Dear Friends of the Heart of Christ,
Today we are celebrating the saints of all times- those the Church has set before us by officially beatifying or canonizing them and those who have attained holiness in a more hidden and obscure way but who, nevertheless, are worthy of admiration and imitation by their noble and faithful lives lived for God. We may perhaps know of some of these holy,hidden souls. They may have been our neighbors,friends,or even family members. In my own family,as I think about this, I immediately remember my Uncle Mickey- my mother's bachelor brother who was a shining example of a lay Catholic - fervent in his prayer-life, charitable to others, hard-working andl ong-suffering. He died of a massive heart attack at age 65, and I think he would be amazed to have seen his two nieces become contemplative nuns. So today we unite with the whole Church to give glory to those honorable men and women who lived such Godly and generous lives.
These timely words from the Lord (found in the book In SinuJesu) enlighten us about the work of the saints. This is what Jesus tells us:
Listen closely to My inspirations and to the suggestions that I make through your guardian angel, through My Immaculate Mother and through our friends the saints whom I have charged to support you, to guide you, and to walk with you in this life. All of these are co-workers with the Holy Spirit, acting in union with the uncreated Love that is the bond of My union with the Father and with all My elect, the saints in heaven and on earth... Love Me, then, and trust in My love for you. Ask the Holy Spirit to inflame you with the same fire of love that burns in My Sacred Heart and in the hearts of all My saints. (pp 231-2)
From this we see that the Lord gives us the saints to support us, to guide us and to walk with us in this life. Because of our recent trip to the Shrine of the North American Martyrs in Auriesville, NY, I have been reflecting about these valiant men and women who loved the Lord so much that they were willing to suffer for Him and even to give their lives for Him. I think also about saints like Saint Margaret Mary (although not a martyr) whose life was characterized by her own willingness to suffer for the Lord. The Sacred Heart of Jesus told her that he would use these sufferings not only for her own purification but for the conversion of others. In her Autobiographywe read that as the Sacred Heart spoke to her one day, such a scorching flame shot forth from his Heart, that she was sure it would devour her. "It went right though me," she says,"and when I could bear it no longer I begged him to take pity on my weakness." And the Sacred Heart answered,"I shall be your support, don't be afraid. Simply focus all your attention on what I am asking of you, so as to fit you for the fulfillment of my plans." God has a plan for each of us and sometimes permits us to suffer in order to make us fit vessels to conform to His designs for us. God wants to save the souls of all people. Using our saint as an example, he requested that she make a Holy Hour every Thursday night for one hour -not only to allay God's anger by asking mercy for sinners, but also to soothe in some way the heartache he feels when he is abandoned by those he loves.
In an article entitled "The Martyrs Buried at theValley of the Fallen" that recently appeared on a Catholic website, I read about a monumental complex near Madrid that honors the victims of the Spanish Civil War. The photo accompanying the article caught my attention as it showed a massive rock formation from which a towering cross extended. Spreading out from both sides of this was an impressive abbey and basilica where the bodies of more than 30,000 victims of this war are buried. Among them are 57 Blessed and 15 Servants of God. The Spanish CivilW ar of 1936-39 was fought between the Nationalist forces, led by Francisco Franco and the forces of the new secular republic. Both sides had their loses, but it is recorded that the foes of Franco martyred thousands of clerics, religious and laity. Of these, I I have been canonized and I, 915 beatified- 7 of whom belong to our own Order of the Visitation.
In order to understand how all this came about, let us briefly look at this time in Spain's history. Prior to the Spanish Civil W ar, from 1923-30, religious peace prevailed in Spain. But within weeks after the Second Republic was inaugurated in 1931, the burning of convents began in Madrid, Malaga and in other places. The Jesuits were dissolved, the primate of Toledo was expelled and the Church's goods were confiscated. There was a Catholic counteraction to this in 1933 but it was annulled in the election of February 1936 which brought to
power the government of the Popular Front. This was supported by most of the parties of the left and opposed by the parties of the right. Revolutionary forces arose that promoted anarchy and terror. In order to remedy this riotous situation,there was a National movement under the leadership of General Franco. The two sides- the Nationalists and the Popular Front of the New Republic--proceeded to organize their respective territories and to repress opposition or suspected opposition. A bloody civil war ensured,fought with great ferocity, which claimed in the end between 500,000 to one million lives.
During this month of November; Visitandines all over the world will be remembering the sacrifices of seven of their Sisters martyred during the Spanish Civil War in 1936.They were beatified in 1998, and their feast day is November 18th. With great love for the Sacred Heart of Jesus, they were faithful to the end, as they offered their lives as a sacrifice for the conversion of souls. All were members of our Madrid monastery, the first to be founded in that city which flourishes today.
