When Janet saw it all

The word of God, which frees us from self-absorption, is especially able to purify, enlighten and recreate us. So let us listen to that word, in order to become ever more open to the vocation that God entrusts to us! ~ Pope Francis, Message for the 2022 World Day of Prayer for Vocations

Spring came late to London in 1882, which explains why, one hundred and forty years ago today, Janet Stuart found herself gazing on a normally unseasonal sea of blue hyacinths. Years later she recalled what happened...

One day, it was May 6 1882, when I was walking up through Regent's Park to the Helpers of the Holy Souls. I was thinking of religious life and saying to Almighty God, 'O my God, I should like it very much, but you see it is impossible to think of it at present' - and then and there, standing by the side of a bed of blue hyacinths - 'factum est ad me verbum Domini' and I saw it all.

I sometimes wonder whether, in the preceding weeks, Janet had fretted and felt impatient at spring's long delay, yearning for warmth and sunshine, crocuses and tulips. And then this unexpected confluence, of an oh-so late flowering, and her long search for her life's purpose, somehow meeting and finding clarity in a startling bed of hyacinths. And whatever had made religious life 'impossible to think of at present' melted away: she had 'seen it all', experienced God's overwhelming presence, and five months later, on the 7th September, she entered the noviciate of the Society of the Sacred Heart. 

My own versions of Janet's hyacinth moment have been somewhat more prosaic - and less fragrant. I have been overwhelmed by God in a church, yes, but also on a barren moor and in a busy, noisy high street. I have known the Heart of God in the heart of the world near Tesco's in Green Street; received new depth and insistence to my life's purpose whilst walking past Primark. Fleeting clarity each time, but an enduring, indelible memory too.

And you; how and where have you received God's enlightening and insistent word? What have been your treasured hyacinth moments?


Comments

  1. Usually quietly when exhausted by a too full mind, moved by a scent, man or nature made..I sense the timeless spirit. I may not always think of it as God in the way others do, but it is with the same numinosity. I was drawn to your blog through the word shive after a comment on a facebook post of mine, showing light falling through trees into a special area in a graveyard I love, then to this post as rarely do I see my name mentioned anywhere...thus you could say another leading of the soul.

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  2. That's lovely - you were led by shivelight, and found your name! Welcome to Heaven! Janet Stuart is quite a pin-up for the Society, and if you click on the Janet Stuart label at the bottom of this post, you'll find several more blogs about her.

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