All in God’s Time

Note: On Fridays, you can find me at Your Daily Tripod, owned by my friend TonyD. A longer version of the post below appears there.

In 1675, shortly before her twenty-eighth birthday, Christ appeared to St. Marguerite Marie Alacoque. He requested special devotions, including the establishment of the feast of the Sacred Heart to make up for the ingratitude we show for his sacrifice. The first feast of the Sacred Heart actually was celebrated a few years before Christ’s appearance to Marguerite Marie, but it became a life work for the Visitation nun, despite skepticism of her visions. But she didn’t stop. She established the Holy Hour and would pray lying face down from 11 p.m. to midnight the first Friday of each month.

Marguerite Marie might have been considered a failure when she died in 1690. Her efforts to have the Feast of the Sacred Heart established had fallen short. It was more than 150 years later when Pope Pius IX extended what had become a feast in France to the entire Church. Eight years later, he declared Marguerite Marie as Blessed, and fifty-six years later, she was canonized by Benedict XV.

It was all about God’s timing with Marguerite Marie. He didn’t promise her success; he simply asked her to do something, and she did her best, for fifteen years. And while she may have fallen short of her goal during her lifetime, her efforts planted the seeds for the solemnity we celebrate today. May we remember her persistence and determination as we set about doing what God asks of us.