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! Limbo by Sr. Mary Ada, OSJ
The ancient grayness shifted Suddenly and thinned Like mist upon the moors Before a wind. An old, old prophet lifted A shining face and said: "He will be coming soon. The Son of God is dead; He died this afternoon." A murmurous excitement stirred All souls. They wondered if they dreamed - Save one old man who seemed Not even to have heard. And Moses standing Hushed them all to ask If any had a welcome song prepared. If not, would David take the task? And if they cared Could not the three young children sing The Benedicite, the canticle of praise They made when God kept them from perishing In the fiery blaze? A breath of spring surprised them, Stilling Moses's words. No one could speak remembering The first fresh flowers, The little singing birds. Still others thought of fields new ploughed Or apple trees All blossom-boughed. Or some, the way a dried bed fills With water Laughing down green hills. The fisherfolk dreamed of the foam On bright blue seas. The one old man who had not stirred Remembered home. And there He was Splendid as the morning sun and fair As only God is fair. And they, confused with joy, Knelt to adore Seeing that He wore Five crimson stars He never had before. No canticle at all was sung. None 'toned a psalm, or raised a greeting song. A silent man alone Of all that throng Found tongue - Not any other. Close to His heart When the embrace was done, Old Joseph said, "How is Your Mother, How is Your Mother, Son?" * * * Draw me, we will run! Just when it feels like St. Joseph's Day has sped by and left us for at least another month and a half, a Carmelite friar of my acquaintance sends me a marvelous first-thing-in-the-morning text wishing a Blessed Octave of St. Joseph!!! Those 3 exclamation points are his, which means he's a true son of our holy mother Teresa and a true little brother of St. Therese. I haven't mentioned it lately, but when I first went to the Basilica of St. Therese in Lisieux (and yes, I owe a lifetime and an eternity of gratitude for being able to say "when I first went" because this last Christmas was a second trip there!!!), I fell in love with the Crypt. I know, it's a strange thing to say. Who falls in love with a Crypt? Apparently I do, because I did, and one of the many reasons why was that behind the main altar there is a mosaic of angels with buckets of roses and a statue of St. Therese in front of them with her arms upraised to toss those heavenly roses on us . . . and above this mosaic are (in mosaic tile too - the most beautiful Byzantine-Vegas sparkly pastel tiles) our Sister's last words (in French, but we'll translate), "Oh I love Him + My God, I love You!!!" Yes, these 3 exclamation points are hers - and how could one not LOVE that? You see, when a person speaks aloud, it is unusual to know how many exclamation points are being used - unless the person is herself unusual and her translators (in this case her sisters Pauline/Mother Agnes and Celine/Sister Genevieve) very astute. She was and they were, and hence, the 3 exclamation points. But I feel myself drifting away from the main joy of this post which is our patron, our benefactor, our dearest earthly Father (like Jesus') - good St. Joseph! I wasn't able to post for St. Joseph's Day yesterday, and along comes today with my early text from The Friar, and viola, it is never too late! Here we are only beginning the Octave, and if anyone ever needed an octave it is us! I was going to say it's St. Joseph (who needs an octave) because he has so much to give us, and to his sweet and mild disappointment we never ask him enough - you can see what a reflection of our Heavenly Father he is in this way - but in fact, this means we're the ones who need the octave so we can have more time to reflect on his goodness, his kindness, his paternal care for us and the whole Church and the whole world - and then, bolstered in our confidence, we need this octave to ask him for much more!!! There are 3 things, in honor of our 3 exclamation points, that I want to do here today. First, I want to give you the words of holy mother St. Teresa on St. Joseph. She praised and promoted him so well that she launched a movement still going strong and recently renewed by the spectacularly lowly wonder-worker (though just a kind of laser pointer to St. Joseph who obtained the miracles) St. Andre Bessette, and much more recently by the spate of St. Joseph consecrations following Fr. Calloway's thorough and thoroughly charming book on Consecration to St. Joseph. Second, I want to tell you about this year's novena prayer and the miracles we're seeing already. And third, I can't help but re-post my St. Joseph day blog from 2022 because not only did it start with the gorgeous Murillo atop today's offering (showing St. Joseph and little Jesus in a veritable photograph!!!), but it also came on the heels of the Year of St. Joseph which contained such eternal blessings for my family that I love to re-visit them and share them to help your hope. We all have our miracles to share, and I'm so happy I have this place in which to share them. Oh, and who can resist another photo of the Saints? We'll conclude with our usual favorite little prayers and then a pic of St. Joseph with St. Therese and their True Loves, our Blessed Mother and adorable little Jesus . . . First then, in Chapter 6 of the Book of Her Life, we find the great Doctor and Mother, St. Teresa of Jesus, writing in the 1500's these words which practically say it all (though it turns out there is always more to say, because who can glorify God in Himself, in His angels and in His saints, and then simply be done with it?). This is not my usual preferred ICS (Institute of Carmelite Studies) version of her words, but I live in a two-story house and my fave translation is upstairs near the sleeping husband, while I am downstairs with my friends the google elves, so here we are . . . Without further ado, St. Teresa of Jesus of Avila, from the Book of Her LIfe, Chapter 6: * * * I took for my patron and lord the glorious St. Joseph, and recommended myself earnestly to him. I saw clearly that both out of this my present trouble, and out of others of greater importance, relating to my honour and the loss of my soul, this my father and lord delivered me, and rendered me greater services than I knew how to ask for. I cannot call to mind that I have ever asked him at any time for anything which he has not granted; and I am filled with amazement when I consider the great favours which God hath given me through this blessed Saint; the dangers from which he hath delivered me, both of body and of soul. To other Saints, our Lord seems to have given grace to succour men in some special necessity; but to this glorious Saint, I know by experience, to help us in all: and our Lord would have us understand that as He was Himself subject to him upon earth—for St. Joseph having the title of father, and being His guardian, could command Him—so now in heaven He performs all his petitions. I have asked others to recommend themselves to St. Joseph, and they too know this by experience; and there are many who are now of late devout to him, having had experience of this truth. I used to keep his feast with all the solemnity I could . . . Would that I could persuade all men to be devout to this glorious Saint; for I know by long experience what blessings he can obtain for us from God. I have never known any one who was really devout to him, and who honoured him by particular services, who did not visibly grow more and more in virtue; for he helps in a special way those souls who commend themselves to him. It is now some years since I have always on his feast asked him for something, and I always have it. If the petition be in any way amiss, he directs it aright for my greater good. If I were a person who had authority to write, it would be a pleasure to me to be diffusive in speaking most minutely of the graces which this glorious Saint has obtained for me and for others. But that I may not go beyond the commandment that is laid upon me, I must in many things be more brief than I could wish, and more diffusive than is necessary in others; for, in short, I am a person who, in all that is good, has but little discretion. But I ask, for the love of God, that he who does not believe me will make the trial for himself—when he will see by experience the great good that results from commending oneself to this glorious patriarch, and being devout to him. Those who give themselves to prayer should in a special manner have always a devotion to St. Joseph; for I know not how any man can think of the Queen of the angels, during the time that she suffered so much with the Infant Jesus, without giving thanks to St. Joseph for the services he rendered them then. He who cannot find any one to teach him how to pray, let him take this glorious Saint for his master, and he will not wander out of the way. May it please our Lord that I have not done amiss in venturing to speak about St. Joseph; for, though I publicly profess my devotion to him, I have always failed in my service to him and imitation of him. He was like himself when he made me able to rise and walk, no longer a paralytic; and I, too, am like myself when I make so bad a use of this grace. + + + My husband always advises students to comment after they use a block quote in a paper. Well, we're not on paper, and if I don't hurry, said sleeping husband (now awake upstairs from the sound of feet above my head) will be ready for breakfast before this post is half baked! Thus we move on to my second (and brief) foray into St. Joseph's glories. Suffice it to say that this year we had 3 main intentions for our father and patron, following St. Teresa's encouraging words: It is now some years since I have always on his feast asked him for something, and I always have it. If the petition be in any way amiss, he directs it aright for my greater good. We said our usual novena prayer (which you'll find below along with my reasons for loving it) and this time my husband was all in. Often I say novenas without him because I have all of you to join me, but this time, as I say, he was right there with me - quite comically, come to think of it, because we've both had laryngitis this week, but luckily in turns. So I think at the start we may have said the novena aloud together, but then as the 9 days progressed, I had to take over the "aloud" portion, and then he did! There are all kinds of unexpected benefits of novenas, and one of them is that so much can happen over nine days (or nine months, or nine minutes, depending on how you like to time your novenas). Well! Now we get to the very fun part! Yesterday on St. Joseph's Feast and the day before, on his Vigil, we realized that 2 out of our 3 main intentions had been answered - or at least he had begun to make things right as rain! (A sore subject around here actually, so let me try that again!) That is, good St. Joseph had given us the most marvelous signs and indications that he was truly obtaining for us from little Jesus these tremendous particular miracles for which we've been beseeching him lately. Hooray! I may have more glorious details as these miracles develop - you can see they won't be the instantaneous kind of cures we could submit to Rome, but oh, as you know from your own experience, there are miracles less visible and less instant which take your breath away just as effectively once your angel has knocked you on the head to make you see what's happened. Speaking of which, let's move on to that old post from 2022. In it I recount two of the greatest graces of our lives (my dear husband's and mine) - the blessed deaths, or rather entrances into eternal life, of our dads, Henry and Paul (in that order, God rest their souls), which, considering we're all "terminal," took 86 years and 85 years, respectively. So here goes, and then at the end you'll find our second photo for today, this one a great snapshot of our dear St. Joseph in glory, in the company of his family and our sister. * * * March 19, 2022 Are you ready for the feast of St. Joseph? You may have been praying away, preparing by a traditional novena, or you may have made it a little novena, forgetting some days, or you may be saying "oops!" right now. That last especially would make you ready to dive into our novena, but you're more than welcome to pray it in addition to yours even if you've been very together! Here at MIss Marcel's Musings, we like to end novenas on the actual feast day, and we LOVE St. Joseph. Consequently we've been praying to him for days and days and it's unlikely we'll stop after today - and all your intentions are included! We find it easy as pie because God our Heavenly Father wants to give us so many things, and He loves to give them through the request of dear St. Joseph who was His stand-in on earth. So come on down! Let's importune St. Joseph and get those graces showering upon all our near and dear ones, all who have commended themselves to our prayers, all who are in need of our prayers (whether we're aware of their needs or not) and all for whom we've promised to pray. Whew, that's quite a list! Good thing our guardian angels are with us to keep track - we don't need to name every name (in fact we couldn't, come to think of it), but just trust. And as always, we can fortify our small supply of trust by drawing on the HUGE confidence of our sister St. Therese. Now that she sees Our Lord face to Face, she has no need of her trust and is happy to give it to us! I'm not aware of our dear Marcel Van having written on St. Joseph, but I do love what Jesus told him in Conversations about the Heavenly Father's love for us, and I'm certain these words apply to good St. Joseph in his capacity as our father too. Jesus said: "Come, come, little brother, the goodness of your true Father is without measure, as I have told you many times already. Even if, in His Love, He indulged you in everything, filling all your desires, He would never find it enough for His Love; He would only be afraid that you might not have the strength to receive all His treats." (492) St. Joseph must have felt exactly this way regarding the Treasures the Heavenly Father confided into his care: Jesus, and Mary, his spouse, when they lived on earth, and the whole universal Church now. I'm sure St. Joseph wants to indulge us just as he would have wanted to indulge Mary and little Jesus in everything! And I've been thinking about how Mary and Jesus must have felt about him too. I imagine that St. Joseph was such a tremendous comfort to Our Lady and Jesus. He was both strong and gentle, prudent and loving, faithful, devoted, always near and ever ready to help in any task that arose in their little household. And when trials came - the first intimations of the cross in the flight to Egypt, their exile, and later the three day loss of the boy Jesus when He remained in the temple - St. Joseph was no doubt a refuge for Our Lady and a reminder of the faithfulness of the Father who would never abandon them. I have a favorite St. Joseph novena prayer that I've been saying a lot recently, and you'll be glad to hear it works! In his kindness and knowing my timorous heart, St. Joseph answered one of my lead-off petitions before I finished the novena, and I'm so grateful. What a way to show us that our confidence is well placed! He would never neglect us, his children, and he is even now working out the answers to as many needs as we present to him. One reason I love this particular prayer - okay, besides that it has been the means of obtaining many favors and graces over the years - is that it's replete with hope and childlike dependence, plus a lot of great reminders about how reliable St. Joseph is, how responsive, how quick to hear and answer. Full disclosure: Some of my petitions have been trotted out again and again, and I know that doesn't sound like "quick to hear and answer" on St. Joseph's part. Rest assured that many others were answered by him pronto, and I know he would take care of every intention that way except that he wants to be as obedient to God as God always was to him! Are some of your petitions like some of mine, and you find yourself commending to him the same needs that have been with you for more than one or two of his feasts? I suspect I'm not alone in this, but I have a story to boost your perseverance. In the beautiful Year of St. Joseph which unfortunately ended last December (I would have liked a decade of St. Joseph or maybe a century!), I was able to assist my two earthly fathers, that is my dad and my father-in-law, in their passages Home to God. They both were blessed with holy deaths, and for my father-in-law this was particularly marvelous because we had been praying for his return to the sacraments for decades! God knew and waited. St. Joseph heard and persisted in reminding the Father. We just kept praying and trusting and trusting and praying - and voila! Wonderfully, two weeks before he left this life for Eternal Life, my father-in-law cheerfully consented to receive the sacraments and did! The prayers of his parents from long ago, of his wife of 62 years, of his children from their childhoods, of his grandchildren and eventually great grandchildren, these were answered at last in one fell swoop of grace and mercy at the perfect moment God had in mind from all eternity. Don't worry, then, if some of your prayers are still unanswered. God's timing is always perfect, and He loves that you continue to turn to Him with these persistent requests. And when you go to Him through St. Joseph, you are bringing in one who has great power over God's heart! We have much power over His Heart too, He loves us so much, but with St. Joseph there is that added business of obedience, since the Heavenly Father made St. Joseph the earthly father for Jesus Who was perfect in obedience as in everything else. As Marcel's father in the Redemptorists, St. Alphonsus, explains: "Just as Jesus Christ wanted to be subject to Joseph on earth, so He does everything the saint asks of Him in Heaven." So what do you say? Shall we pray together? Let's honor St. Joseph with our filial confidence and take refuge in him as our Blessed Mother and little Jesus did. And the bigger your needs, the more challenging your requests, the better! This will give Jesus a chance to thank St. Joseph for the years of tender care he provided, and since God will never be outdone in generosity, He is delighted to have the opportunity to provide the tender care St. Joseph now asks on our behalf. May St. Joseph win the day and obtain God's answer to your petitions as swiftly as he obeyed the angels' messages when he was caring for Our Lord and Our Lady! Marcel and Therese and I (and St. Andre Bessette) wish you the happiest of feasts. May St. Joseph spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary, obtain for you an abundance of heavenly graces to more than answer all your deepest desires and petitions. And we pray he throws in a cupcake, or something equally sweet and fun, just to seal the deal! As for that prayer I can never get enough of, here it is. I gladly pray it again, with you and for you, asking our angels fill in the blanks: With childlike confidence I present myself before you, O holy Joseph, faithful foster father of Jesus! I beg your compassionate intercession and support in this, my present necessity. . .(and I pray too for all those who have asked my prayers, all those who need my prayers, and all those for whom I have promised to pray). I firmly believe that you are most powerful near the throne of God, who chose you for the foster father of His well-beloved son, Jesus Christ. O blessed Saint, who saved that treasure of heaven, with His virginal mother, from the fury of His enemies, who with untiring industry supplied His earthly wants and with paternal care accompanied and protected Him in all the journeys of His childhood, take me also, for the love of Jesus, as your child. Assist me in my present difficulty . . . with your prayers before God. The infinite goodness of Our Savior, who loved and honored you as His father upon earth, cannot refuse you any request now in heaven. How many pious souls have sought help from you in their needs and have experienced, to their joy, how good, how ready you are to assist. How quickly you turn to those who call upon you with confidence! How powerful you are in bringing help and restoring joy to anxious and dejected hearts! Therefore, do I fly to you, O most worthy father of Jesus, most chaste spouse of Mary! Good St. Joseph, I pray you by the burning love you had for Jesus and Mary upon earth, console me in my distress and present my petitions . . . through Jesus and Mary, before the throne of God! One word from you will move Him to assist my afflicted soul. Then most joyfully shall I praise Him and you, and most earnest shall be my thanksgiving! Amen. Little Flower, in this hour, show your power! Little Jesus, draw me, we will run! I think I may have won the prize today for most awkward title, but I wanted to say it all at the outset lest I forget the purpose of this post, which is three-fold, at least.
First (if we take the last first, following Jesus' preference), my husband gave a spectacular talk at Christendom College in January for their St. Thomas Day lecture. My other name (when I'm not Miss Marcel) is Mrs. Tony Andres, and it was with great joy - really, joy beyond description - that I listened, wrapped in awe, to my better, taller, smarter half as he spoke on my confirmation saint, our patron, the man of the hour, St. Thomas Aquinas as Angelic Teacher. Tony asks why St. Thomas is called the Angelic Doctor and explores the question of how St. Thomas might be said to teach like the angels. This means he (Tony) has to say a lot about the angels, just like St. Thomas did! I promise, you'll learn so much, and without even trying! Here is the link, with thanks to so many at Christendom who made this talk and our visit not only possible, but beautiful. Dr. Tony Andres on St. Thomas Aquinas, Angelic Teacher My second purpose in writing today is to thank and honor St. Thomas for being such a dear friend and father. Wow! He's changed my life, and not so much because of his teaching (though finally I suppose that's at the heart of it), but because of his friendship. When I was a young girl looking for a confirmation sponsor, he reached down from Heaven and took my hand. I was delighted and took, in return, his "last name" - or so I thought, more or less - as my confirmation name. Later, a dear friend (God rest his funny soul) teased me that I had a city for my confirmation name, but we both knew it was a good thing I had it, because it brought me to Thomas Aquinas College. How wonderful, I thought (and still think), that there is a college named after my confirmation saint! Just for the record, I now looked up how many colleges are named after St. Thomas, who is, after all, the patron saint of universities and scholars. I can't even recount them all, there are so many! Suffice it to say that the Philippines has 3, Australia has 6 (tying with the U.S.A., unless you count my alma mater's two campuses as two colleges), and our beloved Nigeria has one too! Okay, so this was overkill for St. Thomas to get me to go to his school, because clearly you can't look for a college without stumbling over him, but nonetheless, THANK YOU, dear friend and big brother! Where would I be, if I hadn't found this one? Well, I could be in Sri Lanka, or New Brunswick, or in Lisbon, just to name a few places, but it would have taken longer to meet Tony Andres, and civilize him (the job God gives all women regarding