Her message

« She was screaming. The poor girl was suffering so much that I heard her screaming all the time. We didn't dare to approach her bedside because she was screaming so much, the poor girl. What's more, her pain continued through the day and night. She said to me, 'If you put me in the boiling laundry, the pain could not be worse». These few lines from Marthe Robin's niece, describing the first phase of the encephalitis of the young woman, give us an idea of the intensity of the pain that she endured. The paralysis, which claimed her body little by little, did not make her insensitive to the pain, quite the reverse. It seems hard to imagine just how she could have borne such suffering for more than sixty years without losing her mind. Especially since we know with certainty that, far from diminishing, the sufferings of Marthe only intensified throughout her life.

So, Marthe really experienced the hell of physical and moral suffering. Yet for her, this suffering was a path of love. Creating a link between suffering and love seems outrageous, yet, when the suffering is so bad and there is no way of relieving it with medicine, you try, by any means to find a purpose to the pain that could make it worth living. Without a purpose, the only option is to seek death. Marthe was not spared from this temptation: « I feel physically and morally broken, and would be much better in the ground than above it », she wrote during those years of great emptiness preceding her surrender to God.

So, in Marthe, we have a credible witness of the power of love. She is not a theologian who is making the claim that suffering can be transcended by love from the comfort of her office. She experienced it beyond what is humanly conceivable. To understand this, we must turn to the One who is Marthe's ultimate model: Jesus Christ. The gospels show us that Jesus could have avoided the punishment that he had been promised at certain very specific moments. What's more, the very same Gospels state that this would have been a great temptation. But out of love for mankind, which he was saving by his sufferings and death, he accepted to drink the cup to the last drop.

By uniting her sufferings with those of Christ, Marthe did not stop suffering. However, those who came to see her, expecting to meet a poor woman to be pitied, quickly forgot their preconceived ideas. In fact, she received them with extreme care and attention and in a very joyful and loving way; it was not uncommon to hear her laugh!

To those who were surprised by this, Marthe herself would say:« First, your mood can affect everything around you for good or bad; then, you can give your heart, soul and kindness. One thing always remains and it is within everyone's grasp: the joy of others...
Giving a little peace, courage, hope and prompting a smile, all these are acts of grace and there is no need to be on your feet or healthy to accomplish them. On the contrary, nothing is more understanding than great pain. »

It was God who gave Marthe the strength to conceal the pain she was in from her visitors. The secret of this wonder lies not in Marthe's will, but in her trust in Jesus: « As [...] the suffering increases and becomes more difficult, I feel my trust become more intense. Jesus, yes, Jesus alone is my sweet and constant hope […]. Nothing can separate me from his love. » She also said the following phrase that is full of meaning: « My life is a cross, but a cross of love... a cross of delights, because suffering with Jesus is no longer suffering. » Many people who suffer throughout the world know that, when a friend holds your hand in adversity, it is easier to bear. For Marthe, the friend was Jesus himself, and it was not only her hand that he took, but her whole being, as evidenced by the stigmata of the Passion which demonstrated the deep union between them.

To read :

• The power of weakness: living the cross with joy