RELIGIOUS OF THE ASSUMPTION: CONTEMPLATIVES IN ACTION
Educational ideals
Every real educator agrees that “the true work of a teacher is to help the child realize himself at his best and ‘worthiest.” Mother Marie Eugenie’s theory of education by no means disregards the practical requirements of life. It does not overlook anything that can be turned to good account. But it holds that the development of mind and character are of primary importance. The watchword of education for her was “Life for God.” Because it is for God, it should be as full, as efficient, and as varied as possible.
“To make Jesus Christ known as the liberator and the King of the world, this, for me, is the beginning and the end of Christian teaching.” says Mother Marie Eugenie. “Everything belongs to Him. Present in our souls by His grace, He wishes to further God’s kingdom within us. Each one of us comes into His plan to work to pray, or to suffer. To refuse to do one’s share, on no matter what pretext, is to turn aside from the Supreme Good into the path of selfishness.”
“The great disadvantage .of the teaching congregations,” she wrote in 1834, “is their failure to progress with the changing times where she was referring to the opportunities provided for broadening the mind and character through a knowledge of the truth under many aspects. In one sense it is what I may call a philosophy; in another and wider sense, it is a passion.
In the use of authority Mother Marie Eugenie advocates a firmness which instills habits of obedience and strengthens character. Of actual discipline she says: “Our object is not the time spent in school. Our aim is to train young women in such a way that when they return to their homes, they will take with them into the world Christian ideas and Christian habits of mind and action. At the Assumption, we do not make a point of perfect external discipline. That is why we allow our children freedom to express their personalities. The formation of character, the training of mind and will, must be our first care, not the correction of purely external faults.” “At the Assumption,” she said, “we cultivate the natural virtues in our work of forming character. The real foundation for supernatural virtues is the natural integrity in which human was created. That is the true source of a fine sense of honor, of kindness, courage, and devotion to duty. On this, grace can work wonders of holiness.”
As regards the curriculum Mother Marie Eugenie left plenty of scope for future development. She was interested primarily in presenting truth as a whole, showing the interdependence of various subjects which in themselves ‘are merely fragments and aspects of divine truth. “To show the facts of human knowledge in their relation the things of faith,” she said, “is the real way to discipline the mind and spread the kingdom of God in souls.” The tradition of the Assumption is the Catholic tradition – Catholicism in all its strength and beauty. To this teaching of fundamental truths we must make no change in the essentials of teaching the eternal truths, but we must adapt their expression to, the mentality of the age.”
Two elements on which the Foundress laid special stress were the Divine Office and the practice of poverty. “The Office,” she said, “makes us children of the Church, in the sense of following her feasts and ceremonies, and thus our children will acquire a love for liturgical devotion.” About poverty she said: “We can hardly be too poor in our everyday life if we are to inspire the children with a certain disregard for comfort and safeguard ourselves from the influence of the world.”
Mother Marie Eugenie had the highest conception of the work of education. “Education,” she said, “can become a continual outpouring of the Holy Spirit, a communicating of Christ to souls. . . . By union with Him you will become rays of His light. . . . Keep in contact always with Him who is the Sun of Justice, the source of all truth, and you’ will radiate this light of Christ upon others.”
INNER LIFE OF MOTHER MARIE EUGENIE
In the first awakening of her soul at the time of her First Communion, the two poles of the spiritual life God and her soul – were distinctly present in her consciousness. “I was overwhelmed,” she said, “by the infinite greatness of Gad and my own extreme littleness.”. It made the “adoration of the rights of God” the keynotes of her own spirituality as she wished it to be that of the Congregation she founded. Perfect adoration consists in casting down our’ crowns at the feet of God, yielding our’ whole being to Him so that He may dispose of it according to His good pleasure.” I will seek all in Thee. Thou alone art infinite Beauty, infinite Love. To give up all earthly things, to live in this world as a pilgrim, to make all sacrifices consistently and completely, one must not clip one’s wings.” “My favorite virtues,” she said, “are humility and obedience. The one, thing that sets all at peace within me is profound annihilation.”
Her love of Obedience – of the Will of God triumphant in His free creatures – outweighed all personal feelings. “I can never keep from wishing God to be glorified in me,” she said. And again in great depths of suffering, this worship of the Will of God was still her refuge, deepening and consecrating that devotion to duty which had been the chief note of her home training. In a time of darkness she spoke of the one thought that was always an anchor-hold for her soul: God alone and His Will.
Recognition of God’s sovereignty, obedience, humility, self-abnegation, and a zeal for souls – these were the salient characteristics of Mother Marie Eugenie’s holiness. They were also the inspiration and the achievement of her life’s work. She founded a congregation whose spirit of adoration finds expression, on the one hand, in. the daily recitation of the Divine Office in choir and the adoration of the Blessed Sacrament; on the other, in the apostolate of Christian education. She accepted an even more complete abasement in the helplessness of her declining years, when it seemed as though God wished everything to fall away from her. “I have an intuition,” she said at that time, “of something simple, stripped of self, a state in which there remains nothing but love.”
I am so convinced, however, that Jesus – especially Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament – is all I need for happiness, that I wonder why I do not tear myself away from everything else to have more time for prayer.” She felt that prayer was a means, a practice of attention to Our Lord, of recollection in His Presence. It led to that union with Him. Her fondest hopes for her Congregation are summed up in these words: “Of all the characteristics of holiness, the one I most desire for you is that of being so lost in the Will of God that in all things and in all places you will love, seek, and bless His Divine Will. That disposition will lead to the abandonment of self into God’s hands. It is the surest, the best and fullest union that can be attained between God and one of His creatures.
The devotion to the Office, Mother Marie Eugenie considered an important factor in the education she wished to provide. “We have the Divine Office,” ‘she said. “The Sisters were drawn to it and in an attraction to prayer God must surely play part. Furthermore I believe that religious whose work is education have more need of prayer than others. They bring away from their classroom distractions which are more effectually dispelled by the words of the Office than they would be by private prayer. The Office makes us truly children of the Church in the sense that we follow her feasts and her ceremonies. In that way our children will more readily learn to know and love the ordinary services of the ecclesiastical year than if we had a special Office. Church music and all the liturgical ceremonies appeal to them and draw them to God.”
