I love these days of the Christmas octave. We have the joy of celebrating, after Christmas Day #1 on December 25, the successive feasts of St. Stephen, St. John the Beloved Apostle and Evangelist, the Holy Innocents, and then this year hard on their heels, the Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. What riches! And then two pure Christmas Octave days (with St. Sylvester thrown in for good measure), and suddenly we are in the Vigil of the Feast of Mary the Mother of God, coinciding with fireworks, champagne, and midnight kisses while people wish one another "Bonne annee!"

In Marcel's Conversations with Jesus, Mary, and Therese, these days are also rich, containing so many brilliant, glorious, and hilarious gems that it is impossible to mine them all, but no need really since they spill over and off the pages bringing joy to all heaven and those of us on earth especially blessed to know our brother and his transcriptions.

And as if the official feasts of the Church and the un-official feasts of Marcel's and our joy aren't enough, there is an anniversary tucked into these days. Believe it or not - and yet how could Providence have planned it otherwise? - our first post here was on December 27, 2017 on St. John the Beloved Apostle and Evangelist's Day. Our subsequent posts followed quickly, as if already we couldn't contain our joy at having discovered Marcel and, by God's eternal kindness, been given the happy mission of writing about him (and Him)!

You can click HERE to find that series of Miss Marcel's first Christmas octave gifts, and strange as it still seems to me, you can start "at the top" by scrolling to the bottom of the page. Oddly as these things are arranged in blog-ville, the posts pile up on one another like Dr. Seuss' turtles on Yertle, or to put it another way, in Biblical fashion, the first shall be last, and so our first post is last on the page. 

How did that happen?
Not the order of the posts on the page (that mystery is beyond me!), but rather the very existence of these posts at all . . .

It was quite simple. A dear friend I had introduced to Marcel suggested that I start a blog on our little brother. She thought I'd resist the idea, but when the Holy Spirit breathes where He wills, who can resist? Not me! And since I love writing and I love Marcel, the match was truly made in heaven. As the Divine Mercy would have it, I've absolutely adored every minute of writing and posting here, and I'm grateful to have met some wonderful saints (some in heaven, some on earth) through the process.

Wait! Does this sound like a retrospective that will end in my moving on to greener pastures? 

Not a chance! I can't imagine there are greener pastures than those through which Marcel leads us, and I'm happy to report that I'm as smitten with him as ever, as consoled by the pages of his Conversations, as grateful for his entrance into my life and this grace of writing about him as I have been from the get-go. And then because there is no limit to God's limitless Love, my delight increases exponentially as I hear from those who have also fallen head over heels for our brother Marcel (whether through this blog or elsewhere). What fellowship and mutual encouragement have poured out upon and through this place of musings about Marcel the Mischievous and his ongoing antics!

As the old calendar year ends and 2020 (a whole new decade!) begins, I invite you to revel with me in Jesus' words to Marcel, words which He spoke 75 years and a day ago (on December 30, 1945), words which - like all Jesus' words in Conversations - are meant for us too, to encourage us, to help us count our blessings, to remind us of His eternal and ever-new love for us:

"Marcel, don't you find it blissful to be loved by me, to have been chosen to be my little friend, my spouse, the mother of souls and the apostle of my love?"

Jesus goes on to explain that many others have been called to these same duties - ah, what sweet duties! - to be loved by Him, to be His little friends, His spouses, the mothers of souls and apostles of His love. He calls to us:

"I am still waiting and if a soul presents itself ready to accept these duties, I will confide them to him without delay."

I pray that you will accept these duties - and firstly, the dearest and most important duty of all: to be loved by Him!

May you know His love in 2020, and may you rejoice in Him as He already rejoices in you. If you doubt it for even a second, look at that photo of little Jesus above, and see the look of love and laughter He casts upon you. He is so good, so mighty and so merciful, so ready to pour out every good thing upon us! 

​Draw me, we will run!!!

I think this painting says it all. Mary is looking at baby Jesus, the Incarnate Deity, while Joseph looks at Mary. The shepherd, too, is transfixed by God made man. And the Angels? I think they are divided between wonder at the Mother of God, and sharing her wonder. As St. John of the Cross puts it in his Romance on The Birth:

But God there in the manger cried and moaned;
and these tears were jewels
the bride brought to the wedding.
The Mother gazed in sheer wonder on such an exchange:
in God, man's weeping,
and in man, gladness,
to the one and the other
things usually so strange.

