I have never really figured out pinterest, goodreads, and certainly not facebook, to name a few. I'm not sure what snapchat and instragram are exactly (or even inexactly). But I do have a new favorite online place, and I'm grateful that whoever tracks my whereabouts from one rabbit hole to the next (hello google elves! give my love to papa google!) seems to know that I have recently discovered and would like to be redirected frequently to sotheby's.com.
My dad had this darling habit of not being able to correctly pronounce half a dozen English words (his first language was Arabic, second was French, third Spanish, so English was fourth - unless it was third and Spanish was fourth, but you get the idea). One of them was "Southern" which he always pronounced "South-ern." For those of you reading who were (or are) homeschooled, the correct American pronunciation is typically Suthern, like butter, only without that delicious creaminess. And so, like him, I wanted to call this website I found, "South-bees," but my husband, highly amused, somewhat condescendingly explained it was pronounced Suth-a-bees. That "th" is hard, too, like mother (only we are soft, let's hope). But my point is: Did you know you can buy gorgeous art - real master paintings - from auction houses online? This is important info because I love gifts - giving and receiving - and in case any of you billionaires (or even millionaires) reading our musings also love gifts - especially giving them - please be sure to check out sotheby's to find the latest in tokens of gratitude to send Marcel and me! On a more serious note (or rather a more specific note), the painting at the top of our post was sold at auction last April. I know, I know, it makes one wonder if all our priorities are skewed. What were you doing last April? My birthday is in April, and so are the birthdays of many people I love, including a relatively new friend (only known and adored her for about six years) named April. Very recently I found out her birthday was in April (others might be quicker on the draw, but I say that slow dawns can be the most beautiful), and in particular on April 7, my very birthday too! A twin! (The year was different, but who's counting?) Clearly I (we?) should have been on this auction. What a great birthday present this painting would have made, either for me or anyone I know. Preferably someone who lives close so that I could go visit my present frequently. Although I ought to have learned my lesson long ago about giving gifts I want to play with. One of the funniest (and most challenging at the time) social situations I've ever been in - okay, let's just say Awkward - was when, as a little girl, I got to go to Bonnie Shebl's birthday party. (The names have not been changed to protect the innocent because in case Bonnie ever comes across our musings, I'd like to take this opportunity to apologize hugely!). I gave her the best kind of gift - that is, one I wanted terribly myself. It was a . . . heavens to murgatroyd, I can't think of the name. Hold on. Everyone think hard. Send me your guardian angel (can that work outside of time?) . . . You know those things that are in parades and you toss up in the air (if you're lucky and talented)? A stick - aha, a baton! Not a conductor's baton, but I gave her a silver baton with two white knobs, one on each end. Does anyone love batons anymore?? We were at Mickey's Grove for her birthday party, and after Bonnie opened her gifts, we were playing. I asked to play with the baton and promptly flipped it (very accidentally!) into the lake. Hmmmm. Awkward. But no need to worry about old embarrassing episodes when there are possibly new ones on the horizon! If you haven't read The Paradise Project (click on the tile to have to opportunity to buy it instantly! We just love distributism over here, and that link is the fastest way we know to distribute laughter), or if you haven't read it recently, you'll find in it many such episodes which our heroine overcomes with grace, or at least with rueful wistfulness, and I like to think this means that said episodes in my own life have borne fruit beyond counting. (Ewoks come to mind.) Marcel and I thought we'd talk about How to Pray today, and somehow we've been looking sadly into Mickey Grove's lake (yes, I'm not sure where that possessive goes) . . .But whatever happened next that fateful day, I know we all got over it, and happily, batons are no longer a big birthday gift so that very particular episode is unlikely to recur in post-post-post modern life (I forget how many posts we've achieved!). Especially if we win the lottery and start giving our friends paintings by the old masters, we won't have to worry about