St Marie-Leonie Paradis Michael R. Heinlein
Learning to wait is an important skill to acquire. I am reminded of its importance almost daily as I help my young children come to understand it – and, of course, in that process come to understand it more and more in my own life, too. “Patience is a virtue” I heard so much from my mom as a child, echoed now in regular reminders I offer the kids.
I was thinking about waiting and patience a good deal recently at a canonisation Mass while on pilgrimage with my family in Rome. And the more I thought about that setting, the more I thought it was a great place to do so.
The Eucharist, as the source and summit of Christian life, has much to teach us about waiting. Especially true in the case of a canonisation Mass, where I went hours early to hold seats for my family. The Mass itself is one prolonged wait, in some ways, as we anticipate our future end and the coming of Christ. What we pray at Mass following the Our Father sums up this reality rather well: “May we be always free from sin and safe from all distress, as we await the blessed hope of the coming of our Savior Jesus Christ.” The grace of the Eucharist is what helps accomplish this in our lives.
One of the figures who was canonised that morning in Rome was Marie-Léonie Paradis, a Canadian religious and foundress. As is so often the case with the cloud of witnesses who have gone before us, waiting was very much part of her story. Paradis relied on the grace of the Eucharist as she experienced a unique and acute need for patience while waiting for God to act in her life. She relied on Eucharistic grace to uphold, transform and strengthen her. Religious life was a tenuous, at times rocky, experience for Paradis until she understood that God was calling her to begin a new community.
Paradis came to realise that she needed to be patient as God made it possible by attending to the various circumstances and personalities that had previously prevented it from coming to fruition. Eventually, her congregation for women religious would be established, according to God’s will, dedicated to the service and support of priests and bishops. Through her struggles and disappointments, Paradis came to realise, as she later said: “Have confidence in God as a good Father. Don’t you ever believe that God will lose you, if you put your confidence in him. Stay in peace, whatever happens!”
Eventually, my family arrived, the canonisations took place and Mass was celebrated. But as we prepare for Advent, I keep coming back to the lessons in waiting I learned last month. They will stay with me for some time. And I am grateful for them. Because, ultimately, if we embrace Christ’s life and let the Eucharistic mystery live in us, then we have to become masters in patience. We have to learn what it means to wait and be at peace with it. We have to embrace waiting as a time in which God acts.
Newly canonised St Marie-Leonie Paradis’ life teaches us to persevere in answering God’s call, come what may. She reminds me how we must remain steadfast yet patient amid obstacles and divisions. She models how to elevate charity and service at the heart of our mission. She lived what St Katharine Drexel once noted – that “the patient endurance of the Cross – whatever nature it may be – is the highest work we have to do.”
And such is the case for each of us. This is what the saints do, as should we all. May we increasingly rely on the Eucharist to nourish and guide this in our lives “as we await the blessed hope of the coming of our Savior Jesus Christ.”
Michael R. Heinlein is author of Glorifying Christ: The Life of Cardinal Francis E. George, O.M.I. and a promised member of the Association of Pauline Cooperators.