And yet He didn't come down to earth to cry, but to love us and be loved. To kiss us and be kissed. To sigh with us and let us sigh to Him. To smile at us and let us smile at Him. To glance at us - gaze at us, really, and let us gaze back, long into the night and through the ensuing days and years, until He brings us to Heaven where we will gaze in joy forever.

Marcel and I and our big sister Therese wish you a long gaze at Jesus this Christmas. May your sighs, which to a stranger might seem sighs of fatigue or irritation, become sighs of love as He enfolds you in His newborn yet eternal love. May you know His smile as He gazes at you from His poor manger crib. And best of all, may you experience His sweet kiss in Holy Communion, for He has come down from Heaven for no other reason than to unite us to Himself, as He has united His nature to ours.

Wherever Christmas finds you this year, know that Jesus will find you too. His look of love has only grown more ardent through the centuries since His first nativity, and over the years since your first magical Christmases. He loves you so very much - more with each passing moment! - and as He told Marcel, "a single one of your joys suffices to console Me very much." 

​In the interest of delighting and consoling Jesus, then, may your Christmas be merry and bright! And we hope your joys run into the realm of the uncountable, rather than remaining single joys! 

Here at Miss Marcel's Musings, we are praying for a Christmas miracle for our friend Finn, a 13 year old boy who isn't able to walk or speak these days. And, I should add, we aren't the only ones praying! I wrote about our prayer (tucked into a longer musing) HERE, and my alma mater posted about that article (and thus about our prayer for Finn) HERE.

We're asking Marcel to approach the Holy Infant and obtain the gift of Finn's complete healing - either today or sometime in this Christmas octave. Please join us in asking for this miracle, and let us approach the creche together with great confidence, for Jesus loves nothing more than delighting us, even as He delights in us.

Sometimes His delights seem long in coming - it has been this way for Finn and his family. And it was this long, drawn out little way for Marcel, too. It was only on Christmas in 1940, when Marcel was nearly Finn's age, that our brother at last received the miracle he awaited. When he later read Story of a Soul, he rejoiced that his sister Therese also had the grace of a Christmas miracle in her childhood.

For Therese, she called it her conversion, for she was healed of her hyper-sensitivity (though God preserved her gift of a sensitivity like His, far beyond your average bear's). For Marcel, his miracle was an interior illumination that enlightened him as to how he could go on amidst suffering - his vocation was to turn suffering into joy. What I love is that this miracle did not make him insensitive either. One only has to dip into his Conversations to find that Marcel was a big fan of lessening suffering wherever and in whatever form it was to be found, so I'm sure he will be happy to plead Finn's cause with their best friend, little Jesus.

We know that however long He takes in fulfilling His promises, Jesus came to bring His abundant joy (His joy within the perfect eternal Love of the Blessed Trinity), and so we hope and pray He will bring miracles to Finn and to all those who need miracles this Holy Night and throughout this Season of Joy. 

Marcel, pray for Finn and for us to the Divine Infant!
Mary and Joseph, draw us into your radiant circle of love, in the light of His Holy Face!
And darling little Jesus, draw me, we will run!!!

Marcel and I will be praying for you at our Christmas Mass - if it is in any way possible, may our Heavenly Father, adorable baby Jesus, and their Holy Spirit, love you even more!

Happy Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe!

Where I live, there are many Mexicans, and so Our Lady gets the honor that is her due, with her children rising before dawn to sing to her, and many others sure to make it to Holy Mass to receive her Divine Son.

But you know what? We are all Mexican today! Our Lady returns to us in every one of her true apparitions so that we will know her tender maternal love, and I will tell you something I discovered today: I'm convinced this appearance of Our Lady to St. Juan Diego in 1531 is Marcel's favorite. 

How do I know? Well first off, it's mine, and I'm sure my little brother and I think alike on this score.
Secondly, though, I think Our Lady is at her most maternal when she appears to St. Juan Diego - calling him even, as a mother will, "Juanito, my Juan Dieguito" - "Little Juan," and "My Juan little Diego!" St. Juan was a widower at this point, not a little boy, but to a mom, her son is always her little boy!

