"It is God's will that here below souls shall distribute to one another by prayer the heavenly treasures with which He has enriched them. And this in order that, when they reach their everlasting Home, they may love one another with grateful hearts and with an affection far beyond that which reigns in the most perfect family circle upon earth."  - St. Therese of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face

Welcome to November and the Octave of All the Saints!

In particular, welcome to All Souls Day and the Easiest Plenary Indulgence for a Poor Soul ever known to man!

Simply by going to Mass today (Sunday, All Souls Day), we will each already be most of the way to gaining a plenary indulgence for the Holy Souls:

1. At Mass, during Mass, we recite the Creed and the Our Father: and saying these in church on November 2, All Souls day, (today!), gains the plenary indulgence for a Poor Soul!
 
2. By receiving Holy Communion at Mass, we fulfill one of the "usual conditions" for the plenary indulgence.
 
3. All that's left are the other "usual conditions" :
 
 - Say an Our Father, Hail Mary, and Glory Be (or another prayer) for the Holy Father's intention
 - Go to confession or have gone to confession within 20 days
 - Be detached from sin (for this one you might say an Act of Contrition and really mean it :), or ask Our Lady and the Holy Spirit, "Please help me to be detached from sin so that I may gain this plenary indulgence for a Poor Soul!")
 
Then, also, during this whole Octave of All Saints, (November 1-8) the Church gives us a special opportunity to gain indulgences for the departed.

A plenary or full indulgence, applicable only to the souls in Purgatory, is granted to the faithful who:

1. On any and each day from November 1 to 8, devoutly visit a cemetery and pray, if only mentally, for the departed; or

2. On All Souls’ Day, devoutly visit a church or oratory and recite an Our Father and Creed.

It is also necessary to fulfill the following conditions for the plenary indulgence:

1. Make a sacramental confession within 20 days before or after the indulgenced act (one confession can apply to many indulgences); and

2. Receive Holy Communion (one Holy Communion required for each plenary indulgence); and

3. Pray for the intention of the Holy Father (no particular prayers are prescribed for the intention of the Holy Father, an Our Father and a Hail Mary are appropriate, and adding a Glory Be is a common practice).

4. Be detached from all sin (do not let this intimidate you. On this side of Heaven we will most likely feel inclinations and temptations and attractions to sin, but that does not mean you are "attached." Also you can ask the Holy Spirit, "Please grant me the detachment from all sin needed to gain this indulgence for a soul in purgatory." As Our Lord says, if you ask your father for bread, he will not give you a stone. And if our Holy Mother Church offers a plenary indulgence, she won't snatch it back).

Gaining a plenary indulgence for a poor soul in purgatory means you launch that soul out of purgatory and into Heaven! How privileged all Catholics are to have this opportunity: the joy of the Mystical Body of Christ which extends through space and time from earth to Heaven and over all the ages. We can even offer these for those who have died long ago in history – or family and friends who have died in more recent times . . .

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In other indulgence news:

In this Jubilee Year of Hope, the Church is indulging us with the extremely rare opportunity of gaining 2 plenary indulgences on any day for the Holy Souls in Purgatory!

Typically, normally, usually, always, you can gain only one plenary indulgence a day, for yourself or a soul in purgatory, except on the day of your death, on which day you can gain two. I think this is so that if you have already offered a plenary indulgence for a holy soul on that momentous day of your death, Holy Mother Church gives you the chance to gain one for yourself too, particularly at the hour of death. Also, perhaps she wants to be sure that in case you gained a plenary indulgence and then fell into serious sin, or even committed small sins after the first plenary indulgence and before the moment of your death, you can gain one more, to free you from all punishment due to sin, at the very moment of death.

In order to gain 2 plenary indulgences in one day for the Holy Souls in this Jubilee Year, you are required to go to 2 Masses and receive Holy Communion at both (this is allowed in canon law any day, always), and you must perform 2 indulgenced acts - one for each indulgence. This is kind of a crazy program for a day, but just thought I’d let you know 😊

As to every day in November and beyond . . .

There are 4 "daily plenary indulgences" (not dependent on a particular feast or season in the Church) you can gain any day of the year:

1. Saying a 5 decade rosary (while meditating on the mysteries) either: 
in a church, or in a family, or in a religious organization/group

2. Adoring (praying before) the Blessed Sacrament for half an hour (before the tabernacle or before the exposed host)

3. Making the Stations of the Cross in a church

4. Reading Sacred Scripture for half an hour

(All of these require also the usual 4 conditions mentioned above: Holy Communion, Confession within 20 days, prayers for the Holy Father's intentions, and detachment from sin.)

I don't mean to make this sound as complicated, and I don't want to make anyone scrupulous...Please think of these indulgences as they really are:

Gifts that Our Lord wants so much to give to us and the Holy Souls so that He will cement our friendship with them and let us, by our "suffrage" (prayers for the dead), unite with Him to send beloved souls (He loves them infinitely!) straight into His eternal and infinitely loving Presence.

As November continues (past the Octave that begins it with its special plenary indulgences November 1 - 8), you can continue to gain plenary indulgences for the Holy Souls by performing one of the acts mentioned above as "daily plenary indulgences."

Also...
A partial indulgence, applicable only to the souls in Purgatory, is granted to the faithful who:

1. Devoutly visit a cemetery and at least mentally pray for the dead; or

2. Devoutly recite lauds and vespers from the Office for the Dead or the prayer:
Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord and let the perpetual light shine upon them.
May they rest in peace. Amen.

I have recently heard several times that the Holy Souls, although they can't pray for themselves, can pray for us. Be sure to commend your special needs and intentions to them too! I'm sure that at this time when we have so many interesting opportunities to pray for them and free them from suffering, they will be more than happy to return the favor! May their guardian angels and ours help us in this thrilling task!

As our sister St. Therese tells us: "In Heaven there will be no looks of indifference, because all the Saints owe so much to one another." 

Even now there are many already There who are grateful for our prayers, and many on their way whom we can launch into Jesus' loving arms today!

Draw me; we will run!!!

P.S. If you are reading this after you have gone to your Sunday (All Souls Day) Mass, and you didn't know about the indulgence then, well no worries! God is out of time! Let's ask Our Blessed Mother:

Dear Mary, today and every day help us to gain every merit and indulgence we can so that you may apply them to the interests of Our Lord's most Sacred Heart . . . and today, let that be our Plenary Indulgence for a Poor Soul, thanks to our Creed and Our Father in the Holy Mass of All Souls Day!

God willing, you received Him in Holy Communion.
Now say an Our Father, Hail Mary, and Glory Be for the Holy Father's intentions,
and get yourself to confession in the next 20 days if you haven't gone in the last 20 days!
And . . . do you hear it? . . . Whooooooooosh and Aaaaaaaaah.......Another Poor Soul in Jesus' sweet embrace!

 "O my Jesus, each of Your saints reflects one of Your virtues; I desire to reflect Your compassionate heart, full of mercy . . . " - St. Faustina

 “O help! O help! O holy Mother of God, let me become so inflamed and sanctified that I am not      always thinking of breakfast.” - Bl. Francis Xavier Seelos

 Yesterday, Mother, during the meal I asked little Jesus this question: "Little Jesus, in bygone days, did You eat bananas?" He answered me, laughing, "Marcel, it is not for eating that I came down to earth." But afterwards, acceding to my wish, He added in a more gentle tone, "I have never eaten bananas and there are many things that you eat which I have not eaten. However, at this moment, when you eat something, it is as if I was eating it myself, since we two make only one." On hearing little Jesus speak so, I was very content and I ate two bananas. - Servant of God Marcel Van

As I write, it is October 5th, and there are two saints hiding behind the Sunday, Jesus' little Easter. What a delight to remember that today is the feast of St. Faustina, of Divine Mercy fame, and Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos, a Redemptorist priest originally from Germany, but a happy transplant to the U.S.A., ending his days in New Orleans. In her life on earth, which ended on this day in 1938, Faustina was also quite hidden, while Fr. Seelos was better known, touching many lives as a preacher, confessor, formator of seminarians, and much more. After his death he has become known as a wonder-worker, so close is he to Jesus and so compassionate to us still on earth. As for Faustina, she has catapulted to fame as the author of the Divine Mercy Diary, which Jesus has used, along with His image, the Divine Mercy Chaplet, and the novena and Feast of Divine Mercy, to draw the whole world to His dazzling, infinite Mercy and Love. I must add that these two are very special to me because on this, their feast, in 2002, my second son was baptized into the Holy Roman Catholic Church. Hooray for the communion of saints!

