I have never really figured out pinterest, goodreads, and certainly not facebook, to name a few. I'm not sure what snapchat and instragram are exactly (or even inexactly). But I do have a new favorite online place, and I'm grateful that whoever tracks my whereabouts from one rabbit hole to the next (hello google elves! give my love to papa google!) seems to know that I have recently discovered and would like to be redirected frequently to sotheby's.com.
My dad had this darling habit of not being able to correctly pronounce half a dozen English words (his first language was Arabic, second was French, third Spanish, so English was fourth - unless it was third and Spanish was fourth, but you get the idea). One of them was "Southern" which he always pronounced "South-ern." For those of you reading who were (or are) homeschooled, the correct American pronunciation is typically Suthern, like butter, only without that delicious creaminess. And so, like him, I wanted to call this website I found, "South-bees," but my husband, highly amused, somewhat condescendingly explained it was pronounced Suth-a-bees. That "th" is hard, too, like mother (only we are soft, let's hope). But my point is: Did you know you can buy gorgeous art - real master paintings - from auction houses online? This is important info because I love gifts - giving and receiving - and in case any of you billionaires (or even millionaires) reading our musings also love gifts - especially giving them - please be sure to check out sotheby's to find the latest in tokens of gratitude to send Marcel and me! On a more serious note (or rather a more specific note), the painting at the top of our post was sold at auction last April. I know, I know, it makes one wonder if all our priorities are skewed. What were you doing last April? My birthday is in April, and so are the birthdays of many people I love, including a relatively new friend (only known and adored her for about six years) named April. Very recently I found out her birthday was in April (others might be quicker on the draw, but I say that slow dawns can be the most beautiful), and in particular on April 7, my very birthday too! A twin! (The year was different, but who's counting?) Clearly I (we?) should have been on this auction. What a great birthday present this painting would have made, either for me or anyone I know. Preferably someone who lives close so that I could go visit my present frequently. Although I ought to have learned my lesson long ago about giving gifts I want to play with. One of the funniest (and most challenging at the time) social situations I've ever been in - okay, let's just say Awkward - was when, as a little girl, I got to go to Bonnie Shebl's birthday party. (The names have not been changed to protect the innocent because in case Bonnie ever comes across our musings, I'd like to take this opportunity to apologize hugely!). I gave her the best kind of gift - that is, one I wanted terribly myself. It was a . . . heavens to murgatroyd, I can't think of the name. Hold on. Everyone think hard. Send me your guardian angel (can that work outside of time?) . . . You know those things that are in parades and you toss up in the air (if you're lucky and talented)? A stick - aha, a baton! Not a conductor's baton, but I gave her a silver baton with two white knobs, one on each end. Does anyone love batons anymore?? We were at Mickey's Grove for her birthday party, and after Bonnie opened her gifts, we were playing. I asked to play with the baton and promptly flipped it (very accidentally!) into the lake. Hmmmm. Awkward. But no need to worry about old embarrassing episodes when there are possibly new ones on the horizon! If you haven't read The Paradise Project (click on the tile to have to opportunity to buy it instantly! We just love distributism over here, and that link is the fastest way we know to distribute laughter), or if you haven't read it recently, you'll find in it many such episodes which our heroine overcomes with grace, or at least with rueful wistfulness, and I like to think this means that said episodes in my own life have borne fruit beyond counting. (Ewoks come to mind.) Marcel and I thought we'd talk about How to Pray today, and somehow we've been looking sadly into Mickey Grove's lake (yes, I'm not sure where that possessive goes) . . .But whatever happened next that fateful day, I know we all got over it, and happily, batons are no longer a big birthday gift so that very particular episode is unlikely to recur in post-post-post modern life (I forget how many posts we've achieved!). Especially if we win the lottery and start giving our friends paintings by the old masters, we won't have to worry about them falling into lakes (I hope!), so let's get praying. Although I do want to add that while I've known people who told me they were praying (or wanted me to pray) that they'd win the lottery, I suggest other intentions (like Bosco's healing, since he's still suffering) because studies show that lottery winners aren't (please sit down to take in this news) happier once they're rich. My goodness. What a deceptive world we live in! But back to our painting above, here is what Sotheby's says (and it is already sold, so you won't be tempted to blow your grocery money, pin money, rainy day money, or house fund!): Lot Details Description Property from a European Private Collection Workshop Giuseppe Maria Crespi Bologna 1665 - 1747 The Holy Family with Saint Joachim, Saint Anne, Saint Elisabeth and Saint John the Baptist oil on canvas unframed: 90.5 x 71.2 cm.; 35⅝ x 28 in. framed: 92.7 x 73.4 cm.; 36½ x 28⅞ in. Condition Report Provenance M. Stepanoff, Paris, 1928; Alessandro Pepoli, Bologna, 1935; Raisini collection, Milan; F. Mont, New York, 1948; Acquired by the father of the present owner. Literature M.P. Merriman, Giuseppe Maria Crespi, Milan 1980, p. 256, no. 72, reproduced fig. 72 (as location unknown). Catalogue Note A workshop version based on the prime painting by Giuseppe Maria Crespi, today in the Pushkin Museum, Moscow. * * * I don't know about you, but when I see "Acquired by the father of the present owner," I'm afraid the father of the present owner, or rather the father of the owner who sold this on Sotheby's, was too involved with art collecting and not enough involved with teaching his son the importance of beauty. Oh former present owner, what in the world could you have wanted more than to stare at this painting until it was time for Heaven when you could stare at the originals??? Let's give him the benefit of the doubt and imagine he had sold absolutely everything else, and now needed to sell this painting to have money to take care of his aging father (destitute due to his desire to own and gaze upon this painting after a lifetime of laying bricks and sweeping walkways, a humble but admirable profession that didn't make him enough money to both buy this painting and save in a 501k, if that's what you save in for retirement). Sigh. (It should be noted that all our sighs are sighs of love. Jesus taught Marcel that, and he taught us. That way none are wasted.) And yet hooray! Hooray that the google elves took me to sotheby's.com when I was looking for an image of St. Anne. We might have spent this earthly exile without ever seeing that painting, even just on the internet, and now how rich we are! And also how ready to learn to pray! I had originally subtitled our blog post "Part 1 of 800" but realized that might lead to difficulties. 1. You, my gentle reader, might be discouraged. 800 lessons in prayer? Not good! 2. Even I, "chatty Cathy," as my mother once called me, might have a hard time fulfilling my promise. You never know if 800 posts are in your future, or if you'll get bored before writing post #374 on one particular topic. Hence the edited implication that there may be more to say on prayer than will be said here and now, yet without any clear indication just how much more we might eventually say. I do admit that many a time I've been reading Marcel's Conversations and laughing and rejoicing in the brilliant (and EASY) methods of prayer employed, taught, and recommended therein by Jesus, Mary, Therese, and Marcel himself. Thus the "Part 1" - I'd hate to limit us to what I might tell you in the following paragraphs . . . Marcel always has more to say, and my job is to get his words to you, although today we'll be seeing a lot more of Therese's words than Marcel's. No matter, they are both Jesus' Little Flowers . . . And so, on prayer. First off, I was going to start a novena today. Well, two novenas. This is a way to pray that I love. You find a saint, blessed, or generally holy person who has gone before us to the real Promised Land of Heaven, and you start asking. Ask 9 times (that's related in Latin to "novena") - usually you ask for 9 days, like the Apostles and disciples did in the upper room for those 9 days (the first novena) leading up to Pentecost. Sometimes, though, I like Mother Teresa's hint that if you're in a hurry, just ask 9 times quickly. She used to say the Memorare nine times in a row, and then add a Hail Mary in thanksgiving, since she knew Our Lady would take care of the needs of the poorest of the poor. Aha! That's already two ways to pray! 1. Nine times in a row, ask a saint for help - that is, ask your prayer partner in Heaven to climb up on God's lap and cajole Him into giving us what we need (or want). 2. Better yet, make that person you ask Mary, and you will be asking Our Blessed Mother (Jesus said from the cross to John, His beloved disciple, "Behold your mother," and to Mary, "Behold your son" - that applies to us too!). Well, since she is His Blessed Mother also, she doesn't have to climb onto the lap of God. Little Jesus is already snuggling on her lap . . . or playing . . . Just look again at the photo above! Which brings us to the third way to pray: 3. Holy Mother Teresa of Avila recommended always going to prayer with a picture of Jesus and a book. The picture is to keep you focused at least a little, and remind you how wonderful He is and how much He loves you. The book is so that you might have something to raise your mind, as well as your heart, to God. Except she wouldn't have said "raise" because she was really big on our recognizing that He is right here with us. Which brings us to 4 more ways to pray: 4. Go into a church and pray in the Real Presence of Jesus - Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity - in the Blessed Sacrament. 5. Read some Elizabeth of the Trinity to learn about the Holy Trinity indwelling in us. 6. Open the Sacred Scriptures to the Psalms, the Song of Songs, the Gospels - any book you like! Let God speak to you in His love letters to us. 7. My favorite: Just talk to Jesus! He's your best friend and so curious what you'll say. Okay, yes, He is God as well as man, and He surely knows what you're going to say. But He's delighted by your reaction to what you say, and that won't happen unless you say it! For instance, let's start now. Here's a practice run at prayer from me at this moment (just as an example, but think of it like Mad Libs and supply your own nouns, adjectives, verbs, etc.). Dear Jesus - I'm so hungry! Should we get breakfast? Oh, yes, I should finish this post first. Weren't we going to talk about St. Anne? I know I know hardly anything about her, but really, Love, aren't I the one typing? You're playing with Marcel and Therese and making me do all the work. Yes, I know it isn't hard. But let's finish so we can eat! If you are less than edified or inspired by this prayer (or if it doesn't apply to your situation, being as you might have already had breakfast), please recall that this blog is Miss Marcel's Musings because Marcel is our muse. He is often hungry and talking to Jesus about food. Perhaps this is why I feel such a bond with our little brother! They say great minds think alike, but little minds think alike too. Which reminds me of more solid food I have for you today. I was reading some Thoughts of St. Therese this morning that I wanted to share with you. No wonder she's a Doctor of the Church - she not only sees the truth, but she expresses it wonderfully. These thoughts are on confidence, and they fit into "how to pray" because it is not much fun to pray without confidence, whereas when we have confidence (even shaky confidence buttressed by our little sister's words), prayer can be super fun. If you haven't noticed this yourself, I won't say "try it!" because I hate to put you through the ordeal of praying without confidence. Trust me, it's a lot more pleasant to pray with confidence! Like asking someone for a favor, or telling someone you love him. If you start with the conviction that the other loves you, or even just likes you, your delivery is much more a thing of joy! But let's hear St. Therese explain it. The following passages are from a collection compiled by Therese's sister and novice Celine (Sister Genevieve of the Holy Face in the Lisieux Carmel with Therese). My copy is titled, "Thoughts of Souer Therese of the Child Jesus" but that's only because this very old book was given to me by a priest friend who found himself charmed by my over-the-top silliness. I think he hoped I would use this book to spread devotion to St. Therese - and look how smart he was! But the great thing is that TAN kept this book in print for a long time (maybe still does) under the title "Thoughts of St. Therese" and you can at least get it digitally for very cheap. BUT WAIT! I'm going to give you the best pages right here and now, so no worries about fetching the rest of the book (which features such less interesting chapters as "Suffering"). Without further ado, here is Therese. Since Celine gathered these gems from the treasure chest of Therese's written words, you'll find references to her specific writings after each excerpt. CONFIDENCE "Believing that I was born for glory, and seeking the means to attain to it, it was revealed to me interiorly that my glory would never be visible to mortal eyes but would consist in becoming a saint. This desire might well seem presumptuously bold, considering how imperfect I was, and how imperfect I am still after so many years in religion; and yet I feel ever the same audacious confidence of becoming a great saint. I count not on my merits, having none; but I trust in Him who is Virtue and Holiness itself. He alone it is who, satisfied with my feeble efforts, will raise me up even unto Himself, will clothe me with His merits and make me a saint." (Story of a Soul) "Ours is an age of inventions: nowadays, with the rich a lift [an elevator] saves the trouble of climbing the stairs. And I, fain would I too find a lift to bear me up unto God, for I am too little to climb the rugged steps of perfection. "Then I turned to the Holy Scriptures, seeking from them an indication of this lift, the object of my desires; and I read these words which have issued from the very mouth of the Eternal Wisdom: 'Whosoever is a VERY LITTLE ONE, let him come to me.' (Prov 9:4). Then I drew nigh unto God divining truly that I had discovered what I sought: wishing however to know what He would do with the very little one, I continued my research and here is what I found: 'You shall be carried at the breast and upon the knees; as one whom the mother caresses so will I comfort you.' (Isaiah 46: 12, 13) "Ah, never came words more sweet, more tender, to gladden my soul. Thine arms, then, O Jesus, are the lift which must raise me up even unto Heaven! For this I need not grow, on the contrary I must remain little, I must ever tend to become yet more little. O my God, Thou hast gone beyond my expectations, and I - I will sing Thy mercies! 