The sisters of St. Joseph trace their roots back to southwestern
France, and to a missionary Jesuit priest called Jean-Pierre
Médaille. Born in Carcassonne in 1610, Fr. Medaille attended a Jesuit school, joined
them, and was ordained a priest in 1637. Fr. Médaille was a gifted spiritual
director, an excellent preacher, and an ardent lover of God and the poor. Fr Medaille
traveled around towns and villages teaching and preaching the gospel of love, reconciliation,
and unity. His travels enabled him to encounter many of the poor of his time.
Their sufferings and deplorable situations inspired Fr. Medaille to dream of
how the needs of the “dear neighbors” could be met.
Captivated by Fr. Father Medaille’s zeal, passion, and love
for God, our first emboldened sisters placed themselves under his guidance. They
requested to live community life, as well as engage in apostolic activity
outside the walls of the cloister. Back then, women religious were all cloistered.
Our sisters wanted something different and courageously stayed true to their
call. Inspired by the Holy Spirit, Father Medaille honored their desire. He not
only provided guidance and support, but Fr. Medaille succeeded in getting
Bishop Henri De Maupas on the side of the sisters. The bishop gave the “Little
Project” a canonical status and made Father Medaille their spiritual guide. Not
wanting to draw attention to themselves, our first sisters dressed like the
widows of their time and lived among the people. Fr. Medaille called them: “The
Little Design” because he did not want to draw any attention to them. Fr.
Medaille urged the sisters to go out into the community, to “divide the city”
identify the needs, and unite with like-minded people to respond to them. The
timing was right for the birth of this great design of love. This “little Design”
blossomed. Today the sisters of St Joseph have approximately 14,000 members and
thousands of aggreges and associates in more than 50 countries worldwide.
This summer I was fortunate to travel to Lepuy, France with a
group of other CSJs from Orange, CA. This Heritage pilgrimage experience has
become one of the most profound experiences in my spiritual treasuries. This life-changing
experience has left me with a deep desire to continue to unpack what it means
to stand on the shoulders of our ancestors. It stirred a lot of questions in me
such as: “How were the sisters able to navigate the extreme poverty, suffering,
and persecution of their time? What was it like to embark on a mission of serving
the “dear neighbors” with little or nothing themselves? Were there times when
they wanted to give up? Where did their courage come from? What helped them
remain steadfast...?” As I ponder these and other questions, I quickly reminded
myself that the sisters gave ALL to God and that was all that mattered to them,
just as Laila Atika articulated in her wisdom:
“When we commit our lives to the Lord, He lives in us,
He gives us grace and power to accomplish far greater things.”
I have taken the time to articulate some of my pilgrimage experiences. While it is not exhaustive, these are things that will always stay with me. I will talk about some of the places we visited such as the “Kitchen,” the lace-making store, and the CSJ International Center in Lepuy. I will then conclude by reflecting on one of the most important works of our founder: The maxim of Perfection.
The Little
Kitchen
The little kitchen is fundamental to the history of the sisters of St Joseph. It has become one of our most important pilgrimage sites associated with the spirituality of Fr Jean Pierre Medaille and our early founders. For an onlooker, a first glance at the kitchen may not strike a chord. It is small, primitive, and hidden in a far corner of the convent (turned retirement home). But for CSJs, this little kitchen is an inheritance, a treasure of inestimable value, an “Earthen vessel of gold …with wealth untold” as sang by Frs. Jeffrey Honoré and John Foley, SJ. Surprisingly, this 17th-century kitchen still retains some of its original features, such as the fireplace, the walls, the floor, and the ceiling. Other primitive items in the kitchen which may not be necessarily original include a lace-making table, a ceramic jug, a bed, and feet warmer among other things.
Like the Eucharistic table where Christ is both the victim and the priest, this little kitchen is where it all started for the sisters of St. Joseph. Our early sisters gathered here, not only to cook and share meals, but a space to bond, build/deepen relationships, evaluate accomplishments or challenges, and dream of the future. This kitchen is also a reminder that more than being a space for bodily nourishment, the kitchen represents a space where love grows, hurts are healed, and history is made.to keep this concept alive, our community at Orange recently published a cookbook inspired by the kitchen experience of our first sisters. The book is titled: “It all started in Kitchen.” Our sisters shared recipes from way back when. If you have not done so, you may want to order your copy by contacting our welcome center for more information before we run out.
