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Pope Benedict XVI- General Audiences |
General
Audience
On St. Marguerite d'Oingt
"The God-Love that Reveals Himself through Christ Fascinated Her"
H.H. Benedict XVI
November 3, 2010
www.zenit.org
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
With Marguerite d'Oingt, of whom I would like to speak to you today, we
are introduced to Carthusian spirituality, which is inspired in the
evangelical synthesis lived and proposed by St. Bruno. We do not know
her date of birth, although some place it around 1240. Marguerite came
from a powerful family of the old nobility of Lyonnais, the Oingt. We
know that her mother was also called Marguerite, that she had two
brothers -- Giscard and Louis -- and three sisters: Catherine, Elizabeth
and Agnes. The latter followed her to the Carthusian monastery,
succeeding her as prioress.
We have no information on her childhood, but through her writings we can
intuit that she spent it peacefully, in an affectionate family
environment. In fact, to express God's unbounded love, she valued images
linked to the family, with particular reference to the figures of the
father and mother. In one of her meditations she prays thus: "Very sweet
Lord, when I think of the special graces that you have given me by your
solicitude: first of all, how you took care of me since my childhood,
and how you removed me from danger and called me to dedicate myself to
your holy service, and how you provided everything that was necessary
for me to eat, drink, dress and wear, (and you did so) in such a way
that I had no occasion to think of these things but of your great mercy"
(Marguerite d'Oingt, "Scritti Spirituali," Meditazione V, 100, Cinisello
Balsamo, 1997, p. 74).
We always intuit in her meditations that she entered the Carthusian
monastery of Poleteins in response to the Lord's call, leaving
everything behind and accepting the severe Carthusian Rule, to belong
totally to the Lord, to be with him always. She wrote: "Sweet Lord, I
left my father and my mother and my siblings and all the things of this
world for love of you; but this is very little, because the riches of
this world are but thorns that prick; and the more they are possessed
the more unfortunate one is. And because of this it seems to me that I
left nothing other than misery and poverty; but you know, sweet Lord,
that if I possessed thousands of worlds and could dispose of them as I
pleased, I would abandon everything for your love; and even if you gave
me everything that you possess in heaven and on earth, I would not
consider myself satiated until I had you, because you are the life of my
soul, I do not have and do not want to have a father and mother outside
of you" (Ibid., Meditazione II, 32, p. 59).
We also have little data on her life in the Carthusian monastery. We
know that in 1288 she became its fourth prioress, a post she kept until
her death, which took place on Feb. 11, 1310. From her writings,
however, we do not deduce particular turns in her spiritual itinerary.
She conceives the entirety of life as a journey of purification up to
full configuration with Christ. He is the book that is written, which
daily influences her heart and life, in particular his saving Passion.
In the work "Speculum," referring to herself in the third person,
Marguerite stresses that by the Lord's grace "she had engraved in her
heart the holy life that Jesus Christ God led on earth, his good
examples and his good doctrine. She had placed the sweet Jesus Christ so
well in her heart, that it even seemed to her that he was present and
that he had a closed book in his hand, to instruct her" (Ibid., I, 2-3,
p. 81). "In this book she found written the life that Jesus Christ led
on earth, from his birth to his ascension into heaven" (Ibid., I, 12, p.
83). Every day, beginning in the morning, Marguerite dedicated herself
to the study of this book. And, when she had looked at it well, she
began to read the book in her own conscience, which showed the
falsehoods and lies of her own life (cf. Ibid., I, 6-7, p. 82); she
wrote about herself to help others and to fix more deeply in her heart
the grace of the presence of God, that is, to make her life every day
marked by confrontation with the words and actions of Jesus, with the
Book of his life. And she did this so that Christ's life would be
imprinted in her soul in a stable and profound way, until she was able
to see the Book in her interior, that is, until contemplating the
mystery of God Trinity (cf. Ibid., II, 14-22; III, 23-40, p. 84-90).