'Thou hast taught me, O God from my youth: and till now I have declared Thy wondrous works. And unto old age and grey hairs' will I proclaim them." (Story of a Soul) "Since it has been given to me too, to understand the love of the Heart of Jesus, I own that it has chased all fear from mine! The remembrance of my faults humiliates me, and urges me never to depend upon my own strength which is nothing but weakness: still more does this remembrance speak to me of mercy and of love. When, with all filial confidence we cast our faults into the devouring furnace of love, how should they not be totally consumed?" (from a letter to her missionary brothers) "Though we must needs be pure indeed to appear in the presence of the God of all Holiness, yet I know too that He is infinitely just; and this justice which affrights so many souls is the ground of my joy and my confidence. Justice not merely exercises severity towards the offender; it moreover recognizes a right intention, and awards to virtue its recompense. I hope as much from the Justice of the good God as from His Mercy; it is because He is just, that 'He is compassionate and merciful, long-suffering and plenteous in mercy. For He knows our frame. He remembers that we are but dust. As a father has compassion on His children, so has the Lord compassion on us!' (Psalm 103: 8, 13, 14) "Listening to these beautiful and consoling words of the Royal Prophet, how can we doubt but that the good God will open the portals of His Kingdom to His children who have loved Him . . . "That is what I think of the justice of the good God; my way is all confidence and love, I do not understand those souls who fear so tender a Friend." (Letter to her missionary brother) "What joy to think that God is just, that is to say, that He takes our weakness into consideration, that He thoroughly knows the frailty of our nature. Of what then, should I be afraid? Must not the good and infinitely just God, who with such tender mercy deigns to pardon the Prodigal Son, must He not be just towards me too - 'who am always with Him' (Luke 15:31)?'" (Story of a Soul) "I want to make you understand by a very simple comparison how much Jesus loves souls, even the imperfect, who trust in Him. Suppose the father of two wayward and disobedient children, coming to punish them, sees one tremble and draw away from him in terror; while the other, on the contrary, throwing himself into his arms, says he is sorry, promises to be good henceforward and begs for a kiss as punishment. Do you think the delighted father will withstand the filial confidence of this child? He knows nevertheless that his son will fall again many a time into the same faults, but he is disposed to pardon him always, if always there be an appeal to his heart." (Letter to her missionary brother) "Truly I am far from being a saint. I ought not to rejoice at the aridity of my soul, but attribute it to the scantiness of my fervour and fidelity. I ought to grieve because I fall asleep very often during my prayer and my thanksgiving. Well, I do not grieve! I reflect that little children when they sleep are as pleasing to their parents as when they are awake; that in order to perform operations, doctors put their patients to sleep; in fine, that 'the Lord knows our frame, He remembers that we are but dust.' (Psalm 103: 14) (Story of a Soul) * * * I could comment on these passages all day (in fact, you might say that's what I do for a living), but here I want to mention only one thing. Did you notice her hilarious sauciness in that last excerpt? Here it is: "I ought to grieve because I fall asleep very often during my prayer . . . Well, I do not grieve!" And then she give a spirited and convincing defense. She doesn't grieve because sleeping pleases parents. If you are a parent or if you've had a younger sibling, you know well how blessed the time is when that wailing babe finally falls asleep. Hush! Nobody breathe! The baby is finally asleep. Oh look. She is beautiful when she's sleeping. We can love her some more now that she's giving us a respite! I buy it! And her point is that God does too. Which brings us back to her previous point that when Jesus directs us to little children as our models, we can take that as far as we want. Phyllis McGinley once said that saints are the ones who take Jesus literally. Let's take him literally when he says to be like kids. Enjoy those sweets and treats! Laugh when something is funny! Fall asleep when you are tired . . . And when you've been naughty, admit it with kisses. Don't just kiss Him on His feet. Go to His face and cover Him with kisses from His brow, to His nose, to His chin! Make Him laugh and He will forget your misdeeds. They are all small to Him because His love is HUGE! Therese used to call Pranzini her "firstborn" and she said he was very naughty. She was speaking of a terrible man, but she was confident God had heard her prayer to save this sinner, and she was also sure that He would see (as even she could) that in this life, sometimes we do really stupid things because we are really stupid! What do you expect from dust? Our sister is the little one about whom Jesus spoke in the gospel this week at Mass. We are in Matthew chapter 11 for our daily Mass gospels, and wow, I love Our Lord's prayer to HIs Father there. If you have a chance, go re-read His consoling words on the Father's revealing mysteries to little ones, and His even more consoling invitation for us to come to Him and rest on Him . . . It's true, I'd love to comment all day on Therese's wisdom, but we need to get to those novenas I've been thinking about . . . I recently discovered St. Anne, or rather had her foisted on me by a great lover of hers. If we start with Jesus and look at those who loved Him, first we find Mary and Joseph. They make with Jesus an adorable holy family, and we could sit for hours contemplating their familial love and affection - if we didn't fall asleep or spend most of our waking hours wondering what's to eat next. (Do you ever feel like Winnie the Pooh? Maybe it's just me . . .) But if we go back before Mary holding baby Jesus, we find St. Anne holding Mary when she (Mary) was a baby herself. Joachim and Anne are the parents of Our Blessed Mother, and that makes them our grandparents. I can't do the whole "if your dad is cousins with my dad, then that makes us first cousins once removed" - okay, I think I just did, but I can't do it much, or with that confidence we're trying to promote today. But I can do, "If you're my mom, and she's your mom, then she's my grandma!" And that's where St. Anne comes in. She is the grandmother of Jesus, and since he is our brother (to look at it from another angle) than she is our grandma too! Incidentally, I just found out this past weekend that "Situ" (sit-oo) which I always thought was grandma in Arabic, is really great grandma, and "Tita" (tite-ah) is grandma. Well. It just goes to show that family weddings can be a lot of fun, especially if you get to sit with long lost cousins whose heritage, like yours (or rather like mine in this case) goes back through Venezuela to Lebanon. What a wonderful world! Perhaps due to all these glorious weddings, I have a tendency lately to think about doing novenas rather late in the day, and late in the 9 days running up to a feast as well. St. Joachim and Anne are now both celebrated (in the new calendar) on July 26 (which used to be just St. Anne, but I sure like to keep these married couples together), which leaves us from now - wait while I count on my fingers - about 7 days for our novena. So how about we pray our prayer 3 times today for a running start, and then we can keep going with once a day for a total of 9 somewhere in or around their feast. What prayer shall we say? I figured I'd adapt an old favorite. That way we don't have to spend the morning starving and wandering the desert of the internet looking for sustenance (or a good prayer). I'm going to copy it in three times below, so we get our first 3 prayers in. If you're wondering why we're multiplying words when Jesus said not to, I refer you to a lovely verse from the prophet Hosea that floated back into the liturgy and my consciousness last week. I'll give you the verses that surround it too, since they're all spectacular, but I like the emboldened one in particular: "Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God, for you have stumbled because of your iniquity. Take with you words, and return to the Lord; say to Him, 'Take away all iniquity, accept that which is good, and we will render the fruit of our lips. Assyria shall not save us, we will not ride upon horses, and we will say no more, "Our God," to the work of our hands. In Thee the orphan finds mercy.'" (Hosea 14) So now, taking with us words, let's return to the image presented above of little Jesus in Mary's arms, with St. Anne looking lovingly on them both. Dear St. Anne, attend to us too. Little Jesus is having so much fun, but some of us are suffering today. Turn your gaze upon us and then whisk up little Jesus into your grandmotherly arms and whisper in his sweet ear our petitions, our needs, our intentions, and the needs of all those we love (and of all those in need, which should cover absolutely everyone). Novena to St. Anne: Blessed Grandmother 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. (And for our first day, catching up on the days we forgot to start) - Blessed Grandmother 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. Blessed Grandmother 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. * * * While we're here, I wanted to start a novena to Blessed Solanus Casey too. We love him, and there will be plenty of time to talk about him in later posts, but if we start our novena to him now, we'll have plenty of days to skip or forget before his feast, or we can make up for all the years when it never occurred to us to turn to him. And oh, what a wonderful benefactor to turn to! Since he spent much of his priestly life humbly serving as the porter, or door-opener, for the Capuchin Franciscans in Detroit, he is no doubt standing with Padre Pio - a fellow Capuchin Franciscan who promised to stand at the gate of Heaven till all his spiritual children had entered - at the Door of doors. Why don't we pray to them together?! Novena to Solanus Casey and Padre Pio (asking them to send their angels to help us too) Dear Blessed Solanus and Padre Pio, You were both so fatherly on earth, we can't imagine you any less fatherly now that you're in Heaven. You loved Jesus like crazy - share your love for Him and His Blessed Mother with us. Give us a love of the Rosary and teach us, remind us, instill in us that saint-making habit you had of thanking God ahead of time. We give you all our needs, we ask your intercession for the intentions commended to us and all those for whom we've promised to pray. When you were on earth, you both heard so many petitions and by God's infinitely tender compassion you were allowed to "do miracles," You told God what people needed, and He answered with healings galore. Tell him now about the miracles we need and bring them to us quickly. Send them to us with your angels. We are so little, so poor, so distracted and so dumb. Be our advocates. Remember what we have forgotten and ask Our Lady and St. Joseph to help you ask little Jesus. Bring us, then, from Heaven, all sorts of treats! Bring us miraculous healings, reconciliations, an outpouring of wisdom, peace, joy, and confidence. Finally, bring us Jesus. Don't let us go away without Him, and teach us to thank Him always for everything. We ask this through His adorable name. Amen. * * * I was going to ask for cupcakes, but you might prefer a glass of wine (ugh), a gin and tonic (yum), or a slice of chocolate cake! I did say "treats" so hopefully they got the idea! Today is also the Feast (even the Solemnity for some Carmelites) of St. Elijah. May he and his raven keep you hydrated and fed - spiritually as well as materially! Even I admit it's a bit late for a novena leading up to his feast. and I hate to add more prayers lest we feel like he did, wilting under the broom tree . . . Instead, let's say a quick prayer to this awesome prophet who got to visit with Jesus in His Transfiguration, and then we'll close with our Song of Songs prayer - right before we eat! St. Elijah, our father in Carmel, please give us a double portion of your spirit! Draw me; we will run! Happy Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel!
The readings at Holy Mass have been so rich lately, and today's feast is no exception. For Carmelites like St. Therese, today is a solemnity, and I can't think of a better way to start this special day than to offer the liturgical readings from the Mass that Carmelites around the world will experience. SOLEMNITY OF OUR LADY OF MOUNT CARMEL Entrance Antiphon: The glory of Lebanon is given to her, the beauty of Carmel and Sharon; they shall see the glory of the Lord, and the splendor of our God. (Isaiah 33:2) Let us pray that Our Lady of Mount Carmel may intercede for us, her children. Father, may the prayers of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother and Queen of Carmel, protect us and bring us to your holy Mountain, Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen A reading from the first book of Kings (1 Kings 18:42b-25a). Elijah climbed to the top of Carmel and bowed down to the earth, putting his face between his knees. ‘Now go up,’ he told his servant ‘and look out to sea,’ He went up and looked. ‘There is nothing at all,’ he said. ‘Go back seven times,’ Elijah told said. The seventh time, the servant said, ‘Now there is a cloud, small as a man’s hand, rising from the sea.’ Elijah said, ‘Go and say to Ahab, “Harness the chariot and go down before the rain stops you.”’ And with that the sky grew dark with cloud and storm, and rain fell in torrents. RESPONSORIAL PSALM (15: 1, 2-3, 4) R. Draw us after you, Virgin Mary; we shall follow in your footsteps. Lord, who shall be admitted to your tent and dwell on your holy mountain? R. Draw us after you, Virgin Mary; we shall follow in your footsteps. He who walks without fault; he who acts with justice and speaks the truth from his heart. R. Draw us after you, Virgin Mary; we shall follow in your footsteps. He who does not slander with his tongue; he who does no wrong to his brother, who casts no slur against his neighbor. R. Draw us after you, Virgin Mary; we shall follow in your footsteps. He who holds the godless in disdain, but honors those who fear the Lord. R. Draw us after you, Virgin Mary; we shall follow in your footsteps. A reading from the Letter of Saint Paul to the Galatians (4:4 -7) Brothers and Sisters: When the fullness of time had come, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to ransom those under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. As proof that you are sons, God sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!” So you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son then also an heir, through God. ALLELUIA R. Alleluia, alleluia. Blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it. R. Alleluia, alleluia. A reading from the holy Gospel according to John (19:25-27) Standing by the cross of Jesus were His mother and His mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw His mother and the disciple there whom He loved, He said to His mother, “Woman, behold, your son.” Then He said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother.” And from that hour the disciple took her into his home. * * * When St. Therese was a little girl, her papa used to read to the family each evening from Dom Gueranger's Liturgical Year. Here is what he read to them on today's feast: When on the holy day of Pentecost the Apostles, through heavenly inspiration, spoke diverse tongues and worked many miracles by the invocation of the most holy name of Jesus, it is said that many men who were walking in the footsteps of the holy prophets Elias and Eliseus [Elijah and Elisha], and had been prepared for the coming of Christ by the preaching of John the Baptist, saw and acknowledged the truth, and at once embraced the faith of the Gospel. These new Christians were so happy as to be able to enjoy familiar intercourse with the Blessed Virgin, and venerated her with so special an affection, that they, before all others, built a chapel to the purest of Virgins on that very spot of Mount Carmel where Elias of old had seen the cloud, a remarkable type of the Virgin ascending. Many times each day they came together to the new oratory, and with pious ceremonies, prayers, and praises honoured the most Blessed Virgin as the special protectress of their Order. For this reason, people from all parts began to call them the Brethren of the Blessed Mary of Mount Carmel; and the Sovereign Pontiffs not only confirmed this title, but also granted special indulgences to whoever called either the whole Order or individual Brothers by that name. But the most noble Virgin not only gave them her name and protection, she also bestowed upon Blessed Simon the Englishman the holy Scapular as a token, wishing the holy Order to be distinguished by that heavenly garment and to be protected by it from the evils that were assailing it. Moreover, as formerly the Order was unknown in Europe, and on this account many were importuning Honorius III for its abolition, the loving Virgin Mary appeared by night to Honorius and clearly bade him receive both the Order and its members with kindness. The Blessed Virgin has enriched the Order so dear to her with many privileges, not only in this world, but also in the next (for everywhere she is most powerful and merciful). For it is piously believed that those of her children, who, having been enrolled in the Confraternity of the Scapular . . . will be consoled by our Lady while they are being purified in the fire of Purgatory, and will through her intercession be taken thence as soon as possible to the heavenly country. The Order, thus laden with so many graces, has ordained that this solemn commemoration of the Blessed Virgin should be yearly observed forever, to her greater glory. Towering over the waves on the shore of the Holy Land, Mount Carmel, together with the short range of the same name, forms a connecting link to two other chains, abounding with glorious memories, namely: the mountains of Galilee on the north, and those of Judea on the south. When Eternal Wisdom was playing in the world, forming the hills and establishing the mountains, she destined Carmel to be the special inheritance of Eve’s victorious Daughter. And when the last thousand years of expectation were opening, and the desire of all nations was developing into the spirit of prophecy, the father of prophets ascended the privileged mount, thence to scan the horizon. The triumphs of David and the glories of Solomon were at an end; the scepter of Juda, broken by the schism of the ten tribes, threatened to fall from his hand; the worship of Baal prevailed in Israel. A long-continued drought, figure of the aridity of men’s souls, had parched up every spring, and men and beasts were dying beside the empty cisterns, when Elias the Thesbite gathered the people, representing the whole human race, on Mount Carmel, and slew the lying prophets of Baal. Then, as the Scripture relates, prostrating with his face to the earth, he said to his servant: Go up, look towards the sea. And he went up, and looked and said: There is nothing. And again he said to him: Return seven times. And at the seventh time: Behold, a little cloud arose out of the sea like a man’s foot. (1 Kings l8) Blessed cloud! unlike the bitter waves from which it sprang, it was all sweetness. Docile to the least breath of heaven, it rose light and humble, above the immense heavy ocean; and, screening the sun, it tempered the heat that was scorching the earth, and restored to the stricken world life and grace and fruitfulness. The promised Messiah, the Son of Man, set His impress upon it, showing to the wicked serpent the form of the heel that was to crush him. The prophet, personifying the human race, felt his