5
Sister Marie of the Eucharist wanted to
light the candles for a procession; she had
no matches. However, seeing the little lamp
which was burning in front of the relics,
she approached it. Alas, it was half out;
there remained only a feeble glimmer on
its blackened wick. She succeeded in
lighting her candle from it and, with this
candle, she lighted those of the whole
community.
I
t was, therefore, the half-extinguished
little lamp which had produced all these
beautiful flames which, in their turn, could
produce an infinity of others and even
light the whole universe. Nevertheless, it
would always be the little lamp which
would be first cause of all this light. How
could the beautiful flames boast of having
produced this fire, when they themselves
were lighted with such a small spark?
It is the same with the Communion of
Saints. Very often, without our knowing
it, the graces and lights that we receive
are due to a hidden soul, for God wills
that the Saints communicate grace to each other through prayer with great love,
with a love much greater than that of a family, and even the most perfect family
on earth. How often have I thought that I may owe all the graces I’ve received to
the prayers of a person who begged them from God for me, and whom I shall
know only in Heaven! Yes, a very little spark will be capable of giving birth to
great lights in the Church, like the Doctors and Martyrs, who will undoubtedly be
higher in Heaven than the spark; but how could anyone think that their glory
will not become his?
In Heaven, we shall not meet with indifferent glances, because all the elect will
discover that they owe to each other the graces that merited the crown for them.