Introduction<\/strong>. Thanks to the historical overview that Fr Augui\u00e9 has just given us, we have seen how Fr Chevalier allowed himself to be guided by the Holy Spirit throughout his life. Now, let\u2019s discover some aspects of his spirituality. I have deliberately chosen to quote Fr. Chevalier extensively so that you can discover his writings and their spiritual depth.<\/p>\n 1. God speaks through creation<\/strong>. While meditating on the book of Wisdom 11:24, Father Chevalier had this intuition: \u201cGod hates nothing that he has made; on the contrary, it is out of love that he has created everything\u201d. SCJ 302 \u201cevery creature is a word from God.\u201d SCJ 329 \u201cman is created. Now, at this very moment, as I read these words, God is creating me, God is making me from nothing…\u201d. Fr Chevalier asks the question: \u201cWhat is the reason for my creation?\u201d I suggest that we discover his answer by reading this text together:<\/p>\n \u201cI have loved you with an everlasting love,\u201d God tells me! O God of love! He who has always been In this universe created by love, Father Chevalier sees the human being as the link between all creatures and between creatures and God. Man is the masterpiece of creation. Where does this dignity of the human being come from? Fr. Chevalier\u2019s answer is crystal clear: \u201cIn making the heart of the first man, his gaze was obviously fixed on that of his Son, whom the Holy Spirit was later to form from the blood of a virgin! SCJ 139 The horizon of creation is the Incarnation of the Son of God and the revelation of the children of God.<\/p>\n 2. God speaks of himself in Jesus, the Incarnate Word<\/strong>. I quote Fr. Chevalier: \u201cWhat do we see in Jesus? A God who becomes man and a man who becomes God. What a distance we have crossed! [Here, divine power goes beyond the limits of our understanding; it goes to extremes; it touches the limits of the impossible itself; and the most irreconcilable terms are reconciled in Jesus. Thus, God cannot be created, the creature cannot be God and yet Jesus is God and man at the same time… so that we can say in all truth: God was born, God suffered, God died.\u201d SCJ 70. \u201cIn Jesus, God communicates himself and unites himself infinitely. His love, infinite as it is, can do nothing more…\u201d. SCJ 72. 3. God speaks in the suffering<\/strong>. \u201cHow can we fail to see the suffering? God speaks in the suffering. This spiritual intuition of Fr Chevalier\u2019s certainly has its origins in the blessing he received at the foot of his parish priest\u2019s bed in Aubigny-sur-N\u00e8re, as we heard earlier. Fr. Chevalier invites us to contemplate Jesus acting in the Gospels so that we can put his feelings into action within us, in a word, so that our actions resemble those of Jesus. I invite you to read with me:<\/p>\n Jesus\u2019 role on earth Father Chevalier insisted \u201con our duty towards the poor. [Not only do they lack sacred teaching, but they are also deprived of spiritual and temporal help. Who takes care of them? Yet they are the chosen portion of the divine Shepherd\u2019s flock; they are the privileged friends of his Heart. Could we remain insensitive to their double indigence? If our faith were stronger, we would see in the poor the living image of Jesus Christ, and we would do more to help them\u201d. M I 70-71 4. God speaks in the Eucharist<\/strong>. Father Chevalier reflects as a theologian, starting from the Incarnation and arriving at the Eucharist: \u201cGod, all love, feels a supreme need, he is hungry, thirsty to give himself. An infinite fullness, a shoreless, bottomless ocean, he wants to overflow and pour himself out. He overflowed into the world through his Word who became flesh…\u201d. SCJ 277 \u201cThe Eucharist is the prolongation and multiplication of the presence of God made man…, the extension of the incarnation of the Word in each of the members of his mystical body… the honour of the Church of which it is the profound symbol and the active focus of its unity.\u201d SCJ 214 He who comes to you, O my soul, But such a gift, which makes us sharers in God\u2019s life, presupposes that we accept it. Fr. Chevalier has this to say to us: \u201cJust as the Father, in giving us his Son, gave us everything with him, so the Son, in giving himself to us, shares with us all his gifts. What fruit have we gained from so many communions? One would have been enough to make us saints; is that so? M II 36<\/p>\n 5. God speaks in the Church<\/strong>. This quotation from Fr. Chevalier is one of the best known: \u201cFrom this adorable Heart, torn by the lance and from which life had escaped, another life appears to us! … The Word, coming forth from the Heart of his Father, brings the world out of nothing, and from the Heart of the Incarnate Word, pierced on Calvary, I see a new world coming forth, the world of the elect. And this creation, full of greatness and fruitfulness, inspired by love and mercy, is the Church, the mystical body of Christ, which will perpetuate it on earth until the end of time, and will live by his divine life throughout eternity\u201d. SCJ 145-146 Remember Our Lady of the Sacred Heart 6. God speaks in the joy of mission<\/strong>. The mission of Christians is to take up Jesus\u2019 \u201cCome and see\u201d in a personal way. Father Chevalier writes: \u201cWhat joy there is in the apostolate! And the apostle, whatever his name and whatever means he employs, what does he do but show God? The preacher in the pulpit, the Catholic writer at his desk, the Christian teacher in the classroom, the sister at the bedside, they all show God. They have glimpsed him in the half-light of faith, nurtured by meditation, and delighted by this colloquy, they would like to shout out to everyone: \u201cCome and see! And what a joy it is when they are heard and understood! when souls open up, listen and look, and, overcome in their turn, cry out: \u201cWe no longer believe on your word; we ourselves have heard, and we know that this really is the Saviour of the world. No, on earth there is no comparable joy.