By early 1936, religious persecution had intensified in Spain. Because of this, most of the Visitation community in First Madrid had moved to Oronoz where a benefactor had provided a house for them. Other Sisters, because the community was quite large (over 80 nuns),were welcomed into monasteries outside of Spain. ByJuly of that year,the situation became more dangerous. In order to guard the monastery property and give the appearance of normality,seven Sisters were selected to be the first in turn to watch over the monastery. They stayed there for the first month,then moved into a small basement apartment, not far away,to observe the escalating perils around them. Initially, during the day, they would proceed to the monastery,open the windows and ring the bells to give an impression of occupancy. But on July 18th, rebellion broke out in earnest, and the nuns were forced to remain in the apartment. On July 20th, a fire was noticed in parts of the monastery, but the building was not severely damaged. Brave priests clandestinely came to say Mass for the Sisters, and other friends and benefactors secretly aided them with food and supplies.
On August 14th, the first of several house searches by the rebels took place, and the nuns were informed that their house was "registered." One of the Sisters was even detained overnight at the police station. The situation grew more threatening with each passing day. When the caretaker of the monastery pleaded with the seven to flee to safety, they told him, "We are awaiting the palm of martyrdom and if shedding our blood,Spain can be saved,Lord may it be as soon as possible." The rest ofthe community,most living in Oronoz,was entirely cut off from the Sisters left in Madrid. Postal service was completely disrupted. Then on the evening of November 18, 1936, a patrol of the Iberian Anarchist Federation broke into the apartment and ordered all the Sisters to leave immediately. Herded into a van, they were driven a short distance to a vacant lot, and as they stepped out of the vehicle,were shot at close range. One of them, Sr. Maria Cecilia, the youngest of the group, ran away as the Sister next to her fell. She actually managed to escape, but when guards later stopped her; she readily declared to be a religious,was arrested and immediately jailed. At dawn on November 23, she also was shot.
When the community returned to Madrid at the conclusion of the war in 1939, one of their first acts was to find out any information about their seven Sisters who were killed. The bodies of four of them were eventually returned to the monastery. Because bullets had riddled the faces of two of the Sisters,the superior was unable to swear under oath that the police photographs of the deceased were of these two Sisters. Their remains rest in the Valley of the Fallen with those of Sister Maria Cecilia. The iconography of our seven martyred Sisters from our Madrid Monastery naturally portrays our Sisters around their first love,the Sacred Heart ofJesus. Their shrine at this monastery depicts their great devotion to that Divine Heart which they chose to remain faithful to even in the most drastic situations. How much we need their intercession and example as we contemplate the hostility of anti-Christian forces in our world today.
As I think of these martyrs of blood that we honor today, I am well aware of the many, many souls whom our Holy Mother; Saint Jane de Chantal called martyrs of love. In the memoirs of our Foundress can be found a famous episode in which Saint Jane addressed these profound thoughts to the Sisters present
"My dear daughters, many of our holy fathers in the faith, men who were pillars of the Church, did not die martyrs. Why do you think this was so?" Each one present offered an answer; then their Mother continued.' Well, I myself think it was because there is another martyrdom-the martyrdom of love. Here God keeps His servants and handmaids in this present life so that they may labor for Him, and He makes them both martyrs and confessors..." One sister asked what form this martyrdom took. The saint answered: "Yield yourself fully to God, and you will find out! Divine love takes its sword to the hidden recesses of our inmost souls and divides us from ourselves. I know one person whom love cut off from all that was dearest to her,just as completely and effectively as if a tyrants blade had severed spirit from body." We realized that she was speaking of herself. When another sister asked how long the martyrdom would continue, the saint replied: "From the moment when we commit ourselves unreservedly to God, until our last breath. I am speaking, of course, of great-souled individuals who keep nothing back for themselves, but instead are faithful in love. Our Lord does not intend this martyrdom for those who are weak in love and perseverance. Such people He lets continue on their mediocre way, so that they will not be lost to Him; He never does violence to our free will."
St. Therese of Lisieux likewise shared these thoughts on suffering and wrote,"Sufferings gladly borne for others convert more people than sermons." When we unite our sufferings with those of Christ, God releases great spiritual power through them. Jesus desires our boundless trust in the merits of his passion,and our human suffering united to His Cross has tremendous supernatural value and potency. And like the saints, we contribute to the conversion of souls and bring our world closer to the Heart of Christ and to its reign among us.+