Happy Feast of the Sacred Heart of our True Love, Jesus!
I offer the following prayer for so many intentions dear to my heart, but especially at this moment asking graces for dear Jack Keogan, translator of Marcel into English and thus changer-of-my-life, who so kindly sent me this prayer (below) on the back of a holy card where I saw it (and instantly loved it) for the first time this past year, and for Fr. Ambrose who sent it to me again in whats app today (along with the glorious picture above), and finally for the original - okay second to M's little sister Anne-Marie Te and me (or is that third?) - Miss Marcel, who shares a birthday with Jack next week and who talked me into great joy today (or let me talk myself into said joy today by trying to talk me out of it, strange as that sounds) - may God reward and bless them all in greater abundance than ever before, if that's even possible. Since all things are possible for God, we say it is not only possible, but will happen! And may He bless you too, dear reader, through this delightful and down to earth (yet reaching to Heaven) prayer: Novena of Confidence to the Sacred Heart of Jesus O Lord Jesus Christ, To your most Sacred Heart, I confide this intention: (mention your intention here) Only look upon me, And then do what your Sacred Heart inspires. Let your Sacred Heart decide; I count on it, I trust in it. I throw myself on Your mercy, Lord Jesus! You will not fail me. Sacred Heart of Jesus, I trust in You. Sacred Heart of Jesus, I believe in Your love for me. Sacred Heart of Jesus, Your Kingdom come. O Sacred Heart of Jesus, I have asked you for many favors, But I earnestly implore this one. Take it. Place it in Your open, broken Heart; And, when the Eternal Father looks upon It, Covered with Your Precious Blood, He will not refuse it. It will be no longer my prayer, But Yours, O Jesus. O Sacred Heart of Jesus, I place all my trust in You. Let me not be disappointed. Draw me, we will run!!! * * * And, in honor of our adorable Lord and His infinitely tender Heart, please remember Jesus' words in the Gospel and to Marcel: Do not let your heart be troubled or afraid. Don't worry any more, ever! Courage! It is I; do not be afraid!
- the 'great' God (Matthew 14:27) If St. Anthony and Baby Jesus look a little blurry, no doubt my hand was shaking when I took this screenshot. It's not every day you get to take a photo of two of your favoritest people in the universe! And on the feastday of one of them, no less! Which brings me to my conundrum: what to say on so great a feast, in the company of such great friends and so great a God? As I quoted just the other day from Therese, our littlest Saint and greatest friend, "I'm not breaking my head over the writing . . . it's as though I were fishing with a line: I write whatever comes to the end of my pen." Our little sister said these words on June 11, 1897, and two days later on June 13 (feast of St. Anthony of Padua and Lisbon, just where we find ourselves today 123 years later), she said in explanation of her imagery of the Thief Who would come to steal her away to Heaven: "Whenever I am speaking of the Thief, I'm not thinking of little Jesus; I'm thinking of the 'great' God." Do you ever find it disconcerting to move from season to season in this life? I suppose that discombobulation could apply to moving from one season of life to another (it's always a bit disconcerting, I find, to get married, for instance. Thank the good Lord I've had that change of seasons only once so far!), and certainly if you live in a place that has radical climate shifts from let's say winter to summer (some call it spring, but I think there are locales where it is simply freezing and then broiling), that might certainly be disorienting. Not to mention the change that happens in gloriously leaf-turning centers of orange and red and yellow when those last leaves fall and winter is upon one. I'm thinking now, though, of the change in liturgical seasons, and I feel it most between Christmas-tide and Lent. Sure, there's the steady counting of Ordinal (or Ordinary) Time in between, but if you stretch Christmas out to Februrary 2nd and then procrastinate in taking down your decorations, you can find yourself in Lent (if it's an early Lent) lickety-split, and before you know what's hit you, that transition from Little Jesus to the great God-made-man come to save us is (at least for me) a touch alarming. But then, for those of us who like Therese and Marcel are card carrying members of the Child Jesus Fan Club, the switch back to Little Jesus (or the option to return unto Him) at the close of the Easter Season is quite a welcome relief if perhaps abrupt too. At least this time of year we have the 7 weeks of Easter (whew! That's a lot of partying and I haven't succeeded yet in keeping Easter completely!), then the novena of Pentecost following the Ascension . . . Though does anyone else find the drop from Pentecost Sunday to "counting time" again (Ordinal or Ordinary Time) just