Letters to Young Girls

Dear Friend,

Mathilda, emotional and suffering morally, attempts to explain to Sister Lucette what she is experiencing at school every day, which disturbs her. There is a girl who, for a few months now, has adopted the terrifying Gothic look: black clothes, hair, make-up and piercing. She seems to have come right out of a horror film. Yet, last year, she still had the “look” of an ordinary adolescent.

Then, there are the girls who talk about their sexual experiences and the boys, their eyes glued to their telephone, displaying a vulgar attitude and language, who, all too often, are having fun looking at obscene pictures. Sometimes, she also runs across the group of young people who take advantage of every opportunity to go to the edge of the grounds to engage in vaping something or other. They even invited her once to join them and attend their gatherings on the weekend.

However, something else is bothering Mathilda. She tells Sister Lucette how hard it is for her to hear all the “swearing” in all the conversations. And what about all those young people who, in the hallways or outside, with the awakening, the attraction and the power of the senses, demonstrate almost no restraint in their amorous manifestations? Why couldn’t she also go out with one boy or another whom she finds handsome and nice and who has shown an interest in her, or join in the parties of young people without any supervision?

“I am the only one who is like that. I have the impression that I come from another planet and that I wasn’t born at the right time,” she says to Sister Lucette who attentively listens to her. Mathilda is suffering because the school milieu goes against the moral values sown in her heart. And sometimes, she is even confused about the values that make her different from the others and make her feel so alone. Thus, as the weeks went by, a certain heaviness and discouragement settled in and took hold of her heart.

You too may find yourself in a similar situation every day when you leave home to go to school. It is not easy! We know this and we understand you. However, do you know that you can become a heroine of authentic values in your milieu, values which will be victorious over evil some day?

Heroines manifest great courage and do not give in to fear. Sir Winston Churchill, a statesman who was considered a hero of the Second World War, said: “Fear is a reaction; courage is a decision.” What a tremendously inspiring quotation to memorize! Of course, one does not acquire courage overnight. However, you can begin choosing to courageously face your days as a student with the strength of the grace of the moment and the grace of prayer.

Thus, to help you be better able to live that which disturbs you, enter into prayer every time you walk into the school. Start a conversation with God and the Lady about all those people around you; all those persons who do not know God, who cannot love Him, offend Him without realizing it or knowing this. Look at all those persons with compassion and ask the Lady, with confidence, to help them, enlighten them, guide them along happier paths, bringing Light to their hearts.

The Spirit will be able to inspire you the right request, filled with goodness and love for each one. This prayer will then be a way for you to practise charity, to open your heart to the wretchedness of souls so as to intercede for them and perhaps, we hope, open the ways of grace to them some day.

Strengthened by your convictions, we encourage you to continue courageously setting the good example around you by remaining calm and happy and singing: “Courage for the Paulian of every age is noble and beautiful!”

The next morning, alone in her room, as she was getting ready to go to school, Mathilda, having had a good rest, thinks again of the conversation she had with Sister Lucette. She stops, and, going to stand before Marie-Paule’s picture, squares her shoulders, nice and straight, in a new attitude of determination and greatness. Then, she makes an effort to smile in her heart, a disposition which activates the muscles of her face, slightly raising the corners of her mouth.

Tightly holding in her hand the miraculous medal around her neck, the medal of the Immaculate who had the courage to crush the serpent’s head, she says out loud and firmly: “Marie-Paule, with you in my heart, I will courageously face the day. I can do everything in you and with you since you fortify me. I entrust to you all the persons I will meet today.” Then, with a renewed energy, coming to her through faith and charity, she picks up her school bag and leaves the house, ready to face the day’s battles.

Mathilda, a heroine! And what do you decide to do?

Go, and may strength and courage be with you!

The Daughters of Mary