their men, I think), and then who would have told us about Thomas Aquinas, Angelic Teacher? Or if we take the bright and cheery view and figure we would have found each other eventually, for true love conquers all, we might still ask when would we have heard about Thomas Aquinas, Angelic Teacher? It could have taken forever! But I'm getting a little sidetracked, as Miss Marcel (and Mrs. Tony Andres) tend to do . . . So my third purpose in writing today is to alert the media, or at least you, dear reader, that it is not only the 750th anniversary of St. Thomas' going home to Jesus - where does the time go, we might ask! - but this means we are in the middle of his jubilee, proclaimed by our Holy Father in benificent response to the prayers and petitions of the Dominican Order. And this is no little, tiny jubilee, but like that of St. Therese, it's in triplicate! For St. Therese we had, last year in 2023, a jubilee for the 150th anniversary of her birth and the 100th anniversary of her beatification, while next year in 2025 we'll celebrate the 100th year of her canonization. For St. Thomas, his dates fall nicely into three calendar years, and so we are happy to announce that his jubilee spans all three years! It began last year on January 28, 2023 and the first big date celebrated was July 18, the 700th anniversary of his canonization. Today, March 7, 2024, is the 750th anniversary of his entrance into eternal life, and next year the Jubilee will conclude on January 28, the 800th anniversary of his birth. Pope Francis released a letter (in Latin!) to celebrate the Jubilee, but even more thrilling, he granted a plenary indulgence available to all the faithful! I was going to describe the terms and conditions (price is absolutely free!), but I suddenly realized that one of the perks of being Miss Marcel is that I can redeem the internet (with the help of the angels) and copy and paste whatever we need so you get all the facts straight without my helpful obfuscation. Here, then, is the decree on the plenary indulgence available for St. Thomas' jubilee: * * * The Apostolic Penitentiary, with the intention of heightening the devotion of the faithful and for the salvation of their souls, by virtue of the powers conferred upon it in a very special way by Francis, Pope by divine providence from our Heavenly Father and our Lord Jesus Christ, considering the prayers recently addressed to it by the Reverend Gerard Timoner III, Master General of the Order of Friars Preachers, on the occasion of the solemn celebrations in honor of Saint Thomas Aquinas, which will take place between 28 January 2023 and 28 January 2025, the Apostolic Penitentiary, therefore, drawing on the heavenly treasures of the Church, willingly grants a plenary indulgence, which the truly penitent and charitable faithful can enjoy under the usual conditions (sacramental confession, Eucharistic communion and prayer for the intentions of the Supreme Pontiff), and which can be applied by way of suffrage also to the souls of the faithful departed still in purgatory, wherever they make a pilgrimage to a holy place connected with the Order of Friars Preachers, and there devoutly take part in the jubilee ceremonies, or at least devote a suitable time to pious recollection, concluding with the Lord’s Prayer, the symbol of faith and invocations of the Blessed Virgin Mary and of Saint Thomas Aquinas. The elderly, the sick and those who are unable to leave their homes for any serious reason will also be able to obtain a plenary indulgence. If, despising all their sins and with the intention of fulfilling the three usual conditions as soon as possible, they spiritually join in the Jubilee celebrations in front of an image of St Thomas Aquinas, offering to the merciful God their prayers as well as the sorrows and ills of their lives. To facilitate access to God’s forgiveness through the power of the keys in pastoral charity, the Penitentiary urges priests of the Order of Friars Preachers to offer themselves with prompt and generous hearts to celebrate the Sacrament of Reconciliation and to administer Holy Communion often to the sick. This Decree is valid only for this commemoration of St. Thomas Aquinas, notwithstanding any circumstances to the contrary. Given at Rome, from the Palace of the Apostolic Penitentiary, on 20 January 2023. * * * And I think my job is done, so now I get to celebrate with a solemnity! God's mercies are infinite, like His love, and among them He has eternally ordained that the chapels of both campuses of my particular Thomas Aquinas College were consecrated on March 7. That makes today a solemnity for us, and although my power is not quite as extensive as the Holy Father's, I'd like to extend to you the invitation to feast with the angels in whatever way you can today, in honor of our friend and patron's jubilee and the joy of all God plans to teach us through his writings. How about we end (and begin) with this: "For joy is caused by love, either through the presence of the thing loved, or because the proper good of the thing loved exists and endures in it; and the latter is the case chiefly in the love of benevolence, whereby a man rejoices in the well-being of his friend, though he be absent." That's from the Summa Theologiae, Question 28, Article 1. Isn't it marvelous? This is what it brings to my mind and heart, especially on this day when, nineteen years ago, I said the Rosary with lots of friends for my best friend who'd gone to Heaven a bit early (in our humble opinion, but just at the perfect time, according to God's wisdom): When we get to be with those we love, it is so wonderful! JOY! I love it! I have said before and I'll keep saying it, I really wish that instead of the cross, God had chosen JOY as the path to Heaven! But I guess St. Thomas is telling me that joy and the cross don't have to be at odds, because he says joy is also caused by love when the one loved is absent, but experiencing good. Since by love and in love I want, most of all, the good of the beloved - not just for me, but for the beloved - then even if we are apart, if my dearly beloved has The Good, then I feel joy, even while I may be wiping my own tears away surreptitiously until Jesus finally fulfills His promise and wipes those tears Himself. So hey! Grab someone you love who is present and give 'em a big hug, a kiss, or a friendly punch in the arm - we've got lots of people around us who are HUGE blessings if the angels will only help us recognize our good fortune. And as for those you love who have gone, along with St. Thomas, to their eternal LIFE and left you stuck in exile, well, let's rejoice that they've made us! Just like St. Thomas did so many years ago for me, they are ready to take us by the hand and lead us on to the amazing miracles that await us, if not at a college named after them, somewhere or other that God has prepared just as lovingly! Happy Feast, dear St. Thomas! I see St. Therese over there in the mansion right beside yours, and she's struggling with all those roses she's got to shower down. In honor of your eternal joy and in thanks to the Blessed Trinity overflowing with tenderness for us, please give her a hand! As to Jesus, the source of all our joy, we can only repeat: Draw me, we will run! “Brutal mechanical processes of reproduction, showing only the physical structure of the face, cannot capture the soul any more than they can capture refinement of manners or the perfume of a rose. What I always and only wanted to capture and show to others, as much as possible, was this ‘je ne sais quoi’, with the true picture of her soul beneath her features.” - Celine Martin (Sister Genevieve of the Holy Face)
Today is the feast of Sister Genevieve, that is our sister Therese's 3-year-older sister Celine, and therefore, our sister Celine too! We owe her so much for her photos of St. Therese, but even more for her portraits which could capture the true face of our little sister as known by those who knew her best. On Wednesday February 25, 1959, the day after her 63rd anniversary of profession as a Discalced Carmelite in Lisieux, and at the age of 89 and 10 months, Celine finally received what Jesus describes to Marcel (in their Conversations) as His first real kiss, which is also the last. Or is it the last kiss which is the first? It depends on your perspective, but as Therese put it, this "life" on earth is really exile, and real life begins with our supposed and apparent death. That means what seem like kisses from Jesus - no, not the Mother Teresa kind where we suffer, but the kind that means what we mean - big, loud, smacking kisses, in the words of our Therese - these kisses in this life, consoling as they are, well, they're just a shadow of the reality, that Kiss from the Bridegroom for which we beg when reading the very first line of the most poetic book of the Bible, the Song of Songs: Let Him kiss me with the kisses of His mouth . . . That kiss (or those kisses) which will happily end all sufferings and whoosh us up to Heaven instantly. I can't wait! I'm thinking a lot this morning about two friends of mine who got that kiss and that whoosh many years ago. I grew up with them - haha, I started to grow up with them, or was it growing down with them? I was quite a grown up in my childhood, and then in college I had the joy and glory of meeting Therese, along with these marvelous best friends ever, and I learned with them to grow down, just as Therese taught Celine to do in the Carmel in Lisieux. When Celine worried that she kept failing, Therese would explain to her as my friend Jon used to explain to me: Success is not where it's at! As Mother Teresa put it so beautifully, we are not called to be successful, but to be faithful. And as her friend and our Holy Father put it: Be not afraid! That was another lesson I learned from my two dear friends and their lives in exile, as well as what they tell me now from their front row seats at the Beatific Vision. Jon used to like to say simply: God is so good! Or was that his bride who said it all the time? Either way, it sunk in, and I learned to thank God for everything, even and especially His crazy love that whisked these two friends away from us way too early. But who's to say, actually? I have to thank Him that while many mourned their departure (even while we rejoiced in their newfound joy after that big, smacking kiss from Jesus) - and many of us still mourn their departure, I should say, and their ditching us while we're still stuck in exile - there are also many who gained life because they lost theirs on this earth. "Unless a grain of wheat die," Jesus said. Then what? Well something like unless a grain of wheat die, you can't get what comes next. Hmmm, I'm so not a farmer. Give me a second . . . Ah, thank you Google elves! "I tell you the solemn truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains a single kernel; but if it dies it produces a great harvest." - Jesus in John 12:24 I know a certain Luke C. who is so much fun and doing such good for his family and friends (and for one of my sons, even, and what an incomparable joy to see the generations continue in friendship and charity!), and he - not to mention several irreplaceable, irrepressible older brothers and an amazing younger sister - wouldn't exist if not for Jon's falling into the ground. Not to mention the joy that transformed Luke's dad Jack's humdrum existence when a small family of three discovered him sometime after Jon exited stage left. Then there's a bunch a blonde kiddos who wouldn't have seen the light of day if another Jack hadn't departed for Real Life . . . So weird, this life that poses as LIFE and is really just a kind of preamble. How it confuses us and makes us think it is The Real Thing, and yet how like Plato's cave, or just a shadow. Well. Thank you Celine for giving us Therese (and your parents) in