When my mother died a little over a year ago, I found a hidden gem pressed between the pages of an old, precious Spanish missal. It was a very thin folded leaflet, from her youth, before she came to the states from Guatemala to marry an American. I had sufficient knowledge of Spanish to translate the words encircling the image of the Sacred Heart: Archconfraternity of the Guard of Honor of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. I could hardly believe it. Had she forgotten through so many years and passages of a long life that she still had the paper, or, more likely, had she just not recognized my description of the Guard of Honor when I had joined, her own initiation having been so far removed, in another place and time?
Even if my mother had not remembered her membership in the Guard of honor , Jesus had kept her true to her hour until the end in such a special way. By March 9, , the Guard of Honor had become a Confraternity, and on November 26, , it was given the status of an Archconfraternity. By this time, there were 30 bishops from France and abroad, over monasteries, as well as a great many of the faithful spread over 20 countries who were included in the membership.
It makes sense if one sees it as a manifestation of the will of Jesus Christ, since this expansion happened at the same time that Margaret Mary Alacoque, the confidante of Paray, was being beatified At the age of five, she expressed a desire to become a nun. Her parents passed it off as a childish idea and so when she was only 16, they arranged for her to marry a year-old businessman. The couple had no children, and Constance was left a widow at the age of In June of , she accepted the invitation of a close relative to attend a retreat at the Visitation Monastery of Bourg, in honor of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
She never left that monastery. Francis de Sales and his writings on the devout life. Francis de Sales, who together with St. Jane Frances de Chantal, founded the Order of the Visitation of Holy Mary in , wrote and preached about the duties and blessings of a truly devout life centered on Christ. His teachings were not primarily for clergy and religious but focused on showing lay Christians of every walk how to build up the Kingdom of God within themselves and the world around them while attending to the practical duties of daily life.
Sister Marie wanted to bring as many souls as possible to Jesus in a way that would not only sanctify themselves and their days but also bring hourly consolation to her Master, whose greatest complaint was His constant thirst for souls.