a wee bit fast (again) in the new calendar? Thankfully we have the glorious Feasts of the Most Holy Trinity and then Corpus Christi to help make the landing easier . . . but with St. Anthony's feast amidst these, our musings - at least over here at Miss Marcel's place - certainly return to Little Jesus! And GUESS WHAT? Little Jesus and St. Anthony have a special announcement they've asked me to make. They're feeling slightly fuzzy after the time change from Eternity to Universal Co-ordinated, so let's give them a second to adjust and I'll make that announcement for them. Are you feeling out of focus too? Get a grip, because we have big news and you'll want to be sitting down (or better yet lying down - or laying down as the case may be, depending on whether your angel sets you there or you set yourself, if I remember my grammar). Ready? This is the day to ASK FOR MIRACLES!!!! We are finishing up our St. Anthony novena, and it is a doozy this year, running neck and neck with our prayers to Servant of God Julia Greeley, Blessed Anne of St. Bartholomew (one of the big St. Teresa's besties), and Tim-the-best-hugger-ever (see our blog post a couple down for more on this holy (though uncapped) trinity of feast day compatriots, Julia, Anne, and Tim). In fact, this year in our run-up to St. Anthony we've also been slightly pre-occupied, but in a hilariously little way, you might say, with the 125th anniversary of Therese's Act of Oblation to Merciful Love - and another Trinity, the Real One-in-Three Whom we celebrated last Sunday, and a third dear trinity, though this last one of anniversaries actually: for on the Feast of the Most Holy Trinity we celebrated (albeit somewhat silently) Therese's initial offering of herself to Merciful Love (125 years ago this year on that day), then this past Tuesday, June 9th, we celebrated the same again though on the calendar date (rather than the liturgical calendar date), and finally on Thursday we managed a blog post (just below this one you're reading now) in honor of Therese's formal offering with Celine to the same Merciful Love of the Good God - yep, 125 years ago that very day, June 11. But here is the GUESS WHAT part, for those who have survived that last paragraph. I'm almost dizzy myself (always ditzy and sometimes with a touch of vertigo) after all those dates, anniversaries, and parentheses! So let's try to relax, catch our breath, and get a load of this crazy conjunction: This past Thursday, June 11, the 125th anniversary of Celine and Therese making their Act of Oblation together before the Virgin of the Smile, was actually the Feast of Corpus Christi - at least in those places where it hasn't been transferred out of immense kindness for the masses who work so that they can go to Masses in honor of The Body and Blood of Our Lord on Sunday! Have you heard about Something New? I don't mean just anything new, but Therese's Eucharistic Miracle book which I was privileged (and pushed by her) to write and which was recently published. Something New with St. Therese: Her Eucharistic Miracle, which you can read for fun and for free - and begin as soon as you wish by simply clicking on one of those boxes that crowd around "Miss Marcel's Musings" at the top of the page near the roses from Therese - or for $15 (print copy) by clicking on the bold title or HERE, is all about Therese's Act of Oblation to Merciful Love, but more specifically it is about one petition in that Act, a petition Therese encourages us to pray with her, and in this prayer obtain for ourselves a miracle having to do with our union with Little Jesus, the great God, Who gives Himself to us Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity! How fortuitous, then, that God's one single thought from all eternity has included this beautiful and tenderly solicitous happenstance of days in which He brought together our tiny 125th anniversary of Therese and Celine's history-changing Act and the Feast of Corpus Christi! Luckily for us, we are now in the octave of that anniversary, celebrating today our beloved St. Anthony, wonder worker and model adorer of Little Jesus and Grown Jesus too! And this St. Anthony Day is going to crowd into and morph into (in its later hours) the Vigil of Corpus Christi - which we get to celebrate again because hey, come on, how could one feast alone be enough for the Body and the Blood of Christ?! (How's that for feminine logic? You should see my feminine finances! If you have a spare moment, watch William Powell and Irene Dunne in "Life with Father" and enjoy Irene's illustration of the same.) Anyhow, have I gotten off the beaten path again? This is the trouble with musing and taking whatever He puts on the end of my line: He tends to lead me, just like He led Marcel (unless it was Marcel leading Him!) always on an extremely little way. I'm not complaining; I don't want to be anywhere but with Jesus and Marcel and Therese on Mary's lap, but sometimes I seem to lose the obvious thread in these meandering