This kitchen provided not
just bodily nourishment for our first sisters but created a space for physical,
spiritual, and mental, nourishments through the corporal and spiritual works of
mercy for our sisters. Like the eucharistic table, the kitchen is a reminder of
the reenactment of the fellowship meals shared by our sisters. The sisters were
present to one another as they heat up the fireplace, grind salt on the mill,
make lace, cook meals, learn a new song, or plan the next day. Just like the
eucharist signifies the presence of Christ, open, broken, and shared, so does
the kitchen signify the joys and pains of the sisters, celebrated, and mourned,
as they live our God’s love in the world. Just as participation in the holy
eucharist helps to deepen communion among and between believers, the kitchen
helped our sisters to build intimate relationships between and among themselves,
and so nurture their love for God, each other, and their commitment to serve
the dear neighbor. This aligns with Fr. Medaille’s dream for a world that is
eucharistic: given, broken, and shared through building/deepening relationships
and expending ourselves in the works of mercy, unity, and reconciliation. A good
question to continue to ask is: “What does it mean to be Eucharist for our
world today? How can we continue to find and be God’s love in the world today? This
is our call and the call of all Christians and people of God. It is my hope
that we take their message of the “kitchen” as a center of love and deepening
relationships to wherever we may be. May the kitchen continue to be more than a
space for nourishment. May it also be a space to dialogue and reflect on
creative ways to continue to be God’s love in the world.
The art of lacemaking started to spread across Belgium, France, Holland, and other parts of Europe in the 16th century. Travels and exposure to other cultures led to intermarriages between families. New fashion ideas (especially among royal families) were spreading and created a high demand for lace in the fashion industry, around the time of our sisters. Always attentive to the signs of the times, the sisters (ordinary women and widows) decided to learn the art of lace making, for their sustenance, and to empower women and widows ravaged by poverty and lack of economic opportunity. To accomplish this, the sisters attended to the needs of the dear neighbor during the day, and then made lace in the evening. This is how lace-making became an important source of revenue for the sisters, and the women they empowered through the art. I am convinced that those women learned more than the art from the sisters. They must have acquired some of their qualities of boldness, faith, and self-determination.
Our sisters made bobbin lace. Bobbin lace is made by braiding and twisting lengths of thread, and interlacing threads around a pin. What can we all learn from the art of lace making? One idea that came to me is that it is impossible to make bobbin lace without a pattern, just as it is impossible for us to exist without God. We have been designed by God (pattern), just that the “braiding and twisting” of our lives is a combination of family upbringing and whatever culture we are brought up in. along the line, we too contribute to our own tapestry through the choices we make in life.
Like lace making, all of
life is a tapestry. Our life's tapestry begins from birth when
we start to gather strands and join threads and filaments to weave our life’s
stories. God
is the pattern maker, while we and our parents/caregivers are the lace makers. Usually,
life's tapestry is intertwined with culture, family dynamics, socialization, as
well as life’s challenges. As the weaving continues, the choices we make, the friends
we keep, and the support, and guidance of friends and families, or lack thereof,
affect the final output. Everything we experience, whether good or
challenging, impacts how our tapestry unfolds. There are times when it may be
necessary to change the pattern of the tapestry by splicing completely new
threads in other to have different outcomes. For some of us, the weaving may be easy
and smooth. For others, a lot more patience may be required because perhaps,
the pattern is more complex. There are times when it may even be necessary to add
some colors to the tapestry or redo some parts altogether. However, unless we continue to weave, we
will never know what dynamic master tapsters or weavers we each are. Also, when the weaving is
no longer as attractive or colorful, it might be better to abandon it and start
a completely new weaving, always with the help of the Master designer – God. With
God, all mistakes can be unwoven. What I am trying to say is better articulated
in this poem attributed to Corrie Ten Boom titled: “My Life is but a Weaving”
My life is but a weaving
Between my God and me.
I cannot choose the colors
He weaveth steadily.
Oft’ times He weaveth sorrow;
And I in foolish pride
Forget He sees the upper
And I the underside.
Not ’til the loom is silent
And the shuttles cease to fly
Will God unroll the canvas
And reveal the reason why.
The dark threads are as needful
In the weaver’s skillful hand
As the threads of gold and silver
In the pattern He has planned
He knows, He loves, He cares;
Nothing this truth can dim.
He gives the very best to those
Who leave the choice to Him.
