(1620-1700) Marguerite was the first female from Canada to be canonized. She was born in France as the sixth of 12 siblings. Her mother died when Marguerite was 19, and then her father died when she was 27, after which she helped raise the rest of her siblings. The governor of Montreal, Canada, invited her to Canada to teach. In Montreal, Marguerite founded the Congregation of Notre Dame, which was dedicated to teaching and serving the natives and colonists of North America.
Like the missionaries of the seventeenth century, those in recovery are more interested in “living life on life’s terms” than in the escape that our addictions, compulsions, or unhealthy attachments provided. How have you faced “life on life’s terms”?
“It seems to me that we are charcoal ready to be kindled and that Holy Communion is entirely suited to set us on fire. But when this charcoal is kindled only on the surface, as soon as it is set aside, it is extinguished. On the contrary, that which is fired all the way to the centre is not extinguished, but is consumed” (Saint Marguerite Bourgeoys).
Reflection by Brad Farmer