God's timing is always perfect, as St. Therese made clear to Servant of God Marcel Van at their first meeting in October of 1946, and now I rejoice that the time has come - the perfect time - to enlighten the world on the venerable antiquity of our favorite short and sweet prayer to the patroness of the missions and introduce her venerable admirer - well, technically so far he's only Servant of God - and grateful client, Archbishop Aloysius Maria Benziger, O.C.D. 

If that surname, Benziger, brings to your mind Catholic books, you're on the right track! The Archbishop's father owned the Swiss publishing house, and upon the death of our hero's older brother Louis (God rest his soul), the future Carmelite was destined to take over the family business. Happily for us (and many others), after business school and college, despite the objections of his father (God rest his soul too), Aloysius entered the Carmel of Bruges, Belgium. Skipping his early years as a Carmelite, next thing we know, he's an Archbishop in southern India, and a fine one at that!

What would we do without old books? I found out this biographical info with the help of the internet (guardian angels, help us always use the internet for good!), but I wouldn't have made friends with Bishop Al unless I'd first found a glorious old book Archbishop Benziger, Carmelite in India written and published by his nieces Marieli Benziger and Rita Benziger.

In an October 23, 1977 review in The National Catholic Register (kindly stuck inside the book for us by some previous owner), we read, "This compilation is a work of art. One who is interested in the subject or in the missionary world of India in the years 1890 - 1940 will not tire of reading these entries. They fill out the image of a saint, and a saint is never tiresome."

I must say I think the reviewer missed a broader demographic who would not tire of reading these entries: namely anyone who loves St. Therese, patroness of the missions and good heavenly friend of the Archbishop! For this is what one such reader, to her surprise and delight, discovered in these pages:

First, the antiquity of our prayer. And second, the devotion of one of the early devotees of our heroine and sister, that indefatigably generous distributor of roses, St. Therese. 

So first, the prayer.

Father Aloysius had became the co-adjutor Bishop of Kollam, India in 1900 and from 1905 he was the Bishop of Kollam until he voluntarily retired in 1931. He was 67, and he went to live at Carmel Hill Monastery as an ordinary religious until his entrance into eternal life on the 17th of August 1942.

He wrote in a letter from Carmel Hill dated January 31, 1938, and signed "Your very loving brother, Fr. Aloysius":

My very dearest brother August:

Your dear letter of November 25th, 1937 pleased me tremendously, as did your loving good wishes...

Daily I pray for you, for your dear wife, your children and grandchildren. They also share in my Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Unfortunately, it is nighttime for you when here, at 5:30 in the morning, I read my Mass. But with God - time means nothing.

May my dear St. Therese of the Child Jesus continue helping you.

I asked my good friend and your old friend, Henry Heide of New York City, if he knew this little prayer: 

"Little Flower, in this hour, show thy power."

He replied, smiling, "Yes . . . yes. I know this prayer and I do believe you are the one who taught it to me and were the first to use it."

He continued in German: "Theresia Klein, Du Blume rein gedanke mein - beim Jesulein."
Then added "This I say often, day and night."

*    *    *

So there we have it!
I was taught this prayer about twenty years ago by a dear friend who knew Therese's power and sweet intercession, but how was I to know that it wasn't just a groovy 60's prayer, but the real thing?
Guardian angels, that's how I was to know!

Because in this fun and falling apart book - published not by Benziger Brothers, the established and renowned "Roman Catholic book-publishing house founded in 1792 by Joseph Charles Benziger in Einsiedeln, Switzerland, currently based in Cincinnati, Ohio, and operating as a subsidiary of Kendall Hunt Publishing" (thank you, Wikidpedia), also known as Benziger Brothers, but by the adorably humble "Benziger Sisters Publishers" -  the letter in which we discover the origin of our prayer doesn't come under our eager perusal until page 528!

The National Catholic Register was correct, however, in its prophecy that "One who interested in the subject . . . will not get tired of these entries."

How could we get tired of so dear a brother and father, so faithful a friend to our sister Therese, so clever a spiritual director?

Listen to what the Benziger sisters dug up from the Archives of the Holy Cross Nuns in Menzigen:

June 19, 1927

Bishop Benziger came and gave us a sermon. He reminded us that every morning, when the bell calls us to get up, we should lift up our hearts and say:

"Dear God, You want me to get up; alright. But now You must do something for me, as well; give me a soul."

And so, throughout the entire day, learn to bargain with God. God is really a Father, a good Father, and He will help us to gain souls for eternity.

*  *  *

I'm telling you, the angels are afoot! How charming to receive the advice of an Archbishop in the missions! How wondrous that his cheering words of almost 100 years ago are so apt today and so entirely in tune with the Little Way and mischievous exploits of his (and our) sister Therese!

How else - besides guardian angels - explain the pink sticky note I find marking page 385? My Marcel-memory ensures I have no recollection of this remarkable page, though the pink post-it has a familiar look to it, so I thank my angel for guiding us back to something well worth reading and re-reading. And I must add thanks and prayers for the happy repose of their souls to the Benziger sisters, Marieli and Rita (daughters of Aloysius' brother, the portrait painter August Benziger, about whom they also made a book), for their 2 trips around the world and 22 years of research that resulted in this book, and this page, that we have so providentially at hand.

Here, then, is the icing on the cake, or better yet, the cake under the icing of our prayer which, according to Henry Heide, was not only taught by, but also originated from the good Carmelite, our new friend and Therese's longtime brother, Servant of God Archbishop Al. 

From page 385:

Pope Pius XI Calls Bishop Benziger to Rome for Canonization of St. Therese Whom He Names Patroness of Missionaries

Great was Bishop Benziger's joy when Pope Pius XI called him to Rome to assist at the canonization of St. Therese of Lisieux. Throughout his life Bishop Benziger had done all he could to work for her cause. She had barely died when he had pleaded to have her canonized. He seemed to have sensed that she was heart and soul in the project of Missionary life. One of the very first churches that had been dedicated by Bishop Benziger was named in her honor. He had been locally reprimanded because the Church does not permit anyone but a canonized saint to be made patron of patroness of a church.

When Bishop Benziger went to Rome for his "ad limina" visit, he had purposely requested permission to name his next church in honor of Therese of Lisieux. He apologized that he had done this before without specific permission from the Vatican. He told the Pope that from the moment little Therese had a church dedicated in her name the donor of the money of that church had acquired tremendous success and had given him money enough to build five more churches in her honor and in her name. Pope Pius Xi had laughed and remarked, "You can do so already but we will shortly nominate her a saint."

Therese of Lisieux, that obscure little Carmelite nun, had during all of her life insisted, "I wish to become a Missionary, not just for a while, but to the end of all time." 

When Bishop Benziger reached Rome in time for the canonization on May 17, 1925, Pope Pius XI had insisted that he should participate as a Carmelite Missionary and Bishop in all the canonization ceremonies.

Bishop Benziger had the great joy of being very close to the great Pius XI, who pontificated at the Papal Altar in St. Peter's. When Mass was over and the ceremony finished, the Pope turned to bless the vast crowd from the main altar. Suddenly thousands of rose petals fell from the baldacchino over the main altar and fell at the feet of the Pope. Amazed, Bishop Benziger looked up and saw the rose petals in every possible color. He bent down and picked up a handful and presented them to the Pope and then did the same and kept the next handful for himself.

