Letters to Young Girls

Dear Friend,

A Sister Daughter of Mary welcomes Mathilda and greets her with a smile.
– “Well now, your mother told me you needed a new white dress. It seems that you are growing like a weed! It must be the blessed grain in you that is rising up to the heights of Heaven!” And she bursts out laughing before going on to say: “In any case, one has to get a new dress when one’s size changes. So, we’ll take your measurements, okay?”

Her measuring tape in hand, with the deftness and considerateness of a seamstress, the Sister begins her task and carefully makes a note of the necessary measurements. As she was checking the width of the back, she said:

– “Do you have a slip to wear with your dress?”
– “I think I have a slip to go with a skirt. Will that do?”
– “Not really, since it doesn’t cover the top part of your dress. Ideally, you need a long slip, all in one piece. I’ll show you what we have.”

She goes out and comes back with the slip she mentioned and shows it to Mathilda. “You see, this is what fits best with the white dress. Without a slip, your underwear shows through the dress, and that isn’t very nice.  Moreover, this slip has wider straps which cover things well and it is flesh-colored. It is one of the colors that shows up less under white, whereas white under white always tends to be more visible. Mother Paul-Marie wanted the women to be well dressed when they wear the white dress. So, if you agree, I will prepare a slip for you, like this one, to go with your dress.” Mathilda gladly accepts.

The white dress and the blue sash, this Marian attire we wear for the days of prayer in May and September at Spiri-Maria, as well as for the ceremonies of the Family of the Sons and Daughters of Mary and of the Army of Mary, are the garments of the Immaculate.

In fact, they are very similar to the ones she wore during her apparitions at Lourdes, and she is the one who wanted her Knights to wear them with pride. It must be said that the Immaculate has good taste!

At the next ceremony, Mathilda, after having put on her white dress, changed her running shoes for more appropriate white shoes, joined Sophie who, upon seeing her says: “You forgot to take off your earrings and your ring.” That’s true! No jewelry, no make-up and no nail polish with the white dress.

This is not the time to attract attention to oneself. A great simplicity is necessary! And this reminds us that we ought to radiate in another way, by donning the finest attire of honesty, kindness, the forgetting of self, purity, obedience; in short, all that, interiorly, is the most beautiful and noble.

As there is still some time before the ceremony begins, the two friends stop to visit with a family they know. The little six-year-old girl, whom Mathilda babysits sometimes, comes up to her to show her the blue sweater she is wearing, and she says, “It’s exactly the same color as daddy’s.” In fact, the two sweaters are exactly the same shade of blue. The mother looks at Mathilda and Sophie and smiles. She mentions that her little girl wears this sweater with such pride, and in her admiration for her father, she is the one who chose to wear this sweater this morning before leaving for Spiri-Maria.

Mathilda then turns to the child and says: “When I was little like you, I dreamed of having a dress just like my mother’s.” And the mother tenderly adds: “Now, dear, it’s time to go and change. We will put on the same dress as Mother Mary. Are you coming?”

We hope that you will always have in your heart this love for, this pride in, this admiration for the Immaculate as Mother and the Immaculate as Daughter, and be happy to put on their dress and to let yourself be imbued with what they teach us.

The Daughters of Mary