musings, and I sure hope I haven't lost you! Let's get down to basics then. Today is the Feast of St. Anthony. He is so great that you find his statue - like our sister Therese's image - in churches All Over The Planet. I bet if we ever find prayerful life on other planets, we'll find statues of St. Anthony holding baby Jesus there too! Because what's not to love? I started this post with Jesus' words because when I opened the Gospel last night (after a day of dusting-as-prayer but knowing that prayer-as-prayer certainly deserves its place too!), those were the words Jesus gave me: Courage! It is I; do not be afraid! And I felt their perfect timing for St. Anthony's day, the day of one who has so many titles that his Litany is replete with stunning imagery. Did you know St. Anthony is the Hammer of Heretics? And although unknown in his official litany, he is also to Nigerians (and honorary Nigerians like myself) the Marco Polo of every need - instead of blindly calling out "Marco" and having your compatriots reply "Polo" from the other parts of the pool, the Nigerian St. Anthony Guild has taught us to call out "Anto!" when in search of something lost (or even just to let out a resounding battle cry of Love), to which our fellows reply "Padua!" How very marvelous is that? And yet there is one image of St. Anthony that trumps all the rest. . . whether painted by Murillo or drawn by the loving hand of a child, who can resist those Franciscan arms outstretched in love and most often seen embracing darling Jesus? What a gift! Here is Jesus in so adorable a form that none can resist Him! I love, love, love the many pictures and statues of Him caressing St. Anthony's face, or gazing into his eyes, or merely resting in his arms. This is hope! This is the image of how Jesus wants to be with us! This is the whole substance of Marcel's Conversations! Jesus cannot get enough of us - bizarre as that may seem and be! And He puts Himself in a position, whether as the infinitely great Merciful God of Love to whom we offer ourselves, or as the tiny consecrated Host we will receive on the Feast of God's Body and Blood, or as the little child in St. Anthony's embrace: He puts Himself in a position to love us and be loved by us without fear. Without fear? Yes, without fear. God does not fear to come to us. He trusts us to love Him, as pathetic as our love may be and often certainly is. And He asks us - better yet, He who said "Let there be light" and at that moment there was light, commands us, and may it be according to His all-powerful Word - Be Not Afraid, have courage, trust in Him because He is here among us, so near that we can close our eyes and embrace Him just as St. Anthony endlessly does. What miracles will you ask for today? I'm posting early, and I'm giving my day for your and your miracles. Let's do it! Let's have confidence in God, and when our confidence is falling short (like already, or in about 45 seconds), let's ask the Saints for their confidence. They had confidence to spare, which is how they always had miracles to spare - and they don't need their confidence anymore because in Heaven (where they are) sight has replaced blindness and knowledge has supplanted hope, so let's ask for their hope, their bold confidence, their miracles, and take all they offer for the asking! St. Therese, Celine, and St. Anthony, Marcel and Julia Greeley, Blessed Anne and your BFF St. Teresa of Avila, St. John of the Cross and dear Tim M: give us your confidence that we might hold Jesus and demand all we need for ourselves and those we love! Bring back to the Faith all those who have wandered that they too might enjoy the Love of the Good God! Heal all those who are sick - through the power of God, the Mighty and Merciful One-in-Three Who gives us more than we ask or imagine because He can't contain His Goodness! And dear St. Anthony, on this your feast, thank Little Jesus for us, for letting us know and love Him, and kiss Him countless times for us today and until we, like you now, embrace Him face to Face! Draw me, we will run!!! "I'm not breaking my head over the writing of my 'little' life; it's as though I were fishing with a line: I write whatever comes to the end of my pen." - Therese, June 11, 1897 Those words were spoken by St. Therese a few months before she died, and they provide inspiration to me today as I search for words to offer on this very special June 11, 2020. Why is today so very special? I used to celebrate June 11 as the Feast of St. Barnabas, Apostle (as it is, and so shall we still celebrate it), and then later, I loved to celebrate it as the birthday of the Saints of Leon Bloy. He was a French writer at the turn of the 19th to 20th centuries (a little more than a hundred years ago) who befriended and then god-fathered Jacques and Raissa Maritain when they, along with Raissa's sister Vera, were baptized on this day in 1906. Hooray for the Maritains and Leon Bloy! God rest their souls in His infinitely tender and merciful Love that makes