them falling into lakes (I hope!), so let's get praying. Although I do want to add that while I've known people who told me they were praying (or wanted me to pray) that they'd win the lottery, I suggest other intentions (like Bosco's healing, since he's still suffering) because studies show that lottery winners aren't (please sit down to take in this news) happier once they're rich. My goodness. What a deceptive world we live in! But back to our painting above, here is what Sotheby's says (and it is already sold, so you won't be tempted to blow your grocery money, pin money, rainy day money, or house fund!): Lot Details Description Property from a European Private Collection Workshop Giuseppe Maria Crespi Bologna 1665 - 1747 The Holy Family with Saint Joachim, Saint Anne, Saint Elisabeth and Saint John the Baptist oil on canvas unframed: 90.5 x 71.2 cm.; 35⅝ x 28 in. framed: 92.7 x 73.4 cm.; 36½ x 28⅞ in. Condition Report Provenance M. Stepanoff, Paris, 1928; Alessandro Pepoli, Bologna, 1935; Raisini collection, Milan; F. Mont, New York, 1948; Acquired by the father of the present owner. Literature M.P. Merriman, Giuseppe Maria Crespi, Milan 1980, p. 256, no. 72, reproduced fig. 72 (as location unknown). Catalogue Note A workshop version based on the prime painting by Giuseppe Maria Crespi, today in the Pushkin Museum, Moscow. * * * I don't know about you, but when I see "Acquired by the father of the present owner," I'm afraid the father of the present owner, or rather the father of the owner who sold this on Sotheby's, was too involved with art collecting and not enough involved with teaching his son the importance of beauty. Oh former present owner, what in the world could you have wanted more than to stare at this painting until it was time for Heaven when you could stare at the originals??? Let's give him the benefit of the doubt and imagine he had sold absolutely everything else, and now needed to sell this painting to have money to take care of his aging father (destitute due to his desire to own and gaze upon this painting after a lifetime of laying bricks and sweeping walkways, a humble but admirable profession that didn't make him enough money to both buy this painting and save in a 501k, if that's what you save in for retirement). Sigh. (It should be noted that all our sighs are sighs of love. Jesus taught Marcel that, and he taught us. That way none are wasted.) And yet hooray! Hooray that the google elves took me to sotheby's.com when I was looking for an image of St. Anne. We might have spent this earthly exile without ever seeing that painting, even just on the internet, and now how rich we are! And also how ready to learn to pray! I had originally subtitled our blog post "Part 1 of 800" but realized that might lead to difficulties. 1. You, my gentle reader, might be discouraged. 800 lessons in prayer? Not good! 2. Even I, "chatty Cathy," as my mother once called me, might have a hard time fulfilling my promise. You never know if 800 posts are in your future, or if you'll get bored before writing post #374 on one particular topic. Hence the edited implication that there may be more to say on prayer than will be said here and now, yet without any clear indication just how much more we might eventually say. I do admit that many a time I've been reading Marcel's Conversations and laughing and rejoicing in the brilliant (and EASY) methods of prayer employed, taught, and recommended therein by Jesus, Mary, Therese, and Marcel himself. Thus the "Part 1" - I'd hate to limit us to what I might tell you in the following paragraphs . . . Marcel always has more to say, and my job is to get his words to you, although today we'll be seeing a lot more of Therese's words than Marcel's. No matter, they are both Jesus' Little Flowers . . . And so, on prayer. First off, I was going to start a novena today. Well, two novenas. This is a way to pray that I love. You find a saint, blessed, or generally holy person who has gone before us to the real Promised Land of Heaven, and you start asking. Ask 9 times (that's related in Latin to "novena") - usually you ask for 9 days, like the Apostles and disciples did in the upper room for those 9 days (the first novena) leading up to Pentecost. Sometimes, though, I like Mother Teresa's hint that if you're in a hurry, just ask 9 times quickly. She used to say the Memorare nine times in a row, and then add a Hail Mary in thanksgiving, since she knew Our Lady would take care of the needs of the poorest of the poor. Aha! That's already two ways to pray! 1. Nine times in a row, ask a saint for help - that is, ask your prayer partner in Heaven to climb up on God's lap and cajole Him into giving us what we need (or want). 