St. Madeleine Sophie writes from the city of Rome, Italy, to Mother Eugenie de Gramont, on September 28, 1837, the year of the pandemic in Italy. Inspired by this letter, Trinidad Álvarez, rscj has imagined what St. Madeleine Sophie would say to us:
My dear family,
I know that you are living through a pandemic.
I lived through it almost 200 years ago. I feel great compassion and sorrow for all that you are suffering: with every number, with every name, with every sick person that I see and hear in the media, I tremble and feel like dying with them.
In my time, I believed that the pandemic did not reach my country, my Society, my people, but this scourge broke through the barrier that had prevented it from entering. This dreadful disease is all-encompassing and defies all predictions, it spreads here and there and you cannot wait for the cold or the heat to slow it....
But give yourselves some time to come to terms with what you are going through, let your emotions come to the surface... you must be more serene than ever, even though I know from experience the nights you will endure!
I do advise you: Do not stop listening to God, to what He wants to tell you every day, for He will sustain you, He will support you and He will give you strength in the face of the pandemic that you are living through.
You will realize that all the matters you were concerned with have been interrupted and will continue to be so, but you can be sure that God sustains you and the love of the Heart of Jesus is always beside you.
Stop from time to time and let yourself think and feel what is most important.
Farewell, dear friends. I pray for you.
I love you. Sophie.
Trinidad Álvarez, rscj
