​A sweet rose of Jesus whispered to me the other day that this ought to be the time of our annual novena, or double novena, or triple novena, wasn't that right?

Without going to the trouble of researching, I consulted my angel and Voila! Suddenly I remembered that we had, about this time one year ago, had a blast with our triple novena of love. We started in time to finish the first novena on today's feast, the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. We began the second novena on tomorrow's special day in honor of Our Lady of Sorrows in order to finish on St. Padre Pio's feast. And then we did like the swimmers do when they flip over and head back from the other side of the pool all in one graceful movement, and we immediately began our St. Therese novena which ended on her feast, October 1st. Wow! Good for us! I am truly impressed!

The good news is that another year older has made us another year more Marcel. Did you know that means more forgetful? I'm not making this up, I'm getting it straight from Jesus Himself in Marcel's Conversations with Him (387) when Our Lord says:

"What did your sister Therese teach you? You have forgotten everything already; it's hopeless! And it is also so much the better since what you have forgotten, I am always there to remind you of and thus you can continually learn the lesson anew. What happiness can be compared to yours?"

Sure enough, I'd have forgotten everything too, if that little flower hadn't reminded me . . . and as it is, I'm only galvanizing the troops in time for a double novena this time around. Still, with Jesus I say, "And it is also so much the better!" Who knows, perhaps a triple novena would have intimidated you, but a double novena, that's manageable, right?

Plus if I had been really together (and thus not very much like Marcel), I might have come up with a quadruple novena this year - so we're going with double as half the trouble . . . and certainly twice the fun as a single novena because we get to rope Padre Pio as well as St. Therese into our inner circle of advocates above. And wow, do I feel like I could use the good Padre this year!

Although I don't like to contradict Jesus, I think He might be teasing when He says, "What happiness can be compared to yours?" I've actually been rather sad lately, because in His guise as Divine Thief, Jesus came and stole away my dear sister-in-law Alicia to Heaven. Wasn't that a questionable trick for Him to play just now, when Alicia leaves behind her husband (my brother) and their 7 children until such time as He swoops them up into Eternal Life too?

And yet all the more reason to start our double novena today on this mysterious feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. I can never get a grip on suffering, never cheer it on, never look for it with anything but dread, never accept it with anything but sorrow, even though Marcel's mission was to turn suffering into joy. (Thankfully he had his hesitations about suffering too, to say the least, so we don't need to worry that he's completely unlike the likes of us!)

St. Therese teaches a lot about this - our attitude to suffering - and makes me feel loads better when she explains to her sisters that if we felt happy while we suffered, then it wouldn't be suffering. Quite a relief to know that if Jesus has some Divine and miraculous way to bring us joy with the cross, it is highly unlikely to be a felt joy. Maybe more like a deep peace in accepting His and the Father's will, even while we hate the weight of the cross and our particular suffering as it threatens to drag us down . . . 

I only know that I'm glad our first novena leads us to Padre Pio's feast day. First off, he did promise that he wouldn't enter Heaven until all his spiritual children entered before him, and secondly, to my everlasting consolation, he also promised that if we become his spiritual children, that automatically enrolls those dear to us as well. I don't know if my sister-in-law ever fell in love with our good Padre herself (though I remember well when she fell in love with Jesus and Our Lady), but I do know she's enlisted as one of his spiritual children because she's my dear sis, and I'm his obstinate daughter. Try as he might to shake me, I'm stuck to Pio till the end, and if I keep him out of Heaven longer than he otherwise would've been (waiting for me to make it through the pearly gates), well he just should've thought of that before he started making rash promises!

You see, my plan is to keep gathering to my heart any stragglers I run across in my little way toward Paradise. Some might not even be straggling, but just lonely - I think of my 7 beloved nieces and nephews now without their earthly mom - and my plan is to pull them in close and keep them safe in Padre Pio's extended care for the duration. That way we can all enter Heaven together and then rejoice together eternally with all those we love and Those Who love us infinitely!