2. Better yet, make that person you ask Mary, and you will be asking Our Blessed Mother (Jesus said from the cross to John, His beloved disciple, "Behold your mother," and to Mary, "Behold your son" - that applies to us too!). Well, since she is His Blessed Mother also, she doesn't have to climb onto the lap of God. Little Jesus is already snuggling on her lap . . . or playing . . . Just look again at the photo above! Which brings us to the third way to pray: 3. Holy Mother Teresa of Avila recommended always going to prayer with a picture of Jesus and a book. The picture is to keep you focused at least a little, and remind you how wonderful He is and how much He loves you. The book is so that you might have something to raise your mind, as well as your heart, to God. Except she wouldn't have said "raise" because she was really big on our recognizing that He is right here with us. Which brings us to 4 more ways to pray: 4. Go into a church and pray in the Real Presence of Jesus - Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity - in the Blessed Sacrament. 5. Read some Elizabeth of the Trinity to learn about the Holy Trinity indwelling in us. 6. Open the Sacred Scriptures to the Psalms, the Song of Songs, the Gospels - any book you like! Let God speak to you in His love letters to us. 7. My favorite: Just talk to Jesus! He's your best friend and so curious what you'll say. Okay, yes, He is God as well as man, and He surely knows what you're going to say. But He's delighted by your reaction to what you say, and that won't happen unless you say it! For instance, let's start now. Here's a practice run at prayer from me at this moment (just as an example, but think of it like Mad Libs and supply your own nouns, adjectives, verbs, etc.). Dear Jesus - I'm so hungry! Should we get breakfast? Oh, yes, I should finish this post first. Weren't we going to talk about St. Anne? I know I know hardly anything about her, but really, Love, aren't I the one typing? You're playing with Marcel and Therese and making me do all the work. Yes, I know it isn't hard. But let's finish so we can eat! If you are less than edified or inspired by this prayer (or if it doesn't apply to your situation, being as you might have already had breakfast), please recall that this blog is Miss Marcel's Musings because Marcel is our muse. He is often hungry and talking to Jesus about food. Perhaps this is why I feel such a bond with our little brother! They say great minds think alike, but little minds think alike too. Which reminds me of more solid food I have for you today. I was reading some Thoughts of St. Therese this morning that I wanted to share with you. No wonder she's a Doctor of the Church - she not only sees the truth, but she expresses it wonderfully. These thoughts are on confidence, and they fit into "how to pray" because it is not much fun to pray without confidence, whereas when we have confidence (even shaky confidence buttressed by our little sister's words), prayer can be super fun. If you haven't noticed this yourself, I won't say "try it!" because I hate to put you through the ordeal of praying without confidence. Trust me, it's a lot more pleasant to pray with confidence! Like asking someone for a favor, or telling someone you love him. If you start with the conviction that the other loves you, or even just likes you, your delivery is much more a thing of joy! But let's hear St. Therese explain it. The following passages are from a collection compiled by Therese's sister and novice Celine (Sister Genevieve of the Holy Face in the Lisieux Carmel with Therese). My copy is titled, "Thoughts of Souer Therese of the Child Jesus" but that's only because this very old book was given to me by a priest friend who found himself charmed by my over-the-top silliness. I think he hoped I would use this book to spread devotion to St. Therese - and look how smart he was! But the great thing is that TAN kept this book in print for a long time (maybe still does) under the title "Thoughts of St. Therese" and you can at least get it digitally for very cheap. BUT WAIT! I'm going to give you the best pages right here and now, so no worries about fetching the rest of the book (which features such less interesting chapters as "Suffering"). Without further ado, here is Therese. Since Celine gathered these gems from the treasure chest of Therese's written words, you'll find references to her specific writings after each excerpt. CONFIDENCE "Believing that I was born for glory, and seeking the means to attain to it, it was revealed to me interiorly that my glory would never be visible to mortal eyes but would consist in becoming a saint. This desire might well seem presumptuously