But what about banana boy? What about St. Therese's beloved little spiritual brother from Vietnam,  our own dear little Servant of God Marcel Van? He was hidden and he remains hidden, whether it's Sunday or Thursday or any day of the week at all . . . and yet daily he speaks to my heart, daily he inspires me to understand this tenderness of Jesus and powerful love of the Blessed Trinity that has captured all the saints and consumed them in the fire of a Love that can only be called God.

What a funny little boy our Marcel is! People used to ask me, "Oh, is he a saint?" 
Well, not officially yet!
"Oh, then is he blessed?"
No, not quite there yet.
"Ah, he must be venerable, then?"
Well, to be perfectly honest, he has a cause, he is a Servant of God, and whether he'll ever be named more, I really couldn't say.

I once had the outrageous privilege of meeting Marcel's current postulator (the one in charge of moving his cause along to the next stages, culminating in canonization), the wonderful Benedictine Pere Olivier de Roulhac of the Abbey of San Wandrille, in Normandy, France. I not only met him, but thanks to a dear friend who knew him, my husband and I got to spend a good half hour (a great half hour!) in conversation with him. Despite the language barrier, and despite my being a Marcel-fanatic, I told Dom Olivier that I thought Marcel wouldn't advance far in the ways of official recognition, and although that was several years ago, I still think the same. Why?

Marcel's vocation can be described in many, many words, which is why he wrote what turned out to be four books, and I could write blog posts about him till the cows come home (and since I live in a suburban neighborhood with no cows, this means till the end of time, or at least until city zoning changes, which I don't foresee) - and still neither Marcel nor I could fully explain all that Jesus has planned from all eternity for Marcel to do - all the souls he has helped Jesus save and will help Jesus save. Heavens, I could write for another 50 years, God willing, about Marcel and never reach the end of what he has said just to me, let alone his message for us all!

And yet . . . I think I can spare us all a lot of time and trouble by saying that Marcel's vocation can be summed up this simply:

He is the second St. Therese.

He is the second Little Flower, and his job is to continue Therese's work, to help her to spread the good news of her Little Way, that is, the great news of God's limitless love for us, His kindness, His condescension, His mercy that seeks us out with great compassion and gentleness, His goodness that finds its satisfaction and delight in dwelling with the children of men. We have nothing to fear, and everything to enjoy: namely, God who is Love.

Now I admit, there could be (and are) a whole library full of books on St. Therese and her Little Way. But my point here is that Marcel is doing nothing new - except insofar as we need to hear again and again, every single day, about how God loves us. The Fall certainly did a number on us - no, not the autumn, but that great non-seasonal affect disorder which we call original sin, and the way it has turned us upside down. God loves us! That is the truth! So like a child who's disobeyed, we tend to think God hates us. Wrong again, little mustard seed! Yes, we've all disobeyed, but yes too, He always keeps loving us and can't wait for us to throw ourselves into His arms, or at least stop fighting a little when He picks us up and presses us to His Heart and covers us with kisses. . . 

Marcel is here to repeat that to us, and the only difference that matters between himself and Therese is this:

While their single message is that we are nothing and God is All, but He loves our littleness and loves to stoop down to our weakness and poverty and fill us with this All, the difference between Marcel and Therese is that while she has been glorified after her earthly death - raised quickly to canonized saint and named co-patroness of the missions with the great St. Francis Xavier, co-patroness of France with St. Denis and her heroine, St. Joan of Arc, and Doctor of the Church with St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Augustine, St. Francis de Sales, St. Alphonsus, et al., and in short, loved by the whole world - Marcel remains still merely a Servant of God and nearly, relatively, almost entirely unknown on earth!

But this is a marvel in itself and wholly wonderful, because the one thing that becomes hard for us is that while Therese preaches littleness and our acceptance and even our joy in littleness, she doesn't seem quite as little as she once was - especially if you have the chance to venerate her relics (see SCHEDULE HERE) when she's on a rock star tour of the USA, or if you have the chance to go to Lisieux and see her Basilica, built on the direct order of Pope Pius XI and magnificent, or if you do the easiest thing of all and call upon here wherever you are at this moment - Little Flower, in this hour, show your power! - and become (keep your eyes open or if it's time for a nap or bed, let your heart stay open!) the recipient of one of her countless roses, a heavenly grace of which you stand (or sit or lie down) in need.

This shouldn't vitiate her message, and it won't as long as copies of Story of a Soul are in print - and our latest estimate is (from the book A Shower of Roses by the lay archivist of the Lisieux Carmel, Camille Burette, who is the one who would know) 500 million copies exist by now. And yet it's kind of wonderful, kind of miraculous even, to have her message re-presented to us by someone so little and hidden that we don't even have relics. (Our little brother had the privilege of giving his life as a martyr in a communist concentration camp in Vietnam, and his body is lost to us.)

And yet, and yet, and yet . . . ah, the mysterious and wonderful plans of God who is Wisdom Incarnate. Jesus, thank You! Thank You for hiddenness, which You have chosen even till today in the years You spend with good St. Joseph and our Blessed Mother . . . which You spend at this moment in the Blessed Sacrament . . . which You give to us in the lives of so many of Your favorite saints: men and women we thank You for letting us know, even when they are hidden from the rest of the world!

One of my favorite sayings of Jesus to a saint was also loved by Therese. She put it at the top of her poem, "Jesus, My Beloved, Remember" written for her sister Celine. Therese quotes Jesus' adorable revelation to St. Gertrude:

"My daughter, seek those words of mine which most exude love. Write them down, and then, keeping them preciously like relics, take care to reread them often. . . Be assured that the most precious relics of mine on earth are my words of love, the words which have come from my most sweet Heart."

In my favorite book of all time, Marcel's Conversations with Jesus, Mary, and Therese of the Child Jesus, we have the relics of both Jesus and Marcel (not to mention Mary and Therese), because we have their words which most exude love.

I'm delighted from the tips of my toes to the very top of my new gray-curly-mop-of-post-cancer-treatment-hair that day after day I get to write about (and especially read) these words of love. Thank You, Jesus, for the hidden saints. Let them remain hidden, but be sure to reveal their words of love - Your words of love - to every soul in need of them. 

Blessed be God in His angels and in His saints!

Draw me; we will run!!!

O Little Therese of the Child Jesus
Please pick for me a rose from the heavenly garden
and send it to me as a message of love.

O Little Flower of Jesus,
please ask God to grant us the favors
We now place with confidence in your hands . . . 

St. Therese, help us to always believe as you did,
in God’s great love for us,
so that we may imitate your “Little Way” each day.
Amen.

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Happiest Feast of our little sister, St. Therese!!!

I'm delighted to announce that roses are on sale at Costco! This might help you to help St. Therese to shower roses on those around you today in honor of her feast, and especially in honor of the tenderly solicitous love of Jesus shown to us in and through her life. But if these Costco-Therese roses in the photo above are the only roses that cross your path today, consider yourself showered!