Saints from such varied and sundry material! But this year I am quite pre-occupied with a different feast, and anniversary, for at long last (it's taken a century and a quarter!) it is the 125th anniversary of our dear sister St. Therese and her own sister (and thus ours too) Celine: the 125th anniversary of their Act of Oblation to Merciful Love! On this day 125 years ago, Therese and Celine knelt before the statue of the Virgin of the Smile, a statue which had been the instrument of great graces for their family (including Therese's miraculous healing 12 years before), and together Celine and Therese prayed the Act of Oblation to Merciful Love that Therese had written out after her own initial offering of herself on Trinity Sunday, June 9, two days before. So yes, if you're paying super close attention to the dates here, you might notice (but don't worry if you're skimming because I'll tell you what you might have noticed but perhaps didn't!): Today is the third 125th anniversary of the Offering to Merciful Love that we're celebrating this week! First was on Trinity Sunday, which we celebrated a few days ago, and which was the feast on which Therese first felt her inspiration to offer herself to Merciful Love and so promptly and spontaneously did. Second was this past Tuesday, June 9, the actual calendar date of Therese's first offering. But finally, today is the day I've decided we ought to celebrate most wonderfully because this was the day on which Therese had her first follower on this little way of oblation. Right after Mass on Trinity Sunday, right after she'd made her own offering, Therese grabbed Celine's hand as they were leaving the chapel of the Carmel, and went to their sister Pauline, their mother superior. Therese asked for herself and Celine that Mother Agnes (Pauline) give permission for them to offer themselves formally as Victims to Merciful Love. Mother Agnes said yes, leaving Therese the task of explaining to Celine what in the world she had in mind this time! And then, so simply and marvelously, by her mere cooperation (tantamount to allowing her younger sister to lead her where she would, as usual), Celine paved the way for the legion of little souls who came after, and among whom we count ourselves, poor and weak and (if you don't mind my saying so) pathetic as we are. Like our hero and brother Marcel Van, and like Celine before him (not to mention their other sisters Pauline, Marie, and Leonie, their cousin Marie Guerin, and Therese's novice Marie of the Trinity, et cetera), we too need only allow Therese to drag us (or push us) hither and yon, and we too will become other little great saints! And how? You might as well say, "And how!" for the road is long, with many a winding turn, but believe me - or better yet, believe Therese! - we'll get there, and she knows exactly where! To the Heart of Love, the very Merciful Love of God to which we abandon ourselves without reserve. Sounds good, surely, but if you wonder how in the world it might work, well let's just follow Marcel and Celine following Therese. I'm going to insert a picture of the lovely Virgin of the Smile, and the text of the Act of Oblation to the Merciful Love of the Good God. Without a lot of explanation, because as Fr. Thomas Dubay used to frequently acknowledge, we have a time pressure problem. Let's hurry, then, and not allow anything to stop God from pouring out His infinitely tender love into our hearts, quickly, before we get distracted or bored, before we forget what we're doing, before we fall asleep at out prayers. Okay, maybe not that last. If you're reading this late at night, and you nod off in the middle, no worries! Therese will assist and make the Act in your name, as she assisted Celine, and later Marie of the Trinity, and later still our little Marcel. Marcel is a darling guide to this offering as well, because he had no idea what it meant, and yet I do think the whole of his book Conversations (with Jesus, Mary, and St. Therese) is an extended commentary on this Act of Oblation. He even asked Jesus straight out to explain it, quite a while after Therese had made the Act for him since, little as he was, he entrusted himself to her clear and sure guidance as do we. Marcel asked, "So, little Jesus, tell me what 'Victim of Love' means." Jesus responded: "They are victims who, through love, offer themselves to Love. These victims leave to Love complete liberty to accomplish His desires in them but of themselves, they do nothing to expend themselves; it is Love, that is to say the Holy Spirit who acts spontaneously in them." There you have it then, and so let's waste no more time in chit chat. I offer to you below (in order to help Therese offer you to God) our patroness the Virgin of the Smile, our dear Mama Mary, and the Act of Offering which Therese and Celine recited before her on this day 125 years ago. But before I do, I almost forgot - we are in the middle (or toward the end) of a sweet novena culminating in St. Anthony's Day on