bold, considering how imperfect I was, and how imperfect I am still after so many years in religion; and yet I feel ever the same audacious confidence of becoming a great saint. I count not on my merits, having none; but I trust in Him who is Virtue and Holiness itself. He alone it is who, satisfied with my feeble efforts, will raise me up even unto Himself, will clothe me with His merits and make me a saint." (Story of a Soul) "Ours is an age of inventions: nowadays, with the rich a lift [an elevator] saves the trouble of climbing the stairs. And I, fain would I too find a lift to bear me up unto God, for I am too little to climb the rugged steps of perfection. "Then I turned to the Holy Scriptures, seeking from them an indication of this lift, the object of my desires; and I read these words which have issued from the very mouth of the Eternal Wisdom: 'Whosoever is a VERY LITTLE ONE, let him come to me.' (Prov 9:4). Then I drew nigh unto God divining truly that I had discovered what I sought: wishing however to know what He would do with the very little one, I continued my research and here is what I found: 'You shall be carried at the breast and upon the knees; as one whom the mother caresses so will I comfort you.' (Isaiah 46: 12, 13) "Ah, never came words more sweet, more tender, to gladden my soul. Thine arms, then, O Jesus, are the lift which must raise me up even unto Heaven! For this I need not grow, on the contrary I must remain little, I must ever tend to become yet more little. O my God, Thou hast gone beyond my expectations, and I - I will sing Thy mercies! 'Thou hast taught me, O God from my youth: and till now I have declared Thy wondrous works. And unto old age and grey hairs' will I proclaim them." (Story of a Soul) "Since it has been given to me too, to understand the love of the Heart of Jesus, I own that it has chased all fear from mine! The remembrance of my faults humiliates me, and urges me never to depend upon my own strength which is nothing but weakness: still more does this remembrance speak to me of mercy and of love. When, with all filial confidence we cast our faults into the devouring furnace of love, how should they not be totally consumed?" (from a letter to her missionary brothers) "Though we must needs be pure indeed to appear in the presence of the God of all Holiness, yet I know too that He is infinitely just; and this justice which affrights so many souls is the ground of my joy and my confidence. Justice not merely exercises severity towards the offender; it moreover recognizes a right intention, and awards to virtue its recompense. I hope as much from the Justice of the good God as from His Mercy; it is because He is just, that 'He is compassionate and merciful, long-suffering and plenteous in mercy. For He knows our frame. He remembers that we are but dust. As a father has compassion on His children, so has the Lord compassion on us!' (Psalm 103: 8, 13, 14) "Listening to these beautiful and consoling words of the Royal Prophet, how can we doubt but that the good God will open the portals of His Kingdom to His children who have loved Him . . . "That is what I think of the justice of the good God; my way is all confidence and love, I do not understand those souls who fear so tender a Friend." (Letter to her missionary brother) "What joy to think that God is just, that is to say, that He takes our weakness into consideration, that He thoroughly knows the frailty of our nature. Of what then, should I be afraid? Must not the good and infinitely just God, who with such tender mercy deigns to pardon the Prodigal Son, must He not be just towards me too - 'who am always with Him' (Luke 15:31)?'" (Story of a Soul) "I want to make you understand by a very simple comparison how much Jesus loves souls, even the imperfect, who trust in Him. Suppose the father of two wayward and disobedient children, coming to punish them, sees one tremble and draw away from him in terror; while the other, on the contrary, throwing himself into his arms, says he is sorry, promises to be good henceforward and begs for a kiss as punishment. Do you think the delighted father will withstand the filial confidence of this child? He knows nevertheless that his son will fall again many a time into the same faults, but he is disposed to pardon him always, if always there be an appeal to his heart." (Letter to her missionary brother) "Truly I am far from being a saint. I ought not to rejoice at the aridity of my soul, but attribute it to the scantiness of my fervour and fidelity. I ought to grieve because I fall asleep very often during my prayer and my thanksgiving. Well, I do not grieve! I reflect that little children when they sleep are as pleasing