I've had the pleasure lately of speaking a lot (more than usual!) about St. Therese because I'm helping Angelico Press get the word out about a glorious book, also pictured above. Written by Camille Burette, lay archivist of the Lisieux Carmel (yes, she has my dream job, but yes, the Holy Spirit not having yet infused French into my sieve-like brain, I'm a bit underqualified to take her place), A Shower of Roses: The Most Beautiful Miracles of Saint Therese of Lisieux is a very easy book to talk about because it is MARVELOUS! - Literally full of marvels taken from the over 13, 500 miracles catalogued and accounted for in the Lisieux Carmel. That's a lot of roses! No wonder I have so much to say!

Then there's rock-star Therese's Jubilee US tour of hope that starts today at her National Shrine in Royal Oak, Michigan and continues on until December 8, Our Lady's day, taking Therese to 11 states (maybe yours!!!) including my own, with a special stop at my alma mater down the street, Thomas Aquinas College.

I hope you can meet her at one of her 40 stops, but if not, know that I am asking my angel to bring you with us when we get to spend 24 hours in her august if sleepy presence. Which one of us will be sleepy? Well, she promised not really to rest in Heaven since she planned to do good on earth until the end of time, so I guess I'll be the one snoozing in the front pew! This is good because I'll give her full access to my heart, where she'll find YOU and then she can get to work while I dream.

I've been talking so much about St. Therese because there are something like a million awesome Catholic radio hosts and podcasters out there, and they all know that Therese is a saint ready to befriend us and lead us straight into the arms of Jesus. I am so edified!!!

And what have I been saying? Let's boil it down to three main ingredients:

1. Therese's whole raison d'etre (that's her reason for being) is JESUS, our Brother, our True Love, our Best Friend, and the Spouse of our souls. She wants us to know Him like she did so that we can love Him like she does. And what exactly does she want us to know? His infinite love for us, and the absolute safety, comfort, and relief of abandoning ourselves into His arms like a child asleep in its Father's arms. This is her Little Way and why she is a Doctor of the Church. The book to read to find out more is her Story of a Soul.

2. She promised, "I will spend my Heaven doing good on earth. I will let fall a shower of roses!" And she has! And she does! And she will! If you need encouragement, I highly recommend reading A Shower of Roses, as well as asking for some!

3. Relics are powerful witnesses to God's love because they connect us physically to one (a saint) whom the Church has assured us in Heaven and thus wholly integrated with Christ. As St. Thomas, our big Doctor says: 

"Now it is manifest that we should show honor to the saints of God, as being members of Christ, the children and friends of God, and our intercessors. Wherefore in memory of them we ought to honor any relics of theirs in a fitting manner: principally their bodies, which were temples, and organs of the Holy Ghost dwelling and operating in them, and are destined to be likened to the body of Christ by the glory of the Resurrection. Hence God Himself fittingly honors such relics by working miracles at their presence."

Which means that St. Therese, fulfilling her dream to bring the Gospel, that is, Jesus, to the ends of the earth, is touring the USA now in order that she might obtain for us many and sundry miracles! So if you can go to visit her relics (see SCHEDULE HERE), please do go! And if, alas, you cannot, then don't mope, just repeat after me: Little Flower in this hour show your power!!!

The one thing I remember best from Pope Francis' pontificate is his amazing Apostolic Exhortation on St. Therese, "C'est le Confiance." And in particular, I like to return to the beginning: 

“C’est la confiance et rien que la confiance qui doit nous conduire à l’Amour.” “It is confidence and nothing but confidence that must lead us to Love.” These striking words of Saint Therese of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face say it all. They sum up the genius of her spirituality and would suffice to justify the fact that she has been named a Doctor of the Church.

                                                                                  *   *   *

If you, like most of us, feel sometimes bereft of confidence, then do what I do: ask the little Queen of Confidence, our sister St. Therese, to give you hers. Remind her: She doesn't need it anymore because she's right there with God who is Love, and she KNOWS His infinite mercy even more than ever! Therefore, she can spare her confidence, giving it to us so that we too might throw ourselves without fear into our Father's arms, sure of His delight in having us there.

Before I fall asleep in my chair (practicing for the relics visit), let me close by wishing you again the happiest feast ever of St. Therese of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face! And don't forget that after we take a happy frolic and respite with the guardian angels tomorrow on their feast, the old (extraordinary form) calendar gives us St. Therese again the next day! May she take every possible opportunity in these festive days to shower you with roses and leave you in no doubt of God's absolutely limitless love for you and all those you love!

We've finished our triple novena, but just to conclude on a high note, let's throw in one last prayer:

Our Lady of Joyful Surprises, pray for us!
St. Padre Pio, pray for us!
St. Therese, the Little Flower, pray for us!
Little Servant of God Marcel Van, pray for us!

Blessed be God in His angels and in His saints!

Draw me, we will run!

P.S. For more Therese, you can go to my article on Catholic Exchange today, "The Twofold Secret of St. Therese of Lisieux." There are many fun links to more Therese-stuff there, but best of all is the photo of her that tops the article. It isn't this one (below), but I can't resist giving her the parting gaze. She is so wise and so wonderful! We love you, little Therese!

Happy Feast of St. Padre Pio! Are you ready for a good and true story?

Once when Padre Pio was a young priest, a Frenchwoman brought him a picture of Sister Therese of Lisieux. He was filled with joy and exclaimed, "She is a saint! A very great saint!"

When, however, the woman asked him to bless the picture, Padre Pio refused, saying, "I cannot bless the image of this nun, for she has not yet been beatified, but one day she will ascend all the altars because she is Saint, a very great Saint!"

A few years later Padre Pio was seen at the beatification of St. Therese, even though he never left his friary at San Giovanni Rotondo. How sweet a devotion he had to her, using his gift of bilocation to witness this big step in her glorification. What a wonderful holy affection our Padre had for this "very great saint!" I like to think that in the picture above he's reading Story of a Soul, the book that took the whole world by storm.

Pio's appearance at Therese's beatification was the only instance I knew of his bilocating for his own edification, until I recently read about his trips to the tomb of St. Pius X in the crypt of St. Peter's. Witnesses saw him there on five different occasions. Later, Padre Pio said, "I never met Leo XIII nor Pius X, but certainly this last one is the most sympathetic of all the popes I know from St. Peter down; for he is so simple and humble that he, more than anyone else, resembles Christ through his simplicity and humbleness."

Considering St. Padre Pio's gift for reading souls, it's fair to guess that his estimation of the popes "from St. Peter down" has more than a mere human calculation to it. And how wonderful that he seizes upon the very virtues that Christ has held up for our imitation in Himself, which are also (no accident!) Therese's most prized "possessions." Or to speak more accurately, her own favorite gifts from God.

I've been rejoicing lately, as Jesus did, in the Father's unexpected but eternal decrees. We didn't get to celebrate St. Matthew's feast on Sunday (because the solemnity of our "little Easter" takes precedence), but here is a passage we can thank him for, even at the same time as we join Our Beloved in thanking the One from Whom all good and perfect gifts come:

At that time, Jesus declared, "I thank Thee, Father, Lord of Heaven and earth, that Thou hast hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little ones. Yes, Father, for such was Thy gracious will. All things have been delivered to Me by My Father and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and any one to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him. Come to Me, all who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light."

Our little sister St. Therese and our big brother Padre Pio both took Jesus at His word. She insisted on a little way to God that would be "very direct, very short, and entirely new," and found that way smack dab in the middle of Jesus' embrace. Let Him do the heavy lifting, she counsels!

As for Padre Pio, I love asking him to give us his love of the Rosary, for while this was one prayer our dear Therese found (to her surprise, for she loved the Blessed Virgin so much) nearly impossible to say alone, one more charism of Pio's was his indefatigable devotion to saying his beads. When asked, "How can you say so many rosaries each day?" he answered, "How can you not?" I love that the saints find easy what we (and even other saints!) may find far beyond our ken. And yet, how natural, or rather how supernatural, for it is His yoke, not ours, that is easy. O Jesus, let's trade!!!