youth renewed; and while the welcome rain was already refreshing the valleys, he ran before the chariot of the king of Israel. Thus did he traverse the great plain of Esdrelon, even to the mysteriously-named town of Jezrahel, where, according to Osee, the children of Juda and Israel were again to have but one head, in the great day of Jezrahel (i.e., of the seed of God), when the Lord would seal His eternal nuptials with a new people. (Hosea 1:11, 2:14-24) Later on, from Sunam, near Jezrahel, the mother, whose son was dead, crossed the same plain of Esdrelon, in the opposite direction, and ascended Mount Carmel, to obtain from Eliseus the resurrection of her child, who was a type of us all. (2 Kings 4:8-37) Elias had already departed in the chariot of fire, to await the end of the world, when he is to give testimony, together with Henoch, to the son of her that was signified by the cloud; (Apocalypse 11:3, 7) and the disciple, clothed with the mantle and the spirit of his father, had taken possession, in the name of the sons of the prophets, of the august mountain honored by the manifestation of the Queen of prophets. Henceforward Carmel was sacred in the eyes of all who looked beyond this world. Gentiles as well as Jews, philosophers and princes, came here on pilgrimage to adore the true God; while the chosen souls of the Church of the expectation, many of whom were already wandering in deserts and in mountains, (Hebrews 11:38) loved to take up their abode in its thousand grottoes; for the ancient traditions seemed to linger more lovingly in its silent forests, and the perfume of its flowers foretokened the Virgin Mother. The cultus of the Queen of heaven was already established; and to the family of her devout clients, the ascetics of Carmel, might be applied the words spoken later by God to the pious descendants of Rechab: There shall not be wanting a man of this race, standing before me forever. (Jeremiah 35:19) At length figures gave place to the reality: the heavens dropped down their dew, and the Just One came forth from the cloud. When His work was done and He returned to his Father, leaving His blessed Mother in the world, and sending His Holy Spirit to the Church, not the least triumph of that Spirit of love was the making known of Mary to the new-born Christians of Pentecost. “What a happiness,” we then remarked, “for those neophytes who were privileged above the rest in being brought to the Queen of heaven, the Virgin-Mother of him who was the hope of Israel! They saw this second Eve, they conversed with her, they felt for her that filial affection wherewith she inspired all the disciples of Jesus. The Liturgy will speak to us at another season of these favored ones.” The promise is fulfilled today. In the lessons of the feast the Church tells us how the disciples of Elias and Eliseus became Christians at the first preaching of the Apostles, and being permitted to hear the sweet words of the Blessed Virgin and enjoy an unspeakable intimacy with her, they felt their veneration for her immensely increased. Returning to the loved mountain, where their less fortunate fathers had lived but in hope, they built, on the very spot where Elias had seen the little cloud rise up out of the sea, an oratory to the purest of virgins; hence they obtained the name of Brothers of Blessed Mary of Mount Carmel. (Lessons and Nocturn) In the twelfth century, in consequence of the establishment of the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem, many pilgrims from Europe came to swell the ranks of the solitaries on the holy mountain; it therefore became expedient to give to their hitherto eremitical life a form more in accordance with the habits of western nations. The legate Aimeric Malafaida, patriarch of Antioch, gathered them into a community under the authority of St. Berthold, who was thus the first to receive the title of Prior General. At the commencement of the next century, Blessed Albert, patriarch of Jerusalem and also Apostolic legate, completed the work of Aimeric by giving a fixed Rule to the Order, which was now, through the influence of princes and knights returned from the Holy Land, beginning to spread into Cyprus, Sicily, and the countries beyond the sea. Soon indeed, the Christians of the East, being abandoned by God to the just punishment of their sins, the vindictiveness of the conquering Saracens reached such a height in this age of trial for Palestine, that a full assembly held on Mount Carmel under Alanus the Breton, resolved upon a complete migration, leaving only a few friars eager for martyrdom to guard the cradle of the Order. The very year in which this took place (1245), Simon Stock was elected General in the first Chapter of the West held at Aylesford in England. Simon owed his election to the successful struggle he had maintained for the recognition of the Order, which certain prelates, alleging the recent decrees of the Council of Lateran, rejected as newly introduced into Europe. Our Lady had then taken the cause of the Friars into her own hands, and had obtained from Honorius III the decree of confirmation, which originated today’s feast. This was neither the first nor the last favor bestowed by the sweet Virgin upon the family that had lived so long under the shadow, as it were, of her mysterious cloud, and shrouded like her in humility, with no other bond, no other pretension than the imitation of her hidden works and the contemplation of her glory. She herself had wished them to go forth from the midst of a faithless people; just as, before the close of that same thirteenth century, she would command her angels to carry into a Catholic land her blessed house of Nazareth. Whether or not the men of those days, or the short-sighted historians of our own time, ever thought of it: the one translation called for the other, just as each completes and explains the other, and each was to be, for our own Europe, the signal for wonderful favours from heaven. In the night between the 15th and the 16th of July, of the year 1251, the gracious Queen of Carmel confirmed to her sons by a mysterious sign the right of citizenship she had obtained for them in their newly adopted countries: as mistress and mother of the entire Religious state she conferred upon them, with her queenly hands, the scapular, hitherto the distinctive garb of the greatest and most ancient religious family of the West. On giving St. Simon Stock this badge, ennobled by contact with her sacred fingers, the Mother of God said to him: “Whosoever shall die in this habit, shall not suffer eternal flames.” But not against hell fire alone was the all-powerful intercession of the Blessed Mother to be felt by those who should wear her scapular. In 1316, when every holy soul was imploring heaven to put a period to that long and disastrous widowhood of the Church, which followed on the death of Clement V, the Queen of Saints appeared to James d’Euse, whom the world was soon to hail as John XXII; she foretold to him his approaching elevation to the Sovereign Pontificate, and at the same time recommended him to publish the privilege she had obtained from her Divine Son for her children of Carmel, namely, a speedy deliverance from Purgatory. “I, their Mother, will graciously go down to them on the Saturday after their death, and all whom I find in Purgatory I will deliver and will bring to the mountain of life eternal.” These are the words of Our Lady herself, quoted by John XXII in the Bull which he published for the purpose of making known the privilege, and which was called the Sabbatine Bull on account of the day chosen by the glorious benefactress for the exercise of her mercy. Queen of Carmel, hear the voice of the Church as she sings to thee on this day. This feast, O Mother of our God, is the authentic attestation of the gratitude of the sons of the prophets, increased by the fresh benefits wherewith thy bounty accompanied the new exodus of the remnant of Israel. And we, the sons of ancient Europe, we too have a right to echo the expression of their loving joy; for since their tents have been pitched around the hills where the new Sion is built upon Peter, the cloud has shed all around showers of blessing more precious than ever, driving back into the abyss the flames of hell, and extinguishing the fire of purgatory. * * * Thank you, Dom Gueranger, St. Louis Martin, and Therese, little queen, for providing us with such solid food today. May we wear the scapular until death and help our Mama clothe many in it as a sign that they (and we) are clothed in her mantle and kept close to her Immaculate Heart. There is so much more I would like to write here, especially pages upon pages from Marcel's Conversations. We'll save that for another day so that we have time to appreciate Our Lady's food for us, as well as her clothing. I'll pray for you at Mass today, dear reader! Draw me, we will run! Zelie & Louis, meet Connie & Henry on this glorious feast of Saints Henry & another Teresa!7/13/2024
I said yesterday that I hoped to write more on Saints Louis and Zelie, and I can't leave that promise unfulfilled because I also left a question unanswered. I had written:
"Where did Therese get her sanctity? The answer is simple: From God. How did God give Therese her sanctity? Through her holy parents and siblings. What does all this teach us?" And in answer to that last question (What does all this teach us?) I could only answer, "Well, gosh, lots of things, but I have about two seconds before it's time to finish." Humph, as a little boy I once knew used to say. That isn't much of an answer, so I'm going to try again. What do we learn from Therese's sanctity coming through the love and formation God gave her through her saintly (and sainted) parents and her super holy family? Well, perhaps you're thinking, "Gosh, my family is nice, but wow, I'm not sure they're saints!" Or perhaps you're saying, "Hmmm . . . . I'm sure they did their best, but what a mess our family was!" Or maybe even, "Yikes! Do my kids have a chance with ME for a parent?" I have great news! The saints come from all sorts of backgrounds, with parents and siblings who fall into every sort of configuration from the good, the bad, and the ugly, to the more traditional categories of saints and sinners. First off, I'm sure Therese and her parents and siblings would like us to remember that all saints (except our Blessed Mother) are sinners well before they're saints! Second, we want to remember that while grace builds on nature, God is the author of both, so He can make us lovely and one with Him (lovely by being one with Him) through both. The calendar of saints is such a living museum illustrating this miraculous work of God in all circumstances. Take the last few days, for instance. On July 10, we had our dear little brother and namesake Marcel Van. His status, currently, is Servant of God, which means he has a cause for canonization, but not too much progress. That's okay - he is a perfect model of little-tiny-ness at this point. And what was his family life like? Well, his parents loved him tremendously and things began well. But then there was a natural disaster that wiped out the family's livelihood, his brother went blind, and his dad took to drinking and gambling. Poor family! Marcel went to live with a priest in a parish so that he could set out on his lifelong ambition to be a priest. But he was just a little tyke! Really, maybe 7 years old! And that's a bit young, in our opinion, for even the minorest of minor seminary situations . . .The priest ended up getting busy and letting Van be more of an unpaid and underage servant in the house than a second Samuel. Later, in search of more and better training to become the priest he yearned to be for God, Van found himself in a really bad place where there was much immorality. He remained untainted and fought it, but wow, this is a far cry from the romantic image we may have of saints with saintly parents and siblings. The previous post for Louis and Zelie's feast contains links to more on Marcel's life story, but for now I'll simply add that it all worked out! Therese came into his life and told him God wanted him to be a religious brother rather than a priest, and God led Marcel (albeit circuitously!) to the Redemptorists in Hanoi. There his "bearded Jesus" - Fr. Anthony Boucher - was an excellent novice master and spiritual director, very kind to Marcel, and providing on a natural level the love, understanding, and guidance that Therese provided on a supernatural level. Together with Jesus and Mary, they helped Marcel grow emotionally and spiritually into a saint. Through his prayers and encouragement, his dad reformed his life and returned to the sacraments, and his younger sister Te became a Redemptorist nun. And do you know the wonderful thing? She is still a Redemptorist nun with her community in Canada. The saints are not as far away as we might imagine! July 11 we celebrated the feast of St. Benedict. What a great gift to the Church he is! While he is known for his monasticism back in the day and his protection of us now, what I know and admire with a holy envy is the friendship he had with his sister, St. Scholastica. If I have the story right, the last time they were able to visit (he was at her monastery having a spiritual chat with her over tea, the way I picture it), Scholastica was super disappointed when it was time for Ben to leave, but he was firm that he had to get back to monking. She pleaded for him to stay, but when that didn't work (even the best of brothers can sometimes be hard-hearted), she pleaded with God. He was more understanding, and He who calmed the storm now created one just for her! It prevented Ben from leaving, and they got in a bit more holy talk and prayers together - and I hope some laughter too! July 12 brought us Louis and Zelie, the saint-parents of our patroness St. Therese. While they did a great job raising their children, there were SO MANY ups and downs for both of them. Zelie was raised by a pretty cold mother (God rest her soul!) and that probably contributed to her own maternal solicitude and affection for her children - she wanted to give them what she had so badly missed. Both Louis and Zelie wanted to - and tried to - enter religious life, but both were rejected by their prospective religious orders. After they married, they lived as brother and sister for several months, until a priest explained that God wanted them to have children and be a more regular family. They did! They had nine kids, but four died young, and as those who have lost a child know, this is a lifelong sadness. Zelie was always adamant in her insistence that she wouldn't rather have not had these children; her joy in their existence and eternity with God never left her even as she grieved their absence. And then, there were the remaining five daughters to occupy her. Louis gave them endearing nicknames, took them for walks, and read to them. Zelie dressed them in delightful girly clothes and wrote long letters about their exploits. Both parents taught them in word and example to be generous with the poor, and especially they taught the girls about God's unsurpassed love and providence. These were important lessons because Zelie was taken from the family way too early - when Therese, the youngest, was only four years old - and Zelie left with one especially worrisome task undone. Their middle daughter, Leonie, was born with less of the beauty and talents that her sisters shared, had a difficult temperament, and to make matters worse, she'd been traumatized in childhood by a mean-spirited maid (God rest her soul too!). As for Louis, he was both father and mother to the five girls after Zelie went Home to God. He moved the family from Alencon to Lisieux in order to be near Zelie's brother Isadore and his wife Celine (the Auntie after whom Therese's soul-mate sister Celine was named), and devoted himself to his daughters well being. He blessed them as they left, one by one, to live in seclusion as cloistered nuns, but after Therese left (Celine and Leonie were still home with him), he began to suffer from the disease that eventually brought him to God and Zelie. This disease meant an abrupt decline into senility. The patriarch who had been the stronghold of the family, the hero of his daughters (and a hero really and truly) became, suddenly, a very old man who lost his beautiful mind and had to be confined to a mental hospital. It was run by good Sisters, but this was a stunning blow to the daughters who wanted to care for him as he had cared for them. Three were cloistered nuns and couldn't go to him. Leonie was dealing with her own interior struggles. Celine would have provided every care, but his needs were beyond her abilities. Marie, Pauline, Leonie, Celine, and Therese called this their greatest trial and their greatest treasure, this illness that took their Papa from them so quickly and yet so slowly. Louis died at home, thanks be to God, and it was a blessed release as well as the moment he had lived for and desired long before he was sick. He and Zelie made their home a domestic church and raised their family in the knowledge that this "life" is simply a prelude to Real Life, and Therese was right to laughingly call it "exile." As for Leonie, she found much joy in this exile before it was her turn to depart for Home. Though she had suffering in her childhood and young adulthood, happily, there were lots of great influences and amazing people in her life, and ultimately, there was little Therese. After Leonie had failed at religious life three times, Therese promised to help her. It was clear Therese was dying, and Leonie was the only one of the five not in the Carmel of Lisieux. They corresponded and Therese promised in her letters that once she got to Heaven she'd help Leonie fulfill her vocation as a Visitation nun. And so it happened! After Therese entered eternal