"Footsteps Online"
Autumn 2001 (Volume 6, Issue 3)
Wisdom's 'Upside-down Values'
Montfort & Marie Louise - Counter-Cultural Voices
Jesus Wisdom turned things upside down. In his life and his words he upset the accepted order of things and in so doing challenged society to change their way of thinking and doing things; he challenged 'false wisdoms.' Some examples ......
The last will be first, and the first will be last (Matt 20:16)
How fortunate are the poor; they have God's Kingdom (Matt 5:3)
Do not worry about your life, what you will eat,
or your body, what you will wear.
Isn't life more than food, and the body more than clothing? (Matt 6:25-33)
Montfort had a profound understanding of the 'false wisdoms' against which all disciples of Jesus Wisdom must struggle because we are all surrounded by them and affected by them. In Love of Eternal Wisdom 78, Montfort leaves us in no doubt as to what he considers 'false wisdom'.
- Thou shalt know thy way around in high society.
- Thou shalt keep up the appearance of one who knows his way about.
- Thou shalt stay on top of thy career and manage its advancement.
- Thou shalt hang on with all thy might to what is thine.
- Thou shalt always climb the ladder to higher success.
- Thou shalt make friends who will be useful to thy career.
- Thou shalt associate mostly with people in high places.
- Thou shalt always have a good time.
- Thou shalt never get depressed.
- Thou shalt avoid looking 'different' from the fashion leaders and never allow thyself to be tricked by the clever, nor shalt thou let thyself be considered narrow-minded in thy views.
Have things changed so very much from the 18th Century?
Do these commandments not find an echo in modem living in big business and the insatiable need for power? Can you name them as you experience them NOW in your area or neighbourhood?
Montfort truly understood and lived the 'upside-down' values of Jesus Wisdom.
One has only to look at his life to see how well he did this. Those who travelled on the Montfortian pilgrimage in June may well understand Montfort and all he stood for more clearly now.
- He exchanged his clothes with a beggar at the Bridge of Cesson.
- He refused a comfortable benefice (a house and salary) from Madame de Montespan.
- He defended his wisdom life-style to Jean Baptiste Blain.
- He passionately urged the Daughters of Wisdom and Montfort Missionaries to avoid getting 'trapped' in the false values of the world.
His choosing to proclaim Wisdom's 'upside-down' values was a thorn in the side of his fellow priests and people in high places. And this he continued to do to the very end of his life.
Mother Marie Louise, first Daughter of Wisdom, also made choices in her life that were
based on the Wisdom of Jesus Christ. Her respect, love, concern and tenderness, always went to
the 'little ones', the poor; and she was not intimidated by the opinions of people in high positions. She accepted contempt and criticism from the Board of the Hospital at Poitiers when she
refused to sign their contract.
And this she did in order to be able to ensure that the sisters would follow 'Wisdom's way' rather than the way of the world. Like Montfort, she too lived this way of Wisdom,
- She asked to enter the poorhouse as 'one of the poor'.
- She worked for eight years with no title, no job description and no pay.
- Very soon after she got the title of Hospital Bursar - with some respect and salary - she let it go in order to move on to other needs in La Rochelle.
- As Mother General she scrubbed walls and floors, undid mattresses full of fleas, bedbugs and ticks, sewed hospital uniforms, emptied bedpans, and bandaged terrible wounds.
- In her old age, still as Mother General, and more or less confined to St. Laurent, she darned the socks of the Sisters in the community.
- She once said, 'If I were a piece of cloth, I would give myself to clothe the poor'.
What are Montfort and Marie Louise saying to their followers today?
How can we live their vision in our time?
I think they would ask us to make ' upside down' choices wherever we are. In the simple everyday things in life... in our relationships, work and in our fundamental attitude to life at local, national and international levels. It is also about believing that one person can make a difference, that even a small group of people can make a difference,
'Never doubt that a small group of concerned citizens
can change the world. In fact, it's the only thing that ever has.'
( Margaret Meade)
It's about the courage to be different and unpopular so that others may have life and have it to the full, as Jesus promised his followers.
Just ask yourself the question - if Montfort and Marie Louise were alive today what would
their choices be and how would they live out these choices?
How can I live their vision?