to their parents as when they are awake; that in order to perform operations, doctors put their patients to sleep; in fine, that 'the Lord knows our frame, He remembers that we are but dust.' (Psalm 103: 14) (Story of a Soul) * * * I could comment on these passages all day (in fact, you might say that's what I do for a living), but here I want to mention only one thing. Did you notice her hilarious sauciness in that last excerpt? Here it is: "I ought to grieve because I fall asleep very often during my prayer . . . Well, I do not grieve!" And then she give a spirited and convincing defense. She doesn't grieve because sleeping pleases parents. If you are a parent or if you've had a younger sibling, you know well how blessed the time is when that wailing babe finally falls asleep. Hush! Nobody breathe! The baby is finally asleep. Oh look. She is beautiful when she's sleeping. We can love her some more now that she's giving us a respite! I buy it! And her point is that God does too. Which brings us back to her previous point that when Jesus directs us to little children as our models, we can take that as far as we want. Phyllis McGinley once said that saints are the ones who take Jesus literally. Let's take him literally when he says to be like kids. Enjoy those sweets and treats! Laugh when something is funny! Fall asleep when you are tired . . . And when you've been naughty, admit it with kisses. Don't just kiss Him on His feet. Go to His face and cover Him with kisses from His brow, to His nose, to His chin! Make Him laugh and He will forget your misdeeds. They are all small to Him because His love is HUGE! Therese used to call Pranzini her "firstborn" and she said he was very naughty. She was speaking of a terrible man, but she was confident God had heard her prayer to save this sinner, and she was also sure that He would see (as even she could) that in this life, sometimes we do really stupid things because we are really stupid! What do you expect from dust? Our sister is the little one about whom Jesus spoke in the gospel this week at Mass. We are in Matthew chapter 11 for our daily Mass gospels, and wow, I love Our Lord's prayer to HIs Father there. If you have a chance, go re-read His consoling words on the Father's revealing mysteries to little ones, and His even more consoling invitation for us to come to Him and rest on Him . . . It's true, I'd love to comment all day on Therese's wisdom, but we need to get to those novenas I've been thinking about . . . I recently discovered St. Anne, or rather had her foisted on me by a great lover of hers. If we start with Jesus and look at those who loved Him, first we find Mary and Joseph. They make with Jesus an adorable holy family, and we could sit for hours contemplating their familial love and affection - if we didn't fall asleep or spend most of our waking hours wondering what's to eat next. (Do you ever feel like Winnie the Pooh? Maybe it's just me . . .) But if we go back before Mary holding baby Jesus, we find St. Anne holding Mary when she (Mary) was a baby herself. Joachim and Anne are the parents of Our Blessed Mother, and that makes them our grandparents. I can't do the whole "if your dad is cousins with my dad, then that makes us first cousins once removed" - okay, I think I just did, but I can't do it much, or with that confidence we're trying to promote today. But I can do, "If you're my mom, and she's your mom, then she's my grandma!" And that's where St. Anne comes in. She is the grandmother of Jesus, and since he is our brother (to look at it from another angle) than she is our grandma too! Incidentally, I just found out this past weekend that "Situ" (sit-oo) which I always thought was grandma in Arabic, is really great grandma, and "Tita" (tite-ah) is grandma. Well. It just goes to show that family weddings can be a lot of fun, especially if you get to sit with long lost cousins whose heritage, like yours (or rather like mine in this case) goes back through Venezuela to Lebanon. What a wonderful world! Perhaps due to all these glorious weddings, I have a tendency lately to think about doing novenas rather late in the day, and late in the 9 days running up to a feast as well. St. Joachim and Anne are now both celebrated (in the new calendar) on July 26 (which used to be just St. Anne, but I sure like to keep these married couples together), which leaves us from now - wait while I count on my fingers - about 7 days for our novena. So how about we pray our prayer 3 times today for a running start, and then we can keep going with once a day for a total of 9 somewhere in or around their feast. What prayer shall we say? I figured I'd adapt an old favorite. That way we don't have to spend