It is literally wonderful to ponder the resemblances between these two very great saints so seemingly different. Last year at this time, I found the time and place to wax eloquent (and I resemble Therese in that I'm surprised, for I didn't remember these public appearances) at both Catholic Exchange and on Ave Maria in the Afternoon, and you can read or listen, depending on your preference and whether you click on THIS (to read the article at CE) or THIS (to listen to my 10 minutes with Dr. Marcus Peters).

Finally, though, and this time completely unsurprisingly because she is the Doctor of the Church among us, Therese expresses her and Pio's similarities and common sanctity most pithily and best when she says, explaining our Blessed Mother's words in the Magnificat:

"I prefer, therefore, to own in all simplicity that, 'He that is mighty hath done great things to me,' and the greatest of all is that He has shown me my littleness and how of myself I am incapable of anything good." (Story of a Soul, Manuscript C)

Ah, mystery of sanctity and love! How can we be so relieved to find ourselves entirely poor?

Again St. Matthew comes to our assistance with his inerrant account of Jesus' answer:

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven!

In our poverty, let's not forget to ask for EVERYTHING we need (and for everything needed by those we love, those who've asked for our prayers, and those for whom we've promised to pray - and then those who need our prayers too) with a simple prayer to conclude the second part of our triple novena:

St. Padre Pio and St. Thérèse, come down from Heaven and show us the love that the Blessed Trinity has for us, inspire in us a love for the rosary, and obtain for us the grace to be living tabernacles for Jesus. Amen.

I slipped in that last bit about being living tabernacles because it was another miraculous grace Pio and Therese shared, and one which they highly recommend to us! I'm so convinced of their determination to share this gift that I even wrote a book about it: Something New with St. Therese: Her Eucharistic Miracle.

One of my favorite passages from St. Therese, and one which I never tire of quoting, is her letter to her sister and godmother Marie of the Sacred Heart (the famous Letter 197 from September 17, 1896) in which she joyfully insists that "It is confidence and nothing but confidence that must lead us to Love." What a perfect note on which to begin the final jaunt of our triple novena to her feast. If you worry that you don't have enough confidence, relax, because our sister in Heaven is ready to share hers! Let's listen to her reassurance:

"Ah! I feel that what pleases the Good Lord in my little soul is to see me love my littleness and my poverty, it is the blind hope that I have in His mercy... This is my only treasure, darling, why shouldn't this treasure be yours?...
                O my darling Sister, please understand your little girl, understand that to love Jesus, to be His victim of love, the weaker one is, without desires or virtues, the more fit one is for the operations of this consuming and transforming love... The mere desire to be a victim is enough, but you have to agree to remain poor and without strength and that is the difficult thing because “The truly poor in spirit, where to find him? You have to look for it far away” said the psalmist... He does not say that you have to look for it among great souls, but “far away,” that is to say, in nothingness ... Oh! so let's stay far away from everything that shines, love our littleness, love to feel nothing, then we will be poor in spirit and Jesus will come to get us, however far away we are, He will transform us into flames of love... Oh ! how I wish I could make you understand what I feel!... It is confidence and nothing but confidence that must lead us to Love... Since we see the way, let's run together. Yes, I feel it, Jesus wants to give us the same graces, he wants to give us His Heaven for free."

And to this, I hear Padre Pio concluding with his Italian accent, "Amen!"

But wait, dear Pio! We don't want to forget to say our novena!

O Little Therese of the Child Jesus
Please pick for me a rose from the heavenly garden
and send it to me as a message of love.

O Little Flower of Jesus,
please ask God to grant us the favors
We now place with confidence in your hands . . . 

St. Therese, help us to always believe as you did,
in God’s great love for us,
so that we may imitate your “Little Way” each day.
Amen.

Our triple novena ends on October 1st, our sister's feast AND the day her relics arrive in the USA! I hope you can find your way to her since she's traveling so far to get to us. You can check the schedule here:

https://stthereseusa2025.com/

And just in case you, like Padre Pio, can't get enough of prayer, here's a final one specifically for the joys and graces of the relic visit to come to fruition:

Heavenly Father, we thank You for bringing the relics of St. Thérèse here to us very soon. Continue to bless our preparations, and give us Your guidance, Your strength and Your peace. May our prayers and sacrifices help build up the Church: Give us conversions, healings and vocations. Fill our churches and our hearts with Your presence and Your joy. “May we love You and make You greatly loved.”  

Grant this through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Our Lady of the Smile, pray for us.
St. Joseph, pray for us.
Sts. Louis and Zélie Martin, pray for us.
St. Thérèse, pray for us.

​Draw me, we will run!

And now, since it's our dear Padre's feast day, how about one last laugh?

Today is the feast of St. Joseph of Cupertino, a saint who is described (in traditional accounts) as "remarkably unclever." And yet, mysteries ever ancient, ever new, he's the very one whom generations of students have called upon to help them in exam time. Why?

Let's allow St. Therese to tell the story, for she too knew of our hero. Her sister Celine (Sister Genevieve in the Carmel) remarked to Therese on July 12, 1897 (just 2 and a half months before Therese flew the coop for Heaven):

"God will not be able to take me immediately after your death because I won't be good enough."

Therese replied:

"It makes no difference; you remember St. Joseph Cupertino, his intelligence was mediocre, and he was uninstructed, knowing perfectly only this verse of the Gospel: Beatus venter qui te. Blessed is the womb that bore thee from St. Luke. Questioned precisely on this subject, he answered so well that all were in admiration, and he was received with great honors for the priesthood, along with his three companions, without any further examination. For they judged after hearing his sublime answers that his companions knew as perfectly as he did."

Therese concludes:

"Thus I will answer for you, and God will give you gratis all He will have already given to me!"

This is glorious news for the rest of us! I take from this that all we need to do is hang onto the skirts or coattails of some kindly saint (and they are ALL kindly!), and we're in!

Who will it be for you?
I've got the bottom of Marcel's soutane in one hand, and Therese's habit in the other.
But if you are looking for someone bigger (they are awfully little), you could grab that rope tied around Padre Pio's waist!

He had a lot to say too on the subject of getting his friends and spiritual children into Heaven. Let's see what we can find for our happy contemplation. He and St. Joseph Cupertino were both Franciscans, and it's just the Franciscan way to generously help others (the poorer the better) into the embrace of Christ. . . 

Oh, here's a good Padre Pio quote! Forget holding onto coattails - why not climb on his shoulders? For it was our dear father Pio who said: 

"When the Lord entrusts a soul to me, I place it on my shoulder and never let it go."

And what else does he say? I've found something even better, just in case you were worried you'd be lonely up there on his shoulder with all your loved ones grabbing at the skirts and cassocks of other saints, or worse yet, not having seen this post, perhaps your loved ones aren't grabbing at all! But no worries, it's against our religion! Instead, listen to Padre Pio's reassurance:

"I love my Spiritual Children as much as my own soul and even more."
and
"Once I take a soul on, I also take on their entire family as my spiritual children."

Okay, then! What shall we do to become spiritual children of Padre Pio? Well first off, let's stop being afraid of him. Since a picture is worth a thousand words, I'm going to give you a good thousand on not fearing such a loving father:

And he's not only smiling, he's holding a book in his arms. What do you think? Therese's Story of a Soul? Marcel's Conversations? Perhaps it's a P.G. Wodehouse! It's sure making him chuckle!

