Part 6
A small path to holiness?
Some think that spiritual childhood means abandoning oneself so much that it is enough to let Jesus do. We would not have any efforts to make.
Others think that it is a natural disposition that some people have.
Still others think that it is holiness for the little ones, for those who are not well able!
Blessed Eugénie’s example will show us how such conceptions are wrong.
And to begin with, it should be emphasized that spiritual childhood, so well lived by our Sister Eugénie, was really not a natural inclination of her temperament. On the contrary, we know that she was thoughtful and that she had a leader’s soul! Understanding it can help us penetrate the heroism of her choice, when she wrote, for example: “Whatever it may cost me, I want to let my miseries be seen, apply myself by penance — let us note this word—to the practice of spiritual childhood” (Notebook 36). The enemy of all good endeavoured to sadden her and weaken her momentum. “Her thoughtful head was reluctant to submit and wanted to judge everything, with the obstinacy of a will that wants to direct itself, make its life.” (SEJ p.122)
The heroism of her choice also lied in the fact that it was not easy! Let us have a look at the notes from her spiritual notebook which reveal that it was a real fight and that discouragement tempted her. Nevertheless, our Blessed, by renewed decisions, advanced on the path that led her to the Lord. She would have such a great desire, however, to be “like a toddler who abandons himself or herself without calculating or thinking”, but the ideal glimpsed seems to flee before her efforts. Let us listen to her:
“I must chase away, reject any reasoning, whatever it may be, that constricts me, disturbs me, prevents me from uniting with Our Lord, from obeying perfectly… Obey blindly with my heart and will, obey the word of guidance that is given to me all the better as I understand it less… It is difficult, especially when it seems to me that I should do quite the opposite: this is however the path wide open before me to go to Our Lord. I should not insist on wanting to go through a closed window!” (SEJ p.122)
“Through this so difficult obedience I will give everything to Our Lord, I will completely renounce myself; unreservedly forsaking the richness of my will, of my own judgment. And, if I want to be generous in this fight, I will not just push back what constricts me, stops me, troubles me; I will go before what dilates me, delights me, gives me confidence.” (SEJ p.123)
What gave her courage was: “Animate myself in this fight with the thought of the salvation of souls” (Notebook 32).
“Again, and always: courage, trust” — “Do not reason, believe firmly, without doubting; obey completely. — Whoever loses their soul for me, said Our Lord, will find it. Giving entirely to Our Lord what He asks through obedience is giving one’s life, one’s soul.”
(SEJ Page 124)
Several times her spiritual notes reveal that spiritual childhood is not situated on the side of what one feels but requires a choice from the deepest part of the soul: “One day, we were talking about the conference that had taken place in the morning, a conference on trust: reasons for trusting, difficulties and obstacles, etc. Sister Eugenie, taking on a very resolute air, began to say: ‘I want to trust; so, I trust!’” (SEJ p.127)
We can conclude with her poem on spiritual childhood which, in each of its seven stanzas, repeats like a refrain: “So, I want, in my misery (1st stanza), “So, I want to let myself be” (3rd stanza), “So, I want, at each dawn” (6th stanza), “So, I want, during my whole life” (7th stanza).
Thus, we now understand that if one speaks of a “little path”, it is in the sense that it is a path accessible to all, but this does not prevent those who follow it from being, as St. Teresa said, both “little children and valiant warriors”: it is about wanting to please Jesus and fighting to renew that decision. We also notice that Sister Eugénie sometimes used a quasi-military vocabulary in her intimate notes, writing for example: “I must arm myself to fight my faults…” (Notebook 20).
One of her retreat resolutions is followed by the phrase “at all costs” (Notebook 19) or even “in war as in war” (Notebook 25).
She summarized the heroism of the battle of spiritual childhood by setting herself that goal: “be valiant down to the smallest things” (Notebook 25).
“It takes less time than courage to make a saint”. (Notebook 19).
Her community was Ignatian in spirit. At the school of its founder, Sister Eugénie contemplated Jesus, the King of kings who invited her to fight with Him:
“Then I will often look at my divine Leader walking first in battle and not only inviting me to fight with Him, but also wanting to fight for me in order to teach me the generosity that says: go forward, to me the pain, to me the suffering, giving always more, never saying that it is enough.” (Notebook 25).
In her testimony, Mother Émilie Leperche precisely named Sister Eugénie “intrepid little soldier”. One of the books written on our Blessed is rightly titled “An epic of valour” ([Our translation] – « Une épopée de vaillance, Sœur Eugénie Joubert », by a nun from her community, Liège – 1927, Imprimerie Saint Gilles); all this reveals the greatness of soul of our dear Sister to live the little path of spiritual childhood!
We will now begin a new triptych presenting what is proper to spiritual childhood at the school of Blessed Eugénie. Our itinerary will be as follows: discovery of a spiritual childhood guided by Jesus himself, a spiritual childhood at the school of the Virgin Mary, a spiritual childhood in a deeply joyful style.