This had been one of the happiest moments in his religious life. The rose petals he kept in his breviary as mementos of his little saint whose spiritual graces he had felt and recognized years before anyone had done anything about her. He was the first one who had sent in her name to Rome requesting that she be put on the list of those to be beatified and then canonized.

On several occasions when he went to visit the dying and very sick, without saying a word he would take a rose petal and leave it with the patient, who frequently recovered.

*  *  *

Servant of God, good Bishop Aloysius, pray for us and commend us to our sister St. Therese!

Little Flower, in this hour, show your power!

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.

Draw me, we will run!

I hope to make this a quick post so I can get back to bed, but before anyone lets me sleep around here, they insist I tell you about the guardian angels. 

The deal is this:

After I posted photos of Padre Pio and Padre Alessio Parente, and then Padre Pio and Joseph Martin (who later became Fr. Joseph Martin), I got to thinking that I used to have a book by Father Alessio, "Send Me Your Guardian Angel," about Padre Pio and the angels. A lovely book which I seem to have loaned out or given to someone, thinking it would be easily replaceable, but alas, not so much. If you have my copy, read it right quick and send it back when you've finished - it's not doing either of us any good in the bottom of that pile on your nightstand!

But meanwhile, I remembered that I have another treasure from Father Alessio, a book signed by him, so I figured I ought to look at it and see what he has to say. When I failed to do so immediately, an angel was sent to rouse me (as I had sent Marcel to rouse Padre Pio yesterday), and when I got up in the middle of the night and looked into the book, I came across the photo above featuring Padre Alessio and Joseph Martin together with Padre Pio, all of them supposedly looking innocently out upon the monastery garden.

Ha! They're actually looking into the future at us (okay, at least Padre Pio might have been), plotting and scheming with their angels and planning to complicate this already complicated triple novena - or actually, possibly planning to simplify it . . .

In the front of the book (The Spirituality of Padre Pio published at San Giovanni Rotondo, written by Augustine McGregor, O.C.S.O., and edited by Father Alessio in 1974 - and might I add, I LOVE finding good things that came out of the 1970's to compensate for the rest of that painful decade), the inscription says: 

May Padre Pio look after you and your dear ones and grant you many graces which you can share with many souls. - Fr. Alessio Parente 18-9-78

I love this inscription! Father Alessio wrote it in the novena leading up to Padre Pio's feast (although in 1978 it wasn't yet official, his cause having been opened in November of 1969, the year after his entrance into eternal life). Wow! It perfectly applies to us, and seeing how that good angel wouldn't let me sleep, I think this was the beginning of what the 3 Padres wanted to tell us. (Do you think they're all tenors? I've been hearing a lot of beautiful music during this weekend of Padre Pio's feast, and I keep thinking about how much he loved music and had good friends who were famous tenors, like Beniamino Gigli.)

Father Alessio was Padre Pio's personal assistant from 1965 (the year of my birth) to 1968 (the year of my sister's birth and Pio's birth into Heaven), and Padre Pio was very grateful to him. That must be why Pio is fulfilling Father Alessio's inscribed wish that he will look after us and our dear ones and grant us many graces which we can share with many souls! Because another reason the angels roused me was that I forgot to report the miracle count for our latest completed portion of the triple novena.

I had mentioned in a previous post that our first novena leading to the Exaltation of the Holy Cross brought news of the miracle of the restoration of perpetual adoration at St. Francis of Assisi Church in Fillmore, CA, which was one of our intentions and has already born fruit for us because I now have a new holy hour where I can pray for you, thanks to your prayers!

Well, not to let the Holy Cross have the last word, our beloved Padre Pio obtained for us at least 7 miracles that I know of during his portion of the triple novena! Two of these in particular had been part of my prayers (and those of others) for years and years and years! As our sister St. Therese put it:

"How great is the power of prayer! One could call it a Queen who has at each instant free access to the King and who is able to obtain whatever she asks."

Which means we have more reason than ever to keep praying - and it's important to note that our prayer doesn't have to be long or exhausting. As the Catechism of the Catholic Church quoted, again from our little sis and the youngest Doctor of the Church:

"For me, prayer is an aspiration of the heart, it is a simple glance directed to Heaven, it is a cry of gratitude and love in the midst of trial as well as joy; finally it is something great, supernatural, which expands my soul and unites me to Jesus." 

Speaking of gratitude, I was so grateful to stumble upon this quote from Story of a Soul yesterday. After explaining how she would ask Our Lady and the angels and saints to prepare her for Holy Communion, St. Therese says:

"It seems to me that when Jesus descends into my heart He is content to find Himself so well received and I, too, am content. All this, however, does not prevent both distractions and sleepiness from visiting me, but at the end of the thanksgiving when I see that I've made it so badly I made a resolution to be thankful all throughout the rest of the day. You see, dear Mother, that I am far from being on the way of fear; I always find a way to be happy and to profit from my miseries; no doubt this does not displease Jesus since He seems to encourage me on this road."

I love that Therese promises to be thankful the rest of the day. I think I can do that too, even when recollection (both after Communion and the rest of the day) seems to elude me. How beautiful is her simplicity!

Which leads us to the simultaneous complication and simplification of our current novena. We're now in what was intended to be the last portion of our triple novena, but St. Therese and Padre Pio have teamed up with Marcel, Padre Alessio, and Father Joseph Martin, not to mention the angels, to strongly suggest we add an angelic component to this last leg of the race, and while we're at it, to shorten our prayers.

Here's what Therese had to say about the angels (found all together in one place HERE, thanks to Fr. Wolfgang Seitz who wrote an amazing article you might enjoy reading in your massive spare time once we simplify our novena). I should explain that St. Therese said lots about the angels, but I chose for us from Father's article just her words on the angels and her mission, since I love to be reminded of how many miracles and roses she plans to distribute. This is one way I bolster my courage and keep casting those glances (some grateful, some desperate, some complete with a heavy sigh and thus comprising a double prayer) toward Heaven. Here goes, then - Therese on the angels as presented by Father Seitz:

Her Mission on Earth and in Heaven: As the Little Flower approached her death, she confessed: "I feel that I am about to enter into my rest. But I feel especially that my mission is about to begin, my mission of making God loved as I love Him, of giving my little way to souls. If God answers my desires, my heaven will be spent on earth until the end of the world. Yes, I want to spend my heaven in doing good on earth. This isn’t impossible, since from the bosom of the beatific vision, the Angels watch over us." (CJ 7/17/1897). Thus we see how she understood her heavenly mission in light of the angelic ministries.
To Fr. Roulland, her missionary "brother" in China, she writes: "Ah! Brother, I feel it, I shall be more useful to you in heaven than on earth, and it is with joy that I come to announce to you my coming entrance into that blessed city, sure that you will share my joy and will thank the Lord for giving me the means of helping you more effectively in your apostolic works.
"I really count on not remaining inactive in heaven. My desire is to work still for the Church and for souls. I am asking God for this and I am certain He will answer me. Are not the Angels continually occupied with us without ever ceasing to see the Divine Face and to lose themselves in the ocean of love without shores? Why would Jesus not allow me to imitate them?" (LT 254 7/14/1897). She assured Fr. Bellière, her first "brother": "I promise to have you taste after my departure for eternal life the happiness one can find in feeling a friendly soul next to oneself. It will not be this correspondence, more or less distant, always very incomplete, which you seem to long for, but it will be a fraternal conversation that will charm the Angels, a conversation that creatures will be unable to reproach since it will be hidden from them." (LT 261 7/26/1897).
When Sr. Marie of the Eucharist expressed fright at such visits from Thérèse after her death, the Little Flower replied: "Does your Guardian Angel frighten you? He follows you nevertheless, all the time; well, I will follow you in the same way, and even closer!" (Last Conversations, 7/18/1897).
*   *   *

I love that last quote! Sister Marie of the Eucharist was Therese's cousin Marie Guerin who was three years older than Therese (about the same age as Therese's sister and the "sweet echo of her soul," Celine) and had entered the Carmel of Lisieux after her four Martin cousins were there. She had a gorgeous soprano voice, and Therese loved to hear her sing. On July 18, 1897, when Therese had been confined to the infirmary and was clearly on her way out of this exile, Marie asked her to obtain great graces for her when she got to Heaven. Therese replied:

"Oh! When I am in Heaven, I will do very many things, great things . . . It is impossible that it is not God who has given me this desire; I am sure He will answer me! And also, when I am up there, I will follow you very closely!" 

