From the writings of St. Vincent de Paul and St. Louise de Marillac on Lenten themes of repentance, prayer, fasting, obedience

1. Lenten Themes
with St. Vincent and St. Louise
focusing on our need for penitence • looking ahead to Good Friday and Easter

2. "Now, God forbid, Sisters, that you
should act from such a motive! [vanity] I
hope that God in His goodness will
preserve you from that. I entreat Him to
do so with all my heart, and also to
deign to give us the dispositions
necessary for the accomplishment of
His holy Will for our entire lives, in every
place and with anyone whomsoever. I
ask that, in His infinite mercy, He will
deign to forgive all of us the faults we've
committed against holy obedience and
to accept the resolution we're taking to
live and die under obedience for love of
Him. I make the same resolution for
myself and, with the grace of God, I
hope to be faithful to it […] may God be
pleased to send you the strength of His
Spirit by the power of His word!
SV IX:415
Lent is a time for us, caught in
sin, to focus on repentance.

3. “One of the means which I thought
might help me to acquire this virtue
of obedience, such as God demands
it of me, is to esteem it highly;
frequently to call to mind the
obedience of the Son of God in
matters that are painful and difficult
for us; to reflect that it was His will
that obedience should be observed
even unto death and that this was to
help us as an example and an
encouragement.”
St. Louise: On Obedience. SW p. 782
Lent is a time when I see how
easy it is for me to set up all sorts
of little idols in my life. May I learn
to depend more upon God.

4. [Speaking about St. Louise]:
Her illness could not interrupt her works
of charity. She always inquired if the very
numerous poor of the parish were being
well looked after. […] She gave signs of
perfect repentance, accepting her illness
as a just punishment which she said she
had deserved, and declaring publicly that
“it was quite reasonable that where sin
abounds, sickness should dwell; that God
was acting justly in her person, and that
in acting with justice he was showing
mercy.” […] Finally, she maintained
evenness of disposition, gentleness,
patience, submission to God, and the
other virtues which she had practiced in
the different trials of her life.
from "The Life of Mademoiselle Le
Gras" (1984). Gobillon: English. p. 62
Lent is a time to appreciate more
deeply the meaning of the cross and
the victory of the resurrection.

5. “I received your letter yesterday and your
outline of the rules for your Daughters,
which I have not yet had the chance to read.
I shall do so as soon as I can. As for what
you tell me about them, I have no doubt that
they are as you describe them to me, but we
have to hope that they will mature and that
prayer will allow them to see their faults and
encourage them to correct them. It would
be well for you to tell them what constitutes
solid virtue, especially that of interior and
exterior mortification of our judgment, our
will, memories, sight, bearing, speech, and
the other senses, of the attachments we
have to bad, useless, and even to good
things; all this for the love of Our Lord Who
acted in this way. You will have to
strengthen them a great deal in all these
matters, especially in the virtue of
obedience and in that of indifference.”
Letter of St. Vincent to St. Louise SV I: 277
Lent is a time to raise my awareness of how
much I depend on other things in life rather
than the Lord.

6. “We have our days of solitude every
year. We hold chapter [assembly]
every Friday morning, during which
each one accuses himself of his
failings, receives a penance from
the Superior, and is obliged to carry
it out. Two priests and two brothers
ask the Company for the charity of
being warned of their failings and,
after them others do so, each in
turn. In the evening of the same day
we have a conference on our rules
and the practice of the virtues.
Everyone there shares the thoughts
Our Lord gave him in prayer on the
topic being discussed.”
SV I:555 letter from St. Vincent to St.
Jane de Chantal
Lent is a time to be reminded of our
need for penitence and a time to grow
more deeply in God’s grace.

7. Several ladies, including some of high society, were
attracted by her [St. Louise’s] zeal, and left Paris
depriving themselves of the conversation of the world to
spend some days in a village, to converse there with God.
They left the comforts and delicacies of life, to think of
their salvation in a place of mortification and penance.
Without considering their rank and position, which raised
them above others, they came into a house of servants of
the poor and submitted themselves to the same discipline
of a superior, to learn to despise riches and grandeurs by
her instruction and example. To direct the ladies in these
retreats, and to form them in these exercises of piety, she
used the lights and rules which she received from
Monsieur Vincent. She accompanied them with the great
understanding she had of the spiritual life, in which she
had perfected herself by long experience. She had always
had an extraordinary love and eagerness for prayer, […] a
lofty mind and sound judgement, formed by the study of
philosophy and serious reading. She also had a tender
heart, immersed in God, and made her prayer in a strong,
sublime and affective way.
from "The Life of Mademoiselle Le Gras". Gobillon. p. 28
Lent is a time for humility, prayer, and intentional devotion to God.

8. "Mon Dieu! How many poor
Daughters of Charity lose a great
deal through their own fault! When
they follow their own will, they serve
poor persons and come and go, but
they kill themselves for nothing. Do
whatever you please, Sisters, but the
best of your actions won't be
meritorious for you without this
virtue. It must be said that there are
great benefits in obedience, since
the Son of God willed to do
everything through obedience and
was so subject to it that He preferred
to die rather than fail in obedience;
and, on the contrary, there are great
evils in the opposite vice.”
SV X:67
Acts of sacrifice remind me of my
commitment to God and my desire to
make God first in my life.

9. “Another reason is that if you do
everything through obedience you're sure
to accomplish God's Will. There can be no
doubt about this, for He himself has said,
'Whoever obeys you obeys me. And
therefore whoever disobeys you, disobeys
me.' What a consolation for good souls
faithful to this holy virtue to be assured of
doing God's Will! Be consoled, you who
are faithful to obedience. But as for you
who are of a different mind, inclined to
obey only when what you're told to do fits
in with your mood— which is seen when
persons obey only in certain things and
not in others— be afraid that instead of
having done the Will of God, you've done
only your own or, to put it better, that of
the devil!”
SV X:68
Prayer and fasting help me surrender
my idols to God and to prepare
spiritually for the celebration of Easter.

10. “A Sister who does only what she wants and likes,
saying, 'I don't want to do that because I don't feel
like it,' or who submits, but does it her own way,
saying, 'I'll do this or that, even though I see clearly
that it's useless,' that Sister has the spirit of
disobedience. "When the Eternal Father willed to
send His Son on earth, He put before Him all the
things He'd have to do and suffer. You know the life of
Our Lord and how filled with suffering it was. His
Father said to Him, 'I'll allow you to be despised and
rejected by everyone; I’ll let Herod make you flee from
the time you're a baby; that you be considered a
madman and receive curses for your miracles; in
short, I'll allow all creatures to rebel against you.'
That's what the Eternal Father set before His Son,
who replied, 'Father, I'll do whatever you command
me.' This shows us that we must obey in all things
without reserve. Some people are willing to obey in
something easy that's in keeping with their whim.
That's not enough. We must obey in everything…”to all of them.
SV X:69
Lent is a time to do something more for God.

11. “When you go to prayer, go simply to
please God, saying, ‘I'm not worthy
to speak with God, but because
obedience wills it and it's His Will,
I'm going there to honor Our Lord.'
For, Sisters, what do you think? It's
not enough to make your prayer
according to your whim, inattentively
and as you please; no, that's not
enough; you have to make it as Our
Lord made His prayer when He was
on earth. He prayed with great
reverence, in the presence of God,
with confidence and humility.”
SV X:106
Lent is a time for drawing closer to God
in prayer, to prime ourselves for a deeper
experience of Good Friday and Easter.

12. Sources:
texts: as noted
images: depaul.edu Image Archive
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