I found two things this morning that confirm my opinion that Marcel''s Our Lady and Our Lady of Guadalupe are essentially the same. (Okay, yes, I suppose I have to concede that all the Our Ladies are essentially the same! But still, who can resist Our Lady of Guadalupe as the most Our Lady-ish of Our Ladies?!)

My first discovery has delighted me to no end, and will continue to delight me until I get to Heaven and then some! For this morning I found that the words of Our Lady to all of us through Juanito on this day are ACTUALLY in the Church's official Liturgy of this day!! To be more specific, the Office of Readings (part of the Divine Office or Liturgy of the Hours which all priests are obliged to say, and most religious and many lay people say too) has for its second reading (the "non-Biblical reading") today the account of Our Lady of Guadalupe's visit to Juan and it includes my favorite words ever. I'll share the whole story with you here (from the Office) with the best part highlighted (though it's all wonderful) -

At daybreak one Saturday morning in 1531, on the very first days of the month of December, an Indian named Juan Diego was going from the village where he lived to Tlatelolco in order to take part in divine worship and listen to God’s commandments. When he came near the hill called Tepeyac, dawn had already come, and Juan Diego heard someone calling him from the very top of the hill: “Juanito, Juan Dieguito.”

He went up the hill and caught sight of a lady of unearthly grandeur whose clothing was as radiant as the sun. She said to him in words both gentle and courteous: “Juanito, the humblest of my children, know and understand that I am the ever virgin Mary, Mother of the true God through whom all things live. It is my ardent desire that a church be erected here so that in it I can show and bestow my love, compassion, help, and protection to all who inhabit this land and to those others who love me, that they might call upon and confide in me. Go to the Bishop of Mexico to make known to him what I greatly desire. Go and put all your efforts into this.”

When Juan Diego arrived in the presence of the Bishop, Fray Juan de Zumarraga, a Franciscan, the latter did not seem to believe Juan Diego and answered: “Come another time, and I will listen at leisure.”

Juan Diego returned to the hilltop where the Heavenly Lady was waiting, and he said to her: “My Lady, my maiden, I presented your message to the Bishop, but it seemed that he did not think it was the truth. For this reason I beg you to entrust your message to someone more illustrious who might convey it in order that they may believe it, for I am only an insignificant man.”

She answered him: “Humblest of my sons, I ask that tomorrow you again go to see the Bishop and tell him that I, the ever virgin holy Mary, Mother of God, am the one who personally sent you.”

But on the following day, Sunday, the Bishop again did not believe Juan Diego and told him that some sign was necessary so that he could believe that it was the Heavenly Lady herself who sent him. And then he dismissed Juan Diego.

On Monday Juan Diego did not return. His uncle, Juan Bernardino, became very ill, and at night asked Juan to go to Tlatelolco at daybreak to call a priest to hear his confession.

Juan Diego set out on Tuesday, but he went around the hill and passed on the other side, toward the east, so as to arrive quickly in Mexico City and to avoid being detained by the Heavenly Lady. But she came out to meet him on that side of the hill and said to him: “Listen and understand, my humblest son. There is nothing to frighten and distress you. Do not let your heart be troubled, and let nothing upset you. Is it not I, your Mother, who is here? Are you not under my protection? Are you not, fortunately, in my care? Do not let your uncle’s illness distress you. It is certain that he has already been cured. Go up to the hilltop, my son, where you will find flowers of various kinds. Cut them, and bring them into my presence.”

When Juan Diego reached the peak, he was astonished that so many Castilian roses had burst forth at a time when the frost was severe. He carried the roses in the folds of his tilma (mantle) to the Heavenly Lady. She said to him: “My son, this is the proof and the sign which you will bring to the Bishop so that he will see my will in it. You are my ambassador, very worthy of trust.”

Juan Diego set out on his way, now content and sure of succeeding. On arriving in the Bishop’s presence, he told him: “My lord, I did what you asked. The Heavenly Lady complied with your request and fulfilled it. She sent me to the hilltop to cut some Castilian roses and told me to bring them to you in person. And this I am doing, so that you can see in them the sign you seek in order to carry out her will. Here they are; receive them.”