the morning starving and wandering the desert of the internet looking for sustenance (or a good prayer). I'm going to copy it in three times below, so we get our first 3 prayers in. If you're wondering why we're multiplying words when Jesus said not to, I refer you to a lovely verse from the prophet Hosea that floated back into the liturgy and my consciousness last week. I'll give you the verses that surround it too, since they're all spectacular, but I like the emboldened one in particular: "Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God, for you have stumbled because of your iniquity. Take with you words, and return to the Lord; say to Him, 'Take away all iniquity, accept that which is good, and we will render the fruit of our lips. Assyria shall not save us, we will not ride upon horses, and we will say no more, "Our God," to the work of our hands. In Thee the orphan finds mercy.'" (Hosea 14) So now, taking with us words, let's return to the image presented above of little Jesus in Mary's arms, with St. Anne looking lovingly on them both. Dear St. Anne, attend to us too. Little Jesus is having so much fun, but some of us are suffering today. Turn your gaze upon us and then whisk up little Jesus into your grandmotherly arms and whisper in his sweet ear our petitions, our needs, our intentions, and the needs of all those we love (and of all those in need, which should cover absolutely everyone). Novena to St. Anne: Blessed Grandmother 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. (And for our first day, catching up on the days we forgot to start) - Blessed Grandmother 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. Blessed Grandmother 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. * * * While we're here, I wanted to start a novena to Blessed Solanus Casey too. We love him, and there will be plenty of time to talk about him in later posts, but if we start our novena to him now, we'll have plenty of days to skip or forget before his feast, or we can make up for all the years when it never occurred to us to turn to him. And oh, what a wonderful benefactor to turn to! Since he spent much of his priestly life humbly serving as the porter, or door-opener, for the Capuchin Franciscans in Detroit, he is no doubt standing with Padre Pio - a fellow Capuchin Franciscan who promised to stand at the gate of Heaven till all his spiritual children had entered - at the Door of doors. Why don't we pray to them together?! Novena to Solanus Casey and Padre Pio (asking them to send their angels to help us too) Dear Blessed Solanus and Padre Pio, You were both so fatherly on earth, we can't imagine you any less fatherly now that you're in Heaven. You loved Jesus like crazy - share your love for Him and His Blessed Mother with us. Give us a love of the Rosary and teach us, remind us, instill in us that saint-making habit you had of thanking God ahead of time. We give you all our needs, we ask your intercession for the intentions commended to us and all those for whom we've promised to pray. When you were on earth, you both heard so many petitions and by God's infinitely tender compassion you were allowed to "do miracles," You told God what people needed, and He answered with healings galore. Tell him now about the miracles we need and bring them to us quickly. Send them to us with your angels. We are so little, so poor, so distracted and so dumb. Be our advocates. Remember what we have forgotten and ask Our Lady and St. Joseph to help you ask little Jesus. Bring us, then, from Heaven, all sorts of treats! Bring us miraculous healings, reconciliations, an outpouring of wisdom, peace, joy, and confidence. Finally, bring us Jesus. Don't let us go away without Him, and teach us to thank Him always for everything. We ask this through His adorable name. Amen. * * * I was going to ask for cupcakes, but you might prefer a glass of wine (ugh), a gin and tonic (yum), or a slice of chocolate cake! I did say "treats" so hopefully they got the idea! Today is also the Feast (even the Solemnity for some Carmelites) of St. Elijah. May he and his raven keep you hydrated and fed - spiritually as well as materially! Even I admit it's a bit late for a novena leading up to his feast. and I hate to add more prayers lest we feel like he did, wilting under the broom tree . . . Instead, let's say a quick prayer to this awesome prophet who got to visit with Jesus in His Transfiguration, and then we'll close with our Song of Songs prayer - right before we eat! St. Elijah, our father in Carmel, please give us a double portion of your spirit! 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
September 2024
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