Resistance to Sin

The Servant of God hated sin and everything that was opposed to faith. When she was a schoolgirl, she avoided children using bad language. She cried about it and disliked school for this reason. Later, at a dinner, where people had improper discussions, she preferred fasting. She stood up and went out in order to pray and cry. In her ecstasies, she saw the vices in general and particularly with their different causes. This sight was painful to her, almost unbearable. “She spent all the time of dinner in her room praying and crying, and as her room was next to the dining room, she made the precaution of blocking up her ears so that she was not able to hear through the partition what was said.” She was clearly shown how to correct vices.
“See, my daughter,” said our Lord, “all that must be corrected by you.” She sighed and said: “O, what a heavy burden! Your will be done!” She was troubled in her tender joys considering the many insults against God. She herself experienced moments of doubt and discouragement, when she realized that she was a sinner and unworthy of God’s grace. On the other hand, when the Servant of God saw in her visions the conversion of sinners, she felt great joy. Father Reichard testifies to this: “She witnessed many conversions among the enemies of Catholicism, the schismatic and unbelievers, through whom God shows His mercy […]. From this experience of mercy, of God’s might, again she received great consolation”. As a member of the Sacred-Heart’s Association, she had the concern to compensate for the sins of others through her prayers and the penance she took upon herself.

Towards the end of her life, she was provided with the extraordinary chance to prove the virtue of her faith particularly through painful experiences. In fact, for political and juridical reasons, the houses in Würzburg, Vienna and Sopron broke away. Those trials deeply and painfully marked the Foundress, but Mother Alphonse Maria totally abandoned herself to God’s will.

The Servant of God wanted to communicate this blessing of faith to everyone who approached her. She excelled in speaking about God, at first within her family, to the children and young girls in Niederbronn, and later to the many visitors whom she received. God made use of her for the conversion of many. One of her goals was to give religious instruction to the ignorant and poor children. She will welcome the poor, abandoned children and look after them until they have received the necessary religious instruction and their First Communion. She gathered them herself, spoke to them about God and helped them to pray.