life, Leonie entered the Visitation of Caen one more time, and finally was able to stay. She lived and followed her sister's Little Way there for 42 years! I cherish the memory of my Nigerian son calling me one day with exciting news. "Mome!" he said. "One of St. Therese's sisters has a cause beginning! Guess which one?" I guessed Celine. I guessed Pauline. Nothing personal Marie, but after my two strikes, I realized where this was going, so I didn't offer your name . . . "Leonie!?!?!" I asked with great joy. "YES! Leonie!" came the answer across the miles. How good God is, making the ugly duckling into a beautiful swan. Isn't that finally the fairy tale we're all living? Therese loved to explain that it wasn't due to her own brilliance or virtue that she'd never been a great sinner. God had spoiled her and kept her safe, that was all. And if you haven't been quite so spoiled and safe, perhaps you are a Leonie rather than a Therese, and that needn't stop you from being a saint too! But wait! Time is flying, and I haven't introduced Zelie and Louis to Connie and Henry. And then there's St. Teresa of the Andes politely (if slightly restlessly) waiting in the wings too. Come out, guys! Zelie and Louis, you have most likely been friends with Connie and Henry for years now, but I'd better introduce them to anyone who's wandered over to our musings . . . Connie is short for Cunegunda, and she is the royal Sainted wife of Henry, the only Holy Roman Emperor to ever become a canonized saint! Congrats, you two! It's hard enough to be saints without two nickels to rub together, when circumstances force you to call on God for help night and day, but Wow! Together you ruled a big part of the world, and you still managed to fall in love with God, as well as each other! There are so many amazing things to tell you about Henry (and by implication, Connie) that I have to leave the task to another . . . Marcel is ready for us to bring out Teresa, and I'm with him, so here's a link to St. Henry and Connie (click on the word "link" to read about them in more detail). Today is, in fact, the feast of St. Henry, who is buried with his St. Connie in the Cathedral of Bamberg where I once was with my dear sis Camille and our own Henry - not a saint then, but his Carol worked on him until he was ready for God, if not canonization! Remember when I accidentally insulted St. Josemaria the other day, rejecting his reality and substituting my own? It was simply a matter of taste - he preferred practicing heroism by hopping out of bed at the first sound of the alarm, whereas I define "the heroic moment" along Theresian lines. I recall vividly that day in Bamberg. We were going, suddenly and unexpectedly, to the Cathedral and the tomb we found there (which you can see at the top of this post) - the tomb of our fearless leader Henry's patron saint and his beloved. This was good because Henry needed a patron saint at that moment to save the day from ruin. He'd been churlish or angry about something small (our Henry, not St. Henry) that very morning, and it was rough going being on a jaunt in the German countryside with him driving a million kilometers an hour while my sister and I recovered from his previous moment of unkindness. Therese says life is just a moment between two eternities. That's about what we felt that day, or at least I did. Maybe more like life is just a few moments between two eternities. After the first unhappy moment of family strife, there came another moment. We had stumbled upon the Cathedral of Bamberg and St. Henry. Our Henry was thrilled. My emotions were more on the human level and I felt less than thrilled. And then, somehow (most likely due to angelic help), I saw the moment for what it was. This was A Heroic Moment Waiting to Happen. And amazingly, by God's grace, it did happen! Instead of sulking (which I still say I had every right to do), I smiled. I just smiled, real big, which is my skill. Voila! Joy! Which is a lot about our Henrys, but doesn't tell us a thing about the other Teresa in our post title. I can sum up the Hanks by saying that I'm smiling again to imagine them helping God rule the world from where they are with Him now. And our Henry became a Carmelite, so he has special joy in sharing his feast day (and his patron's) with Teresa of the Andres, because it's her feast today too. Marcel loves her because she got to go to Heaven at age 20, she was (like his favorite Therese) a Carmelite, and she played tennis and swam. He never played tennis, but it's like the time he asked Jesus, "Did you eat bananas?" (I'm not making this up, he did ask, and Jesus answered no, so Marcel promised to eat two bananas that night - one for himself and one for little Jesus!) Marcel and I aren't good tennis players like Henry's Carol, so we're hoping Teresa played tennis at least once for us too! Oh, and she loved to ride horses! Her cool factor keeps rising, and she's another great illustration of the timelessness and timeliness of the saints. What about her family life? This is where she shows us that God has a different and perfect plan for each one of us, a plan to bring us into closest union with Himself no matter what our backgrounds, no matter what our relationships have been. Teresa's parents raised her Catholic, but she outstripped them in generosity (as saint-children generally do), and when she wanted to become a bride of Christ by entering Carmel, her dad was totally against it. Her brother was too. She did what she could: she explained, she cajoled, she reminded them of the principles of their common faith, all to no avail. She did end up entering the monastery, after eventually obtaining her father's reluctant permission, but once there, she didn't last long. She was a flower now in full bloom, and Jesus was ready to pluck her and bring her to Heaven. Teresa got special permission to make her final vows so she could die as a fully professed Carmelite, and then she zipped off to do in Heaven what she couldn't succeed at on earth - to help her family understand how in leaving them she was preparing them for a deeper friendship with her. The friendship of the saints is beyond my descriptive powers, but suffice it to say that what we struggle to do with all our words and actions, Jesus and the saints can accomplish in an instant! This is as true for our relationships as it is for every other part of our lives. God loves hearing our prayers and healing our wounds, even as He allows us to keep our weakness and fail again - so we will pray again, and He can help again! I hope and pray that this day of Saint Henry and Saint Teresa brings you new friends (in Heaven and on earth) and many miracles. I've been praying for quite a few miracles lately, and yours are included. May we continue to fling ourselves into Jesus' loving embrace and remind Him, in a shout or a whisper, whatever we can do, "Jesus, I trust in YOU!" Draw me, we will run! “God would never inspire me with desires which cannot be realized; so in spite of my littleness, I can hope to be a saint.”
― St. Thérèse de Lisieux, Story of a Soul: The Autobiography of St. Thérèse of Lisieux “I know now that true charity consists in bearing all our neighbors'defects--not being surprised at their weakness, but edified at their smallest virtues.” ― St. Therese of Lisieux, Story of a Soul (l'Histoire d'une Ame): The Autobiography of St. Therese of Lisieux “And it is the Lord, it is Jesus, Who is my judge. Therefore I will try always to think leniently of others, that He may judge me leniently, or rather not at all, since He says: "Judge not, and ye shall not be judged.” ― St. Thérèse de Lisieux, Story of a Soul: The Autobiography of St. Thérèse of Lisieux The Little Flower is the greatest saint of modern times. So said Pope Saint Pius X, another great saint of modern times. Padre Pio bilocated to be at her canonization. Pope St. John Paul II proclaimed her the youngest Doctor of the Church. Her writings have been translated into every known language. Her image - usually a statue - graces innumerable churches. It is my policy, on entering a church, to look for her, and 9 times out of 10 she can be found in a stained glass window or a statue with her trademark roses sneakily hiding the crucifix. Where did Therese get her sanctity? The answer is simple: From God. How did God give Therese her sanctity? Through her holy parents and siblings. What does all this teach us? Well, gosh, lots of things, but I have about two seconds before it's time to finish. For the moment! I hope to return and make this a longer post later, but for now, we can only say: Thank You, Father, for this family. Make our families like the Martins - make us want to be saints! And then do all You will (which is SO MUCH) to make it happen. Please do it through joys more than through sorrows. Let us walk the Little Way with Therese and her family, and please do You be that way! Draw me, we will run! Cupcakes and roses - or even cupcake roses - for everyone!
Today is Marcel's feast, and we here at Miss Marcel's Musings are delighted to announce that in perfect imitation of our hero, we would have completely forgotten (or rather we had completely forgotten) except that another Miss Marcel West texted us waaaaay too early (but we were up even earlier!) to say Happy Marcel Day! Yes, indeedy, happy Marcel day to all! How wonderful to have friends; they quite replace the need for a brain, and I am indebted to them for sure. But now that we know this is THE DAY OF DAYS for our little brother (and thus for us too), what shall we do to celebrate? I'm thinking of taking the poodle for a walk, going to Holy Mass, thanking Jesus for EVERYTHING, praying (please join me) for Bosco and his Mama, for Auntie D who very much needs prayers, and for a boatload of other beautiful intentions we'll float along in with sleeping Jesus. WAKE UP, JESUS! It's Marcel day! So now we are together, we have Jesus awake (more or less), and we have (at least on our to do list) cupcakes . . . what next? In order to celebrate with what I love best even before our cupcakes arrive, I thought I'd post links to a few of my earliest posts here: the ones that tell all about Marcel. He's such a constant companion that I can't give you anything better than his friendship. So here goes! First: Who is Marcel Van? You'll find out HERE :) And if, in your feast day revelry, that's not enough reading, how about a few more musings from our early days with Marcel HERE . . . Which reminds me - a big THANK YOU to the original Miss Marcel East for suggesting, seven and a half years ago now, that I write a blog on Marcel. I so remember that hilarious suggestion which began, "Now before you kill me, let me just suggest this one idea . . ." or something along those lines. I had been so adamant I'd never write a blog, and then, KABAM! KABLOOEY! KAPOW! The idea hit me like a ton of bricks, and once I'd shaken the stars off (picture Charlie Brown when Lucy has just pulled away the football), I smiled, laughed, and said, "YES!" The next thing I knew, our British agent, Jack Keogan, translator extrordinaire, emailed me to say that he had been thinking he ought to start something like a blog on Marcel, but yikes, he had just finished 20 years of translating Marcel, and it felt like a nice moment for someone else to start a blog on Marcel. And then, lo and behold, I did. Clearly this was the work of the Holy Spirit and our guardian angels in a great big conspiracy of Love!!! Well, dear Jack, I can only say that it's my pleasure to take up where you left off . . . Fr. Boucher (Marcel's bearded Jesus) translated our little brother from Vietnamese into French. You (Jack) translated Marcel from French into English. And I, Miss Marcel, take as my mission to translate Marcel into . . . well, little tiny words of one syllable (or two if necessary) that convey: Jesus thirsts for us. He wants to sip us up like drops of dew. Let's be sipped! Or as our sister Therese puts it so beautifully: Jesus does not demand great actions of us, but simply surrender and gratitude. Or to put this even more simply (or at least in the one syllable translation): Let go and let God. And if you want to do more: Thank Him! But better than all of this are the words of Jesus Himself: Let not your hearts be troubled . . . Let not your hearts be troubled or afraid. (John 14) If you're finding your heart rather naughty today, still feeling troubled despite every reassurance, welcome to the human race! And don't forget that this is the Little Way which means it's okay to do everything really badly, even the Little Way! But here is why Marcel is MY FAVORITE PERSON EVER (right after the Blessed Trinity and Blessed Mother and good St. Joseph) . . . because he told us what Jesus said when He had to translate the gospel into our language of littleness. And what did Marcel say that Jesus said? Ah, I can't wait to tell you! Jesus assures us over and over in His Conversations with Marcel that He not only loves us, but He also is pleased with us, and (as Therese keeps telling us too) He loves our littleness. In fact, thanks to our littleness, we get to hang out with the likes of Marcel. That's enough for me to want to stay unimportant and forgetful! Speaking of forgetful, I've been trying really hard to remember to remind the whole world that this Friday, July 12 is the feast of St. Therese's beloved parents, Saints Louis and Zelie Martin. Since I forgot to tell you last week, and even a few days ago, I'm telling you now, but that means we have enough time for a mini-novena of 3 days on our way there from here. Perfect! Since a novena means nine - usually days, but hey, if I can pay attention for nine seconds, I'm considering it a banner prayer week! - let's go for nine words this time! That way if you, like me, forget all about everything on this fun page the minute you're no longer looking at it (and there are many, many other wonderful things to look at in this world and the next, so please don't feel obliged to stay looking at this screen forever!), we'll already have said our novena to Louis and Zelie! Here it is: Little Flower in this hour show your power, please! Hahahahahahaha. Marcel and I think this is so funny! We figure this prayer has much to recommend it: 1. We already know it. 2. It's easy to remember because it rhymes 3. It sounds so much like a hippy prayer from the 1960s but is really from a venerable (maybe not officially but really, really holy) Carmelite bishop in India in the 1930s! But how to make it nine words AND a prayer in honor of Louis and Zelie? Well, we just added "please" because they must have taught their little girls manners! And that makes it a novena of nine words! Okay, if you're looking for something a little more impressive (ah, how quickly we fall off the Little Way :), here is a prayer Therese said after her Papa went to Heaven: Remember that once on earth your joy was to love us. Hear the prayer of your children, protect us and continue to bless us. Up there you are reunited with our dear mother, who preceded you to our celestial homeland. Now in Heaven you both reign. Keep watch over us. Amen. And as always, we conclude with Therese's prayer from the Song of Songs: Draw me, we will run! "The souls of the righteous are in the hand of God, and no torment will ever touch them . . . Those who trust in Him will understand truth, and the faithful will abide with Him in love, because grace and mercy are upon His elect, and He watches over His holy ones." - Wisdom 3: 1, 9 Marie Rose Guadalupe is one of those lucky enough to be Blessed without having gone through the usual Process. She didn't live a long life here on earth, nor did she have a long process for her beatification. She was born and baptized, simply lived and thrived for six weeks outside her mama's womb and in her arms, and then left her identical twin sister to enjoy the view of their family in exile while she, little Rosie, flew to Heaven to watch over them from above. Last night I re-watched a beautiful film (it sounds much better to watch a film than just a movie, doesn't it?) called "Collateral Beauty." Will Smith is a grieving father, and at one point he tells Death that he's heard it all, and none of it comforted him. Poor Will! But really poor all of us . . . Living in the cave as we do, even those of us happily residing in places of beauty surrounded by loved ones, ALL OF US are faced with the mystery of death and eternal life sooner or later, and what are we to make of it? If we have lost someone dear to us - I mean really, really dear - and especially if they haven't lived out what would seem to be their full allotment of days, how can we thank our Father for His theft? He gives us the words, and I've heard them said through tears: "The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord." - Job 1:21b Today is Rosie's 18th birthday into Heaven. Some years I catch myself wondering what she looks like at this age (not that I get how Heavenly aging works!), and then I laugh because her twin is a beautiful strawberry blonde, and one can see Rose's reflection in MK's identical face. What takes a little more imagination is conjuring up an image of what she's doing now, and this is where Marcel comes in. He's the apostle of children, and while he lived on earth to age 31 and St. Therese to age 24, they both maintained their littleness to the end, which makes it easy to picture them helping Rosie shower graces on her family and their friends, as well as picturing these three Beata eating some glorious heavenly CAKE! Or at least helping us to some in celebration of their joy at having snuck out the back door of the cave and into the center of eternal bliss. I must have a picture here somewhere . . . If you're wondering which one of these is a strawberry blonde, well, don't forget this is Miss Marcel's Musings, and in our musings, most faces turn out to be Asian because Marcel provides the images!
