On September 20 and 21, 1920, Eugénie Caps writes a very interesting letter to Father Eich, her spiritual director, because it shows how much Eugénie’s thought was already structured, four months before the Foundation and before any encounter with Bishop Le Roy, Eugénie gradually give shape to the mission she had received, to found a new Missionary Work.
Let us remember. In 1915, she understands that she is called to found a women’s religious Congregation whose outline she gradually defines: Charism solely missionary in 1915, name of Daughters of the Holy Heart of Mary in 1917, and its own Spirituality that joins well to that of Father Libermann.
Since October 1919, under the direction of Father Eich, Eugénie is corresponding with Father Clauss, Superior of the Community of Neufgrange.
From September 16 to 18, 1920, Bishop Le Roy, General Superior of the Congregation of the Holy Spirit, is passing by the Community of Neufgrange and becomes acquainted with Eugénie Caps’ letters. He tries to bring Eugénie and Father Eich to Neufgrange on September 17 to meet them, but in vain. Finally contacted, Father Eich corresponds with Bishop Le Roy who proposes, in his letter of October 8, 1920, an interview in Paris.
On September 20 and 21, 1920, when Eugénie writes to Father Eich, she only knows that Bishop Le Roy would have liked to meet them. They have not seen each other yet.
On September 20, Eugénie writes only a few lines in which she let her joy burst forth, a deep joy that is rooted in her union with Jesus.
« We have our own happiness, we don’t need to look for it anymore. I understood this yesterday, at the beginning of the most holy Mass and last night once again, a very great disgust for the things of the world. So, this morning, it was Jesus. Oh yes, this is true happiness, union with Jesus. Who can say how great is the Happiness of receiving Jesus in his sacrament of Love, oh! Then Jesus gives strength and courage. Yes, we can resume the work with new impetus. »[1]
On September 21, she continues her letter by addressing another subject, that of the health of Father Eich. In fact, she indirectly asks him a question: « What is the fast that pleases God?[2] » It is also to us that she asks this question, because what is interesting is that she draws a parallel between asceticism and the mission entrusted to us. What is the sacrifice of the missionary that pleases God? Father Eich, in fact, withers under the pretext of asceticism with fasting and sleep deprivation. « Is this the fast that pleases God? » Eugénie’s answer is very clear, her choice is made. It is a matter of being in good health to work in the Lord’s vineyard. A few years later, Bishop Le Roy expresses himself as follows at the 1st General Chapter of the Congregation: « You will practice penance eminently by accepting with good heart the physical and moral sufferings that will be imposed on you: farewell to your family, to your relationships, to your country; disappointment, privations, insomnia, works of all kinds, illnesses, premature death. You will have to get used to a new diet, perhaps contrary to your tastes, perhaps insufficient. Saint Paul said, eat what is served to you, this must be the maxim of every missionary. »[3] But here is Eugénie’s astonishing exhortation to Father Eich:
« How are you now? Come, courage! Or do you want me to leave you to that interior life which makes work impossible for you? As for me, I reserve for myself true happiness, true rest, yes, I reserve it for Heaven.
First of all, a life whose basis is the intimate life with Jesus, Mary and St Joseph, prayer, meditation, the most Holy Communion, but with that the active life, the forgetfulness of oneself for God, his Glory and the salvation of others. There is so much good to be done. A good word given, a service rendered, how much good it can do.
You can say what you want, but according to your aspirations, you are for an active life. Only you can’t get used to it too much, because you don’t have enough strength, your body is too weak, for lack of rest and food. Your mind is rather in Heaven than in matters that require a work like the one we want to do according to God’s desires. What you are doing is taking your life. Go and see in the Missions with heath like yours, but I will not even give you two more years to live, you would not bear it.
Certainly, the intimate graces are very great. Jesus always loves to see us even intimately united to him, but he is even more pleased with the sacrifices that a soul knows how to make for him, for his greater Glory. To break one’s happiness in order to give it to others, that is the sacrifice. But Jesus gives back a thousand and a thousand times more.
Believe me, I sometimes feel my load, the work weighs on me, but I do it all the same, I do it with a cheerful heart and when a Holy Communion, a visit, prayer, come for me, how many times then do I feel free from everything. Then, it is rest in God. Work was for him, and he in return gives
me the rest that can only be found in God. From there come graces, from there comes courage, strength, joy, happiness, gaiety. I know that God is good, I know that he never abandons the one who works for his Glory, and since God is good to me, I am good to others. My thoughts fly to God, I do everything for him.
My life has a purpose, I know I am for God, I have to be, I want to be entirely his, and then even my office job, even cleaning is for God.
Good luck and forward for God. You were sad, you did not want to tell me too much, and you were in physical pain, mind you! »[4]
Let us let ourselves be touched by the joy, the dynamism, the impetus of our Foundress. May she give us her spirit of sacrifice adjusted to the Mission received, and as our Constitutions transmit it to us: « The asceticism proper to our missionary life, according to the spirit of Father Libermann and our tradition, mainly consists in the deprivations, hardships and sacrifices inherent to our life and accepted with a serene, free, open, peaceful spirit, in the gentleness and humble joy resulting from attachment to Jesus Christ». Cf. Our Spiritan Life n°35.
Between us N° 487, Our Spirituality p 17
[1] Letter of Eugénie Caps to Father Eich on September 20, 1920.
[2] Cf. Isaiah: 58, 6.
[3] Prescriptions of Bishop Le Roy submitted for the approval of the newly elected Council, during the 1st General Chapter of the Congregation.
[4] Letter of Eugénie Caps to Father Eich on September 21, 1920