The Life of St. Claude de La Colombiere: Spiritual Director of St. Margaret Mary

The warmth and security of his parents; the exciting games with his brothers; the desire to learn and to excel in his studies - all of this was normal to young Claude. But within his heart, beneath the surface of everyday life, a quiet voice seemed to be beckoning him. What was it, or better, Who was it? The teenage Claude grew to admire his Jesuit teachers, and while his friend slept during a Sunday homily, Claude listened intently about the heroic witness of the North American martyrs. How different was life in New France among the Indians; how very comfortable and predictable was his own life. Seventeenth century France reveled in the glory of the sun king, Louis XIV, and the frills of the minuet. But there was more to life than that. An ocean away Claude's fellow Frenchmen were dying for Christ. Perhaps it was time to seriously consider what the Lord had in mind for him. His prayer and discernment led him to enter the Jesuit novitiate. His goal and challenge were to respond to God's call and will on a daily basis. One thing he soon found out: his life was no longer predictable. After ordination, he was appointed to the Jesuit College of Paray-le-Monial and made spiritual director to the nuns in the Convent of the Visitation. Here he met Sr. Margaret Mary Alacoque. Claude was to be God's instrument for helping her make known the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. From Paray he was sent on a mission to London during a time of Church persecution. Forced to return to France, he longed to have done more for the Catholics he left behind. Yet even in those hard times he believed the Lord was guiding the events of his life. Claude died peacefully on February 15, 1682. The memory of heroic faithfulness to the Lord's will remains his gift to all God's people.