\u201d SCJ 325 \u201cThe Good Shepherd involves us in his mission. Conclusion<\/strong>. Fr Chevalier heard Jesus\u2019 \u201cCome and see\u201d which led him to become first a diocesan priest and then a missionary. His discovery of the Sacred Heart profoundly transformed him: he became more and more \u201cimmersed\u201d in the pierced Heart of Christ. From this pierced heart, he saw a new world emerge, a world born of the Spirit. This spiritual vision will never leave him, and this new world will blossom in eternity. Father Chevalier is convinced of this, as he writes. Sr. Raymonde Gasser Daughter of N.D. du S.C.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Let\u2019s discover some aspects of Fr Chevalier\u2019s spirituality. Introduction. Thanks to the historical overview that Fr Augui\u00e9 has just given us, we have seen how Fr Chevalier allowed himself to be guided by the Holy Spirit throughout his life. Now, let\u2019s discover some aspects of his spirituality. I have deliberately chosen to quote Fr. Chevalier extensively so that you can discover his writings and their spiritual depth. 1. God speaks […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":86,"featured_media":1836,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1832","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ametur-msc.org\/website\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1832","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ametur-msc.org\/website\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ametur-msc.org\/website\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ametur-msc.org\/website\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/86"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ametur-msc.org\/website\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1832"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ametur-msc.org\/website\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1832\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1837,"href":"https:\/\/ametur-msc.org\/website\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1832\/revisions\/1837"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ametur-msc.org\/website\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1836"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ametur-msc.org\/website\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1832"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ametur-msc.org\/website\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1832"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ametur-msc.org\/website\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1832"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nI am the one in particular
\nthat God loved so…
\nI am ungrateful… I am a sinner…
\nGod, greatness par excellence,
\nGod, supreme beauty, boundless perfection,
\nGod loved me
\nGod!… me! What a distance!
\nThe infinite!… the nothing… the revolting nothing!…
\nAnd this nothingness God loved. Loved!<\/p>\n
\nMake me understand this word:
\nLoved and of an eternal love!
\nBefore the beginning
\nof the first being who began…
\nBefore… and an eternity before…
\nGod loved me…
\nHe alone was, and already he loved me;
\nHe has loved me ever since he was,
\nthat is, since always;<\/p>\n
\nhas never been without loving me,
\nAnd from all eternity, out of love,
\nhe decreed my creation.\u201d R 17<\/p>\n
\n…Jesus, true God and true man calls disciples. Father Chevalier continues his reflection: \u201cWhat does the divine Saviour want by coming among us? To take a new birth in our hearts, that is to say, to make us live his life, to communicate his spirit to us, to give us his Heart with all the treasures it contains and to make us experience all the feelings that animate him! M I 25 God becomes a prayer: \u201cMy son, give me your heart; give, love is free; I don\u2019t want to steal your heart in spite of you; but give it to me; and for me that is enough: possessing your heart, I will possess all of you, and, through you, all the rest. [My son, give me your heart! SCJ 65-66
\nFr. Chevalier likes to meditate on the call of the disciples in Saint John. You will remember the question put to Jesus by the two disciples of John the Baptist: \u2018Rabbi, where are you staying? Jesus said to them: \u2018Come and see. So they came and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day.\u201d Fr. Chevalier comments, \u201cCome and see\u201d is the word of Philip to Nathanael, of the Samaritan woman to her compatriots.\u201d Father Chevalier even quotes Revelation, chapter 6: \u201cWhen the Lamb breaks the seals of the book, mysterious animals cry out: \u2018Come and see\u2019. This is a law of every created nature.\u201d SCJ 325<\/p>\n
\n\u201cwas not to condemn
\nbut to forgive ;
\nnot to drive away those who suffer
\nbut to relieve them; not to drive away sinners, but to enlighten and convert them;
\nnor to put off the sick, but to heal them;
\nnot to abandon the lost sheep,
\nbut to bring them back into the fold;
\nnot to extinguish the wick that still smokes,
\nbut to rekindle it;
\nnot to break the fragile reed
\nbut to straighten it.
\nThis is the Sacred Heart! What goodness!