so much more living color than we could ever have otherwise known them in exile. And thank you for sticking around until 1959 so that we could realize how close our sister (and you) were and still are to us. And finally, thank you Jesus for at last sipping up dear Celine, the remaining Martin, like the drop of dew she was, so that she could be re-born into that eternal reunion more fun than anything we've ever known here, even when what You've given us, yes even here in exile, is a life with the saints so spectacularly lovely. Jon and Jack (and Celine, Marcel, et al), miss you guys and can't wait to see you again! Don't forget to pray for all our special intentions - you've got His ear right there - whisper to Him we love Him, give Him a big smacking kiss for us, and ask Him to stop sending messengers and come remain within us as within so many tabernacles! See you soon! And as I'm trying to get the photo to show up, I realize I'm hearing these words from the early days, the days when I was a pretender, but oh, how soon I was to meet Truth in Person, and in you guys! I found a picture of you, oh, Well, it hijacked my world . . . To a place in the past we've been cast out of, Now we're back in the fight . . . I found a picture of you, oh, Those were the happiest days of my life Like a break in the battle was your part, oh, In the wretched life of a lonely heart . . . Exackel! but I have to add that those days were merely the beginning of the happiest days, and thanks to Jesus, Our Love, many have been happier yet . . .and the wretched life of a lonely heart is now the beautiful life of a heart so full of His friends that I can never be grateful enough. Celine, you must have longed like I do to capture the scent of our sister's roses and share them like photos, or better yet, like portraits, but it seems impossible! No matter, we'll keep doing our heartfelt best to share everything we can while we're in this pretend life, and when it's time to go, may we leave with the joy that suffused your face so many years after it brightened the face of your little sister Therese! Draw me, we will run! The seasons are flying by, and somehow we've gone from Christmas to Lent in one fell swoop. That's okay, because the faster time flies, the faster we get to eternity, and that's where the real fun begins! Speaking of fun, I just put up a whole new page at this website, and in it you'll find more fun than ought to be legal during Lent! Thanks be to God, He actually only wants our joy, and so here, for your enjoyment, is my new page of TALKS. You'll find there a talk I gave last St. Therese day in St. Therese dorm to the ladies of Thomas Aquinas College, and also a vintage recording (a film, even) of me giving a talk on Novel Writing - and if you haven't given up reading novels for Lent, Marcel and I highly recommend our favorite novel (right after Pride and Prejudice, Enchanted April, and The Scent of Water), namely, The Paradise Project! Speaking of giving up novels for Lent, I once tried it, only to discover it was a really dumb idea. It reminds me a little of a friend who was working the 12 steps and, in a moment of foolish generosity, decided for Steps 6 and 7 ("6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character. 7. Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings") that she'd give up all her "escape mechanisms." In other words, in order to help God do miracles, she'd offer her good will by no longer eating fun things, watching fun things, reading fun things, and basically give up having any fun at all! Bad idea, mustard seed! Reminds me of another Miss Marcel (not me, I promise, though I've had my share of abandoning Lenten resolutions, just like Elizabeth in The Paradise Project) who loves, loves, loves chocolate, and so decided to give it up for Lent a few years in a row. And almost died! It's one thing to empty ourselves so God can fill us, it's another to give up something that might crack us on Day 2! . . . I've been realizing how very kind God is to give us the period between Ash Wednesday and the First Sunday of Lent. Plenty of time to revamp our entire Lenten program after we realize we've bitten off more than we can chew. Okay, that seems like the wrong metaphor, but as an old and holy Carmelite friar once said, "Food is our only consolation!" I'm reminded now of friends who were having the worst Lent ever - they'd moved far away to a new place, they missed family and friends and even the weather of their old home, and to top it all off, their well stopped giving water and their sewage system backed up. At least that's how I remember the story! And so, to save their sanity, when the wife's beloved (and fun!) mother came to visit, they had champagne and shrimp cocktail on a Friday in Lent. Was it Good Friday? I don't remember, but if so, they did it while fasting and abstaining. They've been my role models ever since! My favorite Lenten story, though (oh, but there are so many!), may be the one I've already told a few times in as many days since the recent Ash Wednesday: My husband and I were at Mass on a college campus (haha, we've been on many authentically Catholic college campuses, or at least 4 that I can think of, so no one in particular need be implicated!), it was in Lent - perhaps Ash Wednesday or a Friday in Lent - and the earnest priest was doing that hilarious thing a priest can do - that is, preaching against another priest's preaching! And while God didn't strike him down, He did strike down a couple others in order to make His point. (You see why I love capitalizing personal pronouns that refer to God - so much easier to know which "He" is acting and which is being acted upon!) In particular, the priest was saying from the pulpit, "I know there are those who say you are students, and thus you shouldn't fast in Lent. This is absurd! Of course you can fast in Lent!" And then, CLUNK! Down went a girl in a dead faint in one of the pews! After a brief pause to make sure other students came to her aid, the indefatigable priest continued preaching: "It's true, you are called to study, but there is no reason you can't fast and study!" CLUNK! Yes! Another girl in another part of the church fainted dead away . . . we could only imagine from fasting! I can't remember how the sermon ended, although I know the girls were fine (phew! No Flannery O'Connor morals or allegorical endings here!) and while I can't recall when exactly, at the end of that year or the next the priest was transferred to a better assignment (better for us all!), and as far as I know and trust, he is doing great things for God. The moral of the story? There is such a thing, especially among earnest Catholics, as fasting too much. Haha, yes, you may be sensing a theme here. I call it "The Little Way!" But back to giving up novels for Lent. I really shouldn't say it's a terrible idea, because it helped bring my novel to publication. Not because I was writing instead of reading, and not because my novel was a Lenten penance (heaven forbid!) but because a very dear friend to whom I'm indebted for about a million things (okay, I'm exaggerating, I probably owe her for only seven thousand things) once gave up reading novels for Lent, and luckily for both of us, it was after I'd not only written the first draft of my novel, but the year after I'd had a year or two to polish it up. This friend is also good enough to have her birthday in Lent every year, so for her birthday that year I gave her two fat binders with the latest draft of the manuscript that would become the book The Paradise Project. This was not unsolicited. I had been at her home when her very artistic family was doing Pysanki, making the Ukrainian Easter eggs that are so beautiful. Over the course of this Lenten evening, one of her numerous talented daughters had just made an exquisitely gorgeous egg while we visited - they making lovely eggs, me drinking tea and sharing in the magnetic warmth of their happy home. When I realized what daughter #4 had accomplished, I oohed and aahed as anyone would have done. Except to my surprise the girl herself, who was pointing out to me the defects of this gorgeously pysankied egg. And then to my further surprise, her mom (the artistic font from which the talent of these girls flowed) agreed with her. "It's not perfect," she said in answer to my exclamations of wonder. "You wouldn't sell it anywhere." WHAT?!?!?! I argued that if it wasn't perfect, it was absolutely marvelous, and then I realized what was happening. They were so talented that they had a very high standard of perfection, plus they were afficionados, so they knew what perfectly pysankied eggs looked like. Thus what I as an amateur would admire was not all that wonderful to them. I explained this, but in the heat of my admiration I may have sounded a little critical. And so my friend, let's hope inspired by the Holy Spirit, shot back, "Oh yeah! Well what about your novel? You've never let us read it even though you've been working on it for years! You probably think it isn't any good just because it isn't Jane Austen!" I paraphrase, but that was the gist of our conversation, and the consequence was life changing. A few days later I handed my friend two large binders full of my manuscript freshly printed out, all wrapped up nicely for her birthday gift. And so that you can see the whole story play out, lest I failed to give a clear enough description of this friend let me add that she has long sun-kissed, burnished auburn tresses AND, possibly more to the point, she LOVES reading. Finally, she's full of charity, and so in charity she had to read my novel even though she had given up reading novels for Lent and was, happily for me, starving for fiction at the exact moment that charity compelled her to stay up all night reading mine! Suffice it to say that there can be a happy sequel to giving up novels for Lent. She read mine, she over-rode my objections to its imperfections, and the next thing we knew, she and her daughters were helping me create the cover for my new publisher because said publisher was amenable to my choosing what went on the front of the book. This is in contrast to most publishers (so thank you from the bottom of my heart, dear Margot!), and it helps the author not only feel good about what's on the cover, but also prevents the author and future readers from wondering what drugs the cover-makers were taking (whether legally or illegally) while working on the book. One of the funniest examples that comes to mind (lest you think I'm exaggerating again, which I promise I'm not) is the complaint by a favorite author, Elizabeth Goudge, who commented that the publishers clearly didn't actually read her books, or at least they didn't convey any knowledge of the contents to the cover designers. She was so right! My copy of The Scent of Water featured on the cover a picture of a man and a woman embracing in a field. It's true there was a field in the book, and there were men and women in the book, but this couple represented none of them, and the story wasn't a typical boy-meets-girl with the conclusion of a clinch! Now I can't close without showing you the beautiful cover to this fun novel (that is, mine!) which I'm happy to report is quite seasonal, as it features a chapter on Lenten resolutions. Not to spoil the story, but it does proceed throughout the months of a full year, so it can be read in any season, but there's no better time than the present to help the time swoosh by and get us quickly to Easter! I almost forgot! On the TALKS page, you'll also find an invitation to contact me to get a copy of another seasonal book, Stations of the Cross with Our Sister St. Therese. It's available in English, but also in bilingual Spanish/English and Vietnamese/English editions, and I've got copies of all three versions on hand, so ask and it shall be given!
