Before anything else, I wish a huge Happy Founding Day to all Redemptorists, in heaven and on earth! In honor of their day, the littlest Redemptorist and I have paid a celebratory visit to Catholic Exchange today, where you can read the thoughts of not only Miss Marcel, not only Marcel himself, but - yes, I'm not kidding - even the words of the postulator of Marcel's cause, the French Benedictine, Father Olivier de Roulhac, O.S.B.! Shall I send you away to read it? I can't resist giving you the link now, though I hope you'll come back to read the rest of our musings here after you've read our musings there. Or stick around and I'll give the link to the CE article again at the end of this post. If you just can't wait (we're very little here and thus into immediate gratification like a babe ready for Mama's milk), you can zip over to Fr. Roulhac's (and my) comments HERE.
Oh! But I should add, if you're visiting this page (Miss Marcel's Musings) for the first time, having discovered us over there at CE, we extend a hearty welcome!! Yes, I know there's a whole other page for welcoming you to this website (you can click to it above, on the far left), but this blog is our intimate corner of Mary's lap where we spend time with little Jesus, St. Therese, and our brother Marcel (and of course Mary) - so welcome to Our Lady's lap! We're glad you've found us, and feel free to roam around the posts at your pleasure. There are 10 posts per page, and then at the bottom of the pages you can follow the arrows back to previous posts. The blog began at the end of December 2017, so you have nearly a year of Marcel musings to catch up on. Enjoy! We're so glad to have you with us for the ride! We've been talking these days about consecrating ourselves to Mary, and in Fr. Gaitley's 33 Days to Morning Glory, we're smack in the middle of some pages (3 days worth) of reflecting on Giving Everything to Mary. Oooooooh, did you notice the shimmer on Giving Everything to Mary? I recently saw a little girl's shirt that said (very sparkly-like) "My favorite color is glitter," and I know just how that little girl feels! Shimmer works for me too, and the truth is, it's link city here today. I have a confession to make that explains why, from a gal who only links to Conversations, I'm suddenly sending you other places: I got to provide the links for my (and Fr. Roulhac's) article at CE, and there's something so addictve about providing links! Well it's more than just an addiction, it's really a way of life. No, not providing shimmery links like magic carpets to send you whizzing around the Internet to excellent articles, but rather Giving Everything to Mary. Oh yikes, I did it again. But that's mainly (besides the addiction) because I've said most of what I want to say to reassure you about giving everything to Mary over at an article, again at CE, that I wrote already. Why re-invent the Marian wheel? Though I have thought of just a couple tiny other things I'd like to add to what I said there . . . 1. Fr. Gaitley, following St. Louis Marie de Montfort, is talking about giving all our good deeds, merits, etc. to Mary to dispense. It occurred to me just this morning that one of the best ways we have of praying for others is having Masses said for them. I'm sure Mary is a big fan of this approach to mercy, and this is an infinite gift that goes straight from our hearts to the priest to God. Not that I'm trying to exclude Mary's being an intermediary! I'm sure she will sprinkle her version of shimmery, sparkly, glitter (i.e. grace!) on our offering as the angels (of whom she's the Queen) wing it to God. But this is an offering (the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass) that we don't want to forget we can always (when we're in funds and have a few pesos for alms) use to help others in their needs. Even to the end of her life, St. Therese loved, when she could, to have a Mass said for Pranzini, her eldest convert, a truly needy soul whom she'd refer to with laughter (confident in God's mercy for him), saying, "Yes, he is my first-born. He was very naughty!" 