Saturday. We commend to him the health of many of our loved ones and all who are ill, asking his powerful intercession to heal them, as well as to fulfill the many other needs and desires - including our thanks to God for miracles already granted - as mentioned in the previous post. Here then, is a little novena prayer to dear St. Anthony, and then we'll proceed with our Offering. Thank You Jesus, for all these irresistible Saints you give us to help us on our little way! UNFAILING PRAYER TO ST. ANTHONY Holy St. Anthony, gentlest of Saints, your love for God and charity for all God's creatures made you worthy when on earth to possess miraculous powers. Miracles followed your word, which you were ever ready to speak for those in trouble or need. Encouraged by this thought, I implore you to obtain for me also my requests . . . The answer to my prayer may require a miracle' even so, you are the Saint of Miracles! O gentle and loving St. Anthony, whose heart was always full of human sympathy, whisper my petition into the adorable ears of the Holy Infant Jesus, who loved to be held in your arms, and the gratitude of my heart will always be yours. Amen. ACT OF OBLATION TO THE MERCIFUL LOVE OF THE GOOD GOD
O My God! Most Blessed Trinity, I desire to Love You and make you Loved, to work for the glory of Holy Church by saving souls on earth and liberating those suffering in purgatory. I desire to accomplish Your will perfectly and to reach the degree of glory You have prepared for me in Your Kingdom. I desire, in a word, to be saint, but I feel my helplessness and I beg You, O my God! to be Yourself my Sanctity! Since You loved me so much as to give me Your only Son as my Savior and my Spouse, the infinite treasures of His merits are mine. I offer them to You with gladness, begging You to look upon me only in the Face of Jesus and in His heart burning with Love. I offer You, too, all the merits of the saints (in heaven and on earth), their acts of Love, and those of the holy angels. Finally, I offer You, O Blessed Trinity! the Love and merits of the Blessed Virgin, my Dear Mother. It is to her I abandon my offering, begging her to present it to You. Her Divine Son, my Beloved Spouse, told us in the says of His mortal life: "Whatsoever you ask the Father in my name he will give it to you!" I am certain, then, that You will grant my desires; I know, O my God! that the more You want to give, the more You make us desire. I feel in my heart immense desires and it is with confidence I ask You to come and take possession of my soul. Ah! I cannot receive Holy Communion as often as I desire, but, Lord, are You not all-powerful? Remain in me as in a tabernacle and never separate Yourself from Your little victim. I want to console You for the ingratitude of the wicked, and I beg of you to take away my freedom to displease You. If through weakness I sometimes fall, may Your Divine Glance cleanse my soul immediately, consuming all my imperfections like the fire that transforms everything into itself. I thank You, O my God! for all the graces You have granted me, especially the grace of making me pass through the crucible of suffering. It is with joy I shall contemplate You on the Last Day carrying the scepter of Your Cross. Since You deigned to give me a share in this very precious Cross, I hope in heaven to resemble You and to see shining in my glorified body the sacred stigmata of Your Passion. After earth's Exile, I hope to go and enjoy You in the Fatherland, but I do not want to lay up merits for heaven. I want to work for Your Love Alone with the one purpose of pleasing You, consoling Your Sacred Heart, and saving souls who will love You eternally. In the evening of this life, I shall appear before You with empty hands, for I do not ask You, Lord, to count my works. All our justice is stained in Your eyes. I wish, then, to be clothed in Your own Justice and to receive from Your Love the eternal possession of Yourself. I want no other Throne, no other Crown but You, my Beloved! Time is nothing in Your eyes, and a single day is like a thousand years. You can, then, in one instant prepare me to appear before You. In order to live in one single act of perfect Love, I OFFER MYSELF AS A VICTIM OF HOLOCAUST TO YOUR MERCIFUL LOVE, asking You to consume me incessantly, allowing the waves of infinite tenderness shut up within You to overflow into my soul, and that thus I may become a martyr of Your Love, O my God! May this martyrdom, after having prepared me to appear before You, finally cause me to die and may my soul take its flight without any delay into the eternal embrace of Your Merciful Love. I want, O my Beloved, at each beat of my heart to renew this offering to You an infinite number of times, until the shadows having disappeared I may be able to tell You of my Love in an Eternal Face to Face! Draw me, we will run!!! Do you know these faces? And though there are only 4 pictures, what would you say if I asked, "Which one of these is not like the others?"
