During the rest of this year I’ll be speaking to groups about St. Julie Billiart, the courageous woman responsible for starting the Sisters of Notre Dame. My handout for the talks is a collection of wise things St. Julie said. It occurred to me that others may benefit from her wisdom, so my blog this week are quotations from her. Enjoy!

My Favorites

• Be like the sunflower that follows every movement of the sun, and keep your eyes always turned toward our good God.

•  Better mistakes than paralysis.

•  Plenty of energy but no fuss.

•  Without prayer we build our spiritual house with dust, and the dust is borne away with the wind.

•  Let us beware of being in a greater hurry than the good God.

God Is Good

Julie’s favorite expressed was, “How good is the good God.”  We Notre Dames have the charism of proclaiming God’s goodness and provident care.

•  The good God is everywhere, and His Providence guides us in all things.

•  How good is our good God, who watches over us continually and never permits anything to happen to us that is not for our greater good.

•  The more difficult the times are, the more we must expect and hope everything from the goodness of the good God.

•  The good God will give you the grace and light to know what is right at the time.

Let us always do what God shows us moment by moment.

Crosses

•  Courage! The more crosses you have, the more your soul will grow. Let the good God act.

•  Let us hold fast to the cross, especially in times of trial.

•  Whatever the sacrifices asked of us, we must consider ourselves happy to have the means of glorifying the good God.

•  No graces are greater than hardship.

•  There is much more merit in living with imperfect people than in living with saints.

Our Mission

•  Do all the good you can, in all the ways you can, for all the people you can, while you can.

•  When the good God asks something of us, he gives us the means of doing it.

•  There must be nothing little about us; we must have the hearts of apostles.

•  We must have courage in the century we live in. Great souls are needed, souls having the interests of God at heart.

•  Do what you can and don’t waste time lamenting over what you can’t do.

•  Courageous souls are needed for the service of the good God.

•  God loves a simple heart which does its best.

•  Nothing happens by chance; it is always the disposition of our good, all-adorable God.

•  You are not asked to do all the good in the world, but just the bit that lies in your power.

Spirituality

• In whatever way God comes to us, he must always be welcome.

• Try always to act with all possible kindness and charity but stand firm when the glory of God demands it.

• Let us try to acquire a sense of the holy presence of the good God; then all will go well.

•  Would to heaven we had as much love for God as we have for ourselves.

•  Place all your confidence in God; he will always assist you.

•  We must always have recourse to the Blessed Virgin in all our wants both spiritual and temporal.

•  The more generous you are with God, the more liberal he will be with you.

•  A soul possessing God in the Blessed Sacrament is worthy of all the admiration of the angels.

•  When you have free moments, go faithfully to prayer. The good God is waiting for you there.

My Biographies of St. Julie

I’ve written two books about St. Julie, St. Julie Billiart, the Smiling Saint, mostly for children, and a novel, The Walking Love of God: St. Julie Billiart. They are available on Amazon.

St. Julie is a remarkable saint. At the age of twenty-two, she suffered a nervous condition that left her bedridden and at times mute. Regardless, she taught the faith and harbored priests to the extent that French Revolutionaries pursued her, aiming to burn her in a bonfire. When she was fifty-three years old, she was miraculously cured while making a novena to the Sacred Heart for “a friend,” who turned out to be herself. She was able to walk again after twenty-three years of paralysis. She walked or rode in carriages for miles to found convents and schools. She wrote letters to the Sisters that fill seven volumes.

St. Julie, pray for us!

How familiar are you with St. Julie?

Which of her quotations spoke to you? Why?

Here is a song she would like: