"The souls of the righteous are in the hand of God, and no torment will ever touch them . . . Those who trust in Him will understand truth, and the faithful will abide with Him in love, because grace and mercy are upon His elect, and He watches over His holy ones." - Wisdom 3: 1, 9 Marie Rose Guadalupe is one of those lucky enough to be Blessed without having gone through the usual Process. She didn't live a long life here on earth, nor did she have a long process for her beatification. She was born and baptized, simply lived and thrived for six weeks outside her mama's womb and in her arms, and then left her identical twin sister to enjoy the view of their family in exile while she, little Rosie, flew to Heaven to watch over them from above. Last night I re-watched a beautiful film (it sounds much better to watch a film than just a movie, doesn't it?) called "Collateral Beauty." Will Smith is a grieving father, and at one point he tells Death that he's heard it all, and none of it comforted him. Poor Will! But really poor all of us . . . Living in the cave as we do, even those of us happily residing in places of beauty surrounded by loved ones, ALL OF US are faced with the mystery of death and eternal life sooner or later, and what are we to make of it? If we have lost someone dear to us - I mean really, really dear - and especially if they haven't lived out what would seem to be their full allotment of days, how can we thank our Father for His theft? He gives us the words, and I've heard them said through tears: "The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord." - Job 1:21b Today is Rosie's 18th birthday into Heaven. Some years I catch myself wondering what she looks like at this age (not that I get how Heavenly aging works!), and then I laugh because her twin is a beautiful strawberry blonde, and one can see Rose's reflection in MK's identical face. What takes a little more imagination is conjuring up an image of what she's doing now, and this is where Marcel comes in. He's the apostle of children, and while he lived on earth to age 31 and St. Therese to age 24, they both maintained their littleness to the end, which makes it easy to picture them helping Rosie shower graces on her family and their friends, as well as picturing these three Beata eating some glorious heavenly CAKE! Or at least helping us to some in celebration of their joy at having snuck out the back door of the cave and into the center of eternal bliss. I must have a picture here somewhere . . . If you're wondering which one of these is a strawberry blonde, well, don't forget this is Miss Marcel's Musings, and in our musings, most faces turn out to be Asian because Marcel provides the images!
But here we've been talking (as well we should) about little Rosie when there are two more birthdays to celebrate . . . These are less mysterious birthdays except for the odd conjunction of dates. You see, our own Jack Keogan, translator of Marcel into English (thus a man who, in our hearts, has won the Nobel Prize, the Pulitzer, the National Book Award, and the Newbery Medal) and Miss Marcel East (currently in the mid-West helping her priest-brother pack up for his new parishes) share a birthday each year, and each year I tend to forget it. This year Marcel played an extra special trick by reminding me I'd missed their birthday on the same day (he suggested) that was Rosie's heavenly birthday . . . Except that was yesterday, which was neither their birthday nor hers (on earth or in Heaven) . . . If it sounds like I'm in a muddle, I am! But Those who trust in Him will understand truth . . . And it's all sorted now: Jack and Mary Anne - happy (belated) birthday and many, many happy returns of the (belated) day! I'll be asking Rosie to help Therese and Marcel shower you both with roses (and cake) - and thanking Jesus for letting me know Him so much better through knowing all three of you darlings! And what does Marcel have to say? I've never thought of making him the keeper of my memory (ooh, like another film I enjoyed, "The Giver") because if anything, mine is better than his was, or at least it's a tie for both of us having the worst memories on earth ever, but now that he is in "a better place" (sorry, Will, but there it is), he sees through the mind of God and therefore has a GREAT memory! Nonetheless, I don't believe Heaven changes our personalities, which means that Marcel is still as big an imp as ever, only with a world stage on which to play out his pranks . . . so at the very least I can blame him for my lapses! Ah, Marcel! Do me a favor please and accompany Rosie on her rounds today. Help her shower her family with all the heavenly graces they need: her brother on his honeymoon, her older sister having a new baby, and the others as they live, discern, rejoice, pray, laugh, cry, watch films, take naps, comfort babies, and miss you . . . Rosie, I hope to make it to your earthly resting place with white roses today from them all . . . please remember too my friends Mary Anne and Jack - shower them with some of your heavenly roses so that my belated birthday greetings are full of sparkly joyful surprises for them today, on your day . . . Little Therese, you're the one who somehow gained all the accolades: a best seller, a Doctorate, and official status as a canonized saint . . . Little Flower, in this hour, show your power by bringing us our needed miracles so that we may join you in glorifying the One who made us all and will take us all Home someday. * * * For those who read the last post and wondered about (or even searched for) the passage from Marcel that we needed for a friend, well, today we have the sequel - and the reference - for you! A quick recap (and another thank you to the birthday boy): We have available to us in exile FOUR volumes (yes, four, which is why it took dear Jack about twenty years to translate all these words) written by our little brother Marcel Van: 1. Autobiography 2. Conversations with Jesus, Mary, and Therese of the Child Jesus 3. Correspondence 4. Other Writings Marcel wrote in Vietnamese (with