This is when Marie had to mention that this would frighten her. Did she pause and then speak? Did she blurt it out? Either way, Therese had the answer that thrills me:

"Does your guardian angel frighten you? He follows you nevertheless, all the time; well, I will follow you in the same way, and even closer! I won't let anything pass you."

Okay, then! We're ready, Therese! Or at least we're trying to get ready - ready to receive all the great graces, the great things that you will do for us and for those we love. Once again we borrow your confidence since you are sure He will answer you . . . and since you don't need that confidence now that your faith has been replaced by sight. Oh, and kiss little Jesus for us right after you see how beautiful He is today!

So, let's get down to business. Therese bids us be simple and confident, and Padre Pio wants us to keep him in the loop by sending him our guardian angels. It helps that the feast of our guardian angels is exactly one day after St. Therese's feast. And also one day before her feast.

Sound impossible? Welcome to the double liturgical calendar (and I'm not even counting the Proper Calendars of the various religious orders!)!

On the old calendar, or the calendar in use for the extraordinary form (aka traditional Latin Mass or TLM), Therese's feast is October 3rd. 

On the new calendar, or the calendar in use for the ordinary form (aka the Novus Ordo), Therese's feast is October 1st.

Lest we start a brawl over which is superior, let's add that Therese's actual entry into Heaven occurred on September 30, but since that day is taken on all calendars by St. Jerome, one of the four great Western Doctors, Therese has to be somewhere else. And happily, as far as I can see since we're in need of miracles every day, or every other day at the very least, she gets two feasts if we're breathing with both lungs (okay, that was originally said by JPII about the churches of the East and the West, but I think it applies perfectly here too) - and these two feasts sandwich the guardian angels feast like two chocolate cookies with some white frosting in the middle!

Consequently, we conclude that we can start our guardian angel novena today, in thanks and petition to our faithful companions about whom we think much less than they think of us, and we can sandwich their novena amidst Therese's. And that "s" at the end of Therese can be both possessive (her novena) and plural, because we can keep saying our prayers to her second feast and thus gain even more roses and miracles.

We are, however, fans of simplicity as well as complexity, so let's simplify our prayers.
I'll post soon on the origin of the shorter Therese prayer so you don't feel like we're mired in hippie-land, but for now, here are our prayers:

Little Flower, in this hour, show your power!

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!

Draw me, we will run!

Happy Feast of St. Padre Pio, and happy birthday to my 21 year old son Dominic Joseph Anthony Edmund! We were thinking of putting "Pio" in there too, but we figured he already had Pio as a patron thanks to their shared day of grace, and our dear boy's name was sounding quite long and Italian already , . . .

But as you can see in the picture above, the Padre is looking pretty ho-hum about his spiritual son's milestone today. Thankfully Padre Alessio Parente, Pio's faithful friend and assistant, is smiling for them both. Come to think of it, with that absent minded, far away look on his face, I wonder if Padre Pio is even there! Maybe he's bilocating, like he did for St. Therese's canonization Mass in Rome in 1925. . . or maybe he's waiting patiently for his congratulations from us?

Congrats, dear Padre, for making it to Heaven ahead of us! 

Aha! That's it!

He said he wouldn't go into Heaven until all his spiritual children had made it there too, and he's been waiting 55 years so far without even a cell phone to entertain him! I'm sure Padre Alessio is good company (and what a sweetheart to wait with Padre for us!), but maybe we should get Marcel to help us rouse our Padre so he'll be ready to greet Therese as she kisses his dear old cheek on her way past on his feast. She's zipping by as she flies from heaven to earth, and then from earth to heaven again in preparation for her own feast in 9 days. Our little sister is s a bit like St. Nicholas in his Santa Claus guise, except that she works 24/7 for 365 days a year delivering roses of all sorts, rather than just on Christmas and when young women are in need of dowries. In fact, no doubt she's recruited good St. Nick to help her with all her feast day orders - miracles, roses, miracles, roses . . . I can see them now sorting through the ever increasing pile of incoming prayers!

Speaking of which, let's say our novena prayer to Padre Pio and finish up the last 9 days (give or take a day) so we too can do a quick turn about and start on the last leg of our triple novena, our novena to St. Therese, the Little Flower.

Guardian angels, thanks for praying with and for us:

O Blessed Padre Pio,
holy bearer of the wounds of Christ,
accept us this day as your spiritual sons and daughters
and keep us always on the little way by your intercession.
And do thou, O our Spiritual Father,
relieve our suffering and the suffering of those we love, and then
stay there at the Gates of Heaven, as you promised,
until all of your spiritual children have entered through, 
even and including us and all those we love.
Through Christ our Lord, Amen.

If you're the type that likes to fill out the paperwork and make things official, I found a wonderful site HERE with instructions on how to become a registered spiritual child of Padre Pio. I will warn you, though, that when I tried it years ago, my form was sent back to me and arrived on St. John Paul II's feast! I had enclosed a five dollar bill as a small donation and it came back too, so I had enough for an ice cream cone to celebrate JPII with his friend and helper Padre Pio - which I guess they both thought I needed more than an official entry of my name in the register at San Giovanni Rotondo. Boy, I'll be ticked if I get to the pearly gates and Padre Pio starts laughing and says I can't come in under his patronage since I'm not fully registered! 

Which reminds me of our little brother Marcel. He's mischievous as all get out on a big feast like today, and while we were praying, he snuck up on Padre Pio for a quick tickle (this time we hadn't warned the Padre so he couldn't hide behind Don Dolindo HERE at Maura's substack page - where we're hoping we'll soon find the story of Don Dolindo and Padre Pio's first meeting, which I'll also link HERE when it's posted). As you can see below, I think Marcel woke up the Padre!

