A few words from Pierre Goursat
on the heart of Jesus and of Mary
Cœur de Jésus
In my youth, I had been quite wounded and I had a terrible fear of the Cross…
In the church of Saint-Philippe (du Roule) where I was, there were two altars, one of the Cross, and one of the Sacred Heart. I always went to the Sacred Heart (he says elsewhere, in 1988: I took refuge in the Sacred Heart altar).
I said to myself: “But this cross thing is terrible. How can people accept this? It’s a scandal, it’s appalling…” And the Heart of Jesus, it’s a radiant Heart. There was no blood. It was light, fire. […] With Him I was in peace. He put me in the peace of His Heart, and I was in confidence and in peace.
Fraternity of Jesus Retreat 08/1979
I liked Saint Bonaventure. It was with Saint Augustine that I was converted. Then… I advanced in my conversion with him by reading the Confessions. The doctrine of Saint Augustine, his intuitive approach worked well with Saint Bonaventure, and then the Heart of Jesus.
Interview by Jean-Marc and Françou Morin in Saint-Maurice 5-8/08/1988
It is not a devotion, the Sacred Heart, it is the very essence of God's love: God who so loved the world that He gave His only Son to save it. It is truly this mystery of love that has been revealed...
First summer session in Paray-le-Monial 16/07/1975
I wanted to stay with them and at the same time I thought, “If I suffocate I’m going to keep them awake” And I said, “Lord, what should I do?” And the Lord said to me, “Don’t worry.” And his Word came back to me, “Behold, I am with you always, until the end of the world.” But I felt that with a force! I felt that He was near me. It was at the time of the war, everyone was separated but I felt with Him. Well! You have all had this experience: in difficult moments, He is there, His presence comes. And Mary too!
Fraternity of Jesus Retreat 09/08/1978
When we are in the Heart, we have everything, says little Therese. Well, that is what the Lord asks of us. We are always told about the pierced Heart of Jesus, but I would like you to remember that it is essentially linked to Pentecost, when Peter comes out with the power of the Spirit, starts to speak and says: “God made him Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified” – whom we crucified. So to hear that they had their hearts pierced.
First summer session in Paray-le-Monial 16/07/1975
It is with the heart of Jesus that we bear all the sufferings of the world. It is where we intercede with him, it is the most important moment of our life.
Weekend "Emmanuel" in Gentilly 19-20/01/1975
Burning heart of love
God wants to replace our heart of stone with his Heart burning with love, to communicate to us his ardent desire to save souls… For this He wants to touch our heart with His Love, to pierce it, to break it. Discovering our misery, we enter into his Mercy. [In adoration, Jesus wants to give us the compassion of his Heart, the sweetness of his Heart. He breaks our pride, our self-will, puts us in his school: “Jesus, gentle and humble of heart, make our hearts like yours.”
Preparatory notes for a teaching 24/06/1980
We must ask the Lord to put a fire in our hearts. We must put ourselves in his Heart since it is a burning inferno that communicates itself to us! Then we burn with love!
What we need to do for all of you who are here is to worship. When you have time, you will pray and you will adore. […] But the purpose of this adoration is naturally to honor the Body and Heart of Christ, but above all it is to ask Him to set us ablaze with love, to set us ablaze with love for our brothers and sisters in turn. [The love of the Heart of Jesus is asked for in adoration and in trusting prayer. Even if you are a log, you remain at the feet of Jesus and you put yourself to gild in the sun of his Love. […] So I beg you, ask Jesus, like a child, for this great grace of having your heart set on fire with love in order to set the world on fire!
Session in Paray 09-21/07/1977
What we must ask the Lord is that He puts fire in our hearts. We must put ourselves in his Heart because it is a burning inferno. Well, it communicates to us: we will burn like a firebrand. But then, if we burn with love, it is completely different!
