Last week, we began the year-long celebration of our 75th Anniversary. You will have noticed the large banners announcing our jubilee year and perhaps have even seen the ‘Word of the Month’ in a classroom or meeting room at the parish. Some of you might have begun a journal or begun some type of service to meet our 75,000 hour goal. Our Anniversary Committee is working very hard on planning events to mark this anniversary; a volunteer appreciation dinner, a parish picnic, steak dinner, wine tasting and gala dinner dance along with our other parish celebrations and parties. All of these events are being planned in order to highlight, honor and celebrate the 75 years of ministry, faith formation, education and service that continues in our present community of faith.

The real focus of our anniversary celebration and these many activities and events is a renewal of the spirit that makes St. Margaret Mary so special. Since our founding, the parish has been a place of welcome, solace, inspiration and enthusiasm. The first Promise of the Sacred Heart is “I will give them all the Graces necessary for their state of life.” “Grace” is not just the prayer that we say before meals. Grace is both the experience of God’s presence and the response to that presence. Grace is not something that can be quantified but only experienced. Some people have an erroneous image of grace as being something like fairy dust, sprinkled by God on deserving individuals. In reality, grace is accessible to everyone and is the ever-present reality of God’s love for us. The powerful witness of Margaret Mary Alacoque to the Sacred Heart of Jesus is an invitation to open ourselves up to that grace so that all that we do reflects God’s love. Jesus says that the whole law and prophets depend on the commandments to love God and to love our neighbor. May we have the graces necessary to respond to God’s love by reflecting it back to Him and our on our neighbors.

She was tormented in boarding school. Her father died when she was 8. Her uncle forced her to work as a servant in her own home. She purposely cut herself. She couldn’t walk for four years. It may sound like a soap opera plot or a Lifetime movie of the week, but this series of unfortunate events belonged to Margaret Alacoque, a young girl from the Burgundy region of France.

Margaret was born in 1647. The fifth of seven children born to Claude and Philberte Alacoque, Margaret would have been described as the “shy one”. As a young child she lived with her godmother, the Countess of Corcheval, where she learned at an early age the merits of living a virtuous life. Many hours were devoted to prayer and meditation, even at a very early age. Through the Countess’ influence, Margaret even dedicated herself to a life of virginity— at the age of four. Visits to churches, daily Mass and rosary, prayer and meditation— these became the foundation of Margaret’s daily routine. While most children played, Margaret prayed. No doubt this unique dedication to prayer and virtuous living led to a litany of verbal rebukes from siblings and friends who viewed young Margaret as, well, strange. One wonders how a four-year-old’s self-consecration to virginity was understood by those who knew Margaret and her family.

Her young life was turned upside-down by the deaths of her godmother and father when Margaret was eight. Unprepared to manage the family’s financial affairs, Margaret’s mother was forced to turn over the estate to her husband’s brother-in-law who ruthlessly treated the Alacoque family with contempt. Margaret and her mother were thrust into a life of domestic servitude in their own home.

Margaret was sent to boarding school under the supervision of the Poor Clare Sisters. She was drawn to the simple life of prayer exemplified by the nuns, and they, too, marveled at Margaret’s devotion to God and Church. Margaret was granted early First Communion at the age of 9—and began a sacramental love affair between communicant and Lord which lasted the rest of her life. If only her schoolmates were just as loving. Margaret met abuse and humiliation by students who viewed her piety as unusual.

A rheumatic fever afflicted young Margaret for four years, where she was virtually unable to use arms or hands. The Sisters sent her back home. Margaret was forced to leave the peaceful discipline she grew to love through the care of the nuns, and return to the dysfunctional setting of her home overtaken by uncaring family members.

Next time: Margaret overcomes obstacles in her journey to her vocation.