By Emily Malloy

St. Teresa of Avila advised that "in all created things, discern the providence and wisdom of God, and in all things give Him thanks.” 

In life, we often fail to maintain a bird's eye view of our circumstances. We hyper-focus upon small details and are consequently overtaken by discouragement in times of adversity. To develop the discipline of discernment and gratitude mentioned by St. Teresa of Avila, we must ultimately live in a place of detachment. 

There are two stories about St. Jeanne Jugan, the foundress of the Little Sisters of the Poor, that serve as perfect examples of detachment and gratitude in adversity. They are stories that resonate deeply, sometimes resurfacing, and continue to create internal echoes and stirrings within the heart.

St. Jeanne Jugan was born in Normandy during one of the many tumultuous revolutions of France at the end of the 18th century. Owing to the persecution of the Church at this time, she was secretly catechized at home. At 15, an orphaned Jeanne became a kitchen maid for a family who often ministered to the poor. After some time, she became a third order Eudist and began to serve in the household of a fellow member and friend of the same order. Following the passing of her friend, St. Jeanne Jugan lived on her own with a friend and began taking aged poor into her home. 

The first striking story takes place at the beginning of Jeanne's ministry to the elderly poor who were too frail to beg, wherein she goes on their behalf to ask for provisions. She went to the door of a home, knocking and requesting aid. A man, angered by her presence and begging, slapped her before slamming the door. With full composure, St. Jeanne Jugan approached the same door and knocked once more. The man opened the door to receive her humble reply. "Thank you," she said, "That was for me. Now, please give me something for my poor."

The witness of St. Jeanne Jugan's humility and gratitude in adversity did not end on that gentleman's front door step. Over time, the ministry grew and many houses for the elderly poor were founded by St. Jeanne Jugan throughout France and across the Channel in England. In 1849, St. Jeanne Jugan was usurped as head of the order and banished to live among novices and postulants. She obeyed without fight, saying to the priest now claiming to be the founder, "You have stolen my work from me. But I give it to you willingly."

Though she was placed into a state of oblivion, she serenely accepted God's will and never gave way to bitterness. From a worldly perspective, she no longer held the esteemed place as the foundress of the bourgeoning order of the Little Sisters of the Poor. But it was from her lowly place as Sr. Mary of the Cross, who worked in the kitchen, that she quietly formed the future of the order in the novices and postulants. At her death in 1879, there were more than 2,400 religious within the Little Sisters of the Poor, most of whom were personally shaped by the humble saint within the shadows of  obscurity in the motherhouse.

At the end of her life, St. Jeanne Jugan often said, "one must always say, 'blessed be God.'" Though through her work, she eased the burden of poverty in the lives of the most vulnerable in society, she willingly accepted the destitution of obscurity in her own life. The human notion of earthly justice was never served in her lifetime. It was ten years after her death that it was acknowledged that she was the true foundress of the order and the priest who usurped her position was investigated and dismissed. Most of her fellow Sisters had no idea that it was the humble Sr. Mary of the Cross who had founded the order. Her motherly love and attention had deeply formed their spirituality that enabled them to serve the elderly poor though she was no longer able to tend to the poor directly. Her love and witness is ever-present within the order with a presence in 30 countries today.

Life presents countless challenges. It is the gratitude cultivated in the face of adversity that leads us up the mountain toward holiness; a gratitude that can only be formed in detachment from our own will as we conform ourselves to God's.  More often than not, the will of God is beyond our understanding, but like this humble and little saint, may we still trust and rejoice in it. May the example of St. Jeanne Jugan hearten us on our journey.

St. Jeanne Jugan, pray for us.