Vincentian Quote of the Week: Rosalie Rendu & Giving

She [Rosalie Rendu] also used to say "Fear nothing, Sisters, you will never be without assistance as long as your two hands are like this." She would then stretch out one hand in the gesture of giving and extend the other to receive. She then added, "If one hand closes, it will be useless for the other to reach out."

This is testimony from a Father Desmet, testifying to the Vatican of Rosalie Rendu's holiness. Sister Rosalie knew how to give and she knew how to receive. On a more superficial level, she knew how to treat the two - those giving and those receiving - equally. She was such a friend of the rich and the poor that not only were the streets of Paris filled for her funeral, but the cross on top of her tomb reads "To Sister Rosalie, from her grateful friends, the rich and the poor"

This saying of Rosalie reminds me of Appalachia Service Project, a Christian workcamp I attended in high school. We always held hands during prayers and once someone told me - "on your right, put your hand on top so that you're holding their hand up; on your left, put your hand on the bottom so that they're holding you up. this is what your life should be like - holding others up and letting yourself be held"