What overflows from the heart, the mouth, or in this case the pen, speaks. From the rich correspondence of Mother Felix we can extract the main strokes of her spirituality.
The Glory of God
This letter, written to her Spiritual Director while drafting the Constitutions of the Company of the Savior, summarizes the entire life of Mother Félix and her foundational work. She herself expresses it towards the end: It is quite true that I only desire one thing with all my soul: the glorification of God.
Jhs.
Madrid, June 27 1957.
Rdo. Fr. Cándido Mazón, S.J.
Pax Xti.
Reverend Father:
In Lleida and in Madrid they have already finished, very well thank God, the school year. And since they have already told you, or will be writing to tell you each one of the Houses, I will not prolong myself. In Barcelona it seems that they will not finish until the sixth or seventh of next month, but for now everything is going well.
On the last day of May, at the end of the night, I finished writing the amendments to the Constitutions, and since the finished Constitutions were the gift I wanted to offer the Blessed Virgin, I took them the way they were, still in draft form, with me to the Chapel., And there, next to the Tabernacle, in that hour of solitude and total silence, I put the Gospels on my head and my heart and I kissed them fervently, asking my Lord and my God, that only the spirit of Jesus Christ, the love of Him and his imitation and glorification, were wanted in the Company. I did the same with the Missal, because we want to be daughters of the Church and because our life is to be a Mass: Communion and Sacrifice; then I repeated the same with the Constitutions of St. Ignatius and prayed very much to Our Father for him to present our Constitutions, young daughters of his, to the Blessed Virgin and to the Holy Trinity, and in the end I took that handful of pages and in spirit I put them in his hands and entrusted in him their course and the approval of everything that was according to the will of God as well as the annulment of what was not.It is quite true that I only desire one thing with all my soul: the glorification of God. This is the great desire that the Lord has placed in my heart, this is his great gift, the great grace he has given me. This great desire that sometimes is fire and always is light is the one that raises me when I fall, that sustains me while facing danger, it is the spring that brings me to my feet, the impetuous force that fills my soul with infinite longings of souls and sanctity, it is the one that makes me feel in a unique and overwhelming way that longing for God that, even though sometimes is martyrdom, it is the only thing that gives a sense of fulfillment to my life.
When I started writing this, it was not my intention to tell you these feelings. Nevertheless, it does not matter, it has been an outpouring that my soul only knows to do with you, because God wants it and because you are His Heart. Tomorrow is the feast of the Most Sacred Heart and I would like to love and redress it very much. We are such small creatures to love and redress God… but He asks for it, and I would like Him to use me at His will. (…)
(General Archive of the Company of the Savior – M 301.57,008)
Saints of flesh and bone
Mother Felix writes from Venezuela to the Sisters of Lerida describing how the sanctity of a nun in the Company of the Savior should be like: “Saints of flesh and bone” and the apostolic and missionary ideal that God wants to instill in them.
Jhs
Caracas, August 28, 1957
Pax Xti.
Much beloved Mothers and Sisters of the Lerida House:
I write to all of you, but especially to the two accompany those two who are taking their vows in the day of their perpetual Consecration to God in the Company of the Savior. On this day, I will pray in a unique way for both of you, and if the Lord is willing to hear me, and I know he will be willing, you can prepare yourselves for the most heroic sanctity. Because, if we are not saints we are nothing. Saints of flesh and bone, not those painted in the cheap pictures with saintly smile, but of those that have nerve, those who rise when they fall with stronger ties to the Cross, and if they fall again, they rise again and love with a new, more intense and total love and with greater dedication to God our Lord. Saints who measure time with eternity and the earth’s surface with infinity; Saints for which the time of work and struggle, of suffering and humiliation, is a brief second in the clock of merit and love of God and the souls. Saints for which the roundness of the earth is such a small surface that it does not even offer enough space to support the heart; so small that when offering it to God, for them it seems to like the head of a small pin, and they wished they had millions of worlds to offer Him, because only one is not enough. Así,Thus, saints of this caliber, courageous and fervent, of a broad spirits and enduring souls, reaching for the greater glory of God through the salvation of souls, that is how the Company of the Savior needs them, that is how the Lord wants them, and that is how they all should be.
Here we are still exploring, or to put it in a better way, waiting for some information about possible works we can engage in. However, there are many fields we can work on, and one of the most admirable and gratifying to my soul is that of the “ranchitos” of the poor native communities, that surround the capital, Caracas, and extend through the center of Venezuela. Of course, we will also have to work with other social and intellectual groups, souls that are also redeemed by Christ, but we must ask God to leave us part in that inheritance that is so beloved to His Heart.
Speak to the girls about these necessities. Ask God for many vocations. Precious time is being lost there, while here we are in need of missionary Sisters. I love all of you very much in Jesus and Mary.
María Félix
PS: Communicate these first letters from one house to another, so that all our sisters know everything.
(General Archive of the Company of the Savior – E 32,004)
The hidden treasure
The Mother congratulates one of the Sisters for her perpetual profession and expresses her appreciation of religious life: an extraordinary grace and an immense benefit, fruit of the love of God.
Caracas, March 14, 1958
Pax Xti
Very beloved in Jesus and Mary:
What can I tell you on your canonical, official and solemn consecration, in the service of God for your Religious Profession? I would like to send you my congratulations, the expression of my joy and bliss for the EXTRAORDINARY GRACE AND THE IMMENSE BENEFIT that the Lord deigns to give you by admitting you to His service, not in a common way, but for a total and exclusive surrender and with a recognized consecration, endorsed and ratified by the Church.
Religious life is a grace and a benefit, and it is neither a cross nor a sacrifice. A cross and a sacrifice are the battles against our own defects, our less than perfect inclinations, and our will when it does not agree with the will of God. However, that cross and that sacrifice are necessary to save us inside and outside Religion, but they are not, strictly speaking, the religious life.