\nWhat mercy!\u201d M II 642<\/p>\n
\nFr. Chevalier states: \u201cIf God has given us riches, it is to provide for our needs…, but let us beware of forgetting that our superfluous belong to the poor.\u201d M II 157<\/p>\n
\nFather Chevalier develops his thought by meditating: \u201cit is in the Eucharist especially that he unites himself to us in the most intimate way, and so closely that it is no longer we who live, but he who lives in us.\u201d M II 17-18 In the Eucharist \u201che is there in his entirety, living for us and calling us to converse heart to heart with us. He is there […] to give himself to us, to nourish us with his body and blood and to transform us into himself. Can we imagine a more intimate and ineffable union […] we become partakers of the divine nature. O Jesus, how good you are! M II 19
\nWhen Father Chevalier preaches a retreat in the spirit of Saint Ignatius, the commentary on the last day is devoted to the Eucharist:
\nThe Eucharist: \u201cThat is the last word of his infinite tenderness!
\nTo give himself entirely and without reserve…
\nTo incorporate himself into us in the most intimate union…
\nO mystery of mysteries! […]<\/p>\n
\nand whom you are about to receive
\nis your Saviour and your God!
\nYour friend,… your brother,… your spouse,…
\nyour protector and your father…
\nWhere is the Son who comes to feed you?
\nthere is the Father who comes to adopt you,
\nthe Holy Spirit to sanctify you…
\nSo I will have full confidence…
\nmy Saviour and my God
\ngives himself to me with all his treasures…
\nDraw, O my soul, draw with joy
\nfrom the pure waters of this fountain
\nthat floods you and gushes up to heaven…
\nSing his praises, invoke his name,
\npublish the wonderful inventions
\nof his love…\u201d R 93-95<\/p>\n
\nSo, who is part of this new world, the world of the elect? Father Chevalier quotes nineteenth-century theology: \u201cI know this: there is no salvation outside the Church\u201d, and then he refers to Pope Pius IX: \u201cIt is certain that the Church is the only ark of salvation; but it must also be held to be certain that non-culpable ignorance of the true religion does not constitute the least fault before God… God forbid that we should dare to place limits on God\u2019s mercy, which is infinite\u201d. God forbid that we should dare to set limits to the infinite mercy of God. SCJ 299
\nFr. Chevalier gives his personal reflection: \u201cThis infinite and omnipotent tenderness [of God] would only lead to the loss of the majority of those it wanted to save! In this implacable duel between love and hate, life and death, the final and eternal victory would go to death, to hate! No, no; God did not die on a cross to glean the few chosen here and there! His is the rich and superabundant harvest; His is the final triumph: the Heart of Jesus, to whom we owe heaven, being mercy incarnate, fills our souls with the sweetest hope\u201d. SCJ 300
\nFr. Chevalier asked himself: \u201cAnd Mary, what is she in this spiritual creation that springs from the Heart of her Son at the foot of the Cross? He replied: \u201cShe is the marvellous star that reflects the light of this divine sun, and concentrates its life-giving rays to pour them out on her children.\u201d SCJ 146 In his book on NDSC, Father Chevalier comments on \u201cthe mystery of the visitation\u201d by saying: Mary \u201cunderstands the desires of the adorable Heart of the Incarnate Word. She will be the first Apostle of his grace and the first Missionary of his love\u201d. NDSC 108 He goes on to say: \u201cTo Jesus alone belongs the glory of being our only mediator. To him alone the absolute omnipotence of a God and to you, O Mary, the omnipotent intercession of a beloved Mother\u201d. NDSC 171
\nFr. Chevalier, like the Chevalier family today, prays NDSC every day. I invite you to pray with us:<\/p>\n
\nOf the wonders the Lord did for you.
\nHe chose you for his mother
\nand wanted you by his cross;
\nhe makes you share his glory,
\nhe listens to your prayer.
\nOffer him our praise
\nand our thanksgiving;
\noffer him our petitions…
\nMake us live like you
\nin the love of your Son
\nso that his kingdom may come.
\nLead all people
\nto the spring of living water that gushes from his Heart,
\nspreading hope and salvation, justice and peace throughout the world.
\nSee our trust,
\nanswer our call,
\nand always show yourself our mother! Amen.<\/p>\n
\nFr Chevalier reminds us that the Good Shepherd involves us in his mission:<\/p>\n
\nI have other sheep, he says
\nwho are not yet in the fold…
\nThese scattered sheep are all the men
\nfor whom he died
\nand whom he wants to bring back to his love.
\nHe enjoins us to work,
\nto serve as his instruments.
\nWhat an honour he deigns to do us
\nby associating us with his mission! MI 522<\/p>\n
\n\u201cHence the title of Bien-dits, which we will receive when we enter heaven. Come, the Blessed, that is to say, the Well-told. Man\u2019s life is a song for two. In us and through us, from now on, God is saying himself, God is singing himself out of himself, and he wants us to say it, to sing it with him. That\u2019s why he makes us intelligent, loving and free. How beautiful is human life understood in this way! SCJ 326.<\/p>\n