Introductions first: In sepia tones, we have St. Therese and her sister (the taller one) Celine. In the black and white image, circa 1915, we have Servant of God Julia Greeley of Denver, with Marjorie in her arms. Finally in what looks like a painting by Murillo (but it is probably a photo, don't you think?) we have our dear St. Anthony and little Jesus, our Savior and Spouse of our souls! The One I would say stands out as "not like the others" is the middle image of Julia and Marjorie because - guess what? - until this morning, while I had heard of Julia G (starting a few years ago thanks to my amazing friend A.W., also known as "Aw, Awesome!"), I didn't really know anything about her except that she is popular in Denver and many want her Sainthood proclaimed. Oh, also recently I knew that another awesome friend has written a children's book about her, but there is more to be done (the usual stuff like finding an illustrator and publisher), so I haven't seen the book yet. Nonetheless, this morning was magical because said friend #2 published an article at our dear Catholic Exchange, and the article is Servant of God Julia Greeley: A Name Written in the Sacred Heart It is wonderful - the article, the Saint (yet to be named, but so clearly one with Jesus!), and her impending feast that coincides this year with Trinity Sunday - this Sunday! Which links her, most adorably, with a friend of mine named Tim who no doubt brought her to my attention today (because that is his feast too, June 7), whom you can read about HERE (thanks to another friend of mine - boy they pile up, these amazing women I know!), and his mom's special Saint (whose feast is ALSO on June 7!), Blessed Anne of St. Bartholomew, whom you can read about HERE, and you'll want to since she was a cool cat and good buddy of St. Teresa of Avila, La Madre! There is another event we will commemorate this Sunday, though, on the Feast of the Most Holy Trinity, and this is where we jump back to the first photo of Therese (and Celine). Are you sitting down? (Lying down is acceptable too, but if you're standing, please hold on to something to steady yourself because this is BIG NEWS!!) This Sunday, Feast of the Holy Trinity 2020, is the 125th anniversary of Therese first making her Act of Oblation to Merciful Love (on Trinity Sunday 1895)!!!!! And God bless Monsignor Ken Loughman, retired Irish American priest of the archdiocese of NY, for letting us know that this anniversary is just around the corner! Woohoo and Hooray! Alleluia and Deo gratias!!! The actual date of Therese's making the Oblation was June 9, which is why we had planned and announced we would start a novena last Monday on June 1st. Little circumstances and obstacles prevented that, so we thought we'd start on Wednesday, since June 11 is the day Therese and Celine formally made the Act of Oblation together before the statue of the Virgin of the Smile (enter Celine, then) . . . but no, God's hand held us gently back, so that we could start our little novena today (3 days until Sunday, just like the cross to the Resurrection!) and make it a super spectacular all encompassing novena by letting it commemorate the Most Blessed and Adorable Trinity, St. Therese, Servant of God Julia Greeley, Blessed Anne of St. Bartholomew, the best hugger in heaven (vying with Marcel for best tickler as well) Tim, and Celine, as well as (no doubt) a handful of other greats who will lead us in 9 days to - Il Santo! The Saint! Anthony of Padua and Lisbon, our special patron (my middle name saint, my grandmother's saint, my husband's saint, my sons' middle name saint, etc. etc, etc!) Only God could design a novena this great! So what are our intentions? 1. Thanksgiving for miracles small and LARGE - and if you can't think of one in your life right off the top of your head, please join us in our thanks for my father in law Paul discovering - to our great delight and his even greater delight! - that he is in remission from cancer! A remission that was not even hinted at as part of his deadly prognosis, but hey, that's where miracles come in, and we are SO INDEBTED for all your prayers and love and support that brought Paul to this joyful new reality! which leads us to: 2. For all the intentions and health, happiness, and so on and so forth, of those who have prayed for Paul (and throw in an Ave now to be enrolled in this long list of names kept by our angels!) and then: 3. For more miracles! for Physical (and other) Healings for two dear children-of-friends, for a dear sister-of-a-dear-friend, and for all the healings needed by you and those dear to you! St. Anthony is past master of these kinds of healings (easy peasy for one so close to Christ!), so let's pile up the petitions and watch him knock them down into grace and mercy and Jesus' healing power like so many bowling pins into the - well, wherever knocked down bowling pins go! and finally: 4. For the vocations of all the young people who have just graduated (even without the pomp and circumstance) from college, high school, and every other place (like the boy in our neighborhood who had a graduation from kindergarten congrats sign on his lawn - too darling!) - and for those of us who will be happy to keep discovering our missions within our vocations, just according to Jesus' sweet will and joy for us. I have in mind a particular daughter of a friend (almost a daughter to me too), and another dear Miss Marcel, and so many more! Add your loved ones (and yourself!) to this list too! and last but not least: 5. The quick restoration of the Sacraments to us, and us to the Sacraments, with special added graces for all seminarians, deacons, priests, Bishops, and the Holy Father. We will feel free to add intentions as they arise, and please do so too! So what will our prayer be? I have the opportunity to go to Mass right now (and I will be late, as ever, even after such long absences that have made my heart grow fonder) so for now, let's start with these prayers I know by heart. We can add or change later, but for now: We love You, Jesus, please make us Saints! Little Flower, in this hour, show your power! Dear Saint Anthony, please come around, there's something lost (Faith, Health, knowledge of God's will, the sacraments in our daily lives, etc) that must be found! Draw me Jesus, 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
September 2024
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