Meanwhile, we have a novena to start. Today is not only the First Sunday of Lent, but also the most unexpected and very little known feast of St. Alberic Crescitelli, P.I.M.E. which happens to be a very special day for me. On this day in 2001, St. Alberic did me an enormous and priceless favor, and I owe him. So, let's give him what he wants more than anything - the chance to help St. Therese with her mission of making God more loved! (This may sound like it's just Therese, Therese, Therese around here, and it is, but you can also be sure that every saint worth his salt is simply about loving God and making Him more loved - a win/win for everyone!) Here is a link to some info on St. Alberic and some of his best friends, but if you don't have that extra moment to click over just now, I'll cut to the chase and tell you he was an Italian missionary priest who went to China around 1900 and in thanks for his giving his all for God, he got his head chopped off! Which meant he swiftly flew to Heaven where he now knows it was SO worth it, and where he is in a great position to ask the Blessed and Adorable Trinity for favors for us. What shall we ask for? I hope you have a dozen or a couple hundred dozen things to ask for - let's ask for them all! - but I'm putting on the top of our list a super special triple intention that I'll leave nameless for now, except to call it The Most Important Things I've Been Wanting and Asking for seemingly Forever. Hmm, that's rather unwieldy. We'll just call it my special intention. And how shall we pray? I'm super excited that I've been invited to give a couple of talks in the near future, one on St. Therese and the Blessed Sacrament for our parish and one on Prayer (and St. Therese will come into that one too, no doubt) to the girls at our West Coast campus of Thomas Aquinas College again. I don't know everything I'll say, but one thing I want to mention is that We Should Pray as We Can (not as we Should)! I recently re-read a great piece by Monsignor Ronald Knox from A Retreat for Lay People. I'm not sure if I already mentioned it on a former post, but I'll try to post it here soon because it is so spectacular. It's called "Liberty of the Spirit in Prayer" (if I'm remembering rightly), and the main point I can tell you is the same as St. Therese told us and is quoted in the Catholic Catechism: "Prayer is a simple look turned toward heaven, it is a cry of recognition and of love, embracing both trial and joy." Or in the words of our dear Marcel Van, as quoted in the epigraph to Stations of the Cross with Our Sister St. Therese: "May your soul, may your heart, may everything about you be filled with candour in your relations with Jesus." Even as I'm finding these quotes, my heart and mind are filling with petitions so important and pressing for those I love. Let's pray! Dear St. Alberic and friends, St. Therese, Marcel, and Leonie, Sts. Louis and Zelie, St. Joseph and Blessed Mother, come to our aid and plead for us before the throne of God. We have many needs today, and those we love have many more. We want to help make God loved, we want to do His will, we want those who make decisions to make them according to the desires of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus our Love. Please obtain from the Blessed Trinity an outpouring of the Holy Spirit so that wounds and divisions will be healed and hearts transformed! As we anticipate the feast of the Chair of St. Peter, prevail upon our loving Heavenly Father to fill our Holy Father and all Bishops and priests with the fullness of His Wisdom and Love. Ask that He may send us more laborers for the harvest, especially in mission fields, and bring back our countries to the center of His Will. Finally, as we approach the feast of Therese's sister Celine, please grant the grace that Therese received when Celine was allowed and even warmly invited, against all expectation, into the Carmel which already harbored three of her sisters. We ask again that hearts be transformed, and may every one of our dearest hopes be fulfilled. We ask this through Jesus' sweet and powerful name. Amen. There! And now, in case none of us remembers to say this for nine days in a row, let's ask our angels to say it for us: Angel of God, my guardian dear, To whom God's love commits me here, Ever this day, be at my side, To light, to guard, to rule, and guide. And for our short cut novena prayer: Little Flower, in this hour, show your power! Draw me, we will run! It's hard to believe Christmas has already come and seemingly gone (don't worry, I won't let it really go without a fight!), but the New Year promises to be here for a while, and as a dear 91 year old priest I know says, "Everything is amazing!" Just one example: My family had the grace to be in Lisieux for Christmas! We took Marcel with us (in the form of his Conversations), and I practiced my French by often repeating "Joyeux Noël et Bonne Année" to new friends and old. I'd say it to potential new friends as well, those some might call complete strangers, but who is really a stranger at Christmas? As James Taylor sings in a Christmas carol I love (and thanks to crazy modern technology, I can listen to it while I type in the comfort of Mathis House, a Victorian tea house bed and breakfast in Toms River, New Jersey where I'm staying, praise God! . . . except that I have to listen to James and Yo-Yo Ma play Here Comes the Sun first!) - but as I was saying, and as my stay in Toms River has shown me: Who is a stranger at Christmas-tide? Who comes this night, this wintry night, As to the lowly manger? The Shepherds and the Kings did come To welcome in the stranger. Who sends this song upon the air, To ease the soul that's aching? To still the cry of deep despair And heal the heart that?s breaking. Brother Joseph bring the light Fast, the night is fading. And who will come this wintry night To where the stranger's waiting? Who comes this night, with humble heart, To give the fullest measure A gift of purest love to bring What good and worthy treasure. Brother Joseph bring the lamb For they are asking for him The children come this starry night To lay their hearts before him. For those who would the stranger greet Must lay their heart before him And raise their song in voices sweet To worship and adore him. Brother Joseph bring the light Fast, the night is fading And who will come this wintry night To where the stranger's waiting Brother Joseph bring the lamb For they are asking for him. The children come this starry night To lay their hearts before him. Pure of heart this starry night To lay their hearts before him. * * * If you ever find yourself needing to stay on the East Coast, might I suggest Mathis House? It's one of a kind and would require you to stay in Toms River, but that would only add to the beauty and joy that God pours so sweetly into your life. Meanwhile, if you find yourself, like we did, in Lisieux for Christmas, might I make another suggestion? First, please take me with you! But even if I'm not there, I'd suggest that if you can manage a late night, head over to Saint-Pierre Cathedral and see what we saw on Christmas Eve. The photo atop this post shows the main altar of St. Pierre, the parish church of the Martin family, Thought the early Gothic Cathedral dated from the 13th century, in 1888 the rector wanted to beautify the church to glorify God, and when he asked for donations for the new altar, St. Louis up and offered the whole enormous amount, and offered himself to boot. I'm told it was at least the cost of Les Buissonnets (which means "the little bushes"), the house the Martin family leased and which is now a place you can visit, and even (if you have a few extra shekels) contribute to so that it will be repaired in places it's falling apart. It was a delight to discover Les Buissonnets open for visitors when we were there. It was supposed to be closed for an extended period for very necessary repairs, but in a bizarre (to my American mind) turn of events, they have no money to do the repairs, none of the needed donations to pay the workers, so it is not yet repaired and thus not currently closed. I don't want it to close, even temporarily, but I do want it to be repaired so it can remain a refuge of joy for pilgrims for all the years to come . . . Here is what the Sanctuary of Lisieux website says: "In November 1877, shortly after Madame Martin's death in Alençon, the family settled in Lisieux and became a tenant of the Maison des Buissonnets located a little outside the city, on the road to Pont-l'Evêque, in the alley “Chemin du Paradis”. Thérèse spent eleven years of her life there until she entered Carmel. "Rented by Louis Martin, the house of Buissonnets was acquired in 1909 by the cousin of Thérèse who lodged successive tenants there, often devoted to the cause of the young Carmelite. From 1911, the house became a place of pilgrimage. In 1931 the Buissonnets were entrusted to the Oblates of Sainte-Thérèse. The sisters welcome visitors, pilgrims and tourists every day. Donations from visitors help maintain the garden and the house." Not enough donations, though, so if you want to donate something, oh generous reader, rich or poor as you are, here is a LINK to the Sanctuary where you can specify you want your donation to go to Les Buissonnets. I'm going to try and be the first to make my donation because, wouldn't you know it, when we were there in the flesh and I wanted to drop a sizable donation (at least for us!) into the place where you could drop donations, I had my credit card, and it seemed impractical to drop the whole card into the box . . . so the kind sister helping us with our tour in English explained that I could give later, just be sure to say the donation was for Les Buissonnets (since there are many workers and buildings connected with the Sanctuary, that is St. Therese's places, that need donations) . . . Thanks to the angels' help, I just went to the link and made my donation, and sure enough there's a place you can type in that your donation is for Les Buissonnets. On the page that takes your billing information (name, address, email), you can add a note in "Further Information" in a box marked "Order Notes." I wrote there, "I would like to make my donation for Les Buissonnets." But back to Therese's family's parish church . . . one of the many things I love about our little sister's hometown is that if you lived there, you could still have this 13th century Gothic Cathedral as your parish church! We discovered that the two diocesan priests stationed there belong to the Society of St. John-Mary Vianney, so the Mass we went to near midnight on Christmas Eve was stunningly reverent and beautiful. Not to mention the lovely creches in the church, of which the one on the main altar pictured above, with darling baby Jesus strapped in between good St. Joseph and Mama Mary so He won't fall off, was possibly my favorite. The statue of Our Lord in death which lies under the altar is amazing, as are the two huge marble angels keeping watch (not pictured in my photo which sadly couldn't capture all the glory, so you'll just have to go see it for yourself), but I think my favorite thing of all here is just St. Therese's insistence on showering her roses EVERYWHERE for the glory of God so that we won't miss the message of God's infinite love for us. The cathedral was full of them, as was the town of Lisieux. Ah, roses! Thank You Jesus! But now I must come to the real point of this post . . . On July 11, 1897, Mother Agnes was speaking to St. Therese (who was ill in the infirmary and would enter eternal life 10 weeks later) about the manuscript of the Little Flower's Life which would become Story of a Soul, and about the good it would do to souls. Therese replied, " . . . But how well they will understand that everything comes from God; and what I shall have of glory from it will be a gratuitous gift from God that doesn't belong to me; everybody will see this clearly." I love this! "What I shall have of glory from it will be a gratuitous gift from God that doesn't belong to me; everybody will see this clearly." I had the most wonderful talk with a new friend yesterday. He said that it's not what we can do, it's not about fixing ourselves, but it's about what God can do in us. Yes, Frank is so right! Therese saw this and alluded to it at every opportunity. It was not her, this goodness that attracted the other sisters to her (and later the whole world) as iron to a magnet or a moth to the flame . . . This goodness in her is God living within her and loving through her, just as He wants to love through us. And whatever we have, it is a gift, it is from the giver of all good gifts. Even our fatherhood