A Marcellian Epiphany

I can't figure out what all the guys with the huge muscles are doing here, but I LOVE the way that Mary is holding up little Jesus - the Light of the World - for the three kings to adore. Darling little Jesus looks so floppy, too, like a real baby! Well of course, because He was a real baby. And why? So we would never need to be afraid of Him!

I've been feeling a little sad with the end of the Christmas season approaching. I don't want to lose little Jesus yet! Or ever, come to think of it . . . But Marcel to the rescue, because if anyone loves little Jesus, it's our little brother, and he's got a revelation to help us realize we too can love little Jesus Forever, not just for a day or a season. 

Having titled this post "Marcellian Epiphany," I thought I'd better follow through and give you one, so I opened my favorite book, happily just as relevant in 2019 as in 2018, Conversations, and here is what I found Jesus telling us (He is, after all, the Author of Epiphanies):

Marcel, listen carefully. In order to give grace to men, I do not need to wait for a particular season, or to pay attention to the temperature because, in that case, there would be times when men would be deprived of the grace necessary for the life of their souls . . . Remind yourself that My Love never acts in that way. It knows the moment when it must show itself and when it must be hidden. Will you remember?

That tiny baby is God, so He certainly knows that we will not remember! But joy and rapture, not only has He come to us as an infant, not only has He invited shepherds, kings, and the likes of ourselves to worship Him this season, but He is never leaving. He promised He would not leave us orphans, and He won't - whether He is revealing Himself or hidden, He is near!

The other day I read the most marvelous quotation. Sister Lucia of Fatima, when much older than the little girl to whom Mary appeared 102 years ago or so, mentioned that she (in her years when not seeing Heaven as vividly as she sometimes had) loved this quote from the Psalms:

"When you look for God, He is radiant with joy."

Let's not worry, then, if after He's been an adorable infant for us (and for everyone this Christmas season), He takes to hiding for a short while. We can look for Him then, and like the game of hide and seek Marcel planned to have in Heaven with little Jesus and Therese, our looking for Him will be His great delight! He will be radiant with joy!

I wish for you, too, dear reader of these words, the radiance of true joy, of the Holy Spirit, of our God who is Love, during the remainder of this season and for all the rest of your life until the True Joy of Heaven begins! And that we might not miss anyone there, let's pray our signature prayer:

Draw me, we will run!

We love You, little Jesus!