Technically our double novena starts tomorrow, but I think I'll get us rolling today so we have an extra prayer under our belts and can sidestep any anxiety if we forget a day (or two?) somewhere in the middle. Plus, we're here now, so why not turn to Mary a.s.a.p. with a prayer that captures everything we can desire. 

Because St. Padre Pio called Mary his "little mama," I'm sure he'd approve of our using the days leading to his feast as opportunities to turn to her ourselves and, as small children who depend on Mom for all our needs, pour out our hearts in confidence as we snuggle close on her lap. 

Here's a favorite prayer you may not know yet (or may remember from previous novenas here). The great part is that you and those you love are included in our novena whether you start today and say it all, or immediately forget (Marcel style) - because like our dear spiritual father, St. Pio, we've got your back!

Oh, and finally, because another little Miss Marcel happened to be reading the EXACT same wonderful passage I've been reading lately - though we were each struck by a different line and then reveled in each other's discoveries - and also because it's good to have some food for the journey as we begin the next 9 days of our novena and then almost 9 more, here (before our promised Marian novena prayer) is another passage from Conversations, this time from St. Therese at (127). I'm finding her sisterly counsel quite valuable, and I hope you'll take her wisdom for yourself too:

"My dear little brother, when you feel trouble in your heart, remind yourself to have recourse to the love of Jesus and do not neglect to speak to me also so that I can help you with my advice. Do not forget either that your worries are only about unfounded things. I am kissing you dear little brother, be happy always in the love of Jesus. Little brother remain peaceful. Formerly I also was inclined to worry, like you, but I regained my peace by obeying my director . . ."

I recently read the words of a wise Carmelite friar who I'm sure has been spiritual director to many. He reminded us that we are surrounded by spiritual directors if we need them: we have the writings of the Saints! And, I would add, the writings of Marcel which include constant reassuring guidance from Jesus, Mary, and St. Therese. And then there are the simple but brilliant words of St. Padre Pio, a father who has guided thousands as if each were his only child:

"Pray, hope, and don't worry. Worry is useless. God is merciful and will hear your prayer."

                                                  An Old French Prayer for Friends
                                                     (for our new double 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.

St. Padre Pio, pray for us!
St. Therese, pray for us!
Little Marcel, pray for us!

Adorable Jesus, draw me, we will run!

Last night my husband and I revisited a sermon by St. John Henry Cardinal Newman. I say "revisited" because I first heard this sermon long ago at a Newman Reading led by Dr. Ron McArthur during my freshman year of college. It was the only such Newman Reading I attended, but the sermon stuck with me all these years. Well, sort of.

Come to find out that actually I was making quite a hash of Newman's message with my Miss Marcel memory. (Our brother Marcel Van is always forgetting what Jesus, Mary, and Therese tell him - this was one way I knew we were twins separated at our respective births several decades apart.) But because my angel has often brought back to my imagination the mis-remembrance of that sermon, I asked my husband to read it to me last night.

Okay, full disclosure: we waste more time watching silly movies than any other married couple I know! So whether you are married or single, please don't be overly impressed by our turning over a new leaf and trying to get high-brow in our late middle age! Try as we might, we can't always resist the promptings of these awesome and persevering angels who guard us!

Yesterday was the feast of St. Bartholomew, and the sermon we re-visited is about what we can learn from this Apostle who is none other than Nathaniel (the friend of the Apostle Philip), a figure who first comes to our notice at the beginning of St. John's Gospel.

As I say, my Marcellian memory of the sermon left me with a reversal of the great John Henry's message, which upside down recollection was finally set properly on its feet again last night, thank Heaven. But wow, what a wonderful message it was when I got it straight! It was oddly familiar, astonishingly reassuring, spectacularly cheering. In a word, perfect. And it didn't take me long to figure out why.

