There is a holy fire burning at the heart of the Catholic Church.
Each year, we see our priests light a new Paschal Candle from a blessed bonfire before the Easter Vigil. The light from that candle is a connecting link to every Paschal Candle throughout history. It symbolizes the eternal fire passed from age to age to every new generation of Christians, and lit by the Light of the World Himself over 2,000 years ago.
Jesus is the light of the world. It is no surprise that when He appeared to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque in a little French town in 1673, He revealed to her His heart on fire. The Sacred Heart of Jesus is on fire with love for the whole world.
Fire warms us. It feeds us. It protects us. It is also dangerous and can be painful. When approaching the holy fire of the burning bush, Moses was instructed to take off his sandals. God’s fire is holy ground.
Throughout Christian history the Catholic Church has encountered and responded to various heresies that take a kernel of truth from the deposit of faith and transplant it into rocky ground. In other words, all heresies take an aspect of truth, isolate it, exaggerate it, and the Catholic Church must untangle the truth from the lies as she responds. One such heresy was Jansenism, which gained rapid ground in France in the 17th century. Jansenism emphasized the utter depravity of fallen man, teaching that a person’s will is so marred by sin that he is unable to freely choose God. Jansenism emphasized God’s otherness, dwelling in unapproachable light. It taught that those who received His grace had no choice but to believe; and those who did not were damned. Christians who became ensnared by this heresy felt helpless. Doubt spread like the plague. Would God save them? Was the grace of Jesus Christ given for everyone who would believe, or for only a few carefully selected souls?
We need guides to bring us close to the holy fire of God’s love. Fire is dangerous, but in the case of God’s fire it is a purifying burn. Spiritual directors are called to guide the faithful closer to this fire that burns, but does not consume. God’s guides tell us to take off our shoes in reverence, and to come close to His pure love.
One such guide was given to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque in the person of St. Claude de la Colombiere. Father Claude was a French Jesuit priest who was very gifted in the areas of preaching, writing, and spiritual direction. Jesus spoke to St. Margaret Mary about him, telling her that He was sending her his “faithful servant and perfect friend.” Father Claude, in his turn, had a unique method of determining if he was truly called to help Sister Margaret Mary as her spiritual director. He asked her to ask Jesus what was his (Fr. Claude’s) most recent mortal sin he had taken to confession. Jesus told Sister Margaret Mary, “I don’t remember.” Father Claude was convinced. Sister Margaret Mary was truly being visited by our merciful Lord. Father Claude took Sister Margaret Mary under his direction and was a balm to her sensitive soul, encouraging her to obey Jesus and spread the message of His Sacred Heart, which has so loved man.
St. Claude de la Colombiere’s life was spent in a crucible, refined by the fire of suffering. He fought the influence of Jansenism on his spiritual directees, was sent to England to serve English Catholics, and there was imprisoned for many months. His health ruined by his imprisonment, he was finally released and died at Paray le Monial, where St. Margaret Mary lived with her religious community.
A faithful friend of Jesus indeed. His lasting legacy has sprung from his obedience to Jesus’ call to spread the message of His Sacred Heart. St. Claude de la Colombiere was a guide for many fearful hearts, hesitant to approach the flame of God’s love. In excerpts from his spiritual direction one catches a glimpse of his own noble heart. This priest, this faithful friend of Jesus, steadily reassures his directees to humbly, lovingly come to God through the Sacraments. He emphasizes Christ’s mercy and God’s desire to save us, and the love He has for us even at our most wretched. It is as if there is a steady whisper throughout the pages of his writings: Come to Jesus. Come to Jesus. Come again and again and again to Jesus. We who are marred by sin are called to take off our shoes, to leave behind what trips us, and to come close to the fire, clinging with love to Christ, who loves sinners and came to call them to repentance. In the heat of penance, a good guide reminds us: we will not be consumed. We will walk side by side with Jesus in the fire, as Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and everything good in us will at last become gold.
During prayer and at other times, keep yourself as far as possible at the feet of Jesus Christ, as the most imperfect and wretched of all his creatures and as one who deserves hell. But do not fail to put all your confidence in him, and never fear that he will reject you on account of your infidelities (sic). You know quite well that he seeks those who offend him and that it was for sinners that he became man. Do not leave his adorable feet; cling so closely to them that if he wanted to condemn you to hell, he would, as it were, be obliged to go with you. (37)
It is possible to be a saint anywhere and everywhere when one really wishes to become one. (55)
At death, when my sins known and unknown trouble me, I will take them all and cast them at Our Lord’s feet to be consumed in the fire of his mercy. (59)
One of the best parts of being Catholic is that we have access to a vast communion of the saints in heaven. Perhaps we have not found our own spiritual directors on earth yet. It is a worthy endeavor. In the meantime, we all now have access to the friendship and spiritual direction of Jesus’ faithful friend Saint Claude de la Colombiere. Let us begin to imitate him with the following prayer he wrote as part of his consecration to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
O Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, truly worthy of possessing all hearts and of reigning over men and angels, you shall be my models; I will try to copy you. May my heart live always in the Hearts of Jesus and Mary, and may their hearts live in mine, so that I may never do anything that is not in accordance with them… By your Blood, by your Wounds, and by your Sacred Heart I implore you, O adorable Jesus, to grant that by consecrating to you all that I am, I may this day become a new work of your love. Amen.
pp. 45, 50
Saint Claude de la Colombiere, pray for us!
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The original version of this article was published in The Desert Disciple, a magazine from St. Timothy Catholic Church. It has been expanded to its current form by the author.
Quotes are from The Spiritual Direction of Saint Claude de la Colombiere, translated and arranged by Mother M. Philip, I.B.V.M.
Image: Unsplash