Through her writings, Marguerite gives us some traces of her
spirituality, enabling us to understand some features of her personality
and of her gifts of governance. She was a very learned woman; she
usually wrote in Latin, the language of the erudite, but she also wrote
in Provençal French, and this too is a rarity: thus her writings are the
first of those known to be written in that language. She lived a life
rich in mystical experiences, described with simplicity, allowing one to
intuit the ineffable mystery of God, stressing the limits of the mind to
apprehend it and the inadequacy of the human language to express it. She
had a lineal personality, simple, open, of gentle affectivity, great
balance and acute discernment, able to enter into the depth of the human
spirit, discovering its limits, its ambiguities, but also its
aspirations, the soul's tensions toward God. She showed outstanding
aptitude for governance, combining her profound mystical spiritual life
with service to her sisters and to the community. Significant in this
connection is a passage of a letter to her father. She wrote: "My sweet
father, I let you know that I am very occupied because of the needs of
our house, so that it is not possible for me to apply my spirit to good
thoughts; in fact, I have so much to do I do not know which way to turn.
We have not gathered wheat in the seventh month of the year and our
vineyards were destroyed by the storm. Moreover, our church is in such
poor conditions that we are obliged to reconstruct it in part" (Ibid.,
Lettere, III, 14, p. 127).
A Carthusian nun thus describes the figure of Marguerite: "Revealed
through her work is a fascinating personality, of lively intelligence,
oriented to speculation and at the same time favored by mystical graces:
in a word, a holy and wise woman who is able to express with a certain
humor an affectivity altogether spiritual" (Una Monaca Certosina,
Certosine, in Dizionario degli Istituti di Perfezione, Rome, 1975, col.
777). In the dynamism of mystical life, Marguerite values the experience
of natural affections, purified by grace, as privileged means to
understand more profoundly and to second divine action with greater
alacrity and ardor. The reason lies in the fact that the human person is
created in the image of God, and because of this is called to build with
God a wonderful history of love, allowing himself to be totally involved
in his initiative.
The God-Trinity, the God-love that reveals himself in Christ fascinated
her, and Marguerite lived a relationship of profound love for the Lord
and, in contrast, sees human ingratitude to the point of vileness, to
the paradox of the cross. She says that the cross of Christ is similar
to giving birth. Jesus' pain is compared with that of a mother. She
wrote: "The mother who carried me in her womb suffered greatly in giving
birth to me, during a day or a night, but you, most sweet Lord, were
tormented for me not one night or one day, but for more than 30 years!
[...] How bitterly you suffered because of me during your whole life!
And when the moment of birth arrived, your work was so painful that your
holy sweat became as drops of blood, which were shed over all your body
to the ground" (Ibid., Meditazione I, 33, p. 59). Evoking the accounts
of the Passion, Marguerite contemplated these sorrows with profound
compassion. She said: "You were placed on the hard bed of the cross, so
that you could not move or turn or wave your limbs as a man usually does
when suffering great pain, because you were completely stretched and you
were pierced with the nails [...] and [...] all your muscles and veins
were lacerated. [...] But all these pains [....] were still not
sufficient for you, so much so that you desired that your side be
pierced so cruelly by the lance that your docile body should be totally
ploughed and torn and your blood spurted with such violence that it
formed a long path, almost as if it were a current." Referring to Mary,
she said: It was no wonder that the sword that destroyed your body also
penetrated the heart of your glorious Mother who so wanted to support
you [...] because your love was higher than all other loves" (Ibid.,
Meditazione II, 36-39.42, p. 60f).
Dear friends, Marguerite d'Oingt invites us to meditate daily on the
life of sorrow and love of Jesus and of his mother, Mary. Here is our
hope, the meaning of our existence. From contemplation of Christ's love
for us are born the strength and joy to respond with the same love,
placing our life at the service of God and of others. With Marguerite we
also say: "Sweet Lord, all that you did, for love of me and of the whole
human race, leads me to love you, but the remembrance of your most holy
Passion gives unequaled vigor to my power of affection to love you. That
is why it seems to me that [...] I have found what I so much desired:
not to love anything other than you or in you or for love of you"
(Ibid., Meditazione II, 46, p. 62).