I love it! Here he is now with Joseph Martin from the U.S.A. (who became Fr. Joseph Martin at the friary after Padre Pio went to Heaven), and he's pretending to be deep in prayer for Marcel and us! Or wait - I think he's hiding his eyes, because listen to the game Marcel has cooked up for the feast. He predicted he would way back in May of 1946, and what's excellent is that he blames Therese for his tomfoolery! Listen:

Marcel (to Jesus): In fact, my sister Therese teases me a lot; later, in Heaven, I will do the same to her. Little Jesus, we will play at 'hide and seek.' We will make little Therese close her eyes while we will go to hide. I will ask Mary to hide me somewhere under her cloak, and then we will ask our Mother to shout 'ready' instead of us, so that my sister Therese does not know where we are hidden. I am sure that she will go to look for me in the midst of the Holy Innocents and that she will continue to wander among them until we are ready to show ourselves to her. So I will have the chance to make fun of her. (Conversations, 369)

But wait! Therese, the little imp, was eavesdropping on this Conversation between Marcel and Jesus when it first occurred, and listen to her response:

Therese (laughing): So, little brother, you intend to go and hide? Alas, Marcel, it is too childish. Did you not know I was here, to dare to plot in this way with little Jesus? It so happens that I already know your hiding place, both of you and if, later, you put your plan into execution, I will already be familiar with everything. My dear little brother, you are very foolish, but all the better for you, since it is solely thanks to this that I was forced to speak to you. Still that plot is already out in the open. That's enough. Or rather, to please you, I will pretend to have forgotten. Dear little brother, I see that you keep laughing; are you pleased with this solution? It's interesting is it not? Never be sad, little brother, I love you a great deal, always. I want to laugh all the time in thinking of what you have got up to with little Jesus . . . Ah! The time is up, little brother, go and eat. I am giving you a kiss and I am adding to it a nice smile . . . 

*   *   *

What a lot of laughter the saints bring us even while we're still on earth. Clearly in Heaven they're having a rollicking good time! Let's do our poor best to join them in joy today for our Padre's feast. Perhaps we should take pity on Padre Pio and tell him where Marcel is hiding so he can sit down again and have a good laugh rather than kneeling and pretending to hide his eyes! I'm sending my guardian angel to him now, as he often bid his spiritual children to do. 

If you want to read a lovely piece about what Padre Pio thought about St. Therese while he was still on earth himself, I found this sweet tribute to both of them at "Mary's Blog" - I don't know what the rest of the site is like, but Mary did a wonderful job telling about the Little Flower and the dear son of St. Francis, our Padre whose love for us mirrors Jesus for him (and us too, delightfully).

And now, let's do that about face, grab Marcel's hand in one of ours and Pio's in the other (they both are fast friends and all's forgiven now that Padre has found Marcel under Mary's mantle) and run toward our little sister's big day! 

For the short form of our Therese novena, we pray:

Little Flower, in this hour, show your power!

And for those with a nano-second more time, here's my favorite slightly longer prayer:

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 . . . 

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.

Be sure to have a happy feast, and when all else fails, remember our Padre's advice:

“Pray, hope, and don't worry. Worry is useless. God is merciful and will hear your prayer.”

Draw me, we will run!

Did you know that our dear sister St. Therese had a devotion to St. Joseph of Cupertino? Not only that, she used his story to encourage her sister Celine not to give up hope of being a saint - promising her, thanks to St. Joseph C's example, that Celine (like Therese) would not be just a "get to heaven after a long purgatory saint," but a fly straight into Jesus' arms when He gives you that real first kiss kind of saint! And our little sister Therese wants, as always, to encourage us too. What better day to do so than the 360th anniversary of that dear and constant friend who has gotten many of us through the gauntlet of test taking to where we stand today, if not brilliant geniuses at least unflunked little ones right where we need to be!

Do you have a great St. Joseph of Cupertino story? I hope so! Feel free to send it to me through the "contact me" button here, and maybe I can post a panoply of fun miracles to boost our confidence in the intercession of these dear siblings of ours. Meanwhile, I'll share two of my favorite stories, the miracle that got me a husband (and not just any husband but a real keeper!) and the miracle I was repeating to my family yesterday in honor of 4 young girls, St. Therese, and (come to think of it) definitely St. Joseph C . . . Then I'll tell you what St. Therese said to Celine, and finally we'll say our Padre Pio prayer because we're in the midst of the famous triple novena of love.

*  *  *

When I was at Thomas Aquinas College and thinking I'd like to go to grad school in philosophy (hahahaha, well, the humor of that we'll save for another day, but suffice it to say in the words that Dr. McInerny loved to quote from Boswell, "I have tried too in my time to be a philosopher; but, I don't know how, cheerfulness was always breaking in), I took the GRE. I must have prayed to St. Joseph of Cupertino because that is just what one does when one is in love with Jesus and on board with the whole crazy Catholic thing that He started. St. Joseph of Cupertino was one of the many saints I discovered at TAC and he had already gotten me to the point of taking the GRE, so with his help, I took it. In those days (think cassette tapes and VCRs, along with Mary Lou Retton and JPII's preparations to go to WYD in Denver - "the revolucion!" as he loved to call it), the GRE consisted of math, verbal, and logic sections. I'm pretty sure they called it "Logic" because that's what my husband and I have laughed about ever since.

We studied for the GRE together, my then-boyfriend and I. That is, the night before we drove to Santa Barbara with a group of friends to take the test, he and I sat in a classroom (the one with the piano in it near the smoker's lot in the St. Joseph Commons - I can visit it today if I really want to, and look through the window to the place where we goofed off, I mean studied) . . .  and we looked over the sections of the test in one of those GRE prep books to see what format they used for the question. I'm afraid we weren't too earnest about our prep, or perhaps I should say I have to gratefully admit we weren't any more serious about tests then than we were later when we unschooled our two sons. We took our cue from Dr. McArthur who used to say, "Don't try to study for a test the night before! Go to the movies! Either you know it or you don't!" Well, we didn't go to the movies, but we put in a minimum of time checking out the hints given in the "Hints to taking the test" section of the test prep book and called it a day.

The next morning we headed out bright and early and went to one of those grueling standardized test taking sessions that absolutely require the help of the saints. Hours in a room with number 2 pencils and no food! After a night of usually insufficient sleep! All you holy angels and saints, pray for us!

And St. Joseph of Cupertino in particular, please pray for us because, as we'll see when we get to Therese's words to Celine, you weren't the brightest bulb in the pack, but by God's grace you passed the requisite exams to became a priest forever! Hooray!

We took the test and then all went out to a restaurant called Charlotte's, if I recall. Whew, we were whooped and had no idea how we did . . .

Until the scores came back to us some weeks later. My boyfriend and I compared our results; Verbal, I think we did about the same (very well). Math, he did better, but I did okay. Logic? Ah, logic . . . My boyfriend eventually became the logician, in perfect accord with his Myers-Briggs type, "The Logician" (though we knew nothing of that at the time). And what about me? How was my logic? I admit for the record that logic has never been my strong point. If there were a Myers-Briggs type called "Silly Girl" that would be me, but suffice it to say I'm an ENFJ (sometimes an INFJ depending on the season, and definitely a writer more than a teacher) who excels in empathy and has never been blamed for being too logical. Sometimes even possibly questioned as not being logical enough. But that's in ordinary life, not in "St. Joseph of Cupertino pray for us" test taking mode.

So getting back to the GRE. . . 
My logic score was perfect.
Not just "perfectly imperfect" or good enough or perfect-for-me.
I mean it was perfect.
To our happily every after amusement, I got a perfect score on the logic section!
It helped that the GRE's idea of logic in those halcyon days was not Aristotelian (true) or Symbolic (not true) but just like those logic games in crossword puzzle books when I was a kid. No, I never did any of those games, but I remember seeing them, and they would say something like this - which is exactly like what the GRE logic section said that year:

"If you are planning a party and arranging the seating and Jolene is wearing perfume and Joe is allergic to perfume and Jasmine loves horses and Jaspar has a fear of horses and Enid is wearing a strobe light attached to her striped party dress and Enoch has epilepsy (etc, etc, etc,), where will you seat everyone?"

