ARCHDIOCESE OF PHILADELPHIA

On June 3, 2007, Blessed Marie Eugénie of Jesus, Foundress of the Religious of the Assumption, was solemnly canonized in Saint Peter’s Square in Rome, together with three other Blesseds, by our Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI.

This act was directed to the glory of the Most Blessed Trinity: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. It was also directed to the edification and encouragement of all the People of God throughout the Church, and in particular the Religious of the Assumption stationed in 34 countries: 8 in Europe, 5 in Asia, 10 in America and 11 in Africa—about 1,200 Religious gathered in 170 communities.

Today the joy of this great day is spread to the Archdiocese of Philadelphia as we gather in this Cathedral Basilica to praise God for raising up in His Church Saint Marie Eugénie of Jesus. Ours is a great act of thanksgiving for what God accomplished in our new Saint and for the triumph of the Blood of Jesus in her holy life.

We fully recognize that all her achievements are works of God’s grace, intended to further His Kingdom in the world and to give the Church a community of Religious who inherit and transmit the charisms of Saint Marie Eugénie of Jesus. Like the great women doctors of the Church, Saint Teresa from Avila and Saint Thérèse of Lisieux, Saint Marie Eugénie bore the name of Jesus as part of her own. She lived and worked and died for Jesus and for His Church.

She was one of the lowly followers of the Lord recognized in our first reading today, which tells us: "The prayer of the lowly pierces the clouds; it does not rest until it reaches its goals, nor will it withdraw until the Most High responds...and the Lord will not delay." In the words of our psalm our new Saint tells us today: "I will bless the Lord at all times; his praise shall be ever in my mouth. Let my soul glory in the Lord; the lowly will hear me and be glad."

Today as we celebrate locally her canonization, we listen carefully and deeply to Saint Marie Eugénie of Jesus. She has so much to tell us when we enter into dialogue with her, as the Church did on the day she was raised to the altars. Today we also hear her speak to us in the words of Saint Paul from our second reading: "But the Lord stood by me and gave me strength, so that through me the proclamation might be completed...."

By her holy life she contributed so much to the life of the Church in her native 19th-century France and far beyond. God raised her up and sustained her in difficult circumstances. She belonged to a non-believing family; her father suffered reverses; her mother died; but the Lord Jesus revealed Himself to her and put all her gifts at the service of His Church.

Today she speaks to us again about her three great inspirational loves: her love for Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, her love for Mary His Mother, her love for the Church. From these loves she derived enormous strength and contributed to God’s people a service of immense love. Her charisms partake in the stability of God’s revelation and are an ongoing gift to His Church.

Her zeal as a young woman was evident and God used it to embellish His Church with the Religious of the Assumption. No amount of activity could have supplied for her holiness of life and her fidelity to the Gospel. How beautiful her words: "I was truly converted and I was seized by a longing to devote all my strength or rather all my weakness to the Church which, from that moment, I saw as alone holding the key to knowledge and achievement of all that is good." She envisaged Christ as the universal Liberator and His kingdom on earth as a peaceful and just society. Saint Marie Eugénie could say with the author of the Book of Sirach: "The Lord is a God of justice.... he hears the cry of the oppressed."

Even today our Saint is still willing to respond to our questions. And so we ask her: For you, Saint Marie Eugénie of Jesus, Christian education is the key to the transformation of society, and so what is its principal aim? Saint Marie Eugénie responds simply: "To make known Jesus Christ, Liberator and King of the world; to teach that everything belongs to Him, who, present in our souls by the life of grace, wishes to work in each one of us to accomplish the great work of the Kingdom of God, to announce that He works in our heart so that the Kingdom of God may come, and so that each of us may enter into His plan through prayer or suffering or work." And she concludes: "Here for me are the beginning and the end of Christian teaching."

Is this, dear friends, relevant today? Relevant for Religious, for priests, for the laity, for the associates, for all the people of God? By all means. Saint Marie Eugénie of Jesus remains forever relevant in the life of the Church. We cherish her teachings, we extol her holiness, we count on her prayers. And, yes, we shall try to be faithful to her many challenges.

In conclusion let us return to our Saint. She says: "The Church is the Mystical Body of Christ. We must bring to the Church the love we bear to our Lord. He has put a perfect unity between Himself and the Church." Then finally: "You will first of all find our Lord Jesus Christ in the Blessed Sacrament and that should be our first devotion. Then you will find him in the Church and you must have an ardent love for her that you will bring to prayer and to your apostolic life. If one opened the heart of a Religious of the Assumption what should one find? These three loves—Jesus Christ, the Virgin Mary and the Church." Amen.