But here we've been talking (as well we should) about little Rosie when there are two more birthdays to celebrate . . . These are less mysterious birthdays except for the odd conjunction of dates. You see, our own Jack Keogan, translator of Marcel into English (thus a man who, in our hearts, has won the Nobel Prize, the Pulitzer, the National Book Award, and the Newbery Medal) and Miss Marcel East (currently in the mid-West helping her priest-brother pack up for his new parishes) share a birthday each year, and each year I tend to forget it. This year Marcel played an extra special trick by reminding me I'd missed their birthday on the same day (he suggested) that was Rosie's heavenly birthday . . . Except that was yesterday, which was neither their birthday nor hers (on earth or in Heaven) . . . If it sounds like I'm in a muddle, I am! But Those who trust in Him will understand truth . . . And it's all sorted now: Jack and Mary Anne - happy (belated) birthday and many, many happy returns of the (belated) day! I'll be asking Rosie to help Therese and Marcel shower you both with roses (and cake) - and thanking Jesus for letting me know Him so much better through knowing all three of you darlings! And what does Marcel have to say? I've never thought of making him the keeper of my memory (ooh, like another film I enjoyed, "The Giver") because if anything, mine is better than his was, or at least it's a tie for both of us having the worst memories on earth ever, but now that he is in "a better place" (sorry, Will, but there it is), he sees through the mind of God and therefore has a GREAT memory! Nonetheless, I don't believe Heaven changes our personalities, which means that Marcel is still as big an imp as ever, only with a world stage on which to play out his pranks . . . so at the very least I can blame him for my lapses! Ah, Marcel! Do me a favor please and accompany Rosie on her rounds today. Help her shower her family with all the heavenly graces they need: her brother on his honeymoon, her older sister having a new baby, and the others as they live, discern, rejoice, pray, laugh, cry, watch films, take naps, comfort babies, and miss you . . . Rosie, I hope to make it to your earthly resting place with white roses today from them all . . . please remember too my friends Mary Anne and Jack - shower them with some of your heavenly roses so that my belated birthday greetings are full of sparkly joyful surprises for them today, on your day . . . Little Therese, you're the one who somehow gained all the accolades: a best seller, a Doctorate, and official status as a canonized saint . . . Little Flower, in this hour, show your power by bringing us our needed miracles so that we may join you in glorifying the One who made us all and will take us all Home someday. * * * For those who read the last post and wondered about (or even searched for) the passage from Marcel that we needed for a friend, well, today we have the sequel - and the reference - for you! A quick recap (and another thank you to the birthday boy): We have available to us in exile FOUR volumes (yes, four, which is why it took dear Jack about twenty years to translate all these words) written by our little brother Marcel Van: 1. Autobiography 2. Conversations with Jesus, Mary, and Therese of the Child Jesus 3. Correspondence 4. Other Writings Marcel wrote in Vietnamese (with the occasional French dictated to him by Jesus or Therese). His novice master and spiritual director, the French Canadian Redemptorist he lovingly called "bearded Jesus," known to the rest of the world as Fr. Antonio Boucher, translated Marcel's Vietnamese pages into French. This took him about twenty years from the time of his return to Quebec (from Vietnam) to near his own entrance into Heaven. The unsuspecting Jack Keogan, desirous of reading Marcel's Autobiography in English rather than French or Vietnamese, guilelessly took on the task of translating it into what we ironically enough call the "lingua franca" from the actual Lingua Franca, and next thing he and his adorable French wife knew, he was up to his ears in French because who better to keep translating into English those other three volumes than the man who'd translated the first! When I got my hands and heart on the first volume, I immediately ordered the second. Soon after, I ordered Mary Anne (about to become Miss Marcel East) to get a copy of volume 2, Marcel's Conversations, for her Lenten reading. I'm a bossy person, I suppose, but I'm not used to people obeying me so quickly, let alone having my orders bring about such happy transformation in the hearts and minds of the obedient! Mary Anne obeyed and Miss Marcel was soon born from her ashes. Not surprisingly, I quickly coveted volume 3, Marcel's Correspondence, but it was nowhere to be found. Now the unsuspecting one (one can never suspect all the roses Marcel and Therese have in store for their clients), I wrote to a website I found for the Marcel Van Association. Being a bear of little brain, I didn't carefully peruse said website to discover the author, so I didn't realize I was writing to the translator; I just wrote a begging letter to this effect: "Please, sir, I want some more." By return post (return email, to be exact), I received a note that began, "This is your lucky day!" Any day one receives an email from Jack Keogan, translator extrordinaire, is a lucky day! But that day really was one of the luckiest because he offered to send me a copy of the elusive Correspondence, and when I replied I needed two copies since I had no intention of sending mine to Mary Anne, he obligingly agreed and sent two! For fun and for free! Thus began a brilliant friendship. I love these friendships wherein the other person gives and I happily receive! It's even better if the friend somehow misunderstands and thinks I'm the giving one. One such friend might be reading this today, and I hope she smiles in recognition. Yes, I've found my vocation! It is to receive all in the Heart of the Church! And thanks to friends like Jack, I'm able to fulfill my vocation beautifully and joyfully. Ever generous, he later sent me an English language copy of Other Writings when that translation came into print! So thank you, Marcel, for writing so many words to draw us closer to Jesus. I might as well quote something you wrote from Jesus' dictation - oh, right after I at last solve the mystery! As I suspected (when I am not unsuspecting, I'm quite a suspicious sort of person), the quote we were looking for a few days ago is not from Conversations, but from Marcel's Other Writings. It comes at 2-5-1952 on page 79. I sure had a lot of fun, though, skimming through Conversations in search of the quote. Best book ever! Or at least I think so, and thanks to Marcel's kindness in writing down Jesus' words, while skimming I could read again just why it's my favorite book (and shockingly perhaps not everyone else's too). Wow! For once I opened right to the exact page! At (512) on April 23, 1946, Jesus explains to Marcel: "Why do I have to choose so many apostles for the expansion of the reign of my Love? Because it is necessary that there should be some for every category of person. You, for example, you must use a certain manner of speaking, while another will have to use a different one, which responds to the feelings of his audience. It is the same for crosses, for sufferings; I must choose different crosses for each soul to whom I send them, since, if I dealt with all souls in the same way, who would be able to walk along the path of perfection?" Speaking of suffering and walking along the path of perfection, please continue praying for Bosco and his mom. They are suffering, and the cross seems far too heavy. As Fr. Groeschel once memorably remarked: "We want to tell Jesus which cross to give us, and we know exactly which one it is. I'd like that cross over there in the corner, the styrofoam one. The one with wheels!" Dear Jesus, please switch out Bosco's heavy cross for a styrofoam one with wheels. He and his mama are such brave soldiers for you, but the spiritual battle is wearing them out. We know You know best, but You are also a very indulgent big brother, so please give them abundant strength, a lighter cross, and rest and peace in Your Heart and the Heart of our Blessed Mother. And since You want us to ask for everything with great confidence: Please heal them completely! Jesus, we know You can, we know You love us, and Jesus, we trust in You! Dear Blessed Mother, please send your angels to Bosco and his mom, and to Rosie's family too. Let her come visit them with a host of angels, filling their hearts and minds this day with joy, light, and peace. Padre Pio and your angel, team up with St. Irenaeus and his angel, along with your buddy Don Dolindo and your little friends Marcel and Therese and their angels, to bring many miracles to grace the belated birthdays of Jack and Miss Marcel East, and especially bring miracles (through the intercession of Brother Andre and St. Joseph as well) to Bosco and his family. And don't forget Rosie's family too! If any of her many grandparents aren't yet in Heaven, bring them there to celebrate this day with her before the eternal Face of God. And now, dear reader, it's time for our final prayer and . . . a slice of birthday cake! Draw me, we will run! Full disclosure: I don't think that I, Miss Marcel, am allergic to mornings. Okay, maybe just a little allergic. In any case, we thought today was a good day to make our Policy on Mornings clear. Not that we've always had a fully formed and articulated policy. Usually these blog posts are inspirations of the moment, so our policy is formed as we type, but let's be honest, there's no policy worth its salt that isn't disclaimable. I'm thinking there is nothing more impressive (in a completely pathetic and hilarious, namby-pamby sort of way) than the disclaimers that come before a movie - at least the ones on DVDs with special features. And lest you think I'm putting the cart before the horse, I just saw one of those last night and the disclaimer came before the feature film, not even in striking distance of a "view," "opinion," or "comment." So let's see if we can dig up one of those disclaimers and apply it now to our situation, seeing as we're about to Policy. (I figure this is a shameless era, one in which any noun can be verbed at the drop of a hat, so why not?) Here we go! "The views and opinions expressed on this blog are those of the writers and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of the entities they represent, and in ten minutes may not even reflect the views or positions of the writer." I figure if Marcel and Therese want to disclaim me, they're welcome, but I'm not seeing a lot of other blogs for our little patron and patroness! Okay, maybe there are scads of blogs for Therese, but Marcel? I like to think we're on the cutting edge here. You know, like ice skating near the Zamboni . . . Charlie Brown once said, “There are three things in life that people like to stare at: a flowing stream, a crackling fire, and a Zamboni clearing the ice.” But for the life of me, I can't find out or remember what Peppermint Patty called the Zamboni (or was it Marcie)? Sheesh, this is a morning of failing memory - but that's almost my whole point here. Mornings! Our policy on mornings! Are you ready? It long ago came to my attention - and unfortunately this I can't forget - that dear Monsignor Escriva (that's what we called him back in the day when he was merely a Servant of God like our Marcel) once defined (or perhaps frequently defined, but once was all I needed) The Heroic Moment as the moment when the alarm goes off and one gets out of bed instantly. Hmmmm. This is about up there with that other Opus Dei saying, "The state of your closets reflects the state of your soul." In a word, my commentary: Harsh! Hence our need for a morning policy of our own. But this also brings in a Heroic Moment policy. Not to mention a closet policy. Okay, then, let's do it! Policy Statement: 1. Contrary to common misconceptions, the heroic moment predates any reference to alarm clocks. The heroic moment, properly defined, is when you want to smack someone, and you smile instead. If the smile reaches your eyes, you are ready for canonization. This is the only time a living person can be canonized, though don't quote me on that, I haven't checked the new Code of Canon Law. (And yes, we here at MMM still call it "new.") 2. If the state of your closets reflects the state of your soul, it is a reflection of your charity, and the messier the closets, the greater your charity. If said closets are a crammed mess, that means you love those you live with (and those who give you a warning before they visit, and even those who simply ring the bell or knock rather than just walking in) enough to throw everything in the closet. Hucking extraneous objects into the closet allows loved ones, and even random wandering Jehovah's Witnesses or Mormons, a path by which to reach a chair or sofa empty of debris and available for sitting and visiting. Good job, messy closet people! 