Gabrielle Bossis - He and I

Gabrielle Bossis

Translated and condensed by Evelyn M. Brown
Foreword by Kathryn J. Hermes, FSP

Imprimatur: Msgr. Jean-Marie Fortier, Archbishop
Sherbrooke, November 14, 1969

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Bossis, Gabrielle, 1874-1950.
[Lui et moi. English]
He and I / Gabrielle Bossis ; translated and condensed by Evelyn M. Brown ;
foreword by Kathryn J. Hermes.
p. cm.
ISBN-13: 978-0-8198-3438-6
ISBN-10: 0-8198-3438-6
1. Mysticism. I. Brown, Evelyn M. II. Title.
BV5082.3.B67313 2013
248.22--dc23
2012026861

Cover design by Rosana Usselmann

Cover art by P. Benedi

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Originally published as Lui et Moi by Beauchesne et ses Fils, 117 rue de Rennes, Paris.

ditions Mdiaspaul
250, boul. Saint-Franois Nord
Sherbrooke, QC, J1E 2B9 (Canada)

Edition 2013, Daughters of St. Paul

P and PAULINE are registered trademarks of the Daughters of St. Paul.

Published by Pauline Books & Media, 50 Saint Pauls Avenue, Boston, MA 02130-3491

Printed in the U.S.A.

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Pauline Books & Media is the publishing house of the Daughters of St. Paul, an international congregation of women religious serving the Church with the communications media.

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At the request of the translator, we are happy to dedicate this book
to our brothers and sisters of every color, creed, and race,
in the name of Emmanuel, God-with-us.
And with a special thought for all the divided Christian groups
united forever in the name of Jesus
in one, indivisible, and eternal Church.
All of you one: one body, one soul, one prayer....
Let us be one, all of us together.

He and I

As a writer of spirituality, I have always been intrigued by peoples concept of God. A young man once told me, God is like this invisible force in the world. A friend struggled a long time wondering whether or not God was listening to her. I myself have wrestled with the invisibility of the unseen God, sensing some sort of veil that keeps God and me in separate compartments, a veil Ive tried to tear away again and again. I often hear people say that they dont know how to pray. They are silently plagued with an unspoken low-grade spiritual desolation or feeling of guilt, resigning themselves to never having what their hearts know they were made for. People want to know that God does exist. Even people who arent particularly religious want to know what God has to say! Something deep within us knows that Gods words are a key to what it is to be authentically human and happy.

Enter the bestselling spiritual testament He and I, which reveals the words of Jesus to Gabrielle Bossis, a single woman, nurse, and, in her later years, playwright, who lived in France in the early twentieth century. Bossis documented her simple talks with Jesus in her journals, intimate conversations with Jesus that were real and personal. After her death these journals were made public. Here are Jesus words to her on April 17, 1947:

The unfolding of My love in you is My personal happiness; Im waiting for it. Everything that affects you touches Me personally. My friend, you are part of Me and I, your Christ, am part of you.

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With these words Jesus risks telling us he is in love with us and desires both our attention and our response. Jesus has a deep friendliness for us that he wishes we felt toward him. The simple talks in He and I between Jesus and Bossis hold the key to the development of this friendship with Jesus. No spiritual jargon, methods, or process. Just time spent with Jesus listening to his desire for us, his love for us, his suggestions for deepening a friendship.

I read the following message while sitting outside on a lovely summer day: Keep in mind more often that I give you everything for nothing: all My heaven for your nothingness and for the mere pittance of your yearnings (see ). My eyes were suddenly opened to the beauty around me and in me. Yes. All of creation, the death and resurrection of Jesus, the sacraments and his Body and Blood given to me for food each Sunday or daily if I desire it, eternal life... all of this for the mere pittance of our yearnings for him. That yearning can stretch from fulfilling our Sunday obligation, zipping in and out of Mass, or writing a check for a charity, all the way to seeking Jesus present in everyone, every place, and everything. So many Christian lives, even when religious duties are meticulously fulfilled, are saddened because they lack the vibrant beauty of desire.

In reading the words of the Lord as recorded by Bossis, we discover that all Jesus is asking for is desire, which he defines simply as focusing our eyes on him no matter what we are doing. He teaches us how to be happy in quite simple ways: Practice being more attractive for loves sake. You could do immense good with an ).

As readers we have to wrestle with the reality that the messages in He and I are words to someone else. They werent said to you or to me. We didnt hear the timber and tone of the Lords voice, or sense his words deep in our hearts. But this is not really the point, is it? Jesus does have words for you. He desires to say them to you. He desires, in a sense, another book to be written: He and YOU. His hope is to surround you and me with the fragrance of his love.

Jesus tells Gabrielle Bossis how close he is to her, I am in you and you are in Metwo foreheads touching; no, one inside the other (). Whenever I pray now, these words, which startle by their frank physicalness, transport me into a place of shared listening and loving. Prayer becomes an exquisite awareness and delicate sensitivity to the feelings of my Friend.

For a world starving for the comfort of Gods presence or the assurance of his existence, this book is a page turner. I encourage you, however, to resist the temptation to read through it quickly. Instead, take the time to let the messages that fill these pages resound within you. Allow Jesus to whisper these words directly to you. Replace Gabrielles Bossiss name with your own. Stop at those points where you feel a response welling up inside you. Allow yourself to feel. Savor the desire that emerges from deep within the soil of your soul, breaking through the crust of modern-day callousness, indifference, or boredom.

Jesus asks you, wherever you are, at this moment, as he asked Gabrielle Bossis: Tell Me now, do you want Me to knock at your door? ()

SR. KATHRYN J. HERMES, FSP
Beginning Contemplative Prayer, author

A fresh restatement, that is the point, was Father McCorrys appeal in his challenging article on the state of spiritual writing in the post-conciliar year of 1967. And taking a case in point, he went on to say, The vital religious problem of prayer is discussed and discussed yet again; and can anyone remember when he encountered an original and truly helpful suggestion in the matter? I can. There are several in the pages of this volume, translated from a series of books entitled Lui et moi, alleged to contain the words of Our Lord to a French woman called Gabrielle Bossis. Here is one of them: Give yourself a rest from saying prayers so that you may enjoy My love.