Fraternity of Jesus Retreat 09/08/1978
God wants to replace our heart of stone with his Heart burning with love, to communicate to us his ardent desire to save souls… For this He wants to touch our heart with His Love, to pierce it, to break it. Discovering our misery, we enter into his Mercy. [In adoration, Jesus wants to give us the compassion of his Heart, the sweetness of his Heart. He breaks our pride, our self-will, puts us in his school: “Jesus, gentle and humble of heart, make our hearts like yours.”
Preparatory notes for a teaching 24/06/1980
If … we enter more and more into his Heart, we will manage to be more and more relaxed and confident, and full of love.
Fraternity of Jesus Retreat 08/1979
Community Weekend 18-19/06/1977
If we turn on our antennae (the theological virtues), we hear the Lord speaking to us – with parasites, with lots of ridiculous things – but, at the same time, the Lord is there and we hear Him… It is not enough to hear, it is enough to listen and to do what He tells us. And He tells us, “Change your heart” or rather “Give me your heart and I will change it.”
Cycle of youth weekends 23-24/01/1982
Gentle and humble heart
Truly the way of the Lord is Jesus, gentle and humble of heart. It is an extraordinary way. If we are meek and humble of heart, he will pierce our heart quietly. And we will receive streams of living water of compassion. And we will be transported to eternal life.
Fraternity of Jesus Retreat 30-31/12/1977
The essential thing is the Lord, the interior life, adoration and prayer. If we do not live in prayer, in adoration and in the humility and gentleness of the Lord’s Heart, everything else is useless.
Fraternity of Jesus Retreat 08/1979
“Lord, teach us to become humble, gentle and humble of heart… Heart of Jesus, gentle and humble of heart, make our hearts like yours.” This is our vocation. And really, we have to feel it deeply. It is taken in the graces of adoration because, in adoration, the Lord really speaks to us heart to heart and instructs us gently as He did with Mary [Martha’s sister]: she had chosen the best part! … Without [knowing it] the Lord made us choose the best part.
Fraternity of Jesus Retreat 12/30/1982
(Jesus) speaks of His Heart that loved men so much and He tells us: “The secret is: learn from Me – that is His teaching – that I am gentle and humble of Heart and you will find peace in your souls.” And if one day you were not at peace, you would say to yourself, “Am I really in the gentleness of the strong? Do I ask for this gentleness in prayer? Do I really ask the Lord to bring me his Spirit and to be gentle? To be gentle with the Love of Jesus?” So we can’t do it ourselves, but with him we can. And then we will find peace, the peace that the Lord gives and not the peace that the world gives. So we repeat this all the time! […] So, Jesus, really, give us this secret!
Fraternity of Jesus Retreat 30-31/12/1977
Heart of Jesus and adoration
Interview by Jean-Marc and Françou Morin in Saint-Maurice 5-8/08/1988
At this time, stay on the Heart of Christ,
love Him, learn to be loved and let yourself be loved.
First summer session in Paray-le-Monial 16/07/1975
This joy is really found in the adoration of the Eucharist, it is really our strength. And it is really, I would say, our specificity because it is there that we are recognized; [it is there] that we are really in the Heart of the Lord.
Fraternity of Jesus Retreat 08/1979
Interview by Jean-Marc and Françou Morin in Saint-Maurice 5-8/08/1988
Paray-le-Monial
You must know that in 1974, we went to Vézelay… It is very beautiful Vézelay, it is the conversion. We are at the feet of the Lord and we are converted. But then I said, “We convert, it’s very good the feet of the Lord, but there is perhaps a place that is even better placed: it is on His Heart.” So I said, “Well, we should go to Paray-le-Monial. Besides, there is a very beautiful basilica and we could also go there…”
Fraternity of Jesus Christmas 82 Retreat 12/30/82
The grace of Paray: it is truly a grace of love of the pierced Heart.
And graces of peace too.
Session of Paray-le-Monial, "From prayer group to community" 06/07/1979
Fraternity of Jesus Retreat 12/30/1982
We are at Paray-le-Monial, close to the Heart of Jesus, and it is really there that we must ask and beg to have the charism of charisms: it is love. And that really there, the Lord must burn our heart.
