Come as You Are Triple Novena!

​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!