Restoration
Posted January 11, 2006:
The Closing of MH Paris
by Noella de Laforcade, former director of MH Paris.
In 1985, Réjeanne George and Miram Stulberg came to France to open Madonna House Paris, a poustinia house in the heart of the city.
Poustinia, which means “desert” in Russian, is a place of meeting with God. It is a place where a person awaits his Creator and Savior. The word also refers to the place in the deepest part of our hearts, the place where God has established his home within us. In order to meet him there, we have to walk in faith and empty ourselves of all that gets in the way of this encounter. The poustinia is also a place to pray for the whole world.
This call to be watchman and intercessor, this call to poustinia, was entrusted to us by Cardinal Lustiger, who had invited us to open a house in his diocese of Paris. (He had met our foundress, Catherine Doherty, in 1981 and had asked her to pray particularly for the priests of his diocese.)
When Madonna House arrived at the parish of Notre Dame des Blancs Manteaux, we followed in a long line of prayer which began in the thirteenth century, the time of St. Louis, with a community called les Serfs de Marie.
The priests and people of the parish welcomed us warmly and helped us provide this little oasis in the desert of the city.
There we were able to receive numerous people who came to listen to the Word of God in fasting, solitude, and silence in the poustinia or to simply share a little of their lives with us. They left feeling restored, stronger, and able to go forth to live their witness more profoundly.
Here is the testimony of one of our poustiniki (persons who make a poustinia): “In poustinia, the frailty of our humanity joins the kenosis (self-emptying) of Our Savior. Adoring Our Savior in tender confidence and in silence and solitude permits us to take part in the work of Jesus, the work of making up for the forgetfulness and ingratitude of the majority of the people in this part of the city and of bringing their hearts back to God.”
It is only in heaven that we will know what the Holy Spirit did and what seeds he scattered during our time here.
Our apostolate in Paris was very hidden. Catherine Doherty in her book, Poustinia, said: “It is a mystery of the love of God that he asks you to be present somewhere or else, very often, people will not experience his presence there.
“The real reason for this is that your physical presence—just the fact that you are there—makes Christ more present. Your witness, therefore, is one of presence, the presence of Christ hidden in you.”
It is with much regret and after a great deal of prayer that our directors made the decision to strengthen certain of our houses with more staff, and thus to close others. Paris is one of the ones it was decided to close.
We will always hold in our hearts the hope of one day returning to Paris or to another part of France. Our love for this little prayer house in the heart of Paris remains very alive in our hearts and, despite the long distances between us, we will always remain united to the friends we met there.
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