Well my goodness! Seating for a party? I can do that!
And I did.
And it meant that Notre Dame, which was only accepting 10 out of about 100 applicants that year, accepted both my boyfriend and me into the philosophy department . . . which meant that after two years of dating at TAC but still unsure of whether we were supposed to get married, we both went to South Bend, Indiana, that hotspot of romance and discernment, and got engaged a couple of months into our first year of grad school. Prompting the 7 other guys in our class to tell my fiance, "Wow, that was fast!" since they didn't realize we'd already been dating and thought the Logician had snatched up one of the two girls in the class for his own in the wink of an eye!

Later, in a moment of candour he's never been able to live down, my husband told me that if we hadn't both gone to Notre Dame, he never would have married me. Not that he didn't like me, even love me, but he just didn't think he would have been organized enough to pull off long distance and engagement in the same sentence (think prison sentence) as grad school!

So thank you, St. Joseph of Cupertino, for making sure my marriage happened! My children thank you too!

*  *  *

A little less than ten years ago, four friends told me that their four daughters (one each) had failed to get into TAC because of their awful math scores on the SAT. All four of these girls wanted to go to Thomas Aquinas College more than anything and were willing to take the SAT again, reapply, take a gap year, and  in short do whatever it took to, please God, go a year later than they had planned. The SAT was set for October and I promptly began a novena to St. Therese asking her to get these girls into TAC, with the help of St. Joseph of Cupertino. (Again, my memory of calling on him is hazy, but he is the one I always go to and recommend in these cases of test taking, so I'm sure he was part of the game plan). The last day of the novena I woke up early in a quiet house (my husband and two sons being asleep) and went out to the kitchen. Peering into the dining room I was shocked to see the most gorgeous arrangement of yellow roses and golden leaves EVER just sitting innocently on my dining room table. How it got there I had no idea, and it was impossible to do anything but gape, cry a little, and thank St. Therese for answering my prayers.

All those four girls got into TAC. All of them graduated. One is now married to a fellow TACer and the smitten mother of a new little Primrose. Another is a lovely artist saving up from her day job so she can soon study  art in Florence. The third is happily married to another fellow alum. And the fourth is happiest of all, having been drawn up by the same St. Therese who got her into TAC, but now into a far better place, into the arms of Jesus.

(Incidentally, the roses were brought home very late the night before by my son Joseph who had helped clean up after a fancy schmancy gala dinner and been offered this glorious centerpiece as a thank you. Although he's had many adventures around the world, nothing like this has happened to him before or since. So I think it's fair to say the roses were really, miraculously, in accord with the miracles she was about to work in the lives of 4 young women, from St. Therese!)

Thank You Jesus for giving us these spectacularly loving siblings, the saints, who hear our prayers and present them to You and obtain so many beautiful graces for us! 

Thank You St. Therese and St. Joseph of Cupertino!
And if you, dear reader, want more encouragement and miracles from St. Joseph C, check out this delightful article at Catholic Exchange:

3 Small Miracles, No. 2 Pencils, And My Number 1 Saint by Emily Chaffins
*  *  *

So what exactly did St. Therese say about our hero, St. Joseph of Cupertino?
She spoke in response to a complaint from her sister Celine on July 12, 1897. This was the anniversary of their parents' wedding date, and in fact July 12th has now become the feast of Sts. Louis and Zelie, the first married couple ever canonized in a joint cause. But back then in 1897, Therese was dying and her sisters (both her blood sisters in the Carmel and her other Carmelite sisters) needed a lot of consoling, so she pulled out all the stops to tell them every true and comforting thing she could, and here is what she said this day (I'm quoting from Her Last Conversations).

Celine, who was Sister Genevieve of the Holy Face in the Carmel, had said sadly to Therese, her soul mate and best friend: "God will not be able to take me immediately after your death because I won't be good enough."

Yes, Celine, we can relate!

And Therese, never one to let a gloomy remark go unanswered by the truth, replied:
 
"It makes no difference; you remember St. Joseph Cupertino, his intelligence was mediocre, and he was uninstructed, knowing perfectly only this verse of the Gospel: Beatus venter qui te ("Blessed is the womb that bore Thee"). Questioned precisely on this subject, he answered so well that all were in admiration, and he was received with great honors for the priesthood, along with his three companions, without any further examination. For they judged after hearing his sublime answers that his companions knew as perfectly as he did.

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

This is the generosity of the saints and the genius of St. Therese! Or rather God's wisdom shining through her, thanks to the example of St. Joseph of Cupertino and the light God shone first through him, another little one, another fabulous intercessor, another friend in Heaven.

Speaking of friends in Heaven, I'm praying today that Pat Carlson, who entered eternal life today well prepared by Holy Mother Church with the last sacraments including Viaticum (JESUS!) yesterday, and the Apostolic Pardon to boot, may be a new friend and intercessor there already. Pray for her, gain for her a plenary indulgence just to cover all our bases, and demand the full indulgence that we are promised by Truth who only speaks truly, and then ask away for her help too! (If you don't know how to obtain a plenary indulgence, you can find out in the many articles by Maura McKeegan at Catholic Exchange. Check some of them out by starting HERE.)

*  *  *

And now, without further ado, our prayer to St. Padre Pio on our way to his glorious feast this Saturday, September 23:

O Blessed Padre Pio,
holy bearer of the wounds of Christ,
accept us this day as your spiritual sons and daughters
and keep us always on the little way by your intercession.
And do thou, O our Spiritual Father,
relieve our suffering and the suffering of those we love,
and then stay there at the Gates of Heaven, as you promised,
until all of your spiritual children have entered through, 
even and including us and all those we love.
Through Christ our Lord, Amen.

Remember our motto "For fun and for free" and participate in our triple novena as the Holy Spirit inspires you - with our prayers or your own, not forgetting that simplicity is a joy to the Heart of God. "Help, Padre Pio!" and "Thanks, St. Joseph of Cupertino!" and "We love You, Jesus!" or the ever popular, "Jesus, we trust in You!" are all great options.

Another of our mottos is "No more worrying, anymore, ever!" which we get from Jesus speaking to Marcel. And if you can't seem to stop despite all your attempts, take refuge in that wonderful prayer Mary our Mother taught to our little brother in Conversations: "Little Jesus, I offer You this worry as a sacrifice!" We have nothing to fear and everything not only to gain, but already given to us, so relax, take a load off, and enjoy that cupcake in honor of St. Joseph of Cupertino!

Draw me, we will run!

On this feast of Our Lady of Sorrows, we start our joyful novena to St. Padre Pio. That might seem like a funny juxtaposition, but there's room here for all the emotions in our wayfaring hearts, just like there was in the hearts of all the saints when they were stuck in exile as we are now. The big difference between us and them is they've made it at last into the arms of Our Lord Who dries all tears, and they want to help us get there too.

Their Mother and ours is the one who experienced the most piercing sorrow as well as the most delightful joy, so don't hesitate to continue turning to Mary with all your needs. She, more than anyone, understands both sorrow and joy, and she's consoled by our desire to receive her compassionate, maternal love.

But bigger by far than the sorrow is the joy, because we are not alone, and even our worst fears are just silly when we've got friends and spiritual fathers like Padre Pio and his buddy Don Dolindo (of Surrender Novena fame). I feel the need to mention them together because my friend Maura, who's been writing about Don Dolindo here (not here at Miss Marcel's Musings, but HERE if you click the HERE :) told me that today is Don Dolindo's feast! That is, he considered the feast of Our Lady of Sorrows his nameday since his name Dolindo means "suffering" and he loved Our Lady. Happy Feastday, dear Don D!

