FOR THE FEAST OF SAINT GENEVIEVE

95.1  [i]                                      First Point

Saint Genevieve was so filled and endowed with grace that she consecrated herself to God from her tenderest years with the advice of Saint Germanus, Bishop of Auxerre, who approved her plan to make a vow of virginity, which she did later in the presence of the Bishop of Chartres. Then she devoted herself entirely to works of piety and especially to prayer, so that her entire life was almost one continual prayer. She prepared to celebrate Sunday well by spending the entire previous night in the exercise of prayer, and by stirring up in herself an  extraordinary fervor, which she tried to maintain throughout this day and on all the feast days.

        Such is the practice of the saints, which is to avoid conversations with people and to love conversing with God.   Do you feel yourself inclined to this practice? It is your duty to apply yourself assiduously and affectionately to prayer in order to draw down on yourself a great number of graces which you need in your state, both for your own sanctification and for the sanctification of others.

        Be assured that the more you devote yourself to prayer, the more you will also do well in your work. For, since you are not of yourself able to do anything well for the salvation of souls, you should often turn to God to obtain from him what your profession obliges you to give to others. For it is God, says Saint James, who is the Father of lights and it is from him   that every perfect gift comes down. [ii] This includes everything that is given and is needed to procure our salvation. Earnestly beg of God this spirit of prayer.

95.2                            Second Point

Prayer has little efficacy if it is not strengthened by mortification. Saint Genevieve joined the one to the other, which is why she readily obtained from God what she asked of him. As a rule she took food only twice a week, never ate meat, and often spent entire nights in prayer. Her austerities were so great that it seemed that she no longer had a body, so much did she neglect it.

        We cannot strengthen ourselves in piety except insofar as we mortify ourselves. As our senses constantly incline us to seek their pleasures, we cannot live according to the spirit of Christianity unless we hold them in check and even oppose their inclinations.

        For, according to Saint Paul, the desires of the flesh are contrary to those of the spirit; they are opposed to one another. [iii] This is why we often do not do the things we would want to do. Since we should live by the spirit, says the same Apostle, we must also be led by the spirit,4 not by our senses.

        Is this your concern and preoccupation? Do you take the means to be masters of your senses? If you give in to them, it will be quite difficult for you to control them later. Therefore, watch over them constantly, because no one can be sensual and Christian at the same time.

95.3                            Third Point

The reward Saint Genevieve received in this life for all her great deeds and her exercises of piety was long and frequent illnesses, considerable suffering, and persecution throughout her whole life; to these were also added some altogether extraordinary calumnies. After the example of Saint Paul, she responded only with acts of thanksgiving and prayers to God for those who persecuted and calumniated her, [iv] because she knew that this is the reward God gives to his saints in this life, as Jesus Christ testifies in the holy Gospel, saying that this should make them happier [v] than the possession of all imaginable treasures. This, too, is what consoles God's servants, because they find in these states a conformity with Jesus Christ and his saints.

        To be treated this way is all we should expect in this world after spending our life for God. This is what will help us find and possess God and his holy peace within us, just as the saint whose feast we are celebrating possessed him in the midst of all her trials.

        Often testify to God that it will be a pleasure for you to suffer all the troubles he will want to send you. Do not complain in the least of what people may say or do against you. Show by your silence and patience that you are content and that you accept all willingly for the love of God. In fact, one of the best means for acquiring and preserving this divine love is to suffer much and to suffer with joy.

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Genevieve (ca 420 - ca 512) was born at Nanterre, a village close to Paris, and at an early age consecrated herself to virginity with the approval of Saint Marcellinus, Bishop of Paris (meditation for November 3).  For a while she was a center of controversy because of the miracles and predictions attributed to her, but she later became a patron of Paris through the friendship of Saint Germanus, Bishop of Auxerre, and her success through prayer in protecting the city from the invasion of the Franks under Childeric, and the Huns under Attila.  Later when Clovis was beseiging the city, she led a convoy of boats bringing food to the city.  After Clovis became a Christian, he and his wife, Saint Clotilda, showed great respect for Genevieve.  She was buried in the church of Saints Peter and Paul which Clovis had built, but her remains were destroyed by fire during the French Revolution in 1793.