At first glance this figure of a Medieval Carthusian nun, as well as her
life and her thought, seems very far from us, from our life, from our
way of thinking and acting. But if we look at the essential aspect of
this life, we see that it also affects us and that it would also be the
essential aspect of our own existence.
We have heard that Marguerite considered the Lord as a book, she fixed
her gaze on the Lord, she considered him a mirror in which her own
conscience also appeared. And from this mirror light entered her soul:
She allowed the word to come in, the life of Christ in her own being and
thus she was transformed; her conscience was enlightened, she found
criteria, light and was cleansed. It is precisely this that we also
need: to let the words, life and light of Christ enter our conscience so
that it is enlightened, understands what is true and good and what is
wrong; may our conscience be enlightened and cleansed. Rubbish is not
only on different streets of the world. There is rubbish also in our
consciences and in our souls. Only the light of the Lord, his strength
and his love is what cleanses us, purifies us and gives us the right
way. Therefore, let us follow St. Marguerite in this look toward Jesus.
Let us read the book of her life, let us allow ourselves to be
enlightened and cleansed, to learn the true life. Thank you.
[The Holy Father then greeted pilgrims in several languages. In English,
he said:]
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Our catechesis today deals with Marguerite d'Oingt, a thirteenth-century
Carthusian prioress and mystic. Marguerite's writings, which include the
earliest known examples of Provencal French, were inspired by the
evangelical spirituality of Saint Bruno; they reveal her fine
sensibility and her deep desire for God. Marguerite viewed life as a
path of perfection leading to complete configuration to Christ, above
all in the contemplation of his saving passion. She imagined the Lord's
life, his words and his actions, as a Book which he hold out to us, a
Book to be studied and imprinted on our hearts and lives, until the day
we read it from within, in the contemplation of the Blessed Trinity.
Marguerite's writings, filled with imagery drawn from family life,
radiate a warm love of God and deep gratitude for his grace which
purifies our affections and draws us more closely to him. The life and
writings of Marguerite d'Oingt invite us to meditate daily on the
mystery of God's infinite love, revealed above all in the sufferings of
Christ on the Cross, and to find in it the strength and joy to place our
lives at his service and that of our brothers and sisters.
As I welcome all the English-speaking visitors this morning, I am
especially pleased to greet the delegation form the Anti-Defamation
League, as well as the representatives of Pittsburgh's Jewish and
Catholic communities. Upon them all and upon all the English-speaking
visitors present in today's Audience, especially the pilgrim groups from
Ireland, Denmark, Sweden, Japan, the Philippines, Canada and the United
States of America, I invoke the Almighty's abundant blessings of grace
and peace.
Copyright 2010 -- Libreria Editrice Vaticana
[In Spanish, he said:]
I greet the Spanish-speaking groups, in particular the pilgrims from
Alcobendas, as well as the other faithful from Spain, Mexico and other
Latin American countries. I invite you to accompany me with your fervent
prayer during next weekend, in which I will make a pastoral visit to
Santiago de Compostela, thus joining the pilgrims who arrive at the feet
of the Apostle in this Holy Year. I will also go to Barcelona, where I
will have the joy of dedicating the wonderful church of the Holy Family,
work of the brilliant architect Antoni Gaudi. I go as witness of the
Risen Christ, with the desire to take his Word to all, in which they can
find light to live with dignity and hope to build a better world.
[In Italian, he said:]
I address my greeting to young people, the sick and newlyweds. The
Solemnity of All Saints and the commemoration of the faithful deceased,
which we have just celebrated, as well as the forthcoming memoria of
Saint Charles Borromeo, the four hundredth anniversary of whose
canonization it is, offers us the opportunity to reflect once again on
the authentic meaning of earthly existence and its value for eternity.
May these days of reflection and prayer constitute for you, dear young
people, an invitation to imitate the heroism of the Saints, who spent
their lives at the service of God and of their neighbor. May they be of
great comfort for you, dear sick, associated to the mystery of the
passion of Christ. May they become a propitious occasion for you, dear
newlyweds, to understand ever better that you are called to witness with
your mutual fidelity the infinite love with which God surrounds every
man.
[Translation by ZENIT]
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