Truly religious life is a treasure and its acquisition and preservation often have a story: that of the parable of the hidden treasure and of the pearl in the Gospel of Saint Matthew. The sacrifice is in that en ese “he went away and sold everything he had and bought the pearl” and in the pearl, in the treasure of religious life, he found the bliss, the happiness and the feeling of completeness because he knew he possessed the best; I believe that this is how the Lord makes him feel. I pray that through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin, the first creature consecrated to the service of Jesus Christ, the First of the Company of the Savior, you feel this wonderful truth throughout your life.
You are going to begin your religious life: it is a life of perfection, and a life of perfection is a life of charity to God and to others for the love of God. However, charity, love, are impossible without the knowledge of the good to be loved, and the knowledge of God is generated by being in touch with God. Deal with Him a lot, deal intimately in the depths of your heart and deal constantly with Him. This is the spiritual life, and the love of Jesus Christ that is cultivated in it and that transforms our life insensibly, almost without us realizing it. That love, when it is intense, strengthens our will before the small but very sanctifying sacrifices of our daily tasks. For that love we sacrifice the cultivation and satisfaction of our worldly “graces and charms” and instead we opt to receive the graces and charms of the saints, as was done by Saint Teresa of Jesus, Saint Francis of Sales, Saint Pius X and so many others. That love of Jesus Christ makes us sacrifice the eagerness and curiosity we might have about mundane matters, and gives us the science of the intimacy of the human soul as well as the science of God, and it is because of that sacrifice that such gifts reach us so that we can produce them in the souls of others. This great truth is well confirmed with the examples of so many saints who had a decisive influence in their fellow men, precisely because they put their attention only on God. I would like your black veil, your medal, your crucifix of the Vows, to speak constantly of this: INTENSE SPIRITUAL LIFE.
At the Company of the Savior, we need nuns like these. That is the way God wants you, that is the way the Blessed Virgin wants you and that is the way Our Father Saint Ignatius wants you. You can count on my prayers for that. Please pray for me and for all of those in the Company to be awarded the same grace. Yours in Jesus and Mary.
María Félix, C.S.
(General Archive of the Company of the Savior – E 43,124)
The university students: a great deal of work and a double concern
The Superior at the University College in Barcelona proposed Mother Félix some reforms in order to make the residence more attractive to the residents and to young people form the Marian Congregation. Mother Félix answers her letter addressing the center of the issue: the true concerns in the hearts of young women.
JHS
Madrid, 7 – 10 – 1953
Pax Xti.
Very beloved Mother:
In the early days of the Residence and the Congregation of university students we thought that some “attractions” such as tennis and other entertainment, would increase the number of Congregants and, consequently, we repaired the tennis court. Well, only a few of the residents with very little enthusiasm ever used the court. We thought that, since only a few players could intervene in this game at the same time, it would be better to install a basketball court, and we did, obtaining the same result.
Our university students are girls who have a great deal of work and at the same time two concerns: an intellectual one about the TRUTH, that is, God, and they do not know that that is restlessness of Him; and another, an emotional one, about the destiny that they will give their hearts.
If you give them a good library, classes and teachers, these will fill one of their needs. You will help them to fulfill their obligation and they will accept your offer the more efficiently it results to them. Likewise, they will accept, while making it compatible with their occupations; conferences and courses that will help them discover the TRUTH that concerns them. Moreover, since the majority of them, thank God, already possess glimpses of that Truth, they will accept with pleasure any act that entails an adoration and an allegiance to God Our Lord.
They will also attend those activities that will somehow quench their emotional thirst, accepting visits to hospitals, nursing homes, etc. as long as those do not deprive them of their study, because their obligations are naturally hierarchized, as is anything that comes from God.
The rest, those “attractions”, do not fill any need in them, unless you add the male component, in which case their affective interests will drive them strongly, without a doubt. However, since sometimes the devil takes part in these matters, the terms might be upset and their obligations might drop from the top of the hierarchy. Now, if you clearly see the success in the installation of these attractions, you will not find any opposition on my part. Nevertheless, if you are not sure, but believe there might be a likely benefit, you could start by taking advantage of what you have already or start working on projects that involve little spending. Anyway, I leave it to your good judgment and discretion.
Whatever solution you choose, do not lose sight of the fact that private conversations showing – and feeling – interest in their problems problems and their things and showing them love and the desire for their good is the greatest attraction for young people, and it is what they really need. Prayer, which works miracles, self-denial and setting an example, are also infallible attractions. Together with these spiritual elements, we can add the natural ones, and here is where we can include the courses, the charity works and as any other means you deem effective.
Do not let the Congregation die. It should not die having 30 to 40 residents at home. Have you thought about what it means to have 30 or 40 young people in your home some hours a day? It is a field where you can reap many fruits for the greater glory of God. Turn the light on them, even if you can only achieve it with 2 or 3, and they will subsequently turn the light on their colleagues. Give them clear, determined, solid objectives in accordance to their youthful needs and you will see how the grace of God helps with that contribution of human character, blessing your efforts and sacrifice; because, yes, there will be effort and sacrifice and bitterness and humiliation if it is to produce the fruit we desire.
Do not let the Marian Congregation lose. This Congregation will never be of quantity: it must be a congregation of quality. Put this idea inside the Congregants. Quality because of the category of our Congregants from the intellectual perspective and, by God’s desires and our inclinations, quality from the spiritual perspective, because of their soulfulness. For now nothing more. I think I answered your letter. Pray for me. Yours in Jesus and Mary.
María Félix, C.S.
(General Archive of the Company of the Savior – E 30,074)