2.b. This is as good a place as any to offer our Jehovah's Witness and Mormon policy: Keep them at your door, and by all means invite them in if you're able, so that they are subject to your charity rather than going to the next door neighbor's house to pick off poorly educated sheep for their straying flocks. You can practice your anecdotal powers on them ("Seeing you here reminds me of the time a salesman knocked on my door and tried to sell me cleaning polish. He took half the finish off my door knob!"), your joke telling skills ("Have you heard the one about the guy who walked into a bar . . .?"), or simply be kind ("How's your day? Are you thirsty? Can I give you something to drink?"). You might ask if you can pray the Our Father together and lead it yourself, or if they decline, you might ask them why they don't want to pray together. However much time you keep these well meaning but wrong headed proselytizers at your door, that's the same amount of time they can't be leading your neighbors into error. And finally, our official policy on morning (but don't hold us to it in case, per our disclaimer, we decide the commentaries, opinions, and views expressed here don't actually convey how we feel in ten minutes): 3. Waking up in the morning is a good thing . . . unless you can manage to sleep till the afternoon! There's much more we could say about these policies. For instance, can a definition be a policy? Does the state of your closets have anything to do with the State you are currently residing in? Ought we to end sentences with prepositions? (See James Thurber, also cf. Winston Churchill on this one.) Is it better to get up in the morning or to invite all the kids into your bedroom for a family read-a-thon? We could go on, but it is actually morning while I write, and eggs are waiting. Which reminds me: 4. Whenever you do wake up, if this leads you out of bed and into the wider world, like the living room, do try to have some protein as soon as possible in order to alleviate the necessity of heroic moments, or at least to make them more likely than the smacking-people-when-you're-simply-hangry moments. Again, I may have to step away from my own views, my policies even, because those eggs will have to wait while I tell you about that contest promised in the title of this post . . . A new friend recently wrote to me through this blog - you too can do so by clicking on the Contact button, which allows you to send me an email and become a new friend just like that - and she needs a favor. She has a quote from Marcel's Conversations, and she wonders what the reference number is. Although we could give her the page number, I think the parenthetical number is better because then, no matter what edition one uses, the reference is standard and the passage will be at her (and our) fingertips. Unfortunately, when I said, just above, that "we could give her the page number," that was a somewhat hypothetical proposition, merely a pipe dream at present. To speak more exactly, I meant we could send it to her if we knew what it was, and that's where our contest comes in. Not to speak badly about our friends, but St. Anthony and Marcel seem to have a deal, and it's not to my benefit, except perhaps in the long run. You see, whenever I want to find a particular passage in Marcel, they sit and giggle. Yes, you'd think giggling would be a little beneath a Doctor of the Church, but the problem is that it isn't beneath a Franciscan (why do you think St. Francis is so universally loved?), and St. Anthony was a Franciscan long before he was a Doctor of the Church. I don't want to appear to be criticizing St. Anthony. At least not more than he deserves for being a very teasing big brother, so let's sing his praises. He often finds lost things for us. And if you have the chance, I even recommend naming all your children - maybe even your pets - after him, just to show him you acknowledge this great skill of his, and his extraordinary friendship. But even if God took away this particular skill from him (one tries not to think of Napoleon Dynamite, but ND's desire for skills does bring a smile to our faces), and gave it to, say, Marcel ("Dear Marcel, please come around, there's something lost that must be found!"), that would still leave St. Anthony the awesome title "Ark of the Testament" because he knew all Scripture by heart. What I'm getting at here, besides buttering up St. Anthony and Jesus who gave him such wondrous gifts, is that I think he (St. Anthony, and probably little Jesus too) wants me to know Marcel by heart like St. Anthony knew the Scriptures, and so he doesn't miraculously give me the passages I want exactly when I want them. Like today when I want to find this passage to help our new friend, but since I haven't yet memorized Marcel, and since my friend is waiting, I need your help. Yes, you! Do you have a copy of Conversations by your bedside or your uncluttered sofa? If it accidentally got tossed in the closet, please go dig it out, because not only does our friend need the citation soon, but (and here's what's in it for you) - whoever sends me the reference first (remember, you can simply click on the Contact button and write directly to me by email) WINS A PRIZE! I promise I won't pretend I found it directly, but I'll give credit to the finder and St. Anthony and Marcel! And come to think of it, if more than one of you readers (and I have reason to believe there are at least a dozen of you out there) finds and sends me the reference, you will each get your very own prizes! Here, then, is the passage whose missing citation we need to find. It is from Marcel's Conversations: "Oh Jesus! You died through love, and now you are still greedy for sufferings in the heart of the one you love. I offer my heart to you without regret, to welcome with you dishonor and sadness, to fall with you on the way, to support the multitude of men and lift up the sinful soul, to atone for, with you, the sins which do not cease to accumulate each day. Yes, I wish to mingle a little of my blood with the blood of your divine Heart, for the purification of souls." Perhaps the reason I haven't been able to find it is because it is a passage needed for someone else. Today, and just about every day of my life (already I want to change that to "absolutely every day of my life" so you see how necessary our seemingly ridiculous disclaimer is), I need not that passage but this passage: "My dear little brother," (this is Jesus speaking to us in Conversations) "I am covering you unceasingly with kisses and I keep my lips forever pressed against your cheek." (198) And you can bet that every single day my prayer is more like Marcel's when he tells Jesus (Who always wants us to tell Him everything) about all the things that irk him. Here's a good example, and it follows those words we just quoted about kisses. If you're following along in your copy of Convos, this is at (200): Jesus: Now Marcel, do you want something? Do you want me to give you a kiss? I am going to give you one, all right? But Marcel, why are you sad? Tell me quickly so I can kiss you. Marcel: Oh, I only feel a little fed up; and the reason is that, formerly, I had a comfortable bed while now I must lie on this poor bed that you see. It moves and cracks all the time, it's impossible to sleep. It's really detestable. * * * One of the gazillion things I love about Marcel is that when our little brother tells Jesus how he feels, we get such wonderful responses from our Divine Spouse. It doesn't matter what Marcel is complaining about (and he's often complaining about something), it's all just another opportunity for Jesus to patiently explain and help Marcel (and us) unite ourselves to Him. Which is exactly what the original prayer we're looking for expressed, namely a desire for this union, except I prefer asking for Jesus' kisses rather than "dishonor and sadness," and I know He wants us to tell Him the truth, not what we think He wants to hear . . .So complainers unite! Ah, little Marcel, you are marvelous! We catch you offering Jesus so much, just like we sometimes do, and yet how quickly we forget what we've offered! Once upon a time, I have a feeling I recklessly offered to suffer for Jesus, although when He took me at my word, then I was in trouble. Kisses, Jesus, give us kisses! And not the Mother Teresa kind that are a code word for suffering, but the Marcel and Therese kind that are just simply kisses! I'm fine with these kisses taking the form of words, even if the words explain suffering in a way I can understand. Like in the passage we're looking at now, where Marcel complains about his bed in answer to Jesus' question. (This might be a great way to start our prayer when we don't know how to pray, which is, for me, just about every day. We can imagine Jesus asking, "What's wrong?" and let our complaints roll out! But then let's remember to be quiet so Jesus can get a word in edgewise!) We've been talking about mornings and sleep, and heroic moments, and then here's Marcel joining in, bringing up beds in the random passage I selected (the one I opened to in Conversations when I'd rather have opened to the prayer whose citation we need). Reading on, I love Jesus' response, and I love too that every time He speaks, He teaches us. But then He is the Word, so I'm not really surprised, just delighted. On the 28th of December, 1945, in Conversations (201) to (202), after Marcel complains about his bed, Jesus replies: "Ah! So that's the reason. But Marcel, so you've forgotten? Listen, I am going to refresh your memory. If you accept cheerfully this uncomfortable bed, you will be able to practice in one fell swoop three virtues . . . And what did your sister Therese teach you? When one is poor does one complain at having an uncomfortable bed? However Marcel, I do not wish to scold you; I simply want to teach you a lesson. Be happy to sleep in this uncomfortable bed. I will so arrange things that it will cause you less discomfort. Remember the three virtues that you must practice: obedience, self-denial, and poverty . . . In the past, precisely at this time of year, I also had to lie on the straw of little lambs. It felt very bad: there was a little straw and the straw also was damp, so much that I felt very uncomfortable. If, then, I had complained to the Blessed Virgin, nowhere could she have found me a more comfortable bed . . . now, my little friend you also must do the same. It is because Father Master has not been able to find a better bed that he has had to resign himself to giving you this one. However, Marcel, believe that you are much luckier than I because you have a mosquito net and woolen covers. Spoilt as you are, what reason would you have to complain? Offer me all of that and I will give you kisses! . . . "Marcel, it is necessary for you to realize that you haven't yet the least virtue. If, in these circumstances, I had not spoken to you, I do not know when you would have stopped having red eyes. "Little Marcel, you have not the slightest virtue. And, to speak frankly, in your case there is nothing: one finds there nothing of beauty. But do not be sad because of it. Do you understand? Look at the flower which is your sister Therese; she recognized that she possessed nothing but in reality she possessed everything because, in possessing nothing, she obtained everything . . . Do not be discouraged, Marcel, all you will ask for, all you will wish for, I will grant to you. Do you now wish that I give you some kisses? How many do you want? But it is first necessary that you tell me: 'Dear Jesus, I love you.' Without that who would wish to kiss you? When you have said: 'Jesus, I love you,' I will give you as many as you wish for." * * * Ah, Jesus! We are so little, so weak, and yet you told us already through Therese that it is our weakness You love. And it is our loving our weakness that You love too! How could You stoop down so low if we were not so little? What glorious poverty is ours, and we want to run away from it, we want to be rich, and yet You came to live in our poverty so that we wouldn't be alone. Thank You for every imperfection this material world has to offer, and thank You for our minding it. Thank You that we are little princes and princesses who feel the pea under the 100 soft mattresses! Thank You for showing us through Marcel that Therese's message is for us, the very littlest ones, the pathetic first world complainers who are about to discover that our eggs (how lucky that we have eggs! And places to cook them!) are cold! I haven't yet mentioned what the prize is for those of you who send me the citation in our contest. How about three thing, in honor of the Adorable Trinity? The winners will receive: A book, a treat (to eat while reading), and one of my favorite tea bags (unused and individually wrapped!) Meanwhile, if your eggs have gotten cold, pierce the yolk with a fork before you microwave, and you will have less to complain about. I do have one other favor to ask. A dear friend is in a rough spot. Her son, who has suffered a terrible illness in the past, is having a relapse. This brings on, as you can imagine, suffering for the whole family, and especially for my friend who fears the return of this mysterious illness. They have spectacular doctors and a whole treatment protocol, but what they need more than anything is another miracle. Do you have a favorite wonder-working saint? Please call on him or her for my dear friend and her son - we'll call him Bosco, the name of another dear friend and saint (and the name of a stuffed animal pup I once gave him) . . . Dear Jesus, through all the love You bear Your saints and by all their intercessory power over Your Sacred Heart burning with love for us too, heal Bosco, our friend who is again suffering, and heal his dear Mama who is so scared. Please heal them both for good, and for all the good they want to do for you. We ask this in Your sweet name, Amen. Draw me, we will run! Happy Solemnity of the Sacred Heart! Therese and Marcel have a special surprise for us today. They're spending this glorious feast hanging about the coattails of Fr. Almire Pichon, S.J., the Martin family's spiritual director, and they've brought us some priceless words of his on the Sacred Heart. Father Pichon was first the director of Therese's oldest sister Marie, who became Sister Marie of the Sacred Heart (and that's an awesome story for another day), but like often happens to us, Marie had a hard time staying in close contact with a priest friend who was THAT holy and that much in demand. She once complained: "He wrote me fatherly letters from time to time, but, overwhelmed by his correspondence and his retreats, . . . he sometimes left me for a long period without a letter. I have written him as many as fourteen times before receiving a single word in reply . . , In 1884 Father Pichon was called to Canada and the good God alone knows how I suffered over his departure." To make matters worse, Father Pichon was definitely a declutterer, and he burned (or otherwise disposed of) all the letters her received from Marie's famous little sister Therese! But then again, what's Heaven for, if not to read everything we don't get a chance to read here in exile? I admit others quite convincingly might argue that Heaven is actually not for reading, but for doing more simply what we try to do by reading: namely for finally getting to know Jesus, our Love! This makes sense to me because it also explains why Heaven must be eternal: we're so slow on the uptake that even with His Divine Help, we're likely to need endless age upon age to begin to know the reality of His ardent love for us! The wonder, though, of Fr. Pichon was his ability - which he seems to have transmitted to his spiritual daughter Therese - to show us the Truth of Jesus' Love through his words (and His words) even now, before time becomes an ancient memory. The Sacred Heart was a big deal for Father Pichon (as for all good Jesuits), and so he wrote to Therese on August 16, 1989: My dear Child in Jesus Christ, How good it is for me to find you again in the Sacred Heart, or rather to feel that our souls are inseparable there. Your beloved little pages open doors and windows to me and Jesus grants me this joy of reading your soul well . . . * * * Not only did Fr. Pichon read her soul well, he formed her soul well, but then later when she was in Heaven, she had the joy of returning the favor and continuing to form his soul even better than it had been heretofore by all those long years of Jesuit training! And so our brother and sister have for us on this solemnity a conference Father Pichon gave to help us better understand the Sacred Heart and stop being such ninnies, constantly afraid of our Best Friend instead of madly in love with Him! I found this talk in Seeds of the Kingdom, a book originally published in English by the Newman Press in 1961. Thank You, tireless Jesus, for books that tell us of Your Love and work on chipping away that silly load of fear we carry. Please grant, little Jesus, through the intercession of your servant Father Pichon that we might listen to his sweet words and finally obey the order to burn our strait-jackets in a conflagration of love! Little Flower, in this hour, show your power! On a personal note, I learned that last bit about "Little Flower in this hour" from an ardent disciple of the Sacred Heart who is married to an ardent author on the Sacred Heart whose awesome book you can find HERE (by clicking on HERE!). From both of them, through their younger sister, as well as from a wonderful Jesuit of their