The point is, no more worries any more ever, as Jesus told Marcel. And we here at Miss Marcel's Musings add: Not even a worry about whether Padre Pio will take you on as his spiritual child (and whether he'll be gentle and mild with you if he does). We have it on good authority: the Church has proclaimed Padre Pio a saint, and we know saints are like Jesus. What is Jesus like? He tells us, "Learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble of heart." No more worries then, just confidence that you'll be treated like the remarkably unclever child that you are. Which means Padre Pio will get Joseph of Cupertino or St. Therese or even St. Thomas Aquinas to answer the tough questions for you. Your job is simply to sit on his shoulder and enjoy the view!

Here, then, in the midst of our triple novena, is a prayer to become a spiritual child of Padre Pio's. Don't be scared - there's no scary thing, only Love here! 

Ready, set, go!

Dear Padre Pio, I recall your promise to the Lord, “I will stand at the gates of heaven until I see all my spiritual children have entered.” Encouraged by your gracious promise, I ask you to accept me as your spiritual child.

And just to keep up with our triple novena prayer to Our Lady:

Blessed Mother of those whose names you can read in my heart, watch over them with every care. Make their way easy and their labors fruitful. Dry their tears if they weep; sanctify their joys; raise their courage if they weaken; restore their hope if they lose heart, their health if they be ill, truth if they err, and repentance if they fall. Amen.

St. Padre Pio, pray for us!
St. Joseph of Cupertino, pray for us!
Remarkably unclever but delightful little brother Marcel, pray for us!
​St. Therese of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face, pray for us and don't forget to shower down roses on all those who have asked for our prayers, all those for whom we've promised to pray, all those needing our prayers, and . . . us!

Draw me; we will run!

Blessed Mother of those whose names you can read in my heart, watch over them with every care. Make their way easy and their labors fruitful. Dry their tears if they weep; sanctify their joys; raise their courage if they weaken; restore their hope if they lose heart, their health if they be ill, truth if they err, and repentance if they fall. Amen.

As we finish the first nine days of our triple novena, we find ourselves on the Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows, originally (in the 12th century) the Feast of Our Lady of Compassion.

Just as she had compassion for Jesus in His sufferings on Calvary, so too she has compassion on us in all our sufferings. On Good Friday of 1946, Jesus explained to our little brother Marcel Van the depth of Our Blessed Mother's love for us, and I can't find any words better for this feast. Jesus said, speaking of His Passion:

Finding myself in the presence of my Mother, I suffered with joy. At that moment, when all the creatures of the world seemed to have abandoned me, only my Mother remained to comfort me. Even God the Father seemed to wish no longer to look at me; but my Mother Mary did not cease to look at me until the time when I escaped from suffering. Oh! Little brother, Mary is your real Mother as well as mine. When she sees you suffer, she is closer to you to console you, for all time until you, too, will have escaped all suffering. Mary, you are the true Mother of Marcel, the real Mother of all souls; never be far from your children.

Mary is your true Mother, and you are really her child. Always think of her; she understands you better than you understand yourself. She knows your sufferings, she is always close to you, carrying you unceasingly in her arms and covering you with kisses . . . 

Little brother, no matter how great your sufferings, always remind yourself that I, also, have suffered, but Mary has comforted Me. It will be the same for you. Mary will never abandon you in your suffering. Besides, when you suffer, it is she who suffers even more, since she is your Mother . . . 

*  *  *

We know from our own experience that those who love each other hate to see each other suffer, and yet what a unique case for Jesus and Mary. They knew the great good this suffering of Jesus on the Cross and Mary at His feet would gain for the rest of us, and so in the mystery of God, they could find joy too. 

Thank you, Blessed Mother, for accepting all your sorrows and suffering with us too. Now as we head toward your beloved son Padre Pio's feast, help his sentiments and his love for you become ours too!

We have nine days to September 23rd, and many miracles to request. Padre Pio, like our sister St. Therese, loves to shower miracles upon those who seek his help. I know for myself I have trouble remembering all the intentions I want to pray for, and new ones are added each day. Let's trust Our Lady to know the deepest desires of our hearts as well as the needs of those we love, and let's begin again:

Blessed Mother of those whose names you can read in my heart, watch over them with every care. Make their way easy and their labors fruitful. Dry their tears if they weep; sanctify their joys; raise their courage if they weaken; restore their hope if they lose heart, their health if they be ill, truth if they err, and repentance if they fall. Amen.

St. Padre Pio, pray for us!

Draw me; we will run!

​From the canonization homily of Pope Leo XIV:  "In the first reading, we heard a question: "Who has learned Your counsel, unless You have given wisdom and sent Your Holy Spirit from on high?” (Wis 9:17).  This question comes after two young Blesseds, Pier Giorgio Frassati and Carlo Acutis, were proclaimed saints, and this is providential . . . 

Jesus, too, in the Gospel, speaks to us of a plan to which we must commit wholeheartedly.  He says: “Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple” (Lk 14:27); and again: “None of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions” (v. 33).  He calls us to abandon ourselves without hesitation to the adventure that He offers us, with the intelligence and strength that comes from His Spirit, that we can receive to the extent that we empty ourselves of the things and ideas to which we are attached, in order to listen to His word.

Many young people, over the centuries, have had to face this crossroad in their lives.  Think of Saint Francis of Assisi, like Solomon, he too was young and rich, thirsty for glory and fame.  That is why he went to war, hoping to be knighted and adorned with honors.  But Jesus appeared to him along the way and asked him to reflect on what he was doing.  Coming to his senses, he asked God a simple question: “Lord, what do You want me to do?” From there, he changed his life and began to write a different story: the wonderful story of holiness that we all know, stripping himself of everything to follow the Lord, living in poverty and preferring the love of his brothers and sisters, especially the weakest and smallest, to his father’s gold, silver and precious fabrics.

How many similar saints we could recall!  Sometimes we portray them as great figures, forgetting that for them it all began when, while still young, they said “yes” to God and gave themselves to Him completely, keeping nothing for themselves.  Saint Augustine recounts that, in the “tortuous and tangled knot” of his life, a voice deep within him said: “I want you” (Confessions, II, 10,18). God gave him a new direction, a new path, a new reason, in which nothing of his life was lost.

In this setting, today we look to Saint Pier Giorgio Frassati and Saint Carlo Acutis: a young man from the early 20th century and a teenager from our own day, both in love with Jesus and ready to give everything for Him.

Pier Giorgio encountered the Lord through school and church groups — Catholic Action, the Conferences of Saint Vincent, the Italian Catholic University Federation, the Dominican Third Order — and he bore witness to God with his joy of living and of being a Christian in prayer, friendship and charity.  This was so evident that seeing him walking the streets of Turin with carts full of supplies for the poor, his friends renamed him “Frassati Impresa Trasporti” (Frassati Transport Company)! Even today, Pier Giorgio’s life is a beacon for lay spirituality.  For him, faith was not a private devotion, but it was driven by the power of the Gospel and his membership in ecclesial associations.  He was also generously committed to society, contributed to political life and devoted himself ardently to the service of the poor.

Carlo, for his part, encountered Jesus in his family, thanks to his parents, Andrea and Antonia — who are here today with his two siblings, Francesca and Michele — and then at school, and above all in the sacraments celebrated in the parish community.  He grew up naturally integrating prayer, sport, study and charity into his days as a child and young man.

Both Pier Giorgio and Carlo cultivated their love for God and for their brothers and sisters through simple acts, available to everyone: daily Mass, prayer, and especially Eucharistic Adoration.  Carlo used to say: “In front of the sun, you get a tan. In front of the Eucharist, you become a saint!”  And again: “Sadness is looking at yourself; happiness is looking at God.  Conversion is nothing more than shifting your gaze from below to above; a simple movement of the eyes is enough.”  Another essential practice for them was frequent Confession.  Carlo wrote: “The only thing we really have to fear is sin,” and he marveled because — in his own words — “People are so concerned with the beauty of their bodies and do not care about the beauty of their souls.” Finally, both had a great devotion to the saints and to the Virgin Mary, and they practiced charity generously.  Pier Giorgio said: “Around the poor and the sick, I see a light that we do not have."  He called charity “the foundation of our religion” and, like Carlo, he practiced it above all through small, concrete gestures, often hidden, living what Pope Francis called “a holiness found in our next-door neighbors.” 