2. But along these same lines of offering our prayers for others, and especially that most powerful prayer of Jesus Himself in the Mass, I've realized that by giving everything to Mary, we also avoid the opposite problem of not being able to dispense our gracious gifts by ourselves. I have a priest friend who once told my family, "Be sure to always have an intention for your Mass and your Holy Communion! Otherwise it is practically wasted!" I know what he meant - it's such a fabulous privilege to be able to offer our prayers for specific people, needs, and hurting souls. In giving everything to Mary we are, in one sense, rescinding that gift, but on the other hand, it prevents us from ever "wasting" our graces! If we forget (hey, this is Marcel-land here, kind of like the poppy field in The Wizard of Oz - lots of forgetting going on! not to mention tiredness and sleeping!) No worries! If we've forgotten to offer our prayers (and since Jesus and Mary tell us through Marcel, in no uncertain terms, that our every sigh, glance, and breath can be a prayer, that's a lot of prayers to remember to tag with "To/From" cards), we can relax because Mary's taking care of everything. Which reminds me of the last thing I really must say before signing off and letting you read Fr. Olivier's wonderful remarks on Marcel and my own reflections on Mary's maternal love: For this past week, ever since I decided not to re-do the prep and consecration to Mary (and write about it here) and then Our Lady decided that I would re-do the prep and consecration to her (and write about it here), I've been keenly aware of giving all my projects into her very capable hands. And guess what? Miracles have been happening! If you don't mind my telling you a secret (which, hey, could go viral any minute, since Marcel-land is in blog-land which is in Internet-land), it was only two days ago that I received Fr. Olivier's request to get his words on Marcel out and about for the happy consumption of the English speaking world. Fr. Olivier's request reached me through the kind mediation of our hero Jack Keogan, and if you're new here, or in case you're a Miss or Mr. Marcel and have forgotten, Jack is the retired British gent who so generously and mercifully translated Marcel's entire oeuvre (that's French for work, which everyone connected with Marcel seems to do a lot of, except me! I just play and it is delightful!) into English for us. It's always an honor (or rather, an honour) to get an email from Jack, but one in which he relays a message from the postulator of Marcel's cause? You coulda knocked me over with a feather! I was in awe and even kind of impressed with myself for a second, until I remembered that I'm just the girl Mary and Therese and Marcel (and our adorable Jesus) picked out to blab in English - the only language I'm any good at - about our little brother. Since we know from Scripture, history, and Marcel's inimitable Conversations that Jesus and Mary always choose the weakest and littlest ones to do their work, laughter was my subsequent reaction to receiving such a wonderful request. Anyhow, that was just 2 days ago. As Therese tells Marcel when they first meet and speak to each other, God's timing is always perfect, neither pushed forward nor held back for a single second! Thus yesterday I found out that today was this glorious anniversary for Marcel's spiritual father St. Alphonsus, for his bearded Jesus, Fr. Antonio Boucher (another of our big heroes here), and indeed for Marcel himself and all Redemptorists. It was but a moment's work (on Mary's part) to give me the idea to write something for Catholic Exchange in celebration of the day. Something by a Carmelite (me) which could include the reflections of a Benedictine (Fr. Olivier) about the littlest Redemptorist (our own Marcel). How very ecumenical of us!! And a big thank you goes out to Michael Lichens, editor of Catholic Exchange, kind friend, and the man who brought the article to the light of day this morning - and in perpetuum, as the Internet does tend to keep things around forever! God bless you, Michael! May Our Lady of Perpetual Help, the angels and all the Saints (especially the Redemptorists, where the last and least shall become first) pray for you and shower you with heavenly graces! And the same wish goes for you too, who are reading this now. Many happy returns of the day, and for your clicking pleasure, here are the links again: Marcel Van: The Littlest Redemptorist Giving Everything to Mary And now, if you'll excuse me, I have a holy hour to cover. Yes, I'll be praying for you! So no worries, anymore or ever! If you want to pray with me, we'll start now: Draw me, we will run! We love You, little Jesus, oh so much! Thank you, Mary, for taking care of absolutely everything! Comments are closed.
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Miss MarcelI've written books and articles and even a novel. Now it's time to try a blog! For more about me personally, go to the home page and you'll get the whole scoop! If you want to send me an email, feel free to click "Contact Me" below. To receive new posts, enter your email and click "Subscribe" below. More MarcelArchives
September 2024
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