Vatican - Pauline Jaricot had Jesus Christ as "best friend"

Lyon (Agenzia Fides) - Sister Pauline, of the Missionary Family of Our Lady, is part of the community that lives in the house of Pauline Jaricot, the Maison de Lorette, today a place to discover the life of the foundress of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith, but also and above all a place of prayer that preserves the charism of the next blessed.

What is Pauline Jaricot's spirituality?

There would be many things to say. From an early age she loved to pray in churches, in front of Jesus in the Eucharist: she liked to go and talk to him in a very simple way, as if he were her best friend. Among other things, from here we can see the church of St. Nizier, where she often went to pray: there Jesus even spoke to her, she heard his voice. Jesus helped her a lot.

How old was Pauline at that time?

All this took place after her conversion. She converted at 17. She often went to pray in the Fourvière chapel. The current basilica did not exist yet, there was only a small chapel with a golden statue of the Virgin, in 1852. When Pauline was 17 there was not even this statue, but she often went to pray in the chapel where she consecrated herself to Jesus. She took a vow of chastity and was also consecrated to the Virgin Mary at the age of 17, after her conversion.

Did she meditate a lot?

Yes, she contemplated. She contemplated Jesus and Mary so that she too could experience it. And this was very important for her.

What did the Eucharist mean for Pauline?

Pauline wrote a booklet when she was about 20 on "Infinite Love in the Divine Eucharist" in which she shows her love for the Eucharist and her love for the Church and for priests, to make them understand the great mission they have before Jesus. The Eucharist… For her it was a question of having more trust. We do not see Jesus, he is hidden in the consecrated host. We do not see him. He can also communicate with us without us hearing his voice, but he can inspire us with good deeds to carry out, good ideas. And this dialogue is important, this encounter with Jesus, who is present and who can guide us in our life.

How did Jesus speak to Pauline through the Eucharist? How did she feel this presence?

When we enter a church it is not difficult, it is enough to be silent within oneself and think of Jesus who is present in front of us, simply pray to him and tell him what we have in our heart, what we want to share with him, as a friend… And then ... sometimes it is a bit mysterious. We remain silent and then sometimes Jesus ... we have the impression that nothing happens ... and sometimes Jesus acts invisibly in our life. And that is what Pauline felt so intensely, that is why she enjoyed spending time in church.

What was Mary's role in all of this?

Mary is the one who leads us to Jesus, more concretely, we can say, because she is a human creature, even if she is the Immaculate Conception, she is truly human like us. She guides us to Jesus to help us to know him better, to love him better. She is truly our mother, who accompanies us step by step to get closer.

What was happiness for Pauline?

I think that happiness for Pauline was doing God's will: in everything - like all the saints - she wanted to be guided by Him. She had many ideas, she was very enterprising, but at the same time she always asked for help to be able to really do what God wanted, to do what He expected of her.

And so she spent a lot of time in her life trying to unify her personality and her abilities with God's will?

Exactly what God expected of her. On the other hand, this is how we find peace, because we are sure that we are fulfilling a mission that God entrusts to us. We are made for heaven and the goal is to love like God, to let ourselves be guided by him as much as possible because that is why we were created. This allowed her to maintain a great peace amidst all the trials she experienced, because Pauline suffered a lot and encountered a lot of contradictions. The fact that she was aware that she had asked for help and that she wanted to do God's will and that she had done her best, gave her great peace and also allowed her to forgive all those who made her suffer, because she knew that it was allowed by God and that nothing happens without his permission. (CD/EG) (Agenzia Fides, 20/5/2022)

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