promised him that she would not miss it, and after her prayer an angel appeared to her in the shape of a dwarf who carried a basket in her hand, in which there were three apples and three very beautiful and admirable roses. She begged him to bring them to Theophilus, who having received them admired them and remained all lost; then he converted, confessing that Jesus Christ was the true living God. This happened on February six in the middle of winter.
And who would not love Saint Bonaventure for his great humility? Who would not be surprised by the one he practiced when, having been commanded by the Cardinals to elect a Pope as he wished, or to accept himself the papal see, because of the great difficulties that there were to resolve on this choice, not only did he refuse this sovereign dignity, but moreover he did not want to provide for any of his relatives or friends, but appointed Pape, Thibaut, Viscount of Piacenza, who was at war and among the arms.
And Saint Agnes, who, only thirteen years old, triumphed over the world and the flesh, shedding her blood for her heavenly Bridegroom. O how happy you will be if you imitate these saints in their contempt for creatures and for themselves! It is necessary to make a perfect self-sacrifice to achieve perfection, and no longer think of the world or your parents; I mean to the houses from which you came out, for I do not hear that you forget to pray for them.
And do not say: O God, always live here! And the means? (Maybe this won’t come to mind during your novitiate, but after that, ghosts might come that will amaze you.) Remember the words of St. Paul: I have despised the world so much that I hold it like a hangman and it holds me like a hanger; I am crucified to the world and the world is crucified to me; I have no life for myself, nor a button for the world; for if I live well, I do not live myself, but it is Jesus Christ who lives in me. Consider the words of this great Apostle and look at how they are always growing. He says that the world is crucified to him and that he is crucified to the world; then, as a result of this: I live, but rather, I do not live, but it is Jesus Christ who lives in me. I live from death; but it is the death of myself that causes my Savior to live in me. How happy you will be if you die from the death of St. Paul, to live with his life, dying to yourself that Jesus Christ may live in you.
I will end by asking you what name you want, my dear daughters. Dorothy, you might say. But sus, Dorothy, which means gift of God, so be it. Bonaventure, for you have received today a good adventure, and if you are faithful you will still receive very good ones; Bonaventure, then, so be it. Agnes, which means lamb. How happy you will be if you make yourself simple and sweet as a lamb! But sus, Agnes, so be it. But besides these three names, I want to give you a fourth that will be common to you and from which I will call you at the end. It is that of the two great queens, your Mistresses and protectors, namely the sacred Virgin Mary your Mother, and Mary Magdalene, both of whom are named Mary, which means starfish or bitter sea, exalted lady, illustrated or illustrator. May you, my dear daughters, all be Marys, that is, lights by your good examples, and help others with your prayers to reach the port of salvation; the seas, to receive the great blessings that God communicates to those who dedicate themselves to his service; bitter, swallowing and devouring the difficulties that are encountered in the exercise of the spiritual life; exalted ladies, for having excellently mortified your powers, your appetites, your senses and inclinations, commanding them with absolute power; illustrated by the celestial light, and illustrators by a true humility and mortification.
I conclude this address by wishing you, my dear daughters, one of the blessings of Saint Mary Magdalene; and if, I do not wish you ecstasies, delights, nor to be lifted up by the angels as she was at Holy Balm, nor to appear to you as she did to many, nor to cast a great abundance of tears, nor the very excellent gift of contemplation. No, my dear daughters, do not make the contemplative or the ecstatic; but I wish you to remain all the time of your life at the feet of Our Lord, to have great courage to devour all the difficulties that would prevent you from enjoying your God and that could separate you from him. Always seek it and do not stop until you have found it; seek Him during this mortal life, not glorified, but dead and crucified. Prepare your shoulders to gladly carry the cross and the Crucified One on them; it will be heavy, it is true, but good luck, because it will strengthen you to carry it.
See the Madeleine who provokes you by her example. She looks for her Savior in the monument and asks the gardener: Hey, she answers, sir, if you took it, tell me where you put it and I will take it away. Do you see the humility of this Saint? She said: Domine, sir. O that at this time here we would be careful not to call Mr. a gardener! You will meet among the world women who are so coquettish that they make it a thousand difficulties to name Mr. and Mrs. this one and that one; it takes so many exams, so much nonsense to make sure if he is a gentleman or not. Now you, my dear daughters, when you are humble like Madeleine you will all call you Sir, that is, you will obey all without exception of anyone, giving each one the power to command you.
I will win,” she said. Will you win? But he is among the Jews and soldiers; you are just a woman, how will you do it? O God,” she replied, fear not this, for I will go and take it from among the Jews and I will prevail; I feel strong enough to do it. But he whom you seek is dead; how will you be able to carry a dead body that is very heavy? Oh she said, love gives me enough strength to go take it and take care of it. What this gardener, who was the very One she was looking for, could no longer leave the heart of this lover sorry for her love, called: Mary. And she, all enlightened, cried out: Rabonni, Master, remaining all accosted and rejoiced.
Go at the right time, my dear daughters, to seek the Crucified Savior with Madeleine. Do not be afraid to take it away and seize it wherever you find it. Do not be surprised by its gravity; and so it seems to you that you are too weak to charge yourself with a crucified death, enlarge your courage and do not let you lend your shoulders, for the glorious Madeleine will come to your aid, and joining her shoulders with yours, her love with yours, you will triumph over all difficulties and remain victorious. You will then be very happy if the Savior, witness of your labors and works taken for his love, finally calls you by your names: Mary! strong soul, valiant, courageous and persevering. And, like Madeleine, you will answer: Rabonni, my Master! Master whom we have followed, Master to whom we have obeyed, Master to whom we have conformed, and for and with whom we have “crucified, for after this life to be glorified with him” in the eternity of the blessed life (Rom VI,6-8; VIII,29,30), and there sing with our Queen Saint Magdalene the eternal hymns by all the centuries of the centuries. Amen.