Vision
Saint Madeleine Sophie's Vision for Education
As a French woman who also read Greek and Latin, Sophie understood the word spirit as esprit, which comes from the Latin word spiritus (courage, vigor, breath)
Innate to all of us, spirituality speaks to our intuition that there is more to life than what we encounter on the surface, to our urgency to connect with a larger universe or truth, and to our intuition that this connection for which we long is with mystery or transcendence. It is a way of expressing our search for meaning and encounter with Beauty, with Ultimate Truth, with Mystery.
Sophie experienced her spirituality, and relationship with Mystery as the Risen Christ. Her quest for meaning and truth became anchored in her relationship with Christ in and through whom she experienced the tenderness and warmth of God. The image of the Sacred Heart of Jesus best conveyed to her the depth of God’s love for all.
Let us respect childhood; let us honor the soul of that small creature of God who can already make choices of the best if we take the time to awaken her reason and make her use her judgment.saint madeleine sophie barat
Sophie’s life was a journey experienced during a complex, volatile moment in history. Over time and amid successes and failures as a founder and as an educator, Sophie came to see that ultimate truth is encountered through relationships and in prayer. Wholly committed to the work of education, Sophie underscored the absolute need for silence and for contemplation. Her life illustrates how fully living in the Risen Christ allows one to see the world with new eyes, eyes of compassion and hope.
This is the perspective from which Sophie envisioned Sacred Heart education. It is from this experience of being loved and loving that Sophie received and developed her vision of education.
For her education was never the end. The end was to rebuild the fractured world around her in hope; the means was forming young people to intelligent faith, compassionate action, and courageous hope.