acquaintance, I learned about the Sacred Heart and remained for my 4 years of college under His gaze in the image at the top of this post (thanks to yet another of their sisters!) . . . and so, in gratitude and in the hopes of stoking the fire of their love for Jesus even more, I'm going to do my best to use my speed-typing skill (we know from Napoleon Dynamite that skills are valuable!) all for the glory of God to get this beautiful conference onto the internet for posterity . . . Guardian angels, you behold the Heart of Jesus in its fiery passion - help us to understand His love and abandon ourselves without fear into His adorable arms! *** From Seeds of the Kingdom A conference on the Sacred Heart by Father Almire Pichon, S.J. "Abide in My Love" Our Lord, speaking of those devoted to His Divine Heart, said to St. Margaret Mary, "I will give them the gift of touching the most hardened hearts," another promise that arouses a holy emulation. Is not this promise for you also? Your vocation - is it not eminently apostolic? With this devotion you will be all-powerful over rebellious temperaments, hard characters. Honor the Sacred Heart; He will keep His word and will give you the gift of touching the hardest hearts. There are various dissimilar types of spirituality in the Church. The saints do not resemble one another. Of each one, the Church chants: "He has no equal." Each saint has his own moral physiognomy, his own spiritual character. St. Francis de Sales was visited from time to time by St. Vincent de Paul. Both were holy, but they differed greatly, nonetheless. The spirituality of the one was not that of the other. St. Jerome lived in the time of St. Augustine. They practically pulled one another around by the hair, as is revealed by their argumentative letters. They had no mutual understanding of one another. St. Jerome, who had lived a lifetime without soiling his baptismal robes, was stricken to the marrow of his bones when he thought of the Day of Judgment. St. Augustine, who, on the other hand, had led a sinful life, reposed upon the sentiments of love that filled his heart. . . St. Bonaventure remarked that spiritual directors are divided into two categories. One is more attentive to bringing about the death of self, the other to fostering life and love. The first brings a man's thoughts back to himself; the second causes souls to repose upon the breast of Jesus. Here is a saintly director to whose feet comes a soul just emerging from a life of sin. Before admitting him to frequent Holy Communion, the director requires his penitent to undergo a long and painful labor to correct his defects. This method does not touch the heart. The director says: "Later, we shall see. For the moment be attentive to correcting your faults." The other director, wishing to draw a soul from habitual sin, introduces him to the Heart of Jesus. Once the sinner becomes enamored of the love of God, it is comparatively easy for him to conquer his faults. The latter was the system of St. Francis de Sales, who so insisted upon this method that he almost lost his reputation as a spiritual director. It was bruited about that he was not a safe director, that he understood nothing of the direction of souls, because he admitted to Holy Communion two or three times a week persons who were still addicted to vanities, who even brought their fashions and furbelows to the Holy Table. This was remarked to the saint. "What of it?" he asked. "At the moment I am engaged in setting fire to the house. When it is well-lighted, then will be the time to throw the furnishings out of the window." Permit me to say that of the two systems, I give the preference to the one in which love predominates; love expands, dilates the heart. A holy religious had this to say: "As for me, I shall always desire that God be the God of my heart." Some of you have been serving God long enough, with might and main, in a kind of nervous tension, calling upon your conscience in a spirit of fear. Begin now to serve Him with your heart, through generosity, through love. To serve God through love is far more in accord with the Heart of God as well as with our own. The good can never equal the excellence of the best - love. Love eclipses everything else. Were I to say to a person, "I esteem you, I venerate you," I would be saying a great deal. But is there not something more that I could say? Have I exhausted the human language in these words? No. I can say, "I love you." There is no word that can be added to that. Human language has then exhausted its resources. It can go no further because the human heart can go no further. "Love is the triumph of God in man," said Pere Eymard. Even under the ancient law, the law of fear, do you know what God prescribed above all else? Love. "You shall love the Lord your God with all your soul, with all your strength, with all your heart." God is love - Deus caritas est. We can only respond to love with love. Since when is the heart content with respect? Love asks only to be loved. That was true under the old law, the law of fear that made Israel tremble. It is even more true under the law of grace. "The goodness of God has appeared unto us; He has banished the strong by the strength of His arm." He knows only how to bless. He no longer employs thunder, nor even lightning, to express His majesty. But all that He has lost in majesty, He has gained in love. "My Saviour is little and amiable to excess." Is it to command our respect, extort our admiration? Oh, no, no, it is to win our hearts! That little Child I hold in my arms, I press Him to my heart. What? Do I see you trembling with fear, like a slave, even at Bethlehem? You are, then, of the ancient law. Our Lord taught us only one prayer - one unique prayer. He did not commence it by saying, "God, all-powerful, infinite Majesty!" No, No. "Our Father," these words contain a whole revelation. At the moment when you say "Our Father," do you tremble, filled with fear and terror? Poor child. You, then, have had a cruel father. You are afraid of your Spouse? You have made a poor alliance? Ah, you have never, then, seen within the heart of your Spouse. You do not know Him. You have never penetrated the secrets of His love. Our Lord, on the eve of His death, said to His apostles: "I no longer call you servants . . . but My friends." Be to Him, therefore, a friend, a spouse, a tender spouse. Bring to Him the homage of your hearts. St. Paul cried out to the first Christians: "You have not received the spirit of servitude, but that of adopted children, who cry, Abba, Father." How happy would be the Heart of Jesus if He found among you not a single servant, but only His dear children! Up to now, you may have remained at His feet. For the future rest upon His Heart. St. Teresa of Avila said, "He who receives Jesus in the Blessed Eucharist through fear and trembling is less welcomed than he who presents himself with confidence and love." How, then, can we pass our lives trembling at the feet of our Lord? Our Lord wants no convicts in His service. He puts no one into a strait-jacket to force an unwilling compliance. If He asks a sacrifice, it is from a free and generous heart that He desires it to be made. Please, please, take off your strait-jackets and make a fire of love out of them! Our Lord will rejoice. Do you know what is the distinctive mark of true religion? It is love! False religions betray themselves by jealousy of their rights. They arm themselves with brute force to make their laws obeyed. They seek to inspire fear through threats and chastisements. That is because all false religions come from the demon who said of himself: "I am he who never loves." "The teaching of religion are nothing if they do not tend to inspire love," said Abbe Perreyve . . . Some serve God with gloves on, so to speak. They respect Him; they fear Him; but they do not love Him. For this reason they marvel when they see a layman or woman rise from bed in the midst of winter to go to an early Mass. They are amazed. They ask, "Is that necessary in order to be saved?" "No," the layman will reply, "it is not necessary. I do it out of love." Love does not fear to go beyond the precept. Others are even more astonished when they see a young girl leave her family, sacrifice a promising future, and enclose herself within a cloister, to renounce her freedom of action. They cannot understand. "What does it signify?" they inquire. "Are you obliged to make such sacrifices to gain heaven?" they want to know. Ah, they know only the religion of fear, of conscience. Love does not count its gifts. It is never satisfied. Its ardor carries it to excess, to folly . . . Ozanam was at the point of death. The priest who prayed beside him said, "My son, have confidence. God is good." Ozanam replied, "Why should I fear? I love Him too much." "Father," you say, "I have misgivings. Is the religion of love really for me? Am I not condemned to remain in Egypt?" Mary Magdalen, at her first meeting with our Lord, was highly culpable. Instead of condemning her to fear, our Lord said, "My daughter, you have offended Me. Give Me your love. You have offended Me greatly, therefore love Me greatly. You have offended Me more than all others: love Me more than all others." Upon St. Peter, for his triple denial, our Lord only imposed a triple protestation of love: "Peter, lovest thou Me? Peter, lovest thou Me? Peter, lovest thou Me more than all the others?" How cold is respect! The homage of our fears can never respond adequately to the love of our Lord. When shall we give Him, at long last, all of our hearts? At the Last Supper our Lord said to His apostles, "Abide in My love." He was not unknowing of what enormous sins, of what strange ingratitude, they would be guilty, yet He repeated, "Abide in My love." What a magnanimous religion! Come, then, to the Promised Land. Leave the dark fears of Egypt . . . Away with strait-jackets! We have within us a marvelous resource of incomparable energy - our hearts. It is love that gives impetus to our hearts; the heart and the emotions inspire the activities of the individual. Love is a lever superior to all others. The heart is a fulcrum by which God elevates the world of souls. Therese of the Child Jesus said: "I am of such a disposition that fear makes me draw back. With love, I not only advance, I fly." Love alone can command the heart; then the heart does all the rest. St. Teresa of Avila, toward the close of her life, said, "The more I learn, the more I see that everything should be done through love. I no longer govern with the same rigor as formerly." Had anyone attempted to take this saint by force, he would have wasted his time. She would have resisted. She would have rebelled. "That would have been natural for me," she wrote, "but with the least good will shown me, people can do with me what they will." St. Augustine said, "Love, then do what you will." What a beautiful device is that of the Canadian Zouaves: "Love God and go on they way," "All for love; nothing by constraint," said St. Teresa of Jesus. The soul which hopes to attain the summit of love must be, from the beginning, well established in love. Love renders sweet all that it commands; light, all that it endures; precious, all that it touches. All is little without charity; with it all is great . . . Do I have to insist upon the truth that love makes all things easy? How many times have you not experienced this in your own lives? Something may be naturally repugnant to us. One day, moved by love, desiring to give pleasure to a beloved friend, we see all our repugnances vanish. What appeared impossible before now becomes easy, even welcome. Nothing costs love too dearly when it seeks to give satisfaction to the beloved. Love faces all difficulties with courage. "When I have succeeded in expanding a heart, I have gained it," said Pere Poulevoye. "On the contrary, the demon constrains, narrows souls. When I have been able to release a heart that he has bound, I have gained that soul. Love is winged." How is it possible to soar when the soul is compressed within the vise of fear? The capacity to love is the capacity to be happy. He who loves really lives. He who loves knows how to serve. He who loves is happy. "One atom of love placed in a balance against the universe will outweigh it as easily as a tempest carries away a straw," said Lacordaire. Love goes farther than fear. Love opens before us horizons of far distances. Love is limitless; its confines are the infinite. Love never says, "Enough." Love is the friend of "Too much." "Am I obliged to do this?" Words of the cowardly. Go on dragging yourself in a rut if you must. "Am I obliged?" For myself, I love and I want to show my love. Poor souls, made anemic by a religion of fear, you live feebly, far from the sun of love! Have you never heard these words of your Lord: "Abide in My love?" Not through duty, not through respect, but "in My love." Establish there your dwelling place; raise there your tabernacle. How many souls there are to whom but one thing is lacking to their perfection: confidence! "What would you do if the good God were to forbid you to love Him?" was once asked of a child. "I would love Him in secret," was the touching reply. Do you know what is the greatest obstacle to a religion of love? It is our ignorance. We are just not acquainted with the Heart of Jesus. We learn about His majesty, yes; His power, yes; His justice, yes; oh, above all, we learn about His justice. But His love? His Heart? No, we do not know His Heart. St Augustine said to God: "Too late have I loved Thee because too late have I come to know Thee." At the tribunal of God where it will be granted us to plunge our vision into the loving Heart of our Lord, what cries of astonishment will arise. "Oh, had I but known!" A quite general malady is that of discouragement. A severe malady it is, a kind of spiritual anemia, arising from a lack of confidence. God permits us to call Him Father. We are, therefore, His children. Do you think a father would feel flattered to see his children constantly trembling before him? Falsity! Oh how little do you know the Heart of God! St. John reposed upon the breast of Jesus. He penetrated into the secrets of that adorable Heart, and ever thereafter he could only speak of love. He never spoke one word of fear. The way to reach this fruitful region, vivified by the great Sun of Love, is through devotion to the Heart of Jesus. This devotion is a divine remedy for the coldness of these times. Providentially, devotion to the Heart of Jesus was revealed to the modern world just at the time that the heresy of fear was making such ravages among souls of good will. The Sacred Heart is, par excellence, the devotion of love. "The Heart of Jesus," said St. Margaret Mary, "is a good Master who will teach you to love with all your heart. The Heart of Jesus is an abyss of confidence and love. Abandon yourself to Him. He will teach you how to make fear give place to love." Amen! Draw me, we will run! And Happy Solemnity from Marcel, Therese, and all of us here at Miss Marcel's Musings! Last Sunday was Good Shepherd Sunday, but a lifetime wouldn't be enough time to ponder the meaning of Our Lord's love for us expressed in this image. By "this image" I mean the figure He has given us of Himself as the Good Shepherd, but I suppose I also mean "this image" above!