Don Dolindo, like Padre Pio, loved to help those in need - which is really everyone! - so he started what he liked to call the apostolate of the umbrella. You can read about that HERE and smile at his adorable fatherliness. No wonder so many have found hope and peace in his Surrender Novena (okay, you can find that HERE!), and he even has a Surrender Rosary (also called the Rosary of Abandonment) HERE that I especially love. 

Padre Pio won't mind that we're sharing his post with Don Dolindo since he used to tell people who came from Naples, "Why do you come here to see me when you have your own saint in Naples, Don Dolindo?!" The saints in Heaven belong to us all, and I can just hear that dear, gruff voice saying to us now, "Why are you coming to me when you have Don Dolindo?"

Nice try, Padre, but no getting out of it, you promised to be our spiritual father, so while we're happy to have your spiritual brother Don Dolindo as our uncle, we're coming to you to get what we need - namely, miracles in answer to our many petitions for ourselves and those we love, for the Church and for the world.

So let's get to it and pray, trusting that absolutely every intention is covered by love. As our photo displays above, Padre Pio promised, "I assure you that, when the Lord calls me, I will say to Him: 'Lord, I shall remain at the gates of Paradise; I shall enter only when I have seen the last of my spiritual children enter.'" Add to this his wonderful assurance, “Once I take a soul on, I also take on his entire family as my spiritual children," and we are in like Flynn! 

Here, then, is our novena prayer to Padre Pio. If you forget to say it on one of these next days leading to his feast, don't worry, we've got your back! I'm asking my angel to say it every day for me, and I'll join in as long as he reminds me, with all your intentions included too.

Novena Prayer to St. Padre Pio

O Blessed Padre Pio,
holy bearer of the wounds of Christ,
accept us this day as your spiritual sons and daughters
and keep us always on the little way by your intercession.
And do thou, O our Spiritual Father,
relieve our suffering and the suffering of those we love,
and then stay there at the Gates of Heaven, as you promised,
until all of your spiritual children have entered through, 
even and including us and all those we love.
Through Christ our Lord, Amen.

Finally, on this feast of Our Lady, I can't resist bringing everyone to her one more time:

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

Draw me, we will run!

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

We adore Thee, O Christ, and we bless Thee, because by Thy Holy Cross Thou hast redeemed the world!

We've come to the end of the first part of our triple novena, and the miracles are piling up like angels around an altar or, more immediately visible, like the angels around Our Lord and His Cross in Dore's awesome painting above.

Before I begin to muse, I want to thank everyone for their prayers and announce the first miracle to come to my attention in this 27 days of knocking, asking, and seeking for every good thing from our Heavenly Father. Oh, how He loves to open, to answer, to help us find Him and every possible blessing! And so, since the greatest blessing He gives us is His Son, the first miracle He's granted through this novena is . . . (drum roll please . . .) . . . The Restoration of Perpetual Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament at St. Francis of Assisi Church in Fillmore, California!

And the trumpets blare! And the angels sing! And the adorers, myself among them (lucky duck that I am) go before Him again on bended knee all hours of the day and night (okay, midday for me, right after a good lunch, and just until I need to sit down and adore Him in a more friendly posture, perfect for a long, happy chat with Jesus, best friend and Spouse of our souls)! Hooray and Alleluia! It is the victory of the Cross and Our Sweet Savior Who unaccountably loves us so much that He chose to die on this Cross that we might never suffer alone and that we might, way earlier than we could have hoped, be united in time and eternity to HIM!

This is the power of prayer - past prayer, which has obtained this grace of time with Our Lord really here among us under the humble appearance of bread; and present prayer, with SO MANY people taking advantage of His Real Presence (taking advantage in the good sense! I knelt and sat and prayed with not just one or two other adorers, but at one point five others!); and future prayer, in chapels where I live and around the world (hopefully where you live too!), and also in our homes or cars or wherever we find ourselves with a moment to turn to God and thank, praise, and petition Him for more . . . like we'll do starting tomorrow again in the second part of our triple novena, the part that addresses us to Padre Pio, Saint and Wonder Worker, but most of all, Father to his spiritual children.

Below the asterisks, you will find Miss Marcel's Musings (above you've found our prayer to the Blessed Mother and some facts :) . . . and if you go down to the second set of asterisks, below them you'll find our prayer for the next (second) part of our triple novena . . . just in case you don't have all the time in the world to muse with me!

Spoiler: between the asterisks you'll find a fabulous quote from the littlest Doctor of the Church, a helpful quote from the great Father and Doctor St. Augustine, a mystical quote from our holy father and Doctor St. John of the Cross, and quotes from God: first in the Song of Songs, and second from the mouth of Our Lord at the Last Supper. I've iced this panoply of feast day treats in bold for quick and delectable consumption!

* * *

I've been thinking about how today's feast has been called (in just my so brief lifetime, in my first and second language - that is, English) both "The Triumph of the Cross" and more recently "The Exaltation of the Cross." In a spate of good will and a return to the Great Books of my youth, I've been re-reading St. Augustine's On Christian Doctrine (on reading the Holy Scripture), and I LOVE how he urges us to check out various translations of Scripture to get closer to the real meaning of God's love letters to us. Since the Bible's original languages are not usually our own, there is a wonderful line where he advises us to "consult one who speaks those languages, or learn them ourselves if we have leisure and ability, or make a comparison of various translations."

I love incongruity, and it did strike me as hilarious that I read this quote while having my aluminum foil weaved hair (highlighted in caramel and chocolate) dry under a 50's style hairdryer at the beauty salon. Anyone might think I'm definitely a woman with the resources - at least the leisure - to learn the languages in which God originally spoke to us.

The problem is that Miss Marcel here lacks a certain ability . . . sure, I get it, the ability to stop being frivolous for five minutes might seem to be the problem, and I admit it is one problem, but the bigger problem is my memory. In true Marcellian fashion, I can't seem to retain much (except, thankfully, about St. Therese and Marcel). I call this "Marcellian" and it is one of the things that first charmed me about my little spiritual brother because, you see, Servant of God Marcel Van, my namesake and the inspiration for this blog, had a notoriously poor memory. We know this because we can read his complaints in Conversations where he constantly reminds Jesus, Who seems (at least to Marcel) in His infinitely loving part of their conversations to often forget Marcel's problem.

About this dear Jesus, the true subject of our love and blog and whole limited attention span, our little sister St. Therese, said:

"I assure you that the good Lord is much kinder than you can imagine. He is satisfied with a glance, with a sigh of love . . ."

It's easy to doubt that the good Lord is kinder than we imagine, even if our imaginations are as weak as our memories, but that's why Holy Mother Church had to give Therese a doctorate. At 24 and of a poetic (as well as practical) nature, Therese may have lacked the requisite authority (or street cred, as they say) to pull off the daring things she said and did regarding Jesus, our Love. But as a Doctor of the Church, she's a little harder to dismiss.

(I wanted to say here, "Our favorite Doctor of the Church," but oh, how hard it is to choose a favorite! For my money, she's tied with St. Thomas, but then I remember St. Francis de Sales and St. Alphonsus, not to mention yesterday's hero St. John Chrysostom, and that beloved curmudgeon St. Jerome, not to mention St. Augustine of recent paragraphs, and so I conclude that perhaps we'd better plead the fifth or, in the words of a young person I recently spoke with about favorite colors, just go with "all of them are my favorite!")