He immediately opened up his white mantle, and as all the different Castilian roses scattered to the ground, there was drawn on the cloak and suddenly appeared the precious image of the ever virgin Mary, Mother of God, in the same manner as it is today and is kept in her shrine of Tepeyac.
​
The whole city was stirred and came to see and admire her venerable image and to offer prayers to her; and following the command which the same Heavenly Lady gave to Juan Bernardino when she restored him to health, they called her by the name that she herself had used: “the ever virgin holy Mary of Guadalupe.”

*    *     *

I do admit that the part about the Castilian roses and then Our Lady's image are pretty exciting and beautiful moments too, but I can never get over her words to us, which I usually read in this translation:

Hear and let it penetrate your heart, my dear little one:
Let nothing discourage you, nothing depress you.
Let nothing alter your heart or your countenance.
Am I not here who am your Mother?
Are you not under my shadow and protection?
Am I not your fountain of life?
Are you not in the folds of my mantle?
In the crossing of my arms?
Is there anything else that you need?
Do not fear any illness or vexation, anxiety or pain.

My guess is that our little brother Marcel never knew, in his life on earth, the words of Our Lady to our little brother Juanito, but thankfully he knew words nearly as gentle, compassionate, and loving, if not more so - words from Our Lady, or better yet, our Mother, to Marcel himself! 

Just today I had a blast reading Marcel's Conversations entry for May 13 - which is the feast of Our Lady of Fatima (though I don't think Marcel knew about that apparition either), but also another important feast of Our Lady, especially for those who claim Therese as their sister: May 13 was the day Our Lady smiled on Therese and cured her of her mysterious childhood illness!

Well, reading the pages Marcel wrote for us on May 13, 1946, I alternated between laughter and, no, not tears, but simple joy at the words Marcel and Our Lady exchanged. 

You see, Marcel was very concerned about (and frankly against) people calling Mary "Queen" because he saw and felt that she was our Mother, and why in the world would she be anything else, especially something (namely, Queen) that puts distance between herself and her children?

And so, Marcel asked Mary straight out:

Mother, later in heaven, you will continue to call me your child, is that not so? And I, I will give you the name of Mother to the exclusion of any other name. And similarly, if I do not call you by the name of "Queen", will you be pleased with me? Is there anything wrong in not calling you "Queen"?

To which Mary replies, equally straight forwardly:

My child, let me put it another way. Before dying, did Jesus tell you to call me "Queen" or did He tell you to call me "Mother"? Did He say: "Here is Mary, your Queen?" No, He never said that. In giving me to you to be your Mother and in giving you to me to be my child, He simply said, "Here is your Mother, there is your child." Consequently, not calling me "Queen" has no importance. I am not a queen; I only have the power of a queen. In relation to men, my children, I am simply and always your true Mother. I would never deal with you as a queen with her subjects, for fear of contradicting Jesus' last words to me. The Trinity never established me as a Queen; it has established me only as  a Mother. So, in heaven, you will never hear the word "Queen" but only the word "Mother."

Hooray, Marcel! You have found for us the true name of Mary, and even beguiled from her the
true reason for her true name!

And so, on this Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, I can only bid you in the words of St. Paul repeated on Advent Sundays, Evening Prayer II (again, from the Church's solemn Liturgy):

Rejoice in the Lord always; I say it again, rejoice! Everyone should see how gentle you are. The Lord is near. Dismiss all anxiety from your minds. Make known your needs to God in every form of prayer, and in petitions full of gratitude. Then the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord. (Philippians 4: 4 - 7)

I hope today is a day of great rejoicing for you! Our Lady loves you so very much, and she repeats to you her words to Juan Diego, meant for all of us. Let's close with her words so they might surround us like the fragrance of Castilian roses surprising us in winter.

Hear and let it penetrate your heart, my dear little one:
Let nothing discourage you, nothing depress you.
Let nothing alter your heart or your countenance.
Am I not here who am your Mother?
Are you not under my shadow and protection?
Am I not your fountain of life?
Are you not in the folds of my mantle?
In the crossing of my arms?
Is there anything else that you need?
Do not fear any illness or vexation, anxiety or pain.

Mary, our dear Mother, we love you!
St. Juan Diego, pray for us!
Our Lady of Guadalupe bless us and all those we love with your maternal solicitude.

Draw me, we will run!