Holy Days, Happy Christmas Days, and Joyous New Year!

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!!!