the occasional French dictated to him by Jesus or Therese). His novice master and spiritual director, the French Canadian Redemptorist he lovingly called "bearded Jesus," known to the rest of the world as Fr. Antonio Boucher, translated Marcel's Vietnamese pages into French. This took him about twenty years from the time of his return to Quebec (from Vietnam) to near his own entrance into Heaven. The unsuspecting Jack Keogan, desirous of reading Marcel's Autobiography in English rather than French or Vietnamese, guilelessly took on the task of translating it into what we ironically enough call the "lingua franca" from the actual Lingua Franca, and next thing he and his adorable French wife knew, he was up to his ears in French because who better to keep translating into English those other three volumes than the man who'd translated the first! When I got my hands and heart on the first volume, I immediately ordered the second. Soon after, I ordered Mary Anne (about to become Miss Marcel East) to get a copy of volume 2, Marcel's Conversations, for her Lenten reading. I'm a bossy person, I suppose, but I'm not used to people obeying me so quickly, let alone having my orders bring about such happy transformation in the hearts and minds of the obedient! Mary Anne obeyed and Miss Marcel was soon born from her ashes. Not surprisingly, I quickly coveted volume 3, Marcel's Correspondence, but it was nowhere to be found. Now the unsuspecting one (one can never suspect all the roses Marcel and Therese have in store for their clients), I wrote to a website I found for the Marcel Van Association. Being a bear of little brain, I didn't carefully peruse said website to discover the author, so I didn't realize I was writing to the translator; I just wrote a begging letter to this effect: "Please, sir, I want some more." By return post (return email, to be exact), I received a note that began, "This is your lucky day!" Any day one receives an email from Jack Keogan, translator extrordinaire, is a lucky day! But that day really was one of the luckiest because he offered to send me a copy of the elusive Correspondence, and when I replied I needed two copies since I had no intention of sending mine to Mary Anne, he obligingly agreed and sent two! For fun and for free! Thus began a brilliant friendship. I love these friendships wherein the other person gives and I happily receive! It's even better if the friend somehow misunderstands and thinks I'm the giving one. One such friend might be reading this today, and I hope she smiles in recognition. Yes, I've found my vocation! It is to receive all in the Heart of the Church! And thanks to friends like Jack, I'm able to fulfill my vocation beautifully and joyfully. Ever generous, he later sent me an English language copy of Other Writings when that translation came into print! So thank you, Marcel, for writing so many words to draw us closer to Jesus. I might as well quote something you wrote from Jesus' dictation - oh, right after I at last solve the mystery! As I suspected (when I am not unsuspecting, I'm quite a suspicious sort of person), the quote we were looking for a few days ago is not from Conversations, but from Marcel's Other Writings. It comes at 2-5-1952 on page 79. I sure had a lot of fun, though, skimming through Conversations in search of the quote. Best book ever! Or at least I think so, and thanks to Marcel's kindness in writing down Jesus' words, while skimming I could read again just why it's my favorite book (and shockingly perhaps not everyone else's too). Wow! For once I opened right to the exact page! At (512) on April 23, 1946, Jesus explains to Marcel: "Why do I have to choose so many apostles for the expansion of the reign of my Love? Because it is necessary that there should be some for every category of person. You, for example, you must use a certain manner of speaking, while another will have to use a different one, which responds to the feelings of his audience. It is the same for crosses, for sufferings; I must choose different crosses for each soul to whom I send them, since, if I dealt with all souls in the same way, who would be able to walk along the path of perfection?" Speaking of suffering and walking along the path of perfection, please continue praying for Bosco and his mom. They are suffering, and the cross seems far too heavy. As Fr. Groeschel once memorably remarked: "We want to tell Jesus which cross to give us, and we know exactly which one it is. I'd like that cross over there in the corner, the styrofoam one. The one with wheels!" Dear Jesus, please switch out Bosco's heavy cross for a styrofoam one with wheels. He and his mama are such brave soldiers for you, but the spiritual battle is wearing them out. We know You know best, but You are also a very indulgent big brother, so please give them abundant strength, a lighter cross, and rest and peace in Your Heart and the Heart of our Blessed Mother. And since You want us to ask for everything with great confidence: Please heal them completely! Jesus, we know You can, we know You love us, and Jesus, we trust in You! Dear Blessed Mother, please send your angels to Bosco and his mom, and to Rosie's family too. Let her come visit them with a host of angels, filling their hearts and minds this day with joy, light, and peace. Padre Pio and your angel, team up with St. Irenaeus and his angel, along with your buddy Don Dolindo and your little friends Marcel and Therese and their angels, to bring many miracles to grace the belated birthdays of Jack and Miss Marcel East, and especially bring miracles (through the intercession of Brother Andre and St. Joseph as well) to Bosco and his family. And don't forget Rosie's family too! If any of her many grandparents aren't yet in Heaven, bring them there to celebrate this day with her before the eternal Face of God. And now, dear reader, it's time for our final prayer and . . . a slice of birthday cake! Draw me, we will run! 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
December 2024
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