For Lent: A Story of Reparation, from the Life of St. Peter Julian Eymard

[Shin]

Here is a little story from St. Peter Julian Eymard's early childhood. . . related by one of little Julien's playmates.

She says: 'My father lived next door to the Eymards. My sisters and I were his childhood companions, but what a distance between him and us in piety and seriousness! His father had an oil-press in his house, and little Julien, only nine years old, used to manage it himself.

My sisters and I with another little girl used often to beg him to give us a little of the nut cakes left by the oil-press, for we were very fond of them. But as his conscience was very delicate, he was not willing to do so. See how you embarrass me, he would say: These cakes do not belong to me. When we insisted, he would permit us to take a little on condition that we would pay attention to what he was going to read to us, and that we would recite the Rosary with him. Then over his oily clothes, he put on a kind of surplice that he had made for himself, and around his neck a cord to the end of which was attached a Crucifix. Then he would say: "Come, young ladies, no laughing! We are going to say our prayers."

He would then open a closet in which stood a large Crucifix and a statue of the Blessed Virgin, and we set to work to pray. Sometimes instead of reading to us, he preached.

My father was very fond of him, because he was so remarkable a child, so serious, so well-behaved, and he used to trust us with him, saying: "Do you see these three little giddy-heads? I trust them with you. I put them under your care" and Julien would tell us stories by the hour to keep us quiet.

Once during Carnival, while still a child, he gathered us together with several other little girls, and gravely addressed us: "To-day, he said, many sins will be committed. As reparation for what is going on outside let us dig a grave. We'll put one of you into it on a board, and by that burial, we will mean to bury all the sins that will be committed." One of the little girls remained some time in the hole, and eight days later she was really dead, which fact made a deep impression on us.'

Lest you think from this story that St. Julian was too fearsome a playmate, I'd also like to add a quote from him..

"One day when I was very young, I passed a second hand shop in one of the streets of La Mure. As I glanced inside I saw a soldier's pompon, such as they  wore in the time of Napoleon Bonaparte. I was instantly seized with the desire to possess it and, see ing no one in the shop, I ran in, snatched it up, and took it off home with me. But no sooner had I reached the house than I was overcome by remorse. I carried it back quickly and, peering around to make sure that no one saw me, I threw it in hurriedly and ran off. . . That is perhaps the greatest sin of my life."

 

Well, I for one, am most edified and am now more determined to be a good person than before from reading -that-.  

You either laugh or you cry!   :'(

Ave Maria!

[Brigid]

I think I'm not understanding something. Did he put the little girl in the hole and not get her for 8 days - so, in effect, killing her? I must be wrong, but that's what I understood.

[Shin]

Uh - no.

She did not remain there for eight days. 

[Brigid]

Oh, I see. Whew!

[Shin]

You have a fearsome imagination! 

[Brigid]

You have a fearsome imagination! 

Yeah, but it comes in handy when I write (not fearsome stuff, just the imagination part). 

[Shin]

Edgar Allan Poe could take lesson! 

[Brigid]

Edgar Allan Poe could take lesson! 

I promise, the closest I get to being fearsome is a few mysteries, and those don't have anything to do with anything scary!

[MarysLittleFlower]

I can't really explain, why did she die though?

[Shin]

Well, my view is that it was implied that it was completely unexpected except for perhaps a spiritual premonition. Without any more information that would be my first guess for a young girl.

[Brigid]

I can't really explain, why did she die though?

My take on it is that God took her Home with Him in reparation for sins that we have committed.

[Shin]

Well, God plans all things so He intended that the story would be told before a wide audience and not only affect the lives of the little girls and St. Julian.

So there's a deep lesson in it. Reparation, I hadn't thought of that. It is possible.

Sobering thought! It reminds me of King David!

[Brigid]

But actually, Shin, when I read your post about reparation being a sobering thought my immediate thought was, "No it's not". It proves His Love and Mercy for us that He allows us to make reparation for our/others sins. Don't you think?

[Shin]

But actually, Shin, when I read your post about reparation being a sobering thought my immediate thought was, "No it's not". It proves His Love and Mercy for us that He allows us to make reparation for our/others sins. Don't you think?

Well, I like the way you put that. Yes, I do! Lovely!