The Joy of Offering!
by Soeur Micheline Hupé
Sr. Micheline Hupé |
It was upon a request made by Mother Paul-Marie a few years ago that a day of prayer was dedicated to volunteers, for she always made it a maternal duty to thank all those who would give themselves unstintingly for the Marian cause which unites all of us, not wishing to forget anyone while forgetting herself to only think of others, as she has always done. And upon her suggestion, this day of gratitude has been repeated from year to year.
One knows that being a volunteer means helping out voluntarily without receiving any remuneration, and there are constantly movements of solidarity being raised throughout the world especially when natural disasters strike somewhere. Without any difference being made between cultures, peoples mix together in upsurges of generosity to bring help and relief to those who are affected.
VOLUNTEER FOR A SPIRITUAL CAUSE
But what does being a volunteer for a spiritual cause really mean? It is still a matter of lending a helping hand voluntarily without being remunerated, but in all honesty, it means much more than that, for to give of oneself is to believe and to desire. To give of oneself is to love.
Believing in the Work of the Army of Mary, believing in the need to renew our world, believing in the Kingdom that is coming, believing in the Co-Redemptrix. There you have a series of statements, all of which are at the core of the giving of self. And if we believe, we accept to commit ourselves, and we desire or want to contribute in some way to bringing souls back to God. “Those who have believed," our Foundress told us, “have come into the possession of a treasure which they would never want to lose, so precious and consoling is it to their soul.” (Life of Love, vol. XV, p. 537)
When our heart is enflamed in the service of the Lord and the Lady, it inevitably impels us to give of ourselves, to forget ourselves. From there stem the generous upsurges which we incessantly see before us; gestures of devotedness and mutual aid, each one according to his capabilities and his abilities.
The Choir of the Immaculate – initially directed by Father Hervé Lemay, then by Father Jean-François Mastropietro and now by Serge Laprise – has been devoting itself unstintingly since the beginnings of the Marian Work. |
“GIVING ONESELF IS LOVING”
In volunteer work, everything counts, no task is of a lesser importance. The greatness of our action depends on the love ennobling it, for giving of oneself is loving, and that is what we see across all the pages of Life of Love in the simplicity of everyday life in which Marie-Paule gave us examples which still apply today to our little actions accomplished in selflessness for the sole purpose of serving. The divinized soul attracts others to greater heights; it sanctifies all it touches.
If it is a meal prepared very simply, it will serve to feed and sustain the body while God, through His grace and the love of the one who prepared it, will fortify the spirit and heart of the guests. Should one be participating in the cleaning and upkeep of the chapel, God will permit that hearts be touched by the beauty of the premises. Is our work even more discreet, hidden in our home or in an office? It is not any less useful in the building up of the Kingdom. Every gesture is a little stone we bring to the building, of which God and the Lady are the architects.
Because of our health, must we be resigned to not doing any physical work? The apostolate of suffering, sacrifice and prayer is within everyone’s reach and is not any less meritorious in God’s eyes; on the contrary, it is the salt that gives all the flavor to foods, courage to the apostles and fervor to the weak.
But it sometimes happens that we feel a certain weariness overcome us. “What good is it to always fight. We have been hoping for such a long time and nothing is moving or changing... No one is noticing this Work being silently raised, and yet we have witnessed so many graces.” In a note of gratitude Mother Paul-Marie addressed to the Knights of Mary in December 2005, she wrote: “If Mary’s Work was able to experience such a spiritual blossoming, that is above all thanks to the work of volunteers, being done everywhere very discreetly, just like a seed sown in the ground grows noiselessly and produces the most succulent fruit at the time of the harvest.” (Christmas correspondence in 2005)
And Blessed Mother Teresa, whose apostolate seemed more concrete because she cared for human miseries, also described the path to be followed in the giving of self. She wrote:
“We are but instruments. When we look up, we often see electrical wires, small ones and big ones, old and new, expensive or not. In themselves, they are of no use, and as long as current does not go through them, there will not be any light.
“The wires are you and I. The current is God. It is within our power to let the current go through us so that we can be used to produce light in the world. Put all your heart into becoming a bright light.” (Cf. Les pensées de Mère Teresa, p. 49)
At the time when our Mother Co-Redemptrix’s life of love is coming to an end, she has charged us with carrying on with the Work willed by Heaven “in this time which is our time”: “To all of you who are so dear to me,” she told us in her final message of goodbye on May 22, 2011, “the time has come to turn over the direction of the Works which God entrusted to me.... In my silence, I join with you in expressing my gratitude by glorying God for the grandeur of His plan for humanity.”
DEVOTEDNESS AND GENEROSITY
This Work is a large family and one day a year is not too much to underline the devotedness and generosity of the souls that make it up. “The good that you do to one of my least brothers,” the Lord Jesus said, “you do it to me.” (Cf. Mt 25:40.)
Let us give thanks for all those services of love which edify us, one and all, and serve for the greater glory of God and the Lady. At the gates of the Kingdom, a thousand years are opening up before us, and it will be the era of the Holy Spirit to come. In this period of waiting during which we are called to contribute, in our small measure, in the regeneration of humanity in the footsteps of the Lady “Handmaid” who is immolating herself for us, let us open our hearts, possessing the certainty that we will see rise up that new world which she has ransomed for us through her sufferings, that world in which all men will be brothers and “live off love”.
Sr. Micheline Hupé, O.FF.M.