I would like, in a madness of love, to break the very fine chest of Marie Poussepin's heart and read there the value and the deep meaning of the silence that marked her life, but I would like to penetrate it, also in a unique moment of solitude and silence, of that silence that speaks to us of God, of that silence, which breaks worldly bonds, of that silence which transcends time, distance, space and marks the limit of eternity, the limit of infinity, of that silence which forgets the horizon and gets lost in the sweet space of the "Worker of Providence”.

What madness, what desire for the infinite, what daring of the heart to want to break the reserved spaces and seek there the deepest secrets of the one who lived only for God and for her brothers and sisters. But I cannot in any way violate this space without the authorization of its owner, and it is precisely she who opens the door for me and allows me to go through it with simplicity, love and loyalty, she allows me to read with the eyes of faith every word found there, she gives me courage and strength not to get lost and to write with soft and sweet words the reservations found there, and she gives me the surprising grace of Charity not to distort the message received almost from her lips

It is almost a surprise to know that from her childhood, she lived a life marked by silence, even without understanding its deep meaning, she accompanied her mother to the works of charity... and she recorded in his childish memory everything she saw and heard; She lived a normal family life, but her grief came with the death of her loved ones, leaving her responsible for her younger brother. She assumed responsibility for her home in deep silence and with integrity, she made the factory grow and fought for her brother's education, preparing in the silence of her heart a special day, any moment to take the most transcendental step in her life... she matured slowly in the midst of silence and contemplation, how beautiful it is to walk this path of true sanctity.

And the appointed hour has come, God's hour to take a definitive step in her life, from Dourdan to Sainville, to go into the unknown with a single purpose "SERVE", silence that becomes life, silence that is contemplation, silence that is a response of love, to the one who has loved her with an eternal love...

There he meets the rubble of war, pain, misery, sadness... and it was enough for her to meet with misery and abandonment, it was enough for her to live that space of God, to give that response full of charity, mercy and compassion... it was enough with just one look, a deep look, full of love, a contemplative look, a silent look, and that look was enough to illuminate her own life.

And there, amid noise and haste, amid work and struggle, silence was for her the key to living in constant contemplation of her God.

She was fulfilling her ideal, sharing her life, giving it without reserve to SERVICE, in the same way she shared her silence with those who suffered, loved, and vibrated to the sound of a simple musical chord.

She is the one who opens the sacred chest of her silence to share with me from what she is, from what she lives, from the sufferings, from the joys, with simple words, simply from what she is... but I continue to travel, guided by her, through the different places of her heart, and what a surprise to see how in the quiet, silent and tranquil work, the gifts of people become visible, and it has been precisely in her total dedication to the poorest and neediest that I have been able to discover the greatness of her soul.

How special it is to teach me the importance of silence in life, it is there where we speak to God, but it does not take long to invite me to "keep the presence of God in all my actions. When silence is fruitful, one knows how to speak to God and talk about God," it teaches me that contemplation is a simple silent look at God by masters... I must learn to discover Him in everything... What a day of silent listening and love, What a day of learning and meeting the God of love and hope, the love of the amazing Charity of Marie Poussepin, and I hear a mysterious, whispering voice: “Marie Poussepin saw what was right in God's eyes and fulfilled it", but I cannot close this mysterious chest without telling you that she "having reserved nothing, possesses nothing".

Marie Poussepin loved silence, she lived silence with her sisters, in an atmosphere of prayer, work and contemplation.

After taking a look I see how our Mother's life moved all in an attitude of listening, of silence and of contemplation. Are you able to follow her steps?

But I would not want to break this space without showing the greatness of Our Mother in following the footsteps of JESUS and VIRGIN MARY with those incomparable attitudes of total silence, which is not an absence of words, but a deep attitude of contemplation and how by making that journey we can discover the fullness of love, the fullness of silence, the fullness of contemplation.

It is impossible to stop this reflection on the wonder of silence in order to discover the silence of Mary, deep silence, total silence "she kept everything in her heart." Jesus and Mary were really the solid foundation for the life of Marie Poussepin, she never left their side.

It is sublime to go beyond this limit and look at the silence of Mary, she goes up to the temple and there in her childhood she gives herself to the Lord, she loves and is loved, she lives in the simplicity of her home, thinking of being "the servant of the Lord".

"Rejoice full of grace" absorbed in her silence she listens to the words of the angel; and she breaks her silence "How can this be? "I am the handmaid of the Lord, let it be done as He wills" and...resounding silence in her heart...she walks quickly, crosses the mountain and arrives at her cousin who breaks that silence "from where to me so much joy that the mother of my Lord comes to visit me" and in her silence, which is almost contemplation, she exclaims "my soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord...".

After a few months they arrive in Bethlehem in the harshness of loneliness and in the deepest silence "there is no room for the master of the Universe, and it is to a manger that he arrives and there the angels break the silence...the poor, the shepherds. She loves, adores, contemplates... life goes on and one day they arrive at the temple and it is an old man who speaks: "a sword of pain will pierce your heart..." She and only She knows the TREASURE, which she carries, that is why she is silent...she contemplates...she loves..."

At the age of 12 the child stays in the temple, fulfilling the will of his Father and she in the pain of her heart, with the sadness of a mother looks for him, finds him, rejoices and only a word of complaint... the chain of Mary's silence is woven with the strength of each day, with the total donation of her life, with the brightness of her gaze and the free acceptance of the will of her God.

Life goes on, the Son goes out to announce the Kingdom that is already in our midst, and how much suffering, how many hours of silence, she too comes to listen to him: your mother and your brothers and sisters are looking for you, but who are my mother and my brothers and sisters? Those who do the will of God", She keeps silent because She knows that it is not a scorn, She is the first to do the will of the Father.

Let us go to Calvary...there is the mother of pain and silence who has walked this painful path with her son, how much pain to see him destroyed, to see the child of her love become nothing, how much pain to see the evil of man, how much pain to see him nailed to a Cross, the punishment of the great criminals and all for our sin...how much pain to receive him in her arms and silence, waiting for the sweet dawn of the Resurrection.

How would the Virgin Mary remember that day when God became incarnate in her virginal womb, that beautiful child in a portal, his dream in her arms, his smile, his kisses full of love, his expressions of tenderness, his games, his help in daily tasks, his sharing in the summer nights...his rest, ...his farewell ...hismeetings, his journey to Calvary, his painful death, the surprising moment when, in his agony, she gives John to him as her son...

Two intimate moments of silence, Mary the Mother of God, Marie Poussepin, the follower of the Lord; Mary the woman of love and hope; Marie Poussepin, the woman given and full of hope in her plan of love... Mary the woman of total silence "kept everything in her heart"; Marie Poussepin the woman of listening and waiting for the will of her God.

They are two silences at different times, in spaces filled with blessings, love, surrender and fidelity; two spaces where silence is life, where silence becomes prayer...it is contemplation...two spaces where the heart beats and overflows with joy, where sadness comes marked with love and hope; where imagination breaks all obstacles to reach plenitude and be "crowned as Queen of all creation" and be proclaimed as the "Social Apostle of Charity".

LET'S QUESTION OUR LIFE

There we find silence, prudence, fidelity, listening, unwavering faith, transcendent hope, provident love, and total surrender and donation, in a totally different reality, what can you do? Do you feel very far from this reality of Mary and Marie Poussepin? You are ready, not to begin the journey but to continue the path you have chosen since that day when the Lord touched at your door and called you to a very special mission.