Even when illness struck them and cut short their young lives, not even this stopped them nor prevented them from loving, offering themselves to God, blessing Him and praying to Him for themselves and for everyone.  One day Pier Giorgio said: “The day of my death will be the most beautiful day of my life."  On his last photo, which shows him climbing a mountain in the Val di Lanzo, with his face turned towards his goal, he wrote: “Upwards."  Moreover, Carlo, who was even younger than Pier Giorgio, loved to say that heaven has always been waiting for us, and that to love tomorrow is to give the best of our fruit today.

Dear friends, Saints Pier Giorgio Frassati and Carlo Acutis are an invitation to all of us, especially young people, not to squander our lives, but to direct them upwards and make them masterpieces. They encourage us with their words: “Not I, but God,” as Carlo used to say. And Pier Giorgio: “If you have God at the center of all your actions, then you will reach the end.”  This is the simple but winning formula of their holiness.  It is also the type of witness we are called to follow, in order to enjoy life to the full and meet the Lord in the feast of heaven."

*    *    *

St. Pier Giorgio and St. Carlo, pray for us, and pray with us as we begin our triple novena of love! We ask you to be near us, and help us see more clearly her whom you now see face to face, our Blessed Mother of Joyful Surprises, the birthday girl! She drew you to Jesus in your lives and in your holy passage to Heaven - ask her to bring Jesus very close to us too, and take care of all the intentions we present before her now: those remembered, and those we have forgotten, the intentions of those we love and of those who need our love. Pray with us brothers, in this octave of your glorification, and ask our Mama with us:

Blessed Mother of those whose names you can read in my heart, watch over them with every care. Make their way easy and their labors fruitful. Dry their tears if they weep; sanctify their joys; raise their courage if they weaken; restore their hope if they lose heart, their health if they be ill, truth if they err, and repentance if they fall. Amen.

*   *   *

Due to technical difficulties beyond our control (i.e. the Holy Spirit), this post didn't automatically fly to the inboxes of subscribers yesterday when it was first written. As always, God's will is quite a bit more brilliant than ours, and the delay brought to our attention that our triple novena (which started yesterday, but if you missed opening day, just hop in now, there's plenty of days left) began on the Vigil of Mary's Birthday!

This makes more sense of my invoking Our Lady of Joyful Surprises (I'll credit the Holy Spirit with that one too) even though the first of our three novenas ends on the feast of Our Lady of Sorrows. Well, now's the time to cash in on that saying which always seemed so dubious to me (though no doubt it's true) that they're all the same Our Lady!

The truth, which I've mentioned here before, is that Marcel and I are not big fans of sorrow. He is constantly complaining (well, he was back in the day when he wrote his wonderful and highly recommended Conversations with Jesus, Mary, and St. Therese) of "degout" which turns out to be a French-Vietnamese version of disgust. Marcel found that while he loved Jesus like crazy and got to spend time with Him every day, he still suffered the typical ups and downs (suffering particularly from the downs) the rest of us experience . . . but Jesus, Mary, and Therese kept reminding him to love Jesus in joy. Whether he experienced sorrow and needed to cry, or happiness and needed to laugh, they encouraged him to be joyful in his love for Jesus.

So with us too, as with Marcel and St. Therese before him, let's ask Our Lady for the Joy that first dwelt incarnate in her womb. She is the cause of our joy and full of joyful surprises because she is the Mother of Jesus, source of all joy. 

Little Jesus, on this day of your beautiful Mother's own birth, please shower us with the gifts she holds in her Immaculate Heart in such abundance: Joy, confidence, hope, charity, love, peace, gentleness, sweetness, and the miracles that will bring all these beautiful sparkling facets of Our Lady to those for whom we pray!

Draw me; we will run!

Last night at the tale end of St. Mother Teresa's feast, I looked for her Collect and found a treasure trove. It turns out that when Holy Mother Church chose the liturgical readings to accompany her feast, she gave us Mother Teresa's last letter, written just a few hours before she died on September 5, 1997. And what a letter it is!

What moved me most in this most moving of letters was the conclusion. In the final words Mother wrote, words of gratitude which the Church now presents to us every year in the liturgy, we find her joyfully pointing us to none other than her patron saint and inspiration, St. Therese, the Little Flower!

I was stunned. The first part of Mother's letter contains a wealth of good counsel, most notably her reminder to her sisters (and now to us) of our route to Jesus through Mary. But then she takes the next step along the Little Way and thanks God for the gift of St. Therese and her newly announced Doctorate. I would have been simply delighted to find that Mother Teresa herself delighted, hours before she went to join her patroness, in the news of St. Therese's impending honors, but to find that the Church has captured and saved these words - not just as a snapshot or memory, but as a liturgical text! - has filled my cup to overflowing.

I think the best way to give you this treasure chest is not to show you its gems one by one, but simply to hand the whole thing over. Here, then, for your enrichment and delectation, is the second reading of the Office of Readings for the Divine Office (Liturgy of the Hours) of September 5th, St. Mother Teresa's feast:

 My dearest Children,

This brings you Mother’s love, prayer and blessing that each one of you may be only all for Jesus through Mary. I know that Mother says often–“Be only all for Jesus through Mary”–but that is because that is all Mother wants for you, all Mother wants from you. If in your heart you are only all for Jesus through Mary, and if you do everything only all for Jesus through Mary, you will be a true Missionary of Charity. Thank you for all the loving wishes you sent for the Society Feast.

We have much to thank God for, especially that He has given us Our Lady’s spirit to be the spirit of our Society. Loving Trust and Total Surrender made Our Lady say “Yes” to the message of the angel, and Cheerfulness made her to run in haste to serve her cousin Elizabeth. That is so much our life--saying “Yes” to Jesus and running in haste to serve Him in the poorest of the poor.

Let us keep close to Our Lady and she will make that same spirit grow in each one of us. September 10th is coming very close. That is another beautiful chance for us to stand near Our Lady, to listen to the Thirst of Jesus and to answer with our whole heart. It is only with Our Lady that we can hear Jesus cry, “I Thirst”, and it is only with Our Lady that we can thank God properly for giving this great gift to our Society.

Last year was the Golden Jubilee of Inspiration Day, and I hope that the whole year has been one of thanksgiving. We will never come to the end of the gift that came to Mother for the Society on that day, and so we must never stop thanking for it. Let our gratitude be our strong resolution to quench the Thirst of Jesus by lives of real charity–love for Jesus in prayer, love for Jesus in our Sisters, love for Jesus in the poorest of the poor–nothing else.

And now I have heard that Jesus is giving us one more gift. This year, one hundred years after she went home to Jesus, Holy Father is declaring Little Flower to be a Doctor of the Church. Can you imagine–for doing little things with great love the Church is making her a Doctor, like St. Augustine and the big St. Teresa! It is just like Jesus said in the Gospel to the one who was seated in the lowest place, “Friend, come up higher.”

So let us keep very small and follow Little Flower’s way of trust and love and joy, and we will fulfill Mother’s promise to give saints to mother Church.

*    *     *

"We will never come to the end of the gift . . . and so we must never stop thanking for it."

These 19 words from St. Mother Teresa constitute my new spiritual maxim. How true! How wise! How encouraging a little way this is! For as St. Therese puts it, our own Doctor encouraging us to become saints as she encouraged Mother Teresa before us:

"Jesus does not demand great actions from us, but simply surrender and gratitude." (Story of a Soul)

And since God's love is infinite, since He is goodness itself and goodness is diffusive of itself, since His mercies never end, but in fact are new every morning, there are more gifts (and thus more gratitude) in our near future . . . 

