Louise de Marillac – Woman of the Church

“For Louise de Marillac the Church is not some distant entity or a hierarchical institution to which she must submit herself. All Christians are members of the mystical body and each individual has a concrete function to perform in order to accomplish a common mission, that is, a mission to reveal God’s love to the poor and thus return to the poor their proper place in the Church.” (From a translation of an article by Martín Abaitua, CM.)

1 Louise de Marillac, a woman of the Church

1.1 The Church responds to the movement of the Spirit

1.2 To live and minister as a daughter of the Church

1.3 Louise de Marillac’s contribution to the Church

2 Saint Louise, a woman of the Church

2.1 Acceptance of the mystery of the Church

2.2 To live as daughters of the Church

2.3 The original contribution of Louise de Marillac

2.4 Questions for reflection and dialogue

Questions for reflections and dialog

1] In sharing her life with the first Daughters of Charity and in her service on behalf of the poor Louise gave witness to the mystery of the Church as the People of God. In our daily life and in our encounter with others, do we live the mystery of the Church as a pilgrim people in which everyone is called to participate?

2] Louise valued the place of women in the Church of her time. Today how do we envision the place of women in the mission of the Church?

3] What do we consider important with regard to the proclamation of the gospel? Does our ministry of evangelization lead us to question our faith, that is, its expression and our witness with regard to our faith?

4] In the proclamation of the gospel Louise states that this is something that should be done by all true Christians. How are we committed to the Church? What guides our action? Are we concerned about the promotion of our brothers and sisters? How are we the voice of the voiceless?

 

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Tags: Church, Daughters of Charity, Louise de Marillac, Poverty Analysis