On the feast of Pentecost, May 23rd, while before the most Blessed Sacrament, the sister asked what more had she to do, and manifested her willingness to make any sacrifice, even to shed the last drop of her blood, were it necessary, for the establishment of the Reparation.
“Our Lord gave me to understand,” she writes, “that His sole desire was to possess my heart and my will; that the more I would love Him, the more grace I would obtain for the accomplishment of His designs. Soon this Divine Saviour took possession of all the powers of my soul, favoring it with a most admirable perception of the beauty and excellence of this reparatory work which I beheld as a mine of gold. Our Lord told me that it required much patience and care to work this mine, for it was only by dint of hard labor that we could obtain the gold. He also said; “Oh! If the world could only behold the immense treasure to be reaped by those who work my mine, I would not be without laborers. Make known this communication.’ Then my good Saviour, to console me, showed me that the work performed in this mine for four years, had not been without fruit, and I saw that indeed the numerous prayers already distributed, for instance, the little Manual and the other prayers relative to the work, were like gold discovered in this precious mine, and Our Lord addressed me these consoling words, regarding the reparatory prayers: ‘This new harmony has charmed my ears, delighted the angels, and appeased my wrath, but I shall not repeat again what I have said before; I want the Work finished.’”
“This encouragement has filled my heart with joy, while the tears covered my face, but they were tears of joy; then I answered: – ‘My sweet Saviour, if I say You are no longer angry, I am afraid that Your cause will be injured and the zeal of those who are as yet not very much interested, will be cooled.’ Our Lord answered: “Oh! My daughter, what have you just said: The contrary to what you imagine will happen; that soul must have very little love who would not be more inflamed with ardor to perfect a thing so agreeable to me that it subdues My wrath.’ Then He gave me wonderful light on the sublimity of this Association and the preference with which He esteems it more than all others established in the Church, because of its object, to make reparation for all the outrage offered against the Divinity by blasphemy and by the profanation of the Sunday. He compared the first to the common wine used at the wedding of Cana, and the latter, to the miraculous wine served at the end of the supper. I told Him that there were many obstacles to His designs; but He consoled me and assured me that all this opposition would only make it shine forth with a more resplendent glory, and that I should tell our mother prioress to continue to labor in its cause when she found a favorable occasion; He gave me to understand that it required prayer, ardent desires and suffering”.
“Behold, as nearly as possible, reverend mother, what has transpired in my soul. In conclusion, my Divine Saviour said: “It is to My holy Mother that you are indebted for the communication you have just received; she has obtained it. Live Jesus and Mary forever!”
Life of Sister Mary St. Peter Carmelite of Tours by M. Labbe Janvier, p.328-330
Dear Sr. Marie de St. Pierre askes the Lord in front of the Blessed Sacrament, “What more can I do?” We see that she gives witness of the merits of Holy Face time in Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament as an efficacious time to have holy conversation with the Lord! She is offering her will to assist our Lord in the work of Reparation. This week in the book of mediations Divine Intimacy, leading up to this great Solemnity of Pentecost, it was stated that in terms of Redemption, our Lord could have accomplished it all without our assistance, but He desired the Church to assist Him in it. In order to do so, we absolutely need the Holy Spirit, which Jesus merited for us from the Cross, and continues to operate in His Church. He keeps sending the Holy Spirit to us today to fulfill His Mission, and He does so abundantly to each one of us who together make up the Church. He desires to take possession of our souls, sanctify them to form them in the Likeness of Christ and to bring us to God – this is the Holy Face devotion, with the beautiful goal of sanctifying us so that we can be in the Presence of the Beatific Vision for all eternity!
Divine Intimacy continues with this question, “Why do we not all become saints?” We, like Sr. Marie, have to give the Holy Trinity free access to our souls. Once we do so, the Holy Spirit will transform us by His charity, and will lead us back to God – the Beatific Vision!
Jesus said to her, “I want the work finished!” This, she was able to accomplish before her death, but the world had to wait a few decades before the Archconfraternity was established in 1885 by Pope Leo XIII. Our Lord wants to finish His work too in us, by the action of the Holy Spirit, to make us those saints, so that He can welcome our souls into the light of His Holy Face. The biggest obstacle to the action of the Holy Spirit our lives writes the author of Divine Intimacy – Fr. Gabriel of St. Mary Magdalen – is our sin. How we need to begin again and again each day renewing our Baptismal Promises, striving to stay in the state of grace, & preferring the Lord’s will over our own.
Again, in Divine Intimacy, we are told that the gift of the Holy Spirit is a permanent one, so as a soul grows in love for Him and turns from sin, the Holy Spirit will grow, increase and keep on coming to us from God the Father & Jesus.
The question then arose in my heart, “How do we get this incredible Holy Face message out there? As if Sr. Marie had this same question in her heart as so many of us do, she told our Lord about the many obstacles to His designs. He responded that this opposition would only make the work of Reparation shine with a greater glory, but that would take the hard work of prayer, ardent desires, and suffering. And what is prayer, but a lifting of the heart and mind to God, in other words “love for Him”. What are ardent desires, but the grunt work or working hard in the gold mine of saving of souls & giving glory to God – love! What is suffering – the offering & uniting of our spiritual, physical, emotional and intellectual crosses to our Lord – again – love! As we heard earlier in the revelation, Sr. Marie said that the more that she would love the Lord, the more grace that she would obtain for the accomplishment of His designs. And so it is with us, the more we love the Lord and strive to keep our souls stainless, the more He will send the Holy Spirit to help us in the work of the conversion of souls through our Holy Face prayers.
To finish off the revelation, Sr. Marie hears from our Lord that our Blessed Mother has once again played a huge role in what was just revealed to her. Isn’t that amazing! In this month dedicated to her, on the Solemnity of Pentecost, she asked her Son to bring this communication to Sr. Marie de St. Pierre which speaks so much of the action of her spouse, the Holy Spirit in our souls. Thank you dear Lord & our Blessed Mother!
the littlest wren