“I would like to travel the earth, preach your name and plant your glorious Cross on the unfaithful ground, but my Beloved, one mission would not be enough for me: at the same time I would like to announce the Gospel in the five parts of the world and in the most remote islands… I would like to be a missionary, not just for a few years: I would like to be one until the end of time.”
St Therese of Lisieux
The very idea of having the desire to go and plant the Glorious Cross on the other side of the world for Eternity would have seemed quite extravagant and very inaccessible (even impossible) three years ago. However, it takes only a moment to change one’s life and I have to admit something: since I met Jesus, the Risen Son of God, and talk to Him every day, I have had to review my perceptions of the dimensions of the impossible and give more space to the field of “Here I am, Lord”.
So, against all odds, since October 1st 2018, here I am as a “youth on mission”, my dear Italian friends. Three hundred pages would not be enough to describe the abundance of graces I have experienced in this period of mission, but out of compassion for the translators who will translate my testimony into other languages, I would just like to say, through some concrete examples, that with the grace of God I am going beyond myself.
Here are some of my “impossibles” that have become possible (with more or less success) during these few months in Rome:
- Evangelize the Chinese
- Do three hours of worship a day for three months
- Write French translations of texts written in Italian and Portuguese (without being able to speak either Italian or Portuguese)
- Have lunch with bishops and cardinals
- Drive in Rome (so as not to leave my guardian angels too unemployed)
- Be involved in selfies every other day
- Read the Interior Castle with the hope of understanding something
- Imitate a drying rack (stendino in Italian and étendoir à linge in French; believe me, it can be useful…)
- Live with girls 24 hours a day without becoming misanthropic or crazy
- Prepare edible breakfasts for fifteen people in an hour
- Eat pasta every day, love it and get to the point of wanting pasta decorations at home
- Pray the rosary
- Put Coca-Cola in wine and drink it (my grandfather almost repudiated me when I confessed to having committed this heresy)
- Sing “Happy Birthday” in Hungarian
- Learn to play soccer
- Every day start and finish cleaning the bathroom (and thank God for it)
- Etc…
The list is still long but I will conclude with one of the most beautiful and delicate missions: be vigil and pray for people I did not know six months ago and learn every day to love and understand them.
I entrust to your prayers all God’s impossible things for each one of us.
Shalom!
Maylis Vigoureux – France
Translation: Jhoanna Climacosa