AND TODAY WE CELEBRATE… Saint of the Day: St. Margaret Mary Alocoque (FRIDAY, OCTOBER 16)

Visionary of the Sacred Heart. Visitation Nun (1647-1690)

Her life

+ Margaret Mary was born in Autun, France. The entered the Order of the Visitation at Paray-le-Monial in 1671 and quickly developed habits of prayer and devotion that distinguished her in the eyes of her community.

+ In 1673, Margaret Mary experienced the first of a series of visions which focused on the mystery of God’s love and mercy as embodied in the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

+ Along with her spiritual director, the Jesuit Saint Claude la Colombiere, she was responsible for helping spread devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus throughout the Church.

+ Saint Margaret Mary died on October 17, 1690. She was canonized in 1920.

For prayer and reflection

“This divine heart is an abyss of all blessings, and into it the poor should submerge all their needs. It is an abyss of joy in which all of us can immerse our sorrows. It is an abyss of lowliness to counteract our foolishness, an abyss of mercy for the wretched, an abyss of love to meet our every need.”—Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque

Spiritual bonus

On this day we also honor the memory of Saint Hedwig. The wife of the duke of Silesia (Poland) and the mother of seven children, she dedicated herself to caring for the poor and establishing hospitals. She lived the final years of her life in the Cistercian abbey of Trzebnica and died there in 1243. Today she is honored as one of the patrons of Poland.

Prayer

Pour out on us, we pray, O Lord,

the spirit with which you so remarkably endowed

Saint Margaret Mary,

so that we may come to know

that love of Christ which surpasses all understanding

and be utterly filled with your fullness.

Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,

who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

 

(from The Roman Missal)

Saint profiles prepared by Brother Silas Henderson, S.D.S.