French-speaking Africa meeting, Paray-le-Monial 12-16/07/1979
What is important is the Heart. We came to Paray, we know what it is. We know half of the Heart of Jesus, how he speaks of his Heart that loved men so much. And He tells us: “The secret is to learn from me (this is His teaching), learn from me that I am gentle and humble of heart and you will find peace in your souls.
Fraternity of Jesus Retreat 30-31/12/1977
I had said that we felt that Paray-le-Monial would
become a capital of prayer and adoration.
Community Weekend 25/09/1983
We can come [to Paray] and we will renew our strength in heart-to-heart adoration with the Lord. […] What is needed is to be able to pray and really help people to be transformed. And that is why you are here. But it is also especially to pray for conversions. Because the earth is getting colder and Jesus came to warm us up. He said: “At the end of the world, do you believe that there will be faith on earth? He said, “The heart will grow cold, love will grow cold.” And we must be able, thanks to the Heart of the Lord, to transform people little by little. And this, not only in France and abroad, but also in the whole world, in Latin America, for example, where they have kept a cult to the Sacred Heart, a deep devotion. Well, really, we can act with them.
Fraternity of Jesus Retreat 12/30/1982
People will say: “It’s very good at Paray… there are still a few thousand of you! But I also feel that there are the people of God. There are very simple people, very poor, who have many difficulties, with many problems, but the Lord loves them. And as He said: “I did not come for the righteous but for the sinners. And it is “this Heart that has so loved men”, that desires to love them and make them understand it more and more. [Moreover, it is not enough that people come to Paray, they must be converted and there must be a follow-up. So if we can send them a magazine that tells them about the graces of Paray throughout the year and that sustains their hearts, I think we can really help them. (At that time, Pierre was planning to publish a widely distributed magazine, Les amis de Jésus).
Fraternity of Jesus Retreat 12/30/1982
So, there is really a desire from the Lord’s Heart that we come to Him and find these graces, and that He transforms us… Especially at a time when, more and more, people’s love is dying out. “Love grows cold”, and this is precisely the drama of families. Love is the cement of families; when love disappears, households are destroyed… We really need this love to be given back to us. There is nothing better and more effective than to ask the Lord’s Heart, which is a burning inferno of love, that the Lord give us this love.
Community Weekend 23/24/04/1983
At Paray-le-Monial there is a continual outpouring of the Spirit which springs from the pierced Heart of the Lord. This is the cause of the mysterious radiance of Paray-le-Monial. “In the last times, love will grow cold,” said the Lord. That is why the Heart of Jesus, a burning furnace of love, has been given back to families to renew them, to set them ablaze with His Love.
Fraternity of Jesus Retreat. Easter 1983
I tell you to pray and ask the Lord truly that He will save the world. Because if the world has a pure heart and a generous heart, the world will be saved. Paray is a world center. We must understand the strength and power that He [the Lord] puts into this action, so that it will radiate out to the world. […] Crowds will come to warm themselves in the Heart of the Lord. So let us pray, and adore, and give thanks. But above all, let us ask for humility of heart for all of us.
Fraternity of Jesus Retreat 12/30/1982
Mother Mary
We who are brothers of Jesus become like little children of Mary. This gives us the grace of abandonment like a child in the hands of Mary. Because Mary receives us as a mother, she receives us as sons in her womb. We must live in abandonment like little children.
Community weekend near Barcelona 29/05/1088
I believe that we can really trust Mary. With Mary, we trust, she is really our mother; with her, everything is simple.
Fraternity of Jesus Retreat 08/1979
It is very important to have a mother.
Mary is the mother of Emmanuel.
"Emmanuel" inter-assembly day 13/03/1976
We who, through the Spirit, are of Jesus and Mary, become like little children of Mary. This gives us the grace of abandonment as a child in the hands of Mary. Because Mary receives us as a mother, she receives us as sons in her womb. [And Peter adds: We must be like a fetus in the womb of Mary. In Mary’s womb we live by her blood.
