Special Edition - Blessed Adele's Feast
Today, January 10, we celebrate the feast of Blessed Mother Adele de Batz de Trenquelleon. This year will be our first celebration of the feast after her beatification in June 2018. Blessed Adele’s feast is an occasion for great joy, but it also an occasion for reflection. I often wonder what she would think about the ways the Marianist family has grown and continues to grow around the world. Or about the ministries with which religious and lay Marianists are involved. More specifically, what would she think of Marianist PULSE, now in the midst of its third year, and what words of wisdom would she share with those currently in the program or those considering applying for PULSE?
I believe Blessed Adele would be thrilled with PULSE. The program brings together several elements that were close to her heart – solidarity with and care for those on the margins of society, community life and relationships, prayer and spiritual formation. If she were alive now, no doubt, she would visit with the PULSE volunteers often and would text, Snap, and Insta her encouragement and advice. And she would seek advice, encouragement, and support from the PULSE community.
Blessed Adele’s first piece of advice would no doubt be to place one’s trust in “God alone.” She would be quick to remind volunteers and would be volunteers that only one thing is important in life and that is our relationship with God. In the craziness of serving in a non-profit, the ups and downs that inevitably come from living in community and the challenges of getting used to a new city or context, she would likely remind folks that, “… if we allow ourselves to be attached to God alone, we shall be happy. Only the love of God can help us support the trials of this life… Let us love God; that love will smooth out all the difficulties for us on the road to virtue.” (Letter 58.2) For Blessed Adele God alone was a motto of sorts, for she once wrote, “May God engrave these words profoundly in my heart: God alone, God alone. Yes, may God alone reign forever in me, may I live for him alone, may he be ever the King of my heart.” (Letter 197.2).
While Blessed Adele was serious in encouragement to prayer and reliance on God, she would also encourage volunteers to be people of balance who can relax and enjoy the gifts of God. She would remind us, then, of the importance of balance. “Let us be vigilant in prayer and mortify our inclinations and desires. All these means must be used in moderation.” (Letter 95.7) She even went so far as to write, “There are many interesting books a person can read and find therein legitimate relaxation. one cannot always be concentrating on serious things.” (Letter 92.6)
Lastly, Blessed Adele would remind PULSErs and potential volunteers about the importance of relationships. Friends, community, and people on the margins were immensely important to Blessed Adele. It was through these relationships in her life that she experienced support, challenge, encouragement in living the life to which God called her. In her very first letter that we have she wrote, “What we must constantly strive to instill into each other is the love of God. … let us see each other in God, who is the unique principle and the only lastly bond of all Christian friendship. To love each other in God, for God, and because of God is to be sure of a lasting love. A friendship that has not this basis cannot normally endure.” (Letter 1). Upon the death of her father she wrote, “Our dear Mme Belloc has come, dear friend, to bring me the consolations of friendship. You know what that means to me. She is staying on until Monday; that is a short time, but we must be ready for any sacrifice.” (Letter 272.2) So, for Blessed Mother Adele PULSE is a natural outgrowth of her spirit and priorities. As we celebrate the life and legacy of Blessed Adele let us also ask for her intercession that we all might have the grace necessary to follow her example and heed her advice.
In the peace and courage of Adele,
Sr. Nicole
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