But back to translations . . .

I love "Triumph of the Cross" because it brings to mind the glorious saying from Song of Songs that the Church puts on our lips in morning prayer of the Divine Office when we are celebrating the feast of a Virgin or Virgin Martyr:

"Deep waters cannot quench love,
     nor floods sweep it away.
Were one to offer all he owns to purchase love,
     he would be roundly mocked."

So not only is love priceless, but it is unquenchable, unsweepable, unstoppable, in a word, Triumphant. And the greatest instance we have of this - an eternally present instant we enter into in real time when we attend the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass - is Jesus' dying on the Cross for us.

I haven't reached the level of the saints in understanding (at all) how this works, let alone desiring the cross in my own life, but I can say this: Jesus is the Second Person of the Trinity and the Father's only begotten and well beloved Son. He became Incarnate by the power of the Holy Spirit (Love) in the womb of His true Mother and ours, the Blessed Virgin Mary. All so that He could live with us, eat bread with us (and fish!), give Himself as our food and daily bread in the Eucharist, forgive our sins, heal our ills, free us from our captivity and oppressors, and tell us things in human words we could more or less understand . . . and ultimately and all so that He could suffer and die for us on the cross. Which is, clearly, completely crazy, nuts, bonkers, insane, foolish (to say the least) and absurd. Which is why the only true explanation (because God is infinitely wise and in fact Wisdom Itself, so none of those adjectives can stick to Him as a conclusive explanation) - the only TRUE explanation, even to us featherbrains, is LOVE! That I get. And it forces me to say "Thank You, Jesus!" even though I would have chosen Joy (rather than the Cross) as a reasonable and attractive way to Heaven. Another friend has suggested Beauty as a much more preferable alternative way to Heaven. But alas and alack, Jesus has chosen the Cross, and since He is the Way, we will find Beauty and Joy there too, but oh, there seems to be no escaping the Cross if we don't want to escape Him. 

Ah, Love! How then will You help us to understand this impossible Mystery of the Cross?

On the one hand, another favorite Doctor, our holy father St. John of the Cross, explains with his mystical simplicity:

“The heavenly Father has uttered only one word; it is His Son. He says it eternally and in an eternal silence. It is in the silence of the soul that it makes itself heard."

And then on the other (and very much appreciated) hand, Jesus can't seem to say enough to us. After He has told us no less than seven times that He and the Father will give us everything we ask in His Name (this is recorded by the Beloved Disciple in John 14 - 17), and after He has told us much more besides, He promises to send the Holy Spirit because He knows we are all, in the end, just like Marcel:

"I have told you this while I am with you. The Advocate, the Holy Spirit that the Father will send in My name - He will teach you everything and remind you of all that I told you (John 14:25-26). . . I have much more to tell you, but you cannot bear it now. But when He comes, the Spirit of Truth, He will guide you to all Truth (John 16: 12-13)."

I'm not giving up, then, in my endeavor to understand the Cross. But for today I am glad to know it is Triumphant. 

And according to the other name of this feast, we have the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. As Our Lady tells us in her Magnificat, "He has lifted up the lowly."

There was never anyone lower than Jesus on the Cross. Though it was lifted high, He was abased even below His tiny-ness in the womb of Mary, abased to one "without beauty and without stately bearing . . . He had nothing that would attract our eyes and we despised Him. He appeared to us as an object of scorn, the least of men . . . His face as though hidden . . . He seemed to be despicable, and we did not recognize Him . . . We looked upon Him as a leper, as a man struck by God and humbled . . ." (Isaiah 63)

And this Cross is now exalted! So, too, our suffering, despised as it is, will raise us high with Jesus, to the Heavenly places where we will reign with Him, or for those of us of a more Theresian childlike disposition, we will snuggle close to His  adorable Sacred Heart for all eternity!

* * *

Tomorrow is the Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows. May she allow us to console her with our confidence in her Son, a confidence we pray will increase to Theresian levels as we witness more miracles of grace during this triple novena!

Our prayer for part two is a prayer to St. Padre Pio, the one we cheekily called a giant teddy bear in our last post. If you are scared of him, stand behind me and Marcel while we go tickle him! It's hard to be afraid of someone you see afraid of a little tickling, but I bet Padre tries to dodge behind his buddy Don Dolindo (click on Don Dolindo's name for bonus reading material and more miracles!) . . .

Stand (or sit) beside us or behind us, but know you're prayed for in this next prayer for these next nine days (we officially start tomorrow, but unofficially I'll start today so you can check out the prayer we're going to be saying) - and feel free to join us when you can. Padre Pio is delighted we are asking him for help. He's been waiting for his turn, but he could hardly rush our meditations on the Cross! Now we're all yours, Padre. Help! (And that can suffice as a perfect prayer for the next nine days if you are so inclined!)

Novena Prayer to St. Padre Pio 

O Blessed Padre Pio,
holy bearer of the wounds of Christ,
accept us this day as your spiritual sons and daughters
and keep us always on the little way by your intercession.
And do thou, O our Spiritual Father,
relieve our suffering and the suffering of those we love, and then
stay there at the Gates of Heaven, as you promised,
until all of your spiritual children have entered through, 
even and including us and all those we love.
Through Christ our Lord, Amen.

Adorable Jesus, draw me; we will run!

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

Forty years ago today my life changed wonderfully when I stepped onto campus at Thomas Aquinas College for my freshmen year, met my new roommate, the gorgeous-souled Jackie Ford, and walked with her, trying not to trip in the dark, to either Loyola Hall where that inimitable son of St. Ignatius, Fr. Gerard Steckler, welcomed us, or to the Hacienda for our first soiree with the Class of '87 and/or the whole college. You see, memory fails me after I got to campus and met Jackie. But it was all good, that I know!

Whether you remember where you were 40 years ago today, or whether you existed only in the Eternal Love of God at that point, we're glad you're here to join us in our petition for more miracles! I'm going to 'fess up that I forgot to pray yesterday - well, no, I did pray, but I forgot to say our novena prayer - so I'm joyfully sure now that our sister St. Therese will be forced to attend to our requests. She's the one who popularized Failure as the New Success, so we can turn to her (as we will officially in the third nine days of our triple novena) with confidence especially after we've fallen short of perfection. Which possibly we do, almost by definition, on a daily basis! No matter! That's the beauty of the Little Way . . .

If your life is like mine, you may have had some more intentions thrown your way these past few days. They could be new problems under your old roof, or (as in my case) some friends' needs that have recently come to your attention. That's good, actually: keep piling up those petitions! As St. Therese told her novice Marie of the Trinity, it's an insult to the goodness and omnipotence of our Heavenly Father to restrain your requests or ask too small. He is Love and Mercy itself, and He can't wait to answer our prayers! I know, I know, sometimes He gives a good impression of being able to wait plenty, but you have to give Him a break because a thousand years is as a single day for Him, and that's got to get old fast! So let's be merciful to God and ask for miracles galore, and give Him the chance to pour abundant blessings on our unsuspecting heads. We can remind Him that a single day is as a thousand years for us, and then snuggle close to His most beautiful and loving Sacred Heart.