Community weekend near Barcelona 29/05/1988
A very important point is to have a mother… A mother: it is the mother of Emmanuel and that is very important. So, with Mary, it goes by itself.
"Emmanuel" inter-assembly day 13/03/1976
Mary really helps us a lot… I remember when I was a little boy, I had great confidence in my mother, and I had to be operated on, I think, for appendicitis. My little brother had been operated on before, and it had been a very bad operation. […] A few months later, it wasn’t very funny that I had an operation! They couldn’t tell me stories and say: “No, it’s not serious! [her brother had died from it]. And finally Mom was able to come to the operating room and hold my hand as I was being put to sleep. Well, I was all relaxed, and then she said, “But you didn’t even put any pressure [with your hand], you were all relaxed.” And I said, “But yes, since you told me I wouldn’t suffer, I was confident!” So that’s it: with Mary we trust, she is really our mother and then everything is simple.
Fraternity of Jesus Retreat 08/1979
It is a mystery of motherhood.
Mary truly gives birth to us in suffering.
Community Weekend 20/09/1981
The Lord asks us to be simple. John was simple, and you will notice that John followed Jesus to the end! He was at the Cross. He had no trouble with the guards, he was not removed. He was close to Jesus and close to his Mother. John’s secret was his Mother, the Mother of Jesus. He followed Mary, [he] the disciple whom Jesus loved, who had seen the spear in his Heart – he is the only one who gives this testimony of the Spirit, the water and the blood. And Jesus gave his Mother to John.
Fraternity of Jesus Retreat 12/1980
The Lord tells us, “You will not enter the Kingdom of Heaven unless you become little children again.” So we just have to become little children again! What do little children do? Well, they listen to their mother. So we have a mother that the Lord has given us. […] And if we listen to her it simplifies things a lot. […] We are not soft people, we are people who, being little children, believe that everything is possible with God, provided that we remain under his influence, and that we really remain attentive to the Lord and to Mary. Then, everything is possible for us!
Community Weekend Spring 1979
Mary's humility
Mary is very important to us because she is a model of humility, purity and humility.
Community Weekend 14-15/06/1980
You (Mary) are the triumph of humility. How can one come to Jesus without humility?
Prayer circa 1973
Fraternity of Jesus Retreat 24/07/1983
Mary guides and protects
We are sure to be victorious through Mary. So if we rely on Mary, we have nothing to fear. We know that we have the Lord with us, that Mary is there to protect us
Community Weekend 15/03/1980
Mary is truly the guardian of the Community. She is our mantle, with her we are protected
Fraternity of Jesus retreat. August 78
If the demon wants to attack me, there is only one remedy, it is Mary
Community Weekend 24-25/11/1984
It is Mary who builds the Community and is its guardian.
Fraternity of Jesus Retreat. 10/08/1978
For example, when we start to worry, we stop for a moment, we say a “Hail Mary”; we say to Mary, “Listen, really help me because I’m not managing.”
Community Weekend 01/04/1979
Mary really helps us a lot. […] With Mary, we really feel confident. If you surrender yourself like a child, well, there is no problem!
Fraternity Retreat 09/08/78
Mary, is vital! Yes, that’s right: essential.
Fraternity of Jesus Retreat 09/08/1978
"I had a very clear inner word, coming from the Blessed Virgin: "Be peaceful, you are saved." It was very clear and I could not doubt."
TESTIMONY COLLECTED BY BERNARD PEYROUS JULY 1986
With Mary, everything is done with ease. Without her, we harden ourselves with a willful spirit and it doesn’t work.
Community weekend near Barcelona 29/05/1988
Often they are very poor, very simple people who have this vital love. They have so much the Blessed Virgin clinging to them, they live so much with her, well they live from her and they live like her. Because, when the Blessed Virgin is there, the best way for us not to be bothered is to make the same movements that she makes. Otherwise, we are embarrassed. If we do exactly as she does, well, it’s quite simple.
