Sister Maria Marta's mission and devotion to the Holy wounds

“One thing pains me said the sweet Salvatore to his little servant There are souls who consider devotion to my holy wounds as strange, worthless and unseemly: this is why it decays and is forgotten. In heaven I have saints who have had a great devotion to my wounds, but on earth almost nobody honors me in this way ". How well motivated this lament is! How few are the souls who understand the Cross and those who assiduously meditate on the Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ, whom St. Francis de Sales rightly called 'the true school of love, the sweetest and strongest reason for piety'.

Therefore, Jesus does not want this inexhaustible mine to remain unexplored, that the fruits of his holy wounds be forgotten and lost. He will choose (is this not his usual way of acting?) The most humble of the instruments to accomplish his work of love.

On October 2, 1867, Sister Maria Marta attended a Vestition, when the vault of Heaven was opened and she saw the same ceremony unfold with a splendor very different from that of the earth. The whole Visitation of Heaven was present: the first Mothers, turning to her as if to announce her good news, said to her joyfully:

"The eternal Father has given to our holy Order His Son to be honored in three ways:

1st Jesus Christ, his Cross and his Wounds.

2nd His Sacred Heart.

3 ° His holy Childhood: it is necessary that in your relations with him you have the simplicity of the child. "

This triple gift does not seem new. Going back to the origins of the Institute, we find in the life of mother Anna Margherita Clément, contemporary of Saint Giovanna Francesca of Chantal, these three devotions, of which the religious formed by her carried the imprint.

Who knows, and we are pleased to believe it, it is this equally favored soul who, in agreement with our holy Mother and founder, comes today to remind them of God's chosen one.

A few days later, the venerable mother Maria Paolina Deglapigny, who died 18 months earlier, appears to her daughter of the past and confirms this gift of the holy wounds: “The Visitation already possessed a great wealth, but not complete. This is why the day on which I left the earth is happy: instead of possessing only the Sacred Heart of Jesus, you will have all the holy humanity, that is, its sacred wounds. I asked for this grace for you “.

The heart of Jesus! Who owns it, does not possess all Jesus? All the love of Jesus? Without a doubt, however, the holy wounds are like the prolonged and eloquent expression of this love!

So Jesus wants us to honor him whole and that, adoring his wounded Heart, we know not to forget his other wounds, which are also opened for love!

In this regard, there is no lack of interest in approaching the gift of the patient humanity of Jesus, made to our sister Maria Marta, a gift of which the venerable mother Mary of Sales Chappuis was gratified at the same time: the gift of the Savior's holy humanity.

St. Francis de Sales, our blessed Father, who often visited his dear daughter to teach her in fatherhood, did not cease to assure her of the certainty of her mission.

One day when they spoke together: "My father she said with her usual candor you know that my sisters have no confidence in my affirmations because I am very imperfect".

The Saint replied: “My daughter, the views of God are not those of the creature, who judges according to human criteria. God gives his graces to a miserable one who has nothing, so that all refer to him. You must be very happy with your imperfections, because they hide the gifts of God, who chose you to complete the devotion to the Sacred Heart. The heart was shown to my daughter Margherita Maria and the holy wounds to my little Maria Marta ... It is a happiness for my Fatherly heart that this honor is granted to you by Jesus Crucified: it is the fullness of the redemption that Jesus has so much desired ".

The Blessed Virgin came, on a feast of the Visitation, to confirm the young sister on her way again. Accompanied by the holy Founders and by our sister Margherita Maria, she said with goodness: “I give my Fruit to the Visitation, as I gave it to my cousin Elizabeth. Your holy founder has reproduced the labors, the sweetness and humility of my Son; your holy Mother my generosity, overcoming all obstacles to unite with Jesus and do his holy will. Your lucky sister Margherita Maria has copied the Sacred Heart of my Son to give it to the world ... you, my daughter, are the chosen one to retain the justice of God, asserting the merits of the Passion and the holy wounds of my only and beloved Son Jesus!".

Since Sister Maria Marta made some objections to the difficulties she would encounter: “My daughter replied the Immaculate Virgin, you must not worry, neither for your Mother nor for you; my Son knows well what he has to do ... as for you, do only day by day what Jesus wants ... ".

Therefore the invitations and exhortations of the holy Virgin were multiplying and assuming various forms: “If you seek wealth, go and take it in the holy wounds of my Son… all the light of the Holy Spirit flows from the wounds of Jesus, however you will receive these gifts in proportion to your humility ... I am your Mother and I say to you: go and draw on the Wounds of my Son! Suck his blood until it runs out, which, however, will never happen. It is necessary that you, my daughter, apply the Plagues of my Son over sinners, to convert them ”.

After the interventions of the first Mothers, the holy Founder and the holy Virgin, in this picture we cannot forget those of God the Father, for whom our dear sister always felt a tenderness, a daughter's confidence and was divinely filled with his delicacies.

The Father was the first, who instructed her on her future mission. Sometimes he reminds her: “My daughter, I give you to my Son so that you can help yourself throughout the day and you can pay what is due to all of my justice from everyone. From the wounds of Jesus you will constantly take what to pay the debts of sinners ".

The community made processions and raised prayers for various needs: "Everything you give me is nothing, God the Father declared if it is nothing, the daring daughter replied then I offer you all that your Son has done and suffered for us ...".

"Ah replied the eternal Father this is great!". For her part, our Lord, to strengthen her servant, renews her several times the security that she is truly called to renew the devotion to the redemptive wounds: "I have chosen you to spread the devotion to my holy Passion in the unhappy times in which you live ".

Then, showing her his holy wounds as a book in which he wants to teach her to read, the good Master adds: “Do not take your eyes off this book, from which you will learn more than all the greatest scholars. Prayer to the holy wounds includes everything ”. Another time, in June, while prostrated before the Blessed Sacrament, the Lord, opening his sacred Heart, as the source of all the other Wounds, insists again: “I have chosen my faithful servant Margherita Maria to make know my divine Heart and my little Maria Marta to spread devotion to my other wounds ...

My wounds will infallibly save you: they will save the world ".

On another occasion he said to her: "Your way is to make me known and loved by my holy wounds, especially in the future".

He asks her to offer her wounds incessantly for the salvation of the world.

“My daughter, the world will remain more or less shaken, depending on whether you have performed your task. You are chosen to satisfy my justice. Closed in your cloister, you must live here on earth as you live in heaven, love me, pray to me continuously to appease my revenge and renew the devotion to my holy wounds. I want for this devotion not only the souls who live with you but many others to be saved. One day I will ask you if you have drawn from this treasure for all my creatures. "

He will tell her later: “truly, my Bride, I live here in all hearts. I will establish my kingdom and my peace here, I will destroy all obstacles with my power because I am the master of hearts and I know all their miseries ... You, my daughter, are the channel of my graces. Learn that the channel has nothing for itself: it only has what passes through it. It is necessary, as a channel, that you keep nothing and say everything that I communicate to you. I have chosen you to assert the merits of my holy Passion for all, but I want you to always remain hidden. It is my task to make known in the future that the world will be saved by this means and by the hands of my Immaculate Mother!