Unattributed (often attributed to Corrie
ten Boom, who used it in a book
and often quoted from it. (https://thepoetryplace.wordpress.com/2018/02/21/life-is-but-a-weaving-the-tapestry-poem-by-corrie-ten-boom/
The “Little Design”
While in Lepuy, it was a bit surprising to some of us (especially the newer members), to learn that Fr. Medaille’s desire for us to remain “hidden,” “little” and “secret” has been realized. Upon inquiry, we learned that CSJS are unpopular in Lepuy, even our next-door neighbors at the international center seem to know little or nothing about us. “How can the people of Lepuy not know that they are standing on a gold mine, I wondered? How can they not know that they are standing on spiritual treasures for which we have traveled thousands of miles to seek? How did they not know that one of the most amazing stories of faith, resilience, and love all started? It eluded me until I was able to connect the dots.
I recalled that Fr. Medaille had called his foundation “The Little Design” and “The little Institute.” There are many examples of “littleness” about us now that I think about it. To begin with, not much is known about Fr Medaille himself. For example, we do not have his actual photograph, nor do we know the exact location where he was buried. Apart from the Maxims of Perfection, the Regalement, and the Eucharistic letter, most of Fr. Medaille’s works and personal records were destroyed during the French Revolution. This “hiddenness” also seems to align with Fr. Medaille’s desire for an institute that has no name, no founder, no father, and no mother. Why did Fr. Medaille prefer anonymity? The answer is simple, Fr. Medaille lived by the principles of Philippians 2. He was humble to the core after the example of Christ and teaches that everything we are, have, or ever be is a gift from God.
So, what can we learn
from Fr, Medaille’s option for hiddenness? When all our energy is centered on
the difference we can make in this world, we have figured out the reason we are
put on this earth. We all have the capacity to make a difference when we make
our lives about others rather than ourselves. As a reminder, humility does not
mean that we think less about ourselves but to think of ourselves less often.
The Maxims of Perfection
(Wisdom Sayings of Fr. Jean-Pierre Médaille SJ)
Photo Credit: (https://photographersresourcecenter.com/2019/08/13/glass-ball-photography-tips/)
One of my personal resolutions since returning from the
heritage pilgrimage is the desire to know Fr. Medaille more deeply. What better
place to do that than through the maxims? Rooted in Fr. Medaille’s reflection
on the scriptures, the Maxims of Perfection is one of the treasures of the
Little Institute of St Joseph. These 100 short statements written by Fr
Medaille is intended to inspire our spiritual lives, make us always aware of
God’s presence in all things and people, and help us become true
contemplatives. Drawing from the dept of his personal spirituality, (rooted in
the spiritualities of St Ignatius of Loyola, and St Francis de Sales), the
maxims of perfection call us to grow in the acts of charity by “seeking the
more” through the virtues of humility, gentleness, peace, and joy. Other
virtues highlighted in the maxims include humility, self-emptying love of God
and neighbor, purity of heart, obedience, fidelity to grace, purity of heart, and
intention. The maxims are also divided into subsection. I have chosen a maxim
for each of them.
Maxims 1-11 – Focuses on Spirituality
Example: Maxim 3: “Empty yourself continually in honor of the Incarnate Word who emptied himself with so much love for you (Phil.2:7). Make your commitment to live in the practice of the most sincere, true, and profound humility possible to you. Do so on all occasions, to everyone but especially to God, from who must come all the blessings of your institute"
Maxims 12-43 – On Relationship with God Example: Maxim 16: “ In everything and everywhere, have only God, God’s will and God’s glory before your eyes, and make no account of anything else”
Maxims 44-61 – On Relationship with Others
Example: Maxim 50: “Prefer always the will and the contentment of others to your own will and contentment and do so even with a happy and joyful heart, provided, of course, as has been said, that God is not offended by it nor less honored.”
Maxims 62-100 – On Relationship with Self Relationship with Self: Maxim 96: “When you are fortunate enough to possess the presence of grace and the desirable effects of God’s love, remember that this great good is something lent rather than belonging to you. It belongs to the Savior Jesus, from whose merits this good comes, more than it belongs to you. This same Savior may take it away from you when he pleases without doing you wrong, and if he ever withdrew his graces, the good in you would vanish like smoke”
In Conclusion, the maxims of perfection for us CSJ, are like the biblical “pearl of inestimable value” (Matthew 13:46). I was introduced to them during my candidacy, and it has continued to inspire and direct my discernment. It is easy to carry around, reflect on, or use in other spiritual exercises such as the examen or the sharing of the state of the heart. Long ago I learned about the 5 elements of the Ignatian Pedagogical Paradigm (CERAE). In applying context, experience, reflection, action, and evaluation to my life through the maxims, I will find myself, God, and ultimately my vocation as a CSJ if it is the will of God.
