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The Woman Who Bore As One Of Her Names WISDOM, St. Madeleine Sophie Barat

Feast Day of St. Madeleine Sophie Barat, May 25

In the beginning there was a woman who bore as one of her names: WISDOM

She had grown up contemplating the vine stocks of her native land, and the shoots that sprout from the vine, thus learning from this life that springs from the roots the secret of how to bear fruit.

She felt the love of God like a spring welling up from her inner depths, like a torrent that flooded her soul, like the water that gives itself over not in order to be contained but in order to be offered, spilt, lost.

Everything within her was open-mindedness, welcome, receptivity, silence, not as the fruit of an effort or a commitment, but of an attraction that had taken possession of her, mesmerizing her gaze, centering her search and her desire, on the One whom she loved above all else.

The time ripened and the exact moment came: she knew that she was but a tiny sign, a pinch of yeast of the Kingdom placed between the fingers of the Other, EMBERS in the FIRE. That is how the fermentation could begin and the blaze flare up.

No footprints before her, only the trust and the generosity of a handful of women gathered around Sophie, caught up by the dream born in the flickering light of a candle: of dwelling in the love of Jesus, grafted onto the tree of His Life and guided by the wind of His Spirit, of being united, one heart and one soul, around His Eucharist and making manifest in a wounded world the faithfulness and compassion of His Heart.

Two hundred years later, we carry on the little Society whose growth Sophie nourished, captivated by her dream, joyous at having found the treasure in the legacy she bequeathed to us, ready to sell all we have, to free our energies and our resources in order to possess this treasure. It is the spring of living water that flows from the pierced side of Christ and invites us to enter into the depths of its mystery.

~ Dolores Aleixandre, RSCJ

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Society of the Sacred Heart

4120 Forest Park Avenue | St. Louis, MO 63108
314.652.1500 | 314.534.6800 fax

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Who We Are

Overview

Our mission

Our guiding calls

Our internationality

Our provincial leadership

Our related organizations

Our Mission Lived

Overview

Education

Spirituality

Overview
Spirituality Centers
Children of Mary

Justice

Overview
Stuart Center
Ethical investing
Healthy Waters

Community

Overview
Welcoming communities
RSCJ retirement communities

Duchesne Fund

Connect

Become an Associate

Become a Sister

Young Adult Ministry

Find an RSCJ

Join our mailing list

Request a prayer

Contests

Ways to give

Resources

Our spiritual library

Publications

Heart magazine

Revealing God's Love in the Midst of Uncertainty

RSCJ Blogs

Quotes from RSCJ

Our History

Overview

Enslavement

Key figures

Archives

Our heritage and traditions

Miracle at Grand Coteau

News

In Memoriam

Contact Us

Employment

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