Fraternity of Jesus Retreat. 09/08/1978
Mary tells us: “I will come with you, I will lead you to the Cross. But I will be with you; I will be with you.” It is the fact of being there.
Fraternity of Jesus Retreat 09/08/1978
Mary carries us constantly. She knows all our sufferings; she wants to strengthen us, to console us, to help us.
Testimony collected by Bernard Peyrous July 1986
If you are tormented by saying, “My God, what am I going to do?” We say to ourselves, “Look, Mary will be there and she will take care of everything.”
Fraternity of Jesus Retreat 08/1979
Mary Compassion
So, Peter advises, above all, what you must ask of the Lord is not to say to him all the time: “Ah, Lord, take this sin away from me”, but that the Lord burns you, that he transforms you, that he gives you a soul to share with Mary.
Interview on 23/05/1976
The model of compassion we have in Mary. Only Mary can teach us that.
"Emmanuel" inter-assembly day 13/03/1976
[To have] this spirit of compassion, one must have a pierced heart… It is not we who will have it ourselves, we must ask Mary truly that we have a pierced heart…
"Emmanuel" inter-assembly day 13/03/1976
Mary fights the devil
If we invoke the Holy Spirit, we are sure to be victorious, and to be victorious through Mary. The answer is: “But what does Mary have to do with it? There is already the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, what do we need Mary for? Yes, but we forget that the devil exists… And God took a child, the most humble of creatures and the most magnificent in her humility, to be the queen of heaven and earth and to dominate over that filthy beast of a creature that is the devil. With the angels, but the angels are under the direction of Mary! So if we ask Mary and the Trinity, if we rely on Mary, we have nothing to fear. Because, in addition, it is a maternal grace and she will take care of us with the greatest delicacy and with the heart of a mother.
Community Weekend 15/03/1980
If the devil wants to attack me, there is only one remedy and that is Mary.
Community Weekend 24-25/11/1984
Mary is an army in battle if one is in faith.
Interview by Jean-Marc and Françou Morin in Saint-Maurice 5-8/08/1988
Someone quite extraordinary, that is Mary. And with Mary, the demon is frightened out of his wits, panic-stricken.
Community weekend 30-31/05/1981
We must announce to the world the love of God. This love is unknown and disregarded. We must proclaim it. And that’s when we’ll have this spiritual battle because Satan will rage against us. But Mary will protect us. So we have nothing to fear at all.
Fraternity of Jesus Easter Retreat 1978
Certainly we will have persecutions in a few years; it is obvious that it will come. So if we torment ourselves saying, “My God, what am I going to do?” we say to ourselves, “Mary will be there and she will take care of everything.”
Fraternity of Jesus Retreat 08/1979
It’s obvious that we have to fight more and more on a universal level. It is really a fight with the dragon. It is the woman with the dragon: it is Mary who fights the dragon, and who fights it in the entire world.
Community Weekend 12/05/1979
Mary deals with the attacks of the devil; Mary deals with them and deals with them well. We, above all, have to take care of the spiritual deepening.
Community Weekend 23/24/04/1983
One heart of Jesus and Mary
Our rhythm of life is the rhythm of the Heart of Jesus and the rhythm of the Heart of Mary. So at that moment, we relax, we are all joyful and all relaxed, and at the same time all contemplative.
Community Weekend Spring 1979
With Saint John Eudes I understood
that there was only one Heart "Jesus and Mary".
Interview by Jean-Marc and Françou Morin in Saint-Maurice 5-8/08/1988
You have all had this experience in difficult moments: the Lord is there, his presence comes, and Mary as well. Mary is really there. With Jesus and Mary we are well off! It is really extraordinary!
Fraternity Retreat August 78. 09/08/1978
Oh Mary, I understand your heart and that of your son. It is marvelous the incarnation of a God who has a mother
Prayer circa 1973
Mary is compassion. It is really her, because the Son was suffering and it was said that the Mother was next to him and was suffering. So it was really compassion: she suffered with him.
"Emmanuel" inter-assembly day 13/03/1976
