The six women of Le Puy were women dedicated to The Divine Love and immersed in their world. Francoise Eyraud was 39 years old. Medaille asked her to be the first superior of the house in Le Puy. Claudia Chastel was a widow. She was one of the few who could read and write. Marguerite Burdier was 24 and she had a very strong personality and spoke her mind. The other three women all had the first name of Anna. Anna Chalayer who was 46 years old. Anna Vey was probably very young when she came to live at the Le Puy house. Her father promised to send with her a sizeable dowry. Anna Brun had no material possessions. She was 15 years old when she joined the Le Puy women and came from one of the orphanages in the area. They were a very diverse group. The Divine Love sent them out every day with baskets of food, medical supplies and undaunted spirits of service.
Sometimes I say to Divine Love, “I am not the woman for this job. Let someone else do it.” I let my ego, not the Divine Love, predict my actions. I have to remember, and I invite you to reflect, that I come from a long ancestry of people who followed the Divine Love, no matter what the cost. I am sure that Joseph, whose name I bear, did not say to the Divine Love, “No not me, let someone else raise this child that Mary is having. Not my problem.” When it came time to protect his little family from the murderous intentions of Herod, Joseph kept adapting and navigating his way through the maze of uncertainty in a strange land with unpredictable choices and consequences. Joseph “held it together” for the sake of Mary and Jesus.
Medaille, in the spirit of Joseph-their-namesake, encouraged the women to, “just do it.” Things around you are a matter of survival. Serving God and Neighbor becomes larger than yourself and you cannot just say, “So long, see you later.” Stay focused on what you need to do, take one-step at a time, trust in the energy of The Divine Love. We who stand in the shadow of Joseph and the six women of Le Puy become manifestations of our ancestors’ wildest dreams.