Whether you've been praying away with good memory or, like me, doing your best to remember to pray at all, or even if you're joining us for the first time - be assured you're covered by the wings of angels (your own guardian angel first and foremost!) and get ready for roses. We're running (or trudging, as the case may be) to the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross in our first novena, then to Padre Pio (and don't worry, we'll get him in a good mood so he blesses and doesn't smack us - ha! Just kidding! He's a giant teddy bear!), and then to our sister and guiding star, St. Therese, in the last leg of this novena mini-marathon. (Okay, why did that just bring to mind a chewy, chocolate-and-carmelly delicious Marathon Bar? Feel free to celebrate with me this 40th anniversary of the rest of my life-in-Christ today, but good luck finding one of those!) We here at Miss Marcel's Musings praise and thank God for all the miracles He's already granted to us and to you, but that won't stop us from asking for plenty more!

Draw me, we will run!

I have a friend who is suffering. In fact, I have three friends who are suffering. Well, let's be honest, almost everyone I know is suffering! The more I have a chance to get to know the dear souls God has deposited in my world, the more I see that the Cross really is a pervasive reality. If you have been here before, you know how I am one with Marcel (at least the Marcel of Conversations) in wishing for just about anything in life but suffering! And so, it occurred to me yesterday that I'd like to re-start our (sort of) annual triple novena. Are you game?

Fortunately, we have ten fingers (yes, yes, eight fingers and two thumbs, but for the purpose of counting, they all work like fingers), which means I can figure this out by leaving one pinky finger out. Let's see. . . If we start tomorrow, on September 6, and count up to the 14th, that's nine fingers - or days - and we'll end on the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross. That's good because then God can't say, "Hey, get used to suffering, and stop being such a ninny." He can't say it because instead He'll have to say, "Thank you, little ones, for acknowledging our Trinitarian Limitless Love as poured out on the Holy Cross!" Which will spur Him on to answer our prayers, don't you think?

And then, if we start again the next day, September 15, on the Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows, then (one moment while I count on my fingers, please), nine more fingers of days lands us on September 23rd, the feast of St. Padre Pio! Oh my heavens, there is no one ever (besides Jesus and Mary) who wanted more to alleviate suffering than our dear Padre! He even started a not-really-but-practically-a-hospital called The Home for the Relief of Suffering, funded (in its building which was a decades long process I think) by small donations - and perhaps large too - from around the world, given by his spiritual children. We are happy to call ourselves his spiritual children too, and we could sure use his help to relieve our suffering!

Finally, the great thing about Padre Pio's feast on September 23rd is that if we start novena #3 that day - just moments, perhaps, after we finish novena #2 - guess where it ends? Haha - the Feast of Feasts for little ones! No, not Christmas silly. Count with me.

September 23 (I'm starting on the thumb of my left hand), 24 (index finger), 25 (middle finger) 26 (ring finger), 27 (pinky), 28 (thumb of right hand) 29 (index finger), September 30 (middle finger and last day of September because "30 days hath September"), and then - this is where we end on the ring finger when there's only one pinky left, signifying we've counted nine fingers for nine days: OCTOBER 1st!!!!!!!

You know, the feast of St. Therese of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face, aka, the first St. Therese (Marcel being the second), the Little Flower!

And if you don't know yet, you'll find out soon that this means ROSES and answered prayers. You'll find out even if you don't join in the triple novena (though how can you resist?) because we'll include your intentions!

Watch this (I love doing prayer intentions!) -

Dear Jesus,
We are very little, but we want to pray very big. We ask our guardian angels, Marcel, Padre Pio, St. Therese, and Mother Teresa (and all of heaven) to join us in begging you to bring relief and healing to all our dear ones who are suffering. Oh, and to all those who are reading this, whether or not they pray this triple novena with us, and to all those who need relief and hope. Thank You Little Jesus!

Now, the big question before a novena is always (for me at least) how little can we make our prayer so that it will actually be said? And what should it be?

Here is my suggestion for the first novena. I probably won't remember to say this prayer each day. I hope I remember to say, "Help, Jesus! Remember our novena!" and that could be my contribution, but I love this prayer so much that I'll suggest it as an option for our first novena, which starts tomorrow and ends on the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross:

​An Old French Prayer for Friends

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

*            *             *

Isn't that perfect?

And for prayer #2, ending on Padre Pio's feast day, again don't be shy about joining me in praying some heartfelt (or tired-before-you-drop-into-bed) prayer like, "Jesus, help! We all need You so much!" but also feel free to say this lovely prayer to Padre Pio (because then you get an added bonus from the novena - you'll see what as you read on) -

Prayer to Saint Padre Pio

O Blessed Padre Pio,
holy bearer of the wounds of Christ,
accept us this day as your spiritual sons and daughters
and keep us always on the little way by your intercession.
And do thou, O our Spiritual Father,
relieve our suffering and the suffering of those we love, and then
stay there at the Gates of Heaven, as you promised,
until all of your spiritual children have entered through, 
even and including us and all those we love.
Through Christ our Lord, Amen.

*    *     *

Even if you only read it once (you just did!) isn't that a spectacular prayer?! But now we must quickly move into the third novena prayer, the one for those days from Padre Pio's feast to St. Therese's special day. And here I give you my favorite prayer to her, or (come to think of it) two favorite prayers. The reason they're my faves is because I know them by heart, which makes them much easier for me to remember to say . . . 

First, the short version, which is so fun and goofy that I thought it originated in the 1960's, but which I found (after having learned it from a dear friend who had used it since the 70's, I imagine) in a letter from Bishop Benziger of India way back in the 1920's or 30's, not long after little Sister Therese became St. Therese! Here it is:

Little Flower, in this hour, show your power!!!

(The three exclamation points are part of the prayer, in my estimation!)

Or for the longer St. Therese novena prayer (but not too long):

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 . . . 

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.

*    *    *

Even as I write this, I can think of more friends I want to include in our triple novena . . . But I am consoled to know these intentions can be added and added until they reach all the way to heaven - especially when stacked on top of your special intentions too - and God can handle all of them, no problem. That's the great thing about even a single novena (let alone a triple one) - lots of days to remember more intentions and commend them to God, even if one's prayers are little, just like us.

And then I think also of more prayers, but littler and littler, for instance: the smile and the glance - ah, the smile and the glance, on Mother Teresa's feast day, are great prayers to remember. A dear Padre sent me this quote in her honor a few years ago on this day:

"Let no one ever come to you without leaving better and happier. Be the living expression of God's kindness: kindness in your face, kindness in your eyes, kindness in your smile."

And then (now that we're in blue and white, like Mother Teresa and her sisters, you can tell we're getting to the very beautiful part of this post!) remember not to be discouraged if you miss the opportunity for the smile and the glance at those around you. Sometimes we're tired, or hungry, or lonely, or sleepy (did I encompass that in tired? I don't think so!) - or all of the above! - and what was supposed to be a smile is a scowl . . . what we would like to have been a glance is a glare! Oops! But that's the little way - we get to start over, and then why not smile or glance at an image of Jesus or Mary, or Therese or Marcel? They understand, and if you open up Conversations, you will find that Marcel really, really understands! Or rather that Jesus really, really understands and keeps telling Marcel and us too not to worry about our weakness. It's only all the more reason for our confidence in Him! Since we're too little to be all we'd like to be, let's trust Him to carry us in His arms and bless those we love (as well as blessing us).

Now, what was that other prayer?
The smile . . .
The glance . . .
Ah, the kiss!

Let's begin our novena now, on the vigil of the day we'll really start (tomorrow), by asking Jesus for His kiss to help us be His delight and the delight of those He has put in our hearts and lives. 

Let Him kiss me with the kisses of His mouth!
Draw me, we will run!!!!!