and motherhood, if we are parents, is from God and not for ourselves but for Him. My husband gets to read the greatest books ever because he works at a Great Books College, and he was telling me yesterday about a line from St. Augustine in The City of God. St. Augustine explains why something or other (it is awesome, but we've got to focus or we'll never get to our point here!) and in his explanation he says that then the sons of heaven (the Israelites) married the beautiful daughters of earth and had children for themselves. I was stunned and thought this was amazing - they didn't raise children for God and eternal life, but simply for themselves and this life. Ouch! There are so many amazing things on this earth, and one of the best is parents raising little eternal souls for heaven. So Beautiful! This was the case with our dear Marcel. His mom often gets a bad rap - at least she did from me until my dear friend and benefactor, Jack Keogan, recently pointed out that Marcel's Mama (or Mama-Marcel as we'd say in Nigeria) was an absolute brick of a woman. I like that expression (Jack said it much more elegantly and without my harsh sounding idiom) because it shows someone who is tough yet really comes through. Or maybe is tough and so really comes through. Or perhaps really comes through, and in doing so develops the toughness needed to live constantly in God's will. Here is what Marcel says to Fr. Boucher ("bearded Jesus," his spiritual director and novice master who requested he write the story of his life so far at 16) about his dear Mama in his Autobiography: My dear Father, I have pointed out to you already the love that God has shown towards me in placing me from birth into a privileged family, a family blessed materially, but above all spiritually. It is thanks to the practice of virtue in my family that I have learned from my childhood to turn towards the heart of God. He has given me a tender heart which loves to be happy and to be cared for. Let me say that these were equally the intimate feelings of little Therese. Hand in hand with this delicacy of feeling, God has also given to me, as I have already said, a virtuous and prudent mother. It is by the hands of such a mother that I have been fashioned. I once heard her say in speaking of me, "The more he grew, the happier I was with him." Yes, that was how it was. (41) When little Marcel was only seven, he wanted to stay with a priest at a parish a distance from his home so he could begin his studies for the priesthood. After he and his mama visited the priest for a few days, his mom consented to his wish to stay. Marcel writes: I learned that my mother had left that day at nine o'clock, and that the ten o'clock train took her back home. My heart continued to beat regularly, my eyes remained dry and my soul was ecstatic at the thought that I was following the example of Jesus remaining in the temple . . . But what were my mother's feelings? It was after five years of separation, in meeting me at the house when I had fled for the first time, that she opened her heart to me during an afternoon of intimate exchanges. "That day," she said, "what bitterness tortured my heart whilst thinking of you, my dearest child. I did not pay any attention to the countryside which unfolded along the route because it all brought back to me the memory of my little angel. When I got on the train I could only sit down, exhausted, and say the rosary. I thought the rosary would help me to forget your image but, on the contrary, it brought it back to me in a harrowing manner, because so many times have I told my beads whilst you sat on my knee. Honestly, each Hail Mary was a tear falling on my breast since my empty hands no longer felt the touch of your little fingers. I was sighing, 'Lord Jesus' . . . and I asked God to strengthen my soul. At that moment your voice was heard no longer saying repeatedly, to console me, 'Mammy, why are you crying like that? Enough! Don't cry any more, because we are the children of the good God.' You were an angel of peace sent by God to console me on days of darkness. Cousin Suu was very attentive and tried to console me, but I felt more and more alone and could only repeat: 'God understands me.' I was worried about you, asking myself if you would be able to persevere, or if, once the initial attraction had passed, your would give it all up, which, for me, wouldn't be a more painful trial still, since in separating myself from you at the cost of much bitterness and suffering, I wished by these sufferings to please the heart of God: that is to say, to obtain for you the strength to persevere in His service until the end." (127) Marcel comments: "My mother's words were words of good advice given to me." Oh Love! How you give us joys and sorrows in this life, our meetings, our friendships, our families, and our separations . . . and yet it is Your hand which guides everything! Help us to trust You and to open our hands as Therese and Marcel did following their parents' example. May we leave our hands open so You can freely take and give as You please, for Your will is our peace, our joy, our life, our all! What is there but goodness and love that come from Your hand and Your Sacred Heart? Nothing else but love and mercy - that's what You ARE as the Gospel and St. Therese teach us. Be merciful this day to all our friends, new and old, and all our potential friends, those who are as yet complete strangers, but in Your loving providence, not forever. Even if we meet them only in Heaven, may You bless our prayer for them now. For the whole world! Let no one be lost today . . . and for those who seem lost, send Your angels to guide and protect them and bring them safely Home - and bring us safely Home too! Draw me . . . we will run! She said: “Juanito, the most humble of my sons, where are you going?” He replied: “My Lady and Child, I have to reach your church in Mexico, Tlatilolco, to pursue things divine…” She then spoke to him: “Know for certain, dearest of my sons, that I am the perfect and ever-Virgin Mary, Mother of the true God, the Lord of all things and Master of Heaven and Earth. I ardently desire a temple to be built here, where I will show and offer all my love, compassion, help, and protection to the people and those who look for me. I am your merciful Mother, the Mother of all who live in this land and of all mankind. I will hear the weeping and sorrows of those who love me, cry to me, and have confidence in me, and I will give them consolation and relief. Therefore, so that my designs might be fulfilled, go to the house of the Bishop of Mexico City and tell him that I sent you, and that it is my desire to have a temple built in this place.” And a few days later, on the day which is today, she most beautifully says to Juan and to us: Hear and let it penetrate your heart, my dear little one: Let nothing discourage you, nothing depress you. Let nothing alter your heart or your countenance. Am I not here who am your Mother? Are you not under my shadow and protection? Am I not your fountain of life? Are you not in the folds of my mantle? In the crossing of my arms? Is there anything else that you need? Do not fear any illness or vexation, anxiety or pain. It's a tall order, to let nothing discourage us or depress us, but she absolutely IS HERE who is our Mother, and she is not only lovely and loving, but good and powerful. So let's heed her advice, snuggle up under her starry mantle, and enjoy her Advent embrace. Our Lord is in her womb, so by sitting on her lap we are already near to Him. Hello, little Jesus! Thank You for making Yourself so tiny for us - now You are our size! Please come soon! We're waiting! Is there anything else that you need? Perhaps a nap, a cup of coffee or tea, a gorgeous display of bright roses to brighten your day . . . ah, but who can imagine with what love Almighty God fashioned that Mama's dear face for us . . . He has given her to us as our own, and she has confirmed it as Our Lady of Guadalupe. As Archbishop Luis Martinez says: "There are words from Heaven in the apparition of Guadalupe that come from the immaculate lips of Mary and that enclose rich and unknown treasures of light, tenderness, and hope . . . Those words are ours, and with them Mary lulls us into a small dream. We sleep on her lap. Those words breathe tenderness and demand trust. Listen to what she says: 'Am I not here, I who am your mother? Are you not under my shadow and protection? Am I not life and health? Are you not on my lap and under my care? Do you need anything else?' We have not heard the same thing from the lips of our mother on earth. For our mother in heaven has a love more intense and passionate and a tenderness more exquisite and delicate than all that we know here below. Read and reread those words attentively . . . Read them and you will taste in the depths of your heart the softness that they contain. Read them, and your soul will be flooded with tenderness - with that tenderness that you feel but which no human language can explain." Ah! Let us love Mary as she desires - with the abandon of a child on its mother's lap . . . Our little sister St. Therese advised the same behavior with our Heavenly Father: "Holiness does not consist in this or that practice; it consists in a disposition of the heart, which makes us always humble and little in the hands of God, well aware of our feebleness, but confident to audacity in the Father's goodness." She said this on August 3, 1897 - this was the day (in 1992) on which my dear buddy Jon Syren did just that - abandoned himself so well that he got to go to Heaven. And what about us? On this day of December 12 (and every day after this Today of Guadalupe), we needn't be afraid of anything - life or death and all they contain! We need only remember Our Lady's words, along with the Little Flower's. Okay, talk about tall orders! I can't seem to remember much these days, but let's go for this, with or without remembering: Confident audacity in Mary's maternal love! That's it. I was thinking of saying we can strive for that confident audacity, but let's forget striving today, and let's just rest in her arms. Ah, Mamacita! Teach us your love, show us your love, let us drown in your love, let us be amazed by your love as the Bishop and his friends were on this day when you revealed not only the beauty of God in His flowers, but the beautifullest beauty of all - the beauty of your tender, loving gaze upon us. To Marcel you said, dear Mary: "My dear little one. You have just been looking at me. It is not surprising therefore that I hasten to ask you this question. It is something really astounding. My child, by a simple glance you have drawn to yourself my compassionate gaze. So what do you want? Are you very troubled? That is very unfortunate, my child. I am very sorry for you. Today, the feast day, when you should be relaxing , all you do is worry yourself. It is very painful. But, my child, why trouble yourself in this way? I was once in the same situation as you; my soul also needed to believe, to hope, and to love like you. Although aware of the wonders that God was working in me, I had, nevertheless, to believe, since I had no conception of the graces that the divine Father was granting to me. If , at that time, I had not had the need to call on the virtue of faith, I would no longer have been a humble creature like you, my children. If, therefore, I still had need to believe, with much greater reason have you, my child . . . "My dear child, remain in peace, all right? Little Jesus has not scolded you; neither have I. Our sole intention, both of us, is to get rid of your troubles. Do not worry. I love you dearly. See, I have more pity for you than for little Jesus. IN that case, it is He whos should be sad; but you, what reason have you to be sad? Come, my child, I am kissing you, I am giving you twice as many as I am giving little Jesus, nevertheless, little Jesus is very happy with that." (Conversations, 426) What have we to fear? Not a thing at all, not with Mary so loving and our mother, which she is. Let's heed the holy Archbishop's advice then, and read, and re-read: Hear and let it penetrate your heart, my dear little one: Let nothing discourage you, nothing depress you. Let nothing alter your heart or your countenance. Am I not here who am your Mother? Are you not under my shadow and protection? Am I not your fountain of life? Are you not in the folds of my mantle? In the crossing of my arms? Is there anything else that you need? Do not fear any illness or vexation, anxiety or pain. Draw me, dear Mother; we shall run! "Jesus, King of love, may the reign of Your love be deeply rooted in the hearts of priests."
