Rekindling the love that is dying out in the world

(SOURCE: Interview with Fr Bernard Peyrous on 6 February 2012 by Zenit)

Fr Peyrous – Marthe is one of the people who initiated this notion of the "New Evangelisation". She was utterly convinced that the world needed a "New Pentecost of Love", according to the term used by John XXIII and John Paul II. Marthe felt the need to make things change, of not remaining in the ecclesiastical system as it was. She prayed that there would be a "new outpouring of the Spirit" upon the world. She prayed a lot, especially at the time of the Second Vatican Council. She supported more than 20 new communities. She worked with all her strength for the renewal of the Church.

It was one of the subjects that was very important to her. She thought, in particular, that the work of evangelisation should not be reserved for so-called specialists, i.e. priests and missionaries... but that every baptised Christian must reveal the presence of Jesus wherever they may be. This was a radical idea at the time.

She was unquestionably a "woman of faith". She had an extraordinary sense of the work of God in souls, in the Church and in the world.

"Faith is a gift from God, you do not give yourself faith, you ask for it... ," she said.   Moreover, she never dissociated faith from hope and charity. For her, charity is the centre of the life of a Christian, as she affirmed, "Outside of love, everything else is nothing. ». And she lived in profound hope: it must be remembered that Marthe lived in very desperate times. There were many threats to the world and the Church. More than 100,000 people came to see her in her room, on the hills of Châteauneuf de Galaure. She comforted them and gave them renewed hope…

A great deal. We have several metres of archives at Châteauneuf de Galaure! Even after 30 years, people who knew her continue to write to us.

It was not easy for her. Marthe went on a spiritual journey lasting 10 years to answer, little by little, the major question that hung over her: "What will I do with my life given the state I am in?” This did not happen without a struggle, she experienced periods of discouragement and revolt. This continued until a retreat preached by some Capuchin monks in 1928, when her life changed: she was confirmed in her mission, she understood that she could offer her illness to the world.

She succeeded in integrating her illness within her vocation. She understood, in a very deep and intimate way, that the worst pain and greatest suffering, if lived in love, can be a place of evangelisation and progress for the Church and for the world.