Tomorrow, Sunday, September 7, 2025, the solemn Canonization Mass for Blessed Carlo Acutis and Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati will take place at 10:00 a.m. in St. Peter's Square, Rome. That's 4:00 a.m. for East Coasters and 1:00 a.m. for West Coasters. Apparently, you can watch the event via livestream through Vatican News or EWTN, or alternatively, in line with another liturgical text, since "He pours gifts on His beloved while they slumber," you can dream happily of the canonization while you sleep (or simply sleep like a rock) and wake to find two new saints lighting the Little Way for us.

I'm thrilled to announce that with the delay of first Carlo's canonization and then Pier's, and finally with their dual canonization happening tomorrow, Holy Mother Church has given us a special double anointing to consecrate the Return of the Triple Novena!

Yes, tomorrow will begin our novena from September 7 (day of canonization of Saints Pier Giorgio and Carlo) to September 15, Our Lady of Sorrows, on which day we'll begin our second novena leading from Our Lady of Sorrows (Sept. 15) to St. Padre Pio (Sept. 23). Then on Padre Pio's day (Sept. 23) we'll begin our third novena to Our Guiding Star, Little St. Therese of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face, to end on her feast (October 1st), perhaps in exhaustion, but certainly in exhilaration over all our answered prayers and the miracles raining down like roses around us for our families, our friends, and the Church and the world!

If that looked, sounded like, or felt like a lot of gobbledy-gook and a jumble of dates and feasts and too many novenas, sit back and relax (or close the computer and go for a nice, brisk walk), and leave the details to us. We here at Miss Marcel's Musings started this mess of a triple novena, and it's up to us to finish it. 

As always, we'll be praying for ALL your intentions, and the terms of the Triple Novena, like Calvinball from Calvin and Hobbes of yore, while not quite ever-changing, have a few innovative aspects worth noting. First, just by reading this, you are enrolled! Second, by saying one of the prayers or even a simple, "Help, please" shot up toward Heaven, you're considered to have participated in the whole thing. And third, well worth repeating, Every Single One of your intentions ever - those you remember, those you've forgotten, and those yet to come - will be included in our prayers.

We won't make this complicated, despite the sound of it, because in the words of our little Doctor St. Therese, "Prayer is a burst from the heart, it is a simple glance thrown toward Heaven, a cry of thanksgiving and love in times of trial as well as in times of joy." 

We plan to have one prayer for the whole 25 days (and see how we've made our triple novena, which you'd think would be 3 x 9, so 27 days, come out even littler!), and I'm hoping by the end to have memorized it, though I doubt I'll manage that since I seem to put one more thing in my little Pooh brain only to have something else fall out the other side!

We'll officially begin tomorrow, but if you want to get a jump on things, or simply read to the end of this post, here is our time-honored and well-proven Triple Novena prayer. 

Blessed Mother of those whose names you can read in my heart, watch over them with every care. Make their way easy and their labors fruitful. Dry their tears if they weep; sanctify their joys; raise their courage if they weaken; restore their hope if they lose heart, their health if they be ill, truth if they err, and repentance if they fall. Amen.

Draw me; we will run!

p.s. I almost forgot: here is a LINK (just click on LINK) to the rest of Mother Teresa's liturgical texts. It is stunningly beautiful how the Church chooses the favorite gospels and messages from the saints to adorn their feasts and inspire us to follow their lead . . . St. Mother Teresa, pray for us!

Times, they're always a'changin', but whether you like to keep up with them or hearken back to the older traditions, either way you gotta admit that Saints Joachim and Anne are the cat's pajamas!

I've only been discovering them in recent years, but how wonderful they are, and how much there is to muse on when we consider their life and the miracles that surrounded them. You don't have to know much (and believe me, I don't!) but can simply start with this:

Joachim and Anne are the parents of Mary who was conceived without sin.
Mary is the Virgin Mother of Jesus, the Incarnate Second Person of the Blessed Trinity.
To put it more simply, as they did at Ephesus, Mary is the Mother of God.
Without worrying about which type of syllogism this is, we can say conclusively from the above:
Joachim and Anne are the grandparents of God!

Above you can see a photo of St. Anne teaching Mary how to read while Joachim looks on proudly and the angels hover about in awe.

And below? I couldn't resist finding a picture (thank you, Getty Images) to illustrate the truth I so happily discovered in my morning prayer (from the Divine Office):

"The saints will exult in glory: they will sing for joy as they bow down before the Lord. Alleluia!"

As I didn't have a photo of Joachim pretending to be a lion while he play-bowed down before his sweet grandson Jesus, I had to settle for this Getty Image which pictures a grandfather kneeling before his grandson while playing blocks. I bet Jesus had a fabulous set of wooden blocks thanks to St. Joseph's ability and love for Him! And can't you guess that Grandpa Joachim would have spent time on the floor, kneeling before his Lord (Who was also his grandson!), playing with the blocks and the Boy? Marcel is delighting in the possible Vietnamese look of these two in the photo, and so am I!

Today we celebrate the feast of Saints Joachim and Anne in the new calendar. I looked up their feasts in the old missal (1962) and discovered that Joachim was separated from Anne, or rather his feast was apart, perhaps so that we could really revel in their privileges - twice! St. Anne was celebrated on this day, July 26, but here is what we find in the explanation for St. Joachim's feast on August 16:

St. Joachim. Confessor, Father of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
The holy Patriarch Joachim was the husband of St. Anne, and the father of Our Lady. This feast, originally kept on March 20, was transferred to the day following the Assumption, in order to associate the Blessed Daughter and her holy father in triumph.

*  *  *

I love being reminded that nothing stays the same on this earth, not feasts, and I suppose not famines, despite the constant recurrence of both! I love that St. Joachim and St. Anne have been reunited in one feast, even as I lament that when we come to St. Martha in a few days time, we've now got her sis and bro, Mary and Lazarus, tacked on.

​And yet why should I resent their seeming intrusion? Don't I want the octave day of St. Mary Magdalene to remind us that she who chose the better part was lovingly fed and clothed by her sister Martha-Martha and her brother Lazarus? Don't I want to have another day to recall Bethany, their home, the home they so generously shared with Jesus whenever He came to town? Isn't it awesome that each of these three siblings has a special moment (or several) with Jesus - that He had a particular relationship with each one, and we need to remember them all: All three of the sibs, and as many of the moments as we can cram into the liturgy of these days?

I suppose I'm jealous for Martha-Martha, wanting to give her a day all for herself, a day when she, in perfect Martha fashion, can come to the fore and . . . put up her feet and be feted? That was never her way! My guess is that she much prefers the new combo-pack feast of July 29 so that she can have more of an occasion on which to serve serenely (for I'm sure she learned her lesson just as Emma did - both of these amazing gals, one real and one as true to human nature as the great Jane could make her, learning their lesson with just one scolding from their heroes).

I am grateful for the many liturgical calendars that grace my kitchen countertop, and whether I'm celebrating with the Universal Church in the ordinary or extraordinary calendar, the Carmelites, or the French (thanks to the Sanctuary of Lisieux I can stay on top of Therese's dates and various French feasts along with the rest), there is always more to celebrate.

Dear Saint Anne and Saint Joachim, parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and grandparents of Jesus, our Divine Savior, have pity on thy loving and trusting clients, and listen to the petitions which we present before thee.

Oh, blessed Saints, thou art both most dear to the Heart of Jesus, Whose beloved Mother was thy own tender, devoted child! Can He refuse anything to thee, in whose veins the same blood flowed which afterwards furnished the precious price of our Redemption? Great Saints, nothing was impossible to thy power and influence over the young Jesus "Who grew and waxed strong, full of wisdom" under the maternal care of thy glorious Daughter. In mercy and compassion, be like unto Him "Who went about doing good," and come to the aid of thy servants in our great necessity!