--prayer taught by Jesus, King of love to little Marcel Van, spiritual brother of St. Therese of the Child Jesus, on the Feast of Christ the King, 28 October 1945 From Conversations (with Jesus, Mary, and St. Therese) by Servant of God Marcel Van translated from the Vietnamese into French by Fr. Anthony Boucher, CSsR, (Bearded Jesus) translated from the French into English by Jack Keogan, BFF (Best Friend Forever) 28 October 1945 (Feast of Christ the King) Marcel: Jesus, today on the feast of Your universal kingship, I ask that You reign in the hearts of all men. Does that please You? That's all I know how to say. I cannot find anything better. Jesus: You will repeat this prayer throughout today: "Jesus, King of love, may the reign of Your love be deeply rooted in the hearts of priests." The work I expect of my spouse is that she will go in search of souls. Even if this gives you a lot of pain in writing all the words that I am dictating to you and praying all your life in order to save a single soul and offering it to Me, I will welcome this soul with all My heart as I would do for a million other souls who would come back suddenly to Me. My little apostle, never allow yourself to be afraid by the effort that you must impose on yourself to write. Even if the words I am saying to you were useful only to a single soul, that would already be sufficient. The behavior of My spouses in their relations with Me must also be the same in their relations with My Mother. Mary, being My Mother, and My spouses being but one with Me, it follows that My Mother is equally the Mother of My spouses. It seems, however, that many of My spouses show evidence of indifference towards My Mother. Little friend, listen carefully to what I am going to say to You: do not be distracted. It is thanks to Mary that My spouses can unite themselves to My love in an intimate and lasting fashion. My little friend, never forget it: you must love My Mother just as I love her Myself. Marcel: Jesus, are You sad sometimes because of me? Jesus: My child, if that ever happens it is only when I see you sad. When you are happy, how could I be sad? So, be happy always. A single one of your joys suffices to console me very much. Marcel: Jesus, does it ever happen that I cause You pain? Jesus: Why not? Nevertheless, your negligences are like grains of dust in My eyes which tarnish your soul a little, but which disappear completely as soon as they have passed through the fire of My love. That is why I said to you: "The soul which burns interiorly by the fire of My love is always white with purity in My eyes." Marcel: Jesus, my sister Saint Therese gives You the name of banker. [In St. Therese's Letter 142, 6 July 1893 to Celine: "Your Therese is not in the best of form at the moment but Jesus teaches her, 'to profit from all the good and the bad that she finds in herself.' He teaches her to play at the bank of love, or rather, no, He plays for her without telling her how. He does so because that is His business and not Therese's; what concerns her is to abandon herself, to give herself without holding anything back, not even the pleasure of knowing how much the bank yields to her."] Marcel continues: So, do men confide to You many spiritual treasures every day? I love You a lot, dear Jesus, and my only wish is to confide huge spiritual treasures to You every day, while asking You to distribute them to souls. I admit that my spiritual goods have neither any importance nor any worth; but be happy, however, to accept them since that is all I possess. I know that, already, You understand me very well without my having to speak to You of it. Jesus: Little child of My love, listen to Me. In truth the tabernacle in which I reside resembles a telegraph room where news from everywhere arrives continually. And I, like the chief telegrapher, I must stay there all the time, always listening. News comes to Me every day, some sad, some happy; and although the latter are often of no consequence, they are still able to please Me to such an extent as to make Me forget all the bad news. Let us suppose that news from sinners comes to My ears from everywhere; some blaspheme My love, others address hard reproaches to Me and speak all the evil they can of Me. But if at the same time the words of My spouses come to Me from diverse places, these words make Me forget all the blasphemies, they even make me forget to punish the sin of the blasphemers. As if under the spell of a charm, I am unaware that they have offended Me, so that I give to them all the graces of which My hands are full. My child, do you know what these words are which charm Me so much? They are none other than parcels of sighs of love which are sent to Me by My spouses. This is fortunate for sinners since, if I had not received these words making My heart happy, I would have chastised them already. * * * I dare not turn the page of my well-loved (second copy) of Conversations lest I tire you or we forget (as I already half have) all that Jesus has said so far! O Love! How is it possible that You are full of so much Love? You are Love, Your beloved Apostle John has told us this - and yet, and yet . . . How is Love so full of Love? We have not known Love! We have not known You! We have no clue as to the infinite treasures and depths of Your compassion, Your tenderly solicitous attention to us, Your delight in our nothingness, Your salvific use of the least of our sighs - all of which are sighs of love, because what else is there in this silly valley of tears and occasional laughter? Dear reader, if you have read this far you have read that "A single one of your joys suffices to console Me very much." Your joy consoles Jesus, that is, but I assure you it consoles me too! Think of the laughter of a baby, a child, a teenager, a twenty-something, a young married couple, and so on up to the laughter of an elderly person. I can think of the laughter of my 87 year old mom and my nearly 94 year old mother-in-law. Oh how their laughter makes me laugh too! My mom is a bit forgetful, and my mother-in-law, in contrast, has a memory to beat all - but neither of these matters of memory matter when we are laughing together. Joy, like love, conquers all and emerges triumphant in the bright sunshine or on a cloudy day, in the wee hours of the night or early hours of the morning, amidst stars and moonlight, or even in the seemingly darkest of places. I read something recently that got me almost reconciled, almost understanding, almost happy about suffering. And then, thanks be to God, I forgot what I read. For the life of me I can't remember where or what I read that gave me this happy realization that the Cross is not our mortal enemy. Don't get me wrong - if Jesus is on that cross, I accept it. But it would be a bit much to say, as I was about to, "If Jesus is on that cross, I am content." No, not exactly content. Wriggling and restless, longing for a hot chocolate with marshmallows or a more comfortable outfit or some warm socks on my cold feet, and on and on . . . And I'm kind of relieved that I've forgotten why we can be, at least hypothetically, theoretically, and in the depths of our will if not at the top of our game, happy about suffering. Because if I lost my lament of "Woe is me - I HATE THE CROSS!" where would my charming relatability be? There must be other blogs or online sites or books to read by Saints who champion the glory of the Cross. There are lots of big people who love Jesus very much. But I am here to represent the little ones, to speak as a little one to little ones, to speak for St. Therese, and because she got BIG in Heaven, to speak for her little spiritual brother, the Servant of God Marcel Van who is not even venerable - well, sorry Marcel, I mean there is venerable, and there is Venerable, and in both senses (aged and worthy of our piety or having had one's heroic virtues acknowledged by the Church and thus entitled to the name Venerable), you aren't there yet! Thank You, Jesus, that our dear brother Marcel remains little even while he helps our sister Therese shower those innumerable roses that the angels keep handing them from the no doubt very beautiful and sparkly buckets of roses they have in Heaven. Because where would we little ones be without our fearful leader Marcel? (Okay, now he's fearless, but when he was in exile, he was often quite fearful and yet still hilarious because You, Jesus, were there to comfort him.) Where would we be without Marcel since we find it so much trouble to believe Therese - and, holy smokes, may You forbid it - we often have trouble believing, or perhaps it's trouble remembering, even YOU, dear Love - telling us that littleness is The Key to Your Heart, the Key that opens the doors of the Kingdom, the Key to Heaven. I'm such a bad Protestant, always forgetting, or better yet never having known Chapter and Verse, but didn't You say quite authoritatively that "Unless one becomes like a little child, one cannot enter the Kingdom of Heaven"? That question mark ruins the effect, but yes, You did! And then Therese repeated Your teaching by her life and doctrine, and she confirms this Little Way now by her Shower of Roses upon us . . . but it is Marcel Van, the littlest Redemptorist brother, the complaining, teasing, laughing and crying Marcel who lives out this littleness before our eyes when we read Your Conversations with him. But let's stop yammering (that would be me), and get to the point: Marcel: Jesus, are You sad sometimes because of Me? Jesus: My child, if that ever happens it is only when I see you sad. When you are happy, how could I be sad? So, be happy always. A single one of your joys suffices to console Me very much. I knew that. I had read those words a hundred times over a four year period, and still depression and anxiety and insomnia descended upon me and seemed to well up from within me, and they didn't finally leave for two whole years. Then thanks to the love of God and His angels (earthly and heavenly), and thanks to miracles and a big Miracle around the Feast of the Assumption this year, all that is past and I am joyful again. Full of renewed energy (please pray for those in my path - it is hard not to knock them down on my way to fulfill all of Therese's little tasks for me), full of laughter, and grateful for what turns out to be a freedom from fear that I want to say I've never experienced before, but I might more truly say I've rarely experienced before. So. Why do I tell you all this? Because if you find yourself wishing you could follow Jesus' advice and simply "Be happy always," thus making not only yourself and those around you happy, but making Jesus Himself happy (and this is our goal, after all) - and not even by any mortification, but simply by enjoying that ice cream cone or glass of wine (to each his own, I say!)(and there is absolutely NO accounting for taste, that's for sure) . . . but if amidst this desire to be happy for the sake of yourself and the universe, not to mention because Jesus just requested it of you (Oh glory be! - who could not love these Conversations between Jesus and Marcel?), as I say if amidst this desire to be happy you find yourself just as humdrum, ho hum, or even down in the dumps as any person might feel in this Valley of Tears (I hate to harp on the tears business, but in my experience it isn't called a Valley of Tears for nothin) - well, I get it. And I want to say this: Please don't feel guilty about it. If you could make yourself happy, you would! But you can't, only God can, so let me pray for you, and feel free to pray with me - Jesus, we trust in You! Please accept every single one of our sighs (even if they start out sounding like sighs of annoyance or frustration or anger or every other type of sigh) as sighs of love that will charm You and make You forget all the blasphemies and forget to punish sins, and let our sighs submerge You in joy so that You will be unaware of offenses against You and give to the whole world all the graces of which Your hands are full! And then, when You have had enough of pretending that our sighs of ennui and our sighs of upset are sighs of love, please miraculously turn our every breath into a sigh of love and then - THEN! - give us some of those kisses we've read about - You know, like, "Let Him kiss me with the kisses of His mouth" - and then may these kisses cheer us up so that we forget our sorrows and have plenty of joys to cheer You in return, to console You as You promised Marcel a single one of our joys would! We are fast approaching Advent, which means we are fast approaching Christmas, and a new dear friend cracked me up by talking (two weeks ago or so) about the next six weeks and how she was dreading them. What? A million things to do? And then the added pressure that we are the cognoscenti and if we don't live Advent as a season of penance, who will? Okay, I need to wrap this up so you can have your cupcake or wine, your snuggle under a warm blanket or your trip to the beach (depending where you are as you read this!) - and here is the scoop: 1. Happy Feast of Christ the King! To those in Virginia who taught me to love this feast so much (and I thank you with tears in my eyes) - and to those everywhere who would like to learn to love this feast, I can only sing: To Jesus Christ, our Sov'reign King, Who is the world's salvation, All praise and homage do we bring, And thanks and adoration! 