Our picture today is taken from the new Chapel of Christ the King on the campus of Christendom College in Front Royal, Virginia (though happily it graced the old Chapel of Christ the King there too). This new chapel is a special gift to the Church because it is gloriously resplendent with art, architecture, and thoughtful, deliberate decor (from the tiles in the floor to the number of stars in the sky) that raise the heart and mind high, high up to God our loving Father, but it was also a special gift to me because the first time I saw it, this past January, was hot on the heels of my trip back to Lisieux. Back home from our pilgrimage I was a titch heart-broken that my favorite church (the Basilica of St. Therese in Lisieux) was again so very far away. But then I got to spend time in the Chapel of Christ the King at Christendom and lo and behold, Jesus had given me a new favorite chapel that was so much closer than France! But what Marcel and I wanted to do here in this post wasn't primarily to sing the praises of our favorite chapel, but rather to expound a bit on the Little Way with the help of our sister (and its chief exponent, after Jesus), St. Therese. I received an email recently from a man who, having read some of our musings here and also our magnum opus Something New with St. Therese, Her Eucharistic Miracle, asked, "How do I really live the Little Way, practically speaking, day by day?" What a great question! I answered him: I know exactly what you mean - after we find Therese (or she finds us, or we realize she's found us!), the big question becomes "What is this little way?" And it is so elusive because it is so counterintuitive and countercultural, even as we realize it fits us perfectly. The Little Way is recognizing our littleness and loving it, but even better is the quote that our Holy Father Francis uses to begin his apostolic exhortation on little Therese and her Little Way: "It is confidence and nothing but confidence that must lead us to Love!" He even says this sentence alone could have gained her the title Doctor of the Church! So what does it mean? The littleness we see in ourselves so constantly is a spur to do that little nothing she refers to as abandoning oneself as a little child in his Father's arms, which is inspired by not only our knowledge of our own littleness and our acceptance of it in peace, but our realization that God loves us so much and wants to care for us completely. Her sister Celine said she wanted Therese canonized so that her Little Way would spread through the world . . . and I just read that her sister Marie (of the Sacred Heart) told the interviewers at the same Canonical Process (regarding why she thought her sister should be beatified): "I desire it because I think the good God desires it and will be glorified by it . . . Sister Therese of the Child Jesus teaches us to go to Him with confidence and love . . . Therefore I regard Sister Therese of the Child Jesus as the apostle, the chosen messenger of the Lord in these times, who is to announce to all the infinite Love He has for us." This infinite love He has for us has to come into our answer about the Little Way. I think another way to express it is this: It's a beautiful gaze between us and the Father, this Little Way. We don't want it to be just us looking at ourselves, but perhaps as the Fatima children said about one of the special graces they received, they saw themselves in God (rather than just seeing themselves) and this meant they saw His incomparable love for them too. So looking into the Father's (or Jesus') eyes, we see how much we are loved, or simply that we are loved just as we are, and we are grateful for our littleness (that we are so often or constantly "faced with") because it means we don't have to leave our Father's arms, or the Good Shepherd's arms, to accomplish things, but rather we need to stay right there and go with God while He accomplishes things with us along for the ride. I think, too, of Our Lord's saying recorded in John 14: "Let not your hearts be troubled." I think that sums up the Little Way too. * * * Those are the words I wrote about the Little Way to the inquirer, but I think we can do even better than my impressions of the Little Way by going to the source. Well, maybe not going to the Source directly, exactly (which would be the Gospels and time with Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament), but we can take a shortcut by going to the one who brings us the living water she has found and shares so freely. Our sister Therese is a Doctor of the Church because whether she brings us a thimbleful or a tennis can full, she has the mission of helping Jesus help us drink from His overflowing torrents of love. As a girl I would get fresh, cold, clear water from the American River with a metal tennis can as my cup while my parents used the tennis balls on the old, rustic, outdoor court near Strawberry Lodge amidst the Jefferson Pines and sunshine, so I have wonderful memories of how refreshing water can be. Imagine the Living Water our Savior has promised! If we knew, we would ask, as He told the Samaritan woman. Here is some of that refreshing and life-giving Water flowing from the Font of Mercy and collected in the words of our sister. I'm stealing from a post originally "published" here on October 1, 2020, Therese's feast. Along with the image of the Good Shepherd, I hope these quotations make vivid the Little Way and set your feet dancing along it. From St. Therese: 1. Jesus does not demand great actions, but simply surrender and gratitude. 2. He alone disposes the events of our life of exile . . . It is the hand of Jesus that guides everything. 3. I assure you that the good Lord is much kinder than you can imagine. He is satisfied with a glance, with a sigh of love. 4. In spite of all obstacles, God accomplishes what He wills. . . . The work I had been unable to do in ten years was done by Jesus in one instant . . . 5. We can never have too much confidence in the good God who is so mighty and so merciful. We obtain from Him as much as we hope for. 6. God knows our weakness. He remembers that we are but dust. As a father is tender toward his children, so is the Lord compassionate towards us. 7. God is too good, too generous to give His favors meagerly. 8. Your arms, my Jesus, are the elevator which will take me up to Heaven. There is no need for me to grow up; on the contrary, I must stay little, and become more and more so. 9. Jesus will come for us, however far away we may be from Him, and will set us afire with His love. 10. I will spend my heaven in doing good upon earth. Do not the angels take care of us while still enjoying the Beatific Vision? * * * I love these wise words, but then, too, our sister can be so funny and so very clever! Her cousin in the convent, Sister Marie (Guerin) of the Eucharist, asked the dying Therese to obtain great graces for her once Therese was in heaven. Therese responded: "Oh! when I am in heaven, I will do very many things, great things . . . It is impossible that it is not God who has given me this desire; I am sure He will answer me! And also, when I am up there, I will follow you closely!" To which Marie replied that this would frighten her! But her cousin (our sister) had the perfect answer: "Does your guardian angel frighten you? He follows you nevertheless, all the time. Well, I will follow you in the same way, and even closer! I won't let anything pass you." And here is some advice from our little Doctor on prayer, that is, conversing with our Father about all that we need (for us and for our dear ones and the whole world). I've quoted her brilliance on this more than once over the years, and you may recognize in Therese's wisdom the words from Song of Songs with which we conclude our posts here. The passage I quote comes the last part of Story of a Soul (Manuscript C). Therese taught us a very easy way to pray. She knew that if she tried to enumerate every need of those she loved and whom God had entrusted to her, "the days would never be long enough," and she feared she would forget something important. But she is forever reminding us that Jesus is tenderly solicitous to all our needs, and this is a prime example. She explains: "For simple souls there must be no complicated ways; as I am of their number, one morning during my thanksgiving, Jesus gave me a simple means of accomplishing my mission. "He made me understand these words of the Canticle of Canticles: 'DRAW ME, WE SHALL RUN after You in the odor of Your ointments.' O Jesus, it is not even necessary to say: 'When drawing me, draw the souls whom I love!' This simple statement: 'Draw me' suffices; I understand, Lord, that when a soul allows herself to be captivated by the odor of your ointments, she cannot run alone, all the souls whom she loves follow in her train; this is done without constraint, without effort, it is a natural consequence of her attraction for You. Just as a torrent, throwing itself with impetuosity into the ocean, drags after it everything it encounters in its passage, in the same way, O Jesus, the soul who plunges into the shoreless ocean of Your Love, draws with her all the treasures she possesses." And so, with simplicity, gratitude, and joy, we pray with Therese to our adorable Jesus that not only we, but all souls will come to know the Little Way and hasten along it: Draw me, we will run! P.S. Marcel wants to add a few words because after he asked Therese to be his big sister and she silently said yes, then she said yes a little more loudly and began to teach him the Little Way in person! It was on a Thursday in October 1941 when she first spoke to him, and thanks to the insistence of Fr. Anthony Boucher, his Redemptorist spiritual director and novice master, Marcel wrote them down in his Autobiography, and thanks to Fr. Boucher's twenty years of translating (from Vietnamese into French) and our friend and benefactor Jack Keogan's twenty years of translating (from French into English), voila, we get to hear more of Therese's teaching too!. In his Autobiography (600), Marcel recounts that she told him: "Never fear God. He is the all-loving Father. He knows only how to love, and He wishes to be loved in return. He thirsts for our poor little hearts which come from His creative hands, and where He has placed a spark of love which comes from the very hearth of His Love. His only wish is to gather these sparks of love and unite them to His infinite love, so that our love lives on forever in His. Finally, it is still the force of the attraction of Love which will draw us into the eternal fatherland of Love. Offer all of your little heart to God. Be sincere with Him in all circumstances and in all your points of view. When you feel joy, offer Him that joy which swells your heart and, by so doing, you will transmit your joy to Him. Can there be a greater happiness than a couple loving one another and exchanging all they possess? To act in this way with God is to say thank You to Him, which pleases Him more than thousands of touching canticles. If, on the other hand, you are invaded by sadness, say to Him again with an honest heart: 'O my God, I am really unhappy!' And ask Him to help you accept this sadness with patience. Really believe this: nothing gives more pleasure to the good God than to see on this earth a heart which loves Him, who is sincere with Him with each step, with each smile, as well with tears as with little momentary pleasures." And if I wanted to sum up the Little Way or apply it to our daily lives (which I do!), I couldn't find a better little way to do so than Marcel's! I can only add that when all else fails, let's follow the advice of the bigger Teresa, our holy mother in Carmel and Therese's patron, Teresa of Avila, who recommends looking at Jesus (with love) Who is always looking at us (with love). And so we return to where we started, because for a good image of Our Lord and His posture toward us, just look again at the Good Shepherd holding us, His sheep. Little Flower, in this hour, show your power! Marcel, give Jesus a big, smacking kiss for us, one that makes a lot of noise! And lest we forget what we've learned again: Jesus! Draw me, we will run! Marcel and I love feasts of every kind. Kind of like a homeschooled kid hoping for the day off, we're willing to celebrate just about anything!
Interestingly, one of our birthdays is April 7, and that is the very day the historian Daniel Rops fixes on for the first Good Friday! What a beautiful conjunction of days! And mercifully, in my lifetime these two high liturgical feasts (birthday and Good Friday) had never actually coincided. Until last year! I thought Jesus thought I was old enough to handle it as the honor and privilege it was, but like the child I am, I had a rough day . . . Happily, the Heavenly Father had this planned from all eternity and Jesus was ready to apologize this year so the adorable Blessed Trinity put together the Solemnity of The Birthday and the Solemnity of the Octave of Easter - better known, thanks to our beloved Papa John Paul II as Divine Mercy Sunday! So happy birthday to one of us on the day when we are all celebrating big time! I am such a silly that in the excitement over this birthday I forgot (as we are so prone to do, but Marcel definitely remembered!) the birthday of a dear godson named John Louis. Will you join me in praying for him today to make up for my forgetfulness? Dear Father, Son, and Holy Spirit of Love, please bless John Louis with every possible grace You have hidden in Your Mysterious Trinitarian Oneness, including health, peace, joy, love, and union with You. Dear Blessed Mother, watch over your own John Louis. Bless his mom and dad and sister, his grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and godparents. Send angels to be with him always, guiding and enlightening him to become the great saint the Holy Trinity has called him to be from all eternity. St. John, beloved apostle, St. Juan Diego, faithful lover of Our Lady and Our Lord, St. Louis, King of France, friend of St. Thomas, and wise and gentle leader, obtain great graces and miracles for your namesake John Louis and help him every step of his life to Heaven. Dear guardian angel of John, dear Padre Pio and your angel, dear Marcel and Therese and your angels, thank you for all you've done already, and with the powerful love of God that fills all your being, love John every second of every day of his life on earth and then all through eternity in Heaven. And last but not least, good St. Joseph and St. Andre, your herald, do that amazing thing you do and shower blessings and protection and healing upon John and his loved ones to bring glory and honor to little Jesus who obeyed you, dear Joseph, on earth and so loves to continue obeying you now in Heaven. Amen! + + + And now a word from St. Faustina, who loves this day more than any of us can! From her Diary, 205 - 206, also marked as (99): +The Resurrection. Today, during the [Mass of the] Resurrection, I saw the Lord Jesus in the midst of a great light. He approached me and said, Peace be to you, My children, and He lifted up His hand and gave His blessing. The wounds in His hands, feet and side were indelible and shining. When He looked at me with such kindness and love, my whole soul drowned itself in Him. And He said to me, You have taken a great part in My Passion; therefore I now give you a great share in My joy and glory. The whole time of the Resurrection [Mass] seemed like only a minute to me. A wondrous recollection filled my soul and lasted throughout the whole festal season. The kindness of Jesus is so great that I cannot express it. The next day, after Communion, I heard the voice saying, My daughter, look into the abyss of My mercy and give praise and glory to this mercy of Mine. Do it in this way: Gather all sinners from the entire world and immerse them in the abyss of My mercy. I want to give Myself to souls; I yearn for souls, My daughter. On the day of My feast, the Feast of Mercy, you will go through the whole world and bring fainting souls to the spring of My mercy. I shall heal and strengthen them. * * * I am so bowled over by this passage! I opened Faustina's Diary (and might I recommend the leather bound, bible paper edition? It is not clunky, it fits nicely in a purse or pocket, it feels inspired, and the binding doesn't fall apart. In short, it's a winner, and I think our father St. Alphonsus would agree, since he cared a lot that his books - those he wrote, and no doubt those he read too - were of a size and shape to be easily enjoyed) . . . but when I opened the Diary at random, I was hopeful to see what Faustina herself would say. How goofy I am not to remember that what JESUS says is the really good stuff! No matter. He knows our goofiness, our silliness, our forgetfulness, and most of all He knows our need for Him because He created it to match His desire to give Himself to us! And here He is, giving us peace by wishing it to us (because He's God, so His words are always efficacious, which means what He says HAPPENS), and He is giving us joy and glory because hey, you can't deny it, we've all shared His Passion whether we wished that or not! And then, how sweet that He instructs us in the easy way to save all souls today: "Gather all sinners from the entire world and immerse them in the abyss of My mercy." If you're like me, you might wonder how to do that. I have the answer! Let's simply ask our angels to help! They know how! Dear angels, our guardians and friends, please gather all sinners from the entire world, including us, and immerse the whole enormous all of us into the abyss of our Jesus' mercy! And now, it's time to go eat, pray, eat, pray, eat, pray, and eat! Wow, that's a lot of eating. Maybe some will be just snacks, but don't forget to keep your strength up for the praying, and most of all don't forget to celebrate the Love of our Merciful Savior! Happy Divine Mercy Birthday! The best way I know to celebrate (okay, besides cupcakes!) is by gaining a plenary indulgence for a soul in purgatory, and that's so easy today. It's Sunday, so we'll all be going to Mass, and when you're in church, you can say an extra prayer and viola! If you're able to go to a special Divine Mercy Holy Hour, all the better, but in a sense, due to Jesus' excessive (infinite, even!) mercy, it's actually just the same as if you can't! What in the world do I mean? I'm really looking forward to our parish's Holy Hour today, but here is the official explanation of how to get the plenary indulgence today: . . . the Supreme Pontiff, motivated by an ardent desire to foster in Christians this devotion to Divine Mercy as much as possible in the hope of offering great spiritual fruit to the faithful, in the Audience granted on 13 June 2002, to those Responsible for the Apostolic Penitentiary, granted the following Indulgences. . . a plenary indulgence, granted under the usual conditions (sacramental confession [within 20 days before or after], Eucharistic Communion and prayer for the intentions of Supreme Pontiff [Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be are often suggested but any prayers will do]) to the faithful who, on the Second Sunday of Easter or Divine Mercy Sunday, in any church or chapel, in a spirit that is completely detached from the affection for a sin, even a venial sin [not hard; just ask God: in this moment please grant me to be completely detached from sin so I may gain the indulgence Holy Mother Church offers] take part in the prayers and devotions held in honour of Divine Mercy, or who, in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament exposed or reserved in the tabernacle, recite the Our Father and the Creed, adding a devout prayer to the merciful Lord Jesus (e.g. "Merciful Jesus, I trust in you!"). There it is then! If you can't make it to a special holy hour, you can recite the Our Father and the Creed and "Jesus, I trust in You!" at church today in the presence of the tabernacle! Thank You, Jesus, for Your infinite mercy and kindness! Draw me, we will run! p.s. The story behind the picture at the top is HERE. Thanks be to God for His Divine Mercy and all those who share it with us! |
Miss MarcelI've written books and articles and even a novel. Now it's time to try a blog! For more about me personally, go to the home page and you'll get the whole scoop! If you want to send me an email, feel free to click "Contact Me" below. To receive new posts, enter your email and click "Subscribe" below. More MarcelArchives
June 2024
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