Saint Anne, Saint Joachim, beloved parents of Mary, "our life, our sweetness and our hope," pray to her for us and obtain our requests. Amen.

Draw me, we will run!

"I have said everything! Everything is summed up in love and confidence." - Servant of God Marcel Van

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When we read this quote, we may think we are hearing from the Little Flower - and we are, but this is Jesus' 2nd Little Flower, Marcel Van, little brother of the 1st Little Flower, St. Therese of Lisieux (also known as St. Therese of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face). Their message is the same, for Therese personally taught Marcel her Little Way, and in it everything is summed up in love and confidence!

And today, on the anniversary of Marcel's release from earthly life - the day that could become his official feast if, God willing, he is someday beatified and canonized - what a perfect opportunity for him to remind us of the importance of love and confidence.

The photo above shows Marcel in Hanoi, Vietnam, not long before the Communists arrested him on trumped up charges as he was returning to the Redemptorist house from the marketplace on May 7, 1955. This was only about eight months after Marcel had returned to North Vietnam from the safety of Saigon in the South. Ah, but he could never resist Jesus' call!  Marcel had said, "I am going back so there is someone who loves God amid the Communists," and in God's mysterious providence, he had taken the last plane that went from the south to the north. The date was September 14, 1954, the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. Marcel was 26 years old, and as he wrote to his sister Anne Marie, "There was so much insistence in Jesus' voice! And that is why I willingly accept to die in order to give a little consolation to the Heart of my Beloved." He continued, "Pray a lot, little sister, to obtain for me the courage to bear everything right to the end."

We read in Marcel's Conversations that on many occasions Our Lady asked Marcel to pray for her little apostles who would come later. Marcel did so pray, and we were among those for whom he was praying! Let's take a moment now, then, to return the favor. We know Marcel did make it to the end with courage (the end that was the beginning of eternal life), but what joy to be part of the reason Jesus supplied that courage and the necessary abundance of faith, hope, and charity that sustained our little brother. Prayer is so powerful, and so here then is our prayer for Marcel:

Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who fled to thy protection, implored thy help, or sought thy intercession was left unaided. Inspired by this confidence we fly unto thee, O Virgin of virgins, Our Mother. To thee do we come, before thee we stand, sinful and sorrowful. O Mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not our petitions, but in thy mercy, hear and answer us.  Amen.

Dear Blessed Mother, thank you for having Marcel pray for us. Hear and answer our prayers for him by presenting them to the Most Blessed Trinity. We thank you for your loving maternal gaze which sustained Marcel and sustains us - may we be united to him and Jesus forever through your loving embrace!

After Marcel's arrest he experienced great suffering but was also given the grace to bring consolation to many of the prisoners he lived with in the camps. A year after his arrest, he wrote to Fr. Paquette, his superior in Hanoi, "My Father, it is hardly a fortnight since they made me change camp. . . and I thank God with all my heart, since on arriving here, I had the good fortune to meet a good number of Catholics and live with them. Thanks to the divine protection, the majority of men and women detained with me are bearing up well . . ."

After asking for rosaries for all and a prayer book (and again later in the letter he asks for medals, rosaries, books of prayers, and even consecrated hosts because "we hunger for divine nourishment"), Marcel explains, "Concerning myself, since the day that I arrived at the camp of Mo-Chen, I am very busy as might be the little priest of a parish. Outside the hours of obligatory work, I have to welcome continuously people who come, one after the other, to seek comfort near me, whom they consider as someone who does not know fatigue. However, they see well that neither am I very strong."

But here is the most beautiful part. Marcel writes:

"I am very happy, for during these months of detention, my spiritual life has not suffered, and God Himself has made known to me that it is His will that I am accomplishing here. Many times have I asked Him the favour to die in this camp, but each time He has answered me: 'I am quite ready to follow your will as you always follow mine, but there are souls who still have need of you: without you, it would be impossible for Me to reach  them. So what do you think, my child?' 'Lord, it is for You to think for me.' "

And still, Marcel begs prayers: "My Father, please pray still more for me, since in thinking of this life full of darkness and pitfalls, I tremble many times and fear takes joy away. However, I am always read to accomplish perfectly all God wishes of me."

Marcel our dear brother was very little just like us - in fact, Jesus in their Conversations identifies him as the littlest soul - yet he was able to do what Jesus asked because Jesus supplied everything, even amidst fears. And yet always, always, Marcel would return to confidence and love - the lessons Jesus, Mary, and Therese had taught him and which they (with his help) want to teach us. 

It was May 7, 1955 when Marcel was arrested, and his release - by Jesus, through that first real kiss He had promised, that breaking of the bonds of earthly life - was not until 4 years later on June 10 (today!) 1959 when Marcel breathed his last at noon.  He had not been able to send out any clandestine messages for quite a long time, but we have our brother's final message from the end of his Autobiography:

"And now here is the last word that I am leaving to souls . . .  I leave to them my love; with this love, small as it is, I hope to satisfy the souls who wish to make themselves very small to come to Jesus. That is something I would wish to describe, but, with my little talent, I do not have to words to do so . . . "

This little love is so pleasing to Jesus, this love which helps us make ourselves very small and come to Him and snuggle next to His Heart. Marcel does not here on this last page say more, but all through his Conversations, his Autobiography, his Correspondence, his Other Writings, he says plenty, and his sister (and ours), the eloquent St. Therese, certainly has many words in her own writings (and Marcel's) to spur us on to love in littleness also. I have often thought and suggested that we should take Therese's confidence - ask it of her as our inheritance since she is now seeing God face to Face and does not need her confidence any more. So too we can ask of Marcel what he has already freely offered: his love with which to love Jesus. 

In another echo of his sister Therese, Marcel said, "From the heights of heaven I will look down on my little brothers and sisters, and just as much as I have loved them on earth, will I love them also in heaven." 

Actually, Therese promised not only to watch over us  and love us from heaven, but to come down. We can surely say she would have taught this one last lesson to Marcel when he arrived at her side in heaven, safe on Mary's lap with Jesus as He had promised. So Marcel, little brother, come down and bring us this love that filled your heart and made you, by God's grace, faithful to the end! On this your little feast, comfort all who suffer as you comforted those who suffered with you in the camps, obtain for us the Bread of Life as you so desired to obtain it for them, and teach us incessantly the Little Way which St. Therese taught to you, that we may turn to Jesus always with confidence and love!

Finally, little brother, we ask that you fulfill for us today a debt we owe but can never repay. Come down and give a special cupful of joy to your translator, Jack K, the one who gave so unstintingly of himself that we might have your words (and those of Jesus, Mary, and Therese) in English. Now that you are able to play all day, take a moment on this your feast and bring again the kisses you promised in your letter of 30 November 1947 when you wrote (as we know thanks to Jack): 

"I am giving you a kiss with the pretty lips of little Jesus, my little friend and also the friend of souls. I am adding to it a double kiss: that of my Mother Mary and of my sister little Therese, who are both very dear to me."

I will join you! At Holy Mass on this your feast, I will offer the kisses of Jesus in Holy Communion, and those of Mother Mary and Therese and you who are sure to be there with Him with me, to all your friends in Heaven and especially to (and for) all your friends on earth: from Jack K and his lovely B to Madame Anne de B and her successors, from Cyrgue to Dom Olivier, from Miss Marcel East to Miss Marcels in Michigan to Miss Marcels in Oklahoma, from Brother Mark to Father Bjorn to dear Patrick, and so many, many, many more! Although the remainder of the recipients are unnamed here, the angels will help deliver these kisses . . . 

Draw me, little Jesus, with Therese and Marcel; we will run!