Touching the hearts in our midst

"What powerful preaching there can be in simple contact with a soul! One single soul can change the whole moral atmosphere surrounding it by its solitary light."

~ Elisabeth Leseur

I recently finished reading the "Secret Diary of Elizabeth Leseur." This book is filled with the writings of Elisabeth, a devoted Catholic young woman living in upper-class Paris in the early 20th century. I had read several excerpts of Elisabeth's writings in the Magnificat magazine over the past several months, and these meditations really spoke to me. I think one of the main reasons was because Elisabeth was a lay woman, seeking to live the faith in profound ways in the midst of secular culture. Elisabeth was married to Felix Leseur, a french physician who, although raised Catholic, became an atheist and was extremely hostile towards the faith. Through her writings one can see the depths of faith that Elisabeth had, praying fervently for her husband's conversion, accepting suffering with patience and fortitude, (she suffered many severe ailments, and eventually succumbed to breast cancer in 1914) and striving to touch the souls around her with the love and light of Christ.

I was greatly inspired reading Elisabeth's diary. I particularly found her dedication to intellectual study and authentic culture and arts impressive. She understood the value of acquiring knowledge and wisdom in order that one might be able to more fully communicate truth, as well as the ability of the fine arts of the day to convey Beauty.

What most spoke to me though, was Elisabeth's total commitment to loving the souls placed in her path in her ordinary life. As a lay, married woman, Elisabeth was did not have the framework of a religious community, or even the benefit of a supportive husband in order to encourage her in this mission. She also remained childless, a cross which I imagine brought her great suffering insofar as she was unable to participate in the vocation of biological motherhood. And although she was involved in charitable work earlier in her life, when her illness set in, she had to resign herself to let the Lord use her suffering, rather than her action, to evangelize the culture. So the reader sees as they read her diary, the way that she come to accept her humble but vital purpose in life to reach out to those souls put in her path. In doing so, she offers an inspirational example to lay Catholics, particularly I think, lay professionals who wonder how it is that they can concretely serve God's people in the secular day-to-day.

Some of her thoughts which were particularly inspiring to me:

"Let us love. Let our souls and our lives be a perpetual song of love for God first of all and for all human beings who suffer, love, and mourn.

Let profound joy live in us. Let us be like the lark, enemy of the night, who always announces the dawn and awakens in each creature the love of light and life. Let us awaken souls."

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"Let us not linger in contemplation of the road ahead; let us follow the narrow path. Let us not look too far or too high, but right in front of ourselves, right next to ourselves. The good to be done is perhaps there."

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"Grace alone can bring about conversion; without it, we can do nothing for a soul. But can we not prepare the materials for grace? Can we not put into people's minds new ideas that, when touched by grace, may one day rise and live? It is humble work, demanding much patience and tact, and it must be performed without expecting any result but what is willed by God and known only to Him."

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"Those we encounter along our earthly path cast a distracted look in passing upon the outer wrappings of our being, and go their way, confident of knowing us sufficiently. Let us take care not to act in the same way toward the companions of our life. Even in a brief encounter, we can touch a soul, or, even more, achieve a profound insight into that which is hidden beneath appearances: a whole person, a whole life, of which others remain in perpetual ignorance."