ANGEL OF CHARITY

The Saints invariably give out a celestial happiness because, being living tabernacles of the Divinity, they approach us bringing God within them and, by a mysterious intuition of the Divine Presence, our souls respond in exultation. It is not to be wondered then, that it was a joy to the Sisters to be with Sister Theresa Margaret, and that they frequently ran to her for comfort and advice. She had the gift of comforting souls and helping them to fulfill their duties efficiently, to persuade them to a generous forgetfulness of those little egoistical tendencies that merely bring bitterness and discontent in their train. She uplifted them and took them beyond those childish preoccupations which are the outcome of mistaken zeal. In these cases, she gave them some appropriate motto and developing it, would inflame their hearts with the love of silence, of quiet union with God and abandonment to Divine Providence.

She loved to mingle with the lay Sisters, join them in their work, always taking upon herself the heaviest burden. She sought to render them constant aid and would take all their troubles to heart and rejoiced with them in all their little pleasures, knowing that even these small things constitute charity. None could escape her love, even the absent ones whose advocate she always appointed herself. With regard to this, one remembers that some of the Sisters complained that the Chaplain was often tardy in beginning Mass. Sister Theresa Margaret took his part so well that no one after that dared criticize him or his small lapses of time. On another occasion she was a strong advocate in the cause of silence. There was a new postulant, a late arrival at the convent, who, poor girl, had the misfortune, through some malady she had recently recovered from, to exhale a very unpleasant odor through her nose. Sister Theresa Margaret, who occupied the place next to her in choir, was the first to perceive it and to suffer from the odor. She, however, kept complete silence on the subject, fearing to hurt the young girl if she spoke, since she felt sure that if the postulant's state were known to the Superiors, she would be sent away. The rest of the community, however, soon became aware of it and the Mother Prioress questioned Sister Theresa Margaret as to why, if she had been aware of her neighbor's affliction, she had not reported it at once. Humbly she replied: "It is so easy to injure one's neighbor by speaking, I prefer to leave the thing to God to reveal".

Soon after her Profession she was put in charge of the Infirmary, a post she was pleased and grateful to fulfill. There she had full play for her charity, and her ingenuity found a thousand new ways of exercising it. All Saints have loved the care of sick people. St. Theresa of the Child Jesus exclaimed: "How happy I would have been had they appointed me to the Infirmary".

The Memoirs of the convent testify that Sister Theresa Margaret served the sick with love's own enthusiasm, accomplishing not only heroic feats of patience, but veritable prodigies that almost come under the head of the miraculous.

Once when she could not succeed with any known remedy in calming the terrible spasms with which Mother Magdalene Theresa of St. Francis de Sales was seized, in consequence of a painful operation on the lacrymal glands, our Saint traced a sign of the Cross, encouraging her to hope in the Blessed Virgin. Immediately the pain ceased and in a few days the patient was completely cured. Another time, with a simple application of oil taken from a lamp that was burning in honor of St. Joseph, she cured Sister Theresa Mary of the Most Holy Conception, who had been tormented for many months with a high fever caused by an internal tumor. At the very touch of the young Saint's hand, with which she used to gently caress the painful spot, all her patients aver that they felt instantaneous relief, even if they were not cured at once. For them Sister Theresa Margaret would forget food and rest, she would even sacrifice the sweetness of contemplation. She did all her duties in such a spirit of faith and piety, that they had all the very essence of prayer.

Mother Theresa Mary of the Most Holy Conception attests: "One of the sick Sisters whom she was tending urged her to hasten down to the choir in order to prepare herself for Holy Communion, since it was nearly time. But she replied: 'In delaying here I do no wrong, on the contrary, since obedience demands that I should be with you rather than in choir, it seems to me that doing my duty well is the best preparation for Holy Communion, God not being restricted to either time or place'".

When she was obliged to leave her patients, she always placed them under the care of Our Lady, saying: "I confide them to your care so that they may be in good hands". In fact, our dear Lady would often warn her, by an interior inspiration, that her services were urgently required. Sister Theresa Margaret would at once interrupt her occupation and fly to the invalid and invariably found she had arrived just in time.

What sweetness and patience she showed in this office of hers! No matter how tired she felt, she never refused to recite the long hours of the Divine Office for any of the patients, although she had al-ready gone through them all in choir a short while before. For a long time, she deprived herself of her rest to accompany Mother Theresa Victoria of the Holy Conversation to the latter's cell every night. She was an octogenarian and moved very slowly. After having helped her to get to bed, Sister Theresa Margaret quietly prayed in the corner of the cell until the old Nun was comfortable. This pious and venerable Nun was more than grateful to her young nurse and did not hide the admiration and affection she bore her.

Sister Theresa Margaret, however, preferred the little fault findings and lack of gratitude, with which people so often reward those who tend them and to which she responded with sympathy and her ever ready smile. When it was necessary, she knew how to use kind firmness, and the Memoirs of the convent tell us that if, at any time she had to deny something to a sick person, she was wont to tell them: "Now is the time to offer this sacrifice to Jesus Who expects it of you". On this point she was adamant, preferring to seem severe rather than take any risks with her patient. She had, at times, a great deal to put up with, especially from one poor creature who was quite out of her mind and who would become furious when contradicted. In consequence, the poor little Sister was often in danger. Obedience to orders however, and her true Christian charity did not permit her to seek help. Her patients were very much attached to this angel of goodness, whose smile alone was sufficient to banish depression and doubt which tempted them, at times, into forgetfulness of the real value of suffering.

We read in her process of canonization that "she was diligent and speedy, but without ever seeming to hurry. Such was her compassion and kindness, coupled with her modest deportment in the carrying out of her duties, that some of the Sisters remarked that she could not be more serene and composed were she in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament".

We have an offering written by her for the souls of the faithful departed entitled: "Alms for the Souls in Purgatory", of which we give the text in full.

"To recite every day the Office of the Blessed Virgin, the Seven Penitential Psalms and when possible the Graduals; a part of the Rosary and the entire Rosary on Feast Days; the Rosary of Our Lord and many psalms during the day; many offerings of the Sacred Blood of Jesus, particularly when the hour is rung. To sometimes give myself the discipline for this intention and the offering of Holy Communion once or twice a week; the practice of all the virtues, particularly abnegation of my own will in every single thing; to be more diligent in following the Holy Rule and the Constitutions; half an hour's prayer each day and more if it be possible."

Every time the notice of a death was given in the convent, Sister Theresa Margaret would at once kneel down and pray and she would exhort whom-ever she met to do the same. Her thirst for suffrage was increased when the death happened to be that of a priest.

What prayer could be dearer to the Heart of Jesus than that which implored Him to unite to Himself in glory, one who on earth had been the object of His predilection, more especially since priests are cooperators in the divine work of saving souls. She did not forget that more is demanded from those to whom much has been given. "Cum augentur dona rationes etiam crescunt donorum." Without ever tiring, Sister Theresa Margaret continued praying and sacrificing herself so that He Who is the Sun of life should eternally illuminate those dear priestly souls, sighing to Him in the darkness of the night and yet so near the triumphant dawn. She prayed unceasingly and fasted for their sake so that they should quickly fly to the vision of the flaming Heart of Jesus, where they could lose themselves in the abyss of Love that is the eternal delight of all the Saints, "Cor Jesu deliciae Sanctorum omnium".

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