2. May your Advent be a season of joy! It may also be a season of shopping (penance and joy), a season of preparation (for meals and parties as well as for the coming of Jesus to our hearts once again), and a season of sighs - you don't even need me to explain those in a parenthetical remark - and let's admit it is unlikely to be a season of silence, but I pray now asking the intercession of our Blessed Mother and our guardian angels, Padre Pio and his angel, Saints Raphael, Gabriel and Michael, and St. Juliana: Dear Jesus, grant us a holy hour, just one holy hour if not more, in this coming Advent, a holy hour where we might exchange hearts with You and find ourselves in the womb of Mary with You, waiting Your first breath of the air You created . . . Thank You, little King of Love, for coming down for us! Thank You for everything, and may this Advent above all be a season of JOY because You, little Jesus, King of all hearts, can't resist visiting us again right in the thick of things. Thank You, Love, for Advent hymns and Christmas carols, and if they are all mixed up over the next several weeks, let us sing them with equal amounts of nostalgia and anticipation, earnestness and childish delight like Yours. 3. Meanwhile, we were saying a novena, and I forgot all about it - thank goodness we said Little Flower in this hour show your power 9 times in a row! 4. Because now we have a new novena! By all that is joyful and good, here in the Santa Barbara region of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, today we have a new Polish bishop, Sławomir Szkredka, being installed at a Mass at San Buenaventura Mission. A friend who loves novenas even more than I do (impossible, you say! But don't forget: with God all things are possible!) wrote: "I was thinking it would be beautiful if we could say a novena together for Bishop "Swavek" as he begins his ministry here, starting on his first day. He'll have a challenging task, and the possibility to do much good -- let's help our new shepherd out with our prayers! Bishop Swavek has a devotion to St. John Paul II and is being installed at the last mission founded by St. Junipero Serra. So we're praying specially to those two great saints for his ministry here." Well, this dear praying friend then wrote: "Please share with anyone you think would like to join in praying for our new bishop!" And so, here is our prayer for those who would like to pray even for a moment with us for the newest bishop in the Church! Dear Lord, through the intercession of Our Lady, St. John Paul II, and St. Junipero Serra, we ask for Your special blessing on Bishop Sławomir. Almighty and everlasting God, have mercy upon Your servant our Bishop Sławomir, and order his goings according to Your mercy in the paths of eternal salvation, that by the gift of Your grace he may ever seek such things as to please You and with all his strength to lead his flock along the path of salvation. Give him a spirit of courage and right judgment, a spirit of knowledge and love. By governing with fidelity those entrusted to his care, may he at last share with them in the joy of seeing Your face forever in your Kingdom. Mary, mother of the Church, pray for us. St. Joseph, pray for us. St. John Paul II, pray for us. St. Junipero Serra, pray for us. St. Bonaventure, pray for us. St. Barbara, pray for us. Draw me, we will run!!! "Jesus does not ask great actions from us, but simply surrender and gratitude." (Story of a Soul)
"After my death, I will let fall a shower of roses. I will spend my heaven doing good upon earth." (Therese to her sisters) "What most draws down graces from our dear Lord is gratitude, for if we thank Him for a gift, He is touched and hastens to give us ten more, and if we thank Him again with the same sincerity, what an incalculable multiplication of graces! I have experienced this: try it and you will see. My gratitude is for all He gives me is boundless, and I prove this to Him in a thousand ways." (Therese to Celine) How was your Thanksgiving? I hope it was lovely, but if it had regrettable moments, or if you are just plum wore out, let's set all that aside and start fresh . . . Did you know that Jesus does not ask great actions from us, but just surrender and gratitude? And even for little tiny souls, surrender and gratitude are possible! In our last episode we were saying a novena to Therese for all priests, bishops, and the Holy Father, and all our intentions, and we finished on or around St. Raphael Kalinowski's feast on November 19, hidden behind the Sunday, or November 20, as it is celebrated in Poland. Well despite my hopes to write a post for the end of that novena and more fun anecdotes about St. Raphael (who apologized to the Carmel of Lisieux in 1902 for having doubted their little sister Therese and the universality of her message, and then proceeded to make amends by getting her Story of a Soul translated into Polish), what mostly happened this week was shopping. The grocery store on Monday. Trader Joe's on Tuesday. Costco on Wednesday . . . and now, before I know it, Thanksgiving is over and I've got a new slate of prayer intentions - well some old and some new. There's nothing quite as dear as the old, familiar prayer intention - like wrapping ourselves in a warm blanket we can snuggle up to Jesus' merciful Heart, immerse ourselves in HIs Mercy, and as if we're doing all this in a dimly lit bar we can't stop returning to despite ourselves, we can say to Jesus the Divine Bartender, "I'll have the usual!" And then, just when we think He Who knows our intentions and hearts and hurts so well has gone majorly deaf, He will hand us what we're asking for - the miracle we've been seeking for years. A father-in-law who allows Jesus to come to him after 60 plus years apart . . . the brother we pray will return to the Church and the sacraments becomes entirely converted in the Heart of the Church in Thailand . . . that "character defect" we've been struggling with for years is suddenly removed by Him in the blink of an eye . . . a child we love who has been suffering is healed . . . the cross that seems to crush us is at last and with great sweetness lifted and tossed to the ends of the earth while Jesus stays with us to make sure we're okay after all . . . we wake up one morning to find a renewed joy and energy and lo and behold, the sun is shining again! All things are possible with God, and so when you wake up to remember that your cross is still waiting for you or a new one has been delivered faster than amazon or Domino's could manage it, don't despair, simply take Therese at her word and God at His . . . Let's ask, so we will receive! Let's say together right now, "Jesus, I trust in You, Jesus, thank You for everything!" and then let's turn to the saint of His Heart, the Little Flower who promised to fill our lives with flowers, who promised to Come Down (not just watch over and help from Heaven but really come right down into the thick of it beside us). We can say the short version of our novena to her: Little Flower in this hour show your power! Or we can give it the longer version: O Little Therese of the Child Jesus Please pick for me a rose from the heavenly garden and send it to me as a message of love. O Little Flower of Jesus, please ask God to grant the favors I now place with confidence in your hands . . . that all our priests, bishops, and the Holy Father may become great saints, and for all the intentions we hold in our hearts. St. Therese, help me to always believe as you did, in God’s great love for me, so that I may imitate your “Little Way” each day. Amen. There! We're already a ninth of the way there, and if you fear you'll forget, let's make it a Mother Teresa "do it now" St. Therese novena - Little Flower in this hour show your power! Little Flower in this hour show your power! Little Flower in this hour show your power! Little Flower in this hour show your power! Little Flower in this hour show your power! Little Flower in this hour show your power! Little Flower in this hour show your power! Little Flower in this hour show your power! Little Flower in this hour show your power! Amen! I'm going to try and keep going for another eight days, and that will be for your intentions as well as mine! That will take us to . . . the Vigil of St. Francis Xavier, if I've done my finger counting right! Meanwhile, speaking of feasts and Saints, that imp Marcel from whom we take our name (that would be Marcel Van, but while I'm thinking of it, let's toss into our novena all the other Marcels we can think of - just sharing the name of our sweet brother is a grace for them, and may it bring them on his coattails - or rather on the tail of his too tight soutane - straight to Heaven into Jesus' loving eternal "My turn!" From mimes to priests to a freshmen at my alma mater, though she's a Marceline, may we who bear his name be blessed with gratitude and surrender!) - wow, that was a long parentheses, but now that we're out, let's get back to the point - that imp Marcel almost let me forget it's the day of his compatriots today! Happy feast of St. Andrew Dũng Lạc, and his companions, Martyrs. The Vatican tells us: "A young convert and priest gives his name to a group of 117 martyrs of his land, courageous witnesses to Christ whose blood was the seed of the Church in Vietnam. Their collective feast day is celebrated on November 24." And just for the record, they were martyred in the years 1850 to 1852. Our friends at Franciscan Media have told their story this way for us: Andrew Dung-Lac, a Catholic convert ordained to the priesthood, was one of 117 people martyred in Vietnam between 1820 and 1862. Members of the companions group gave their lives for Christ in the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, and received beatification during four different occasions between 1900 and 1951. All were canonized during the papacy of Saint John Paul II. Christianity came to Vietnam through the Portuguese. Jesuits opened the first permanent mission at Da Nang in 1615. They ministered to Japanese Catholics who had been driven from Japan. Severe persecutions were launched at least three times in the 19th century. During the six decades after 1820, between 100,000 and 300,000 Catholics were killed or subjected to great hardship. Foreign missionaries martyred in the first wave included priests of the Paris Foreign Mission Society, and Spanish Dominican priests and tertiaries. In 1832, Emperor Minh-Mang banned all foreign missionaries, and tried to make all Vietnamese deny their faith by trampling on a crucifix. Like the priest-holes in Ireland during English persecution, many hiding places were offered in homes of the faithful. Persecution broke out again in 1847, when the emperor suspected foreign missionaries and Vietnamese Christians of sympathizing with a rebellion led by of one of his sons. The last of the martyrs were 17 laypersons, one of them a 9-year-old, executed in 1862. That year a treaty with France guaranteed religious freedom to Catholics, but it did not stop all persecution. By 1954, there were over a million Catholics—about seven percent of the population—in the north. Buddhists represented about 60 percent. Persistent persecution forced some 670,000 Catholics to abandon lands, homes and possessions and flee to the south. In 1964, there were still 833,000 Catholics in the north, but many were in prison. In the south, Catholics were enjoying the first decade of religious freedom in centuries, their numbers swelled by refugees. During the Vietnamese war, Catholics again suffered in the north, and again moved to the south in great numbers. Now reunited, the entire country is under Communist rule. * * * My husband and I once lived in "the South" - we are so grateful for those years with such great and dear friends and such good work and Jesus - but it took me a while to figure out even the basics of North and South. I think I got it down, who was the blue, who was the gray, and why every street was named either Stonewall or Jackson or Stonewall Jackson . . . but you are here to witness my latest geographic and historic idiocy (I have a blonde soul, I used to say, and now that I have highlights it's migrating outward): Only in that last sentence above the asterisks did I totally realize there is no longer North and South Vietnam. Maybe that's because for me it's about Love. If you could see the sunrise over the mountains out my window you'd understand. And in love, there is always north and south, kind of like there are the wheat and the tares in the Kingdom, or the City of God and the City of Man still mixed up until that last day when the trumpet sounds and Padre Pio can go into Heaven and Therese can finally rest. Oh yeah, and Jesus comes and we get to party forever - or gaze forever, depending on your propensity. Well, let's pray so we all get there. I have my holy hacks and ways around losing any souls, and I have at least a smidge of Therese's insane confidence because it's true: prayer is SO powerful over His infinitely tender and eternally merciful Heart. Ha! I love it! We pray so He can do what He does and pour mercy over the whole world! What a fun game He's invented! Time to go to Mass where I'm going to pray for YOU! May He fill us always with the fullness of His Love, and before that first kiss that lands us smack in the center of the eternal adorable abode called Heaven, let's do our best to keep kissing Him - feet, knees, side, hands, FACE! St. Andrew and all your companions including Venerable Cardinal Francis Xavier van Thuan and your little Servant of God Marcel Van, pray for us and bring us to Jesus with joy and gratitude! Quickly! Draw me, we will run! |
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
February 2024
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