Cardinal Newman in this sermon is defending (well before it gained universal popularity through its most famous advocate, St. Therese) the Little Way!

Here is what he says that struck me so profound a happy blow:

"Now, from what occurred in this interview [between Our Lord and Nathaniel/Bartholomew], we gain some insight into St. Bartholomew's character. Our Lord said of him, 'Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile!' and it appears, moreover, as if before Philip called him to come to Christ, he was engaged in meditation or prayer, in the privacy which a fig-tree's shade afforded him. And this, it seems, was the life of one who was destined to act the busy part of an Apostle; quietness without, guilelessness within. This was the tranquil preparation for great dangers and sufferings! We see who make the most heroic Christians, and are the most honoured by Christ!

"An even, unvaried life is the lot of most men, in spite of occasional troubles or other accidents; and we are apt to despise it, and to get tired of it, and to long to see the world,—or, at all events, we think such a life affords no great opportunity for religious obedience. To rise up, and go through the same duties, and then to rest again, day after day,—to pass week after week, beginning with God's service on Sunday, and then to our worldly tasks,—so to continue till year follows year, and we gradually get old,—an unvaried life like this is apt to seem unprofitable to us when we dwell upon the thought of it.

"Many indeed there are, who do not think at all;—but live in their round of employments, without care about God and religion, driven on by the natural course of things in a dull irrational way like the beasts that perish. But when a man begins to feel he has a soul, and a work to do, and a reward to be gained, greater or less, according as he improves the talents committed to him, then he is naturally tempted to be anxious from his very wish to be saved, and he says, 'What must I do to please God?' And sometimes he is led to think he ought to be useful on a large scale, and goes out of his line of life, that he may be doing something worth doing, as he considers it.

"Here we have the history of St. Bartholomew and the other Apostles to recall us to ourselves, and to assure us that we need not give up our usual manner of life, in order to serve God; that the most humble and quietest station is acceptable to Him, if improved duly,—nay, affords means for maturing the highest Christian character, even that of an Apostle. Bartholomew read the Scriptures and prayed to God; and thus was trained at length to give up his life for Christ, when He demanded it.


"But, further, let us consider the particular praise which our Saviour gives him. 'Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile!' This is just the character which (through God's grace) they may attain most fully, who live out of the world in the private way I have been describing,—which is made least account of by man, and thought to be in the way of success in life, though our Saviour chose it to make head against all the power and wisdom of the world."

As if this weren't enough, my happy reversal was crowned this morning by an email from our dear friend Jack Keogan, translator of our brother Marcel's writings into English. Jack was writing to share a story from Venerable Cardinal Van Thuan, the first postulator of Servant of God Marcel Van, a postulator who gave up the position to go join Jesus and Marcel in Heaven, and who has promptly shot past little Marcel on the path to canonization, as you can see from their titles!

The story Jack (and Cardinal Van Thuan) shared is a remarkable postscript to Cardinal Newman's sermon because it takes us a step further on the Little Way, teaching us how to pray. Here is what Jack wrote, or rather transcribed for us from the book Five Loaves and Two Fish by Cardinal Thuan:


There was an old man called Jim who would go to church every day at noon for just a few minutes, then he would leave. The sacristan was very curious about Jim's daily routine and one day he stopped him to ask:

Why do you come here every day?

I come to pray, Jim answered.

That's impossible! What prayer can you say in two minutes?

I am an old ignorant man. I pray to God in my own way.

But what do you say?
​
I say: "Jesus, here I am, it's Jim" and then I leave.


After some years Jim became ill and had to go to hospital where he was admitted in the ward for the poor. When it seemed that Jim was dying, a priest and a nurse - a religious Sister - stood near his bed.


The priest asked:
Jim, tell us how it is that from the day you came to this ward everything changed for the better? How is it the patients have become happier, more content and friendlier?


-I don't know. When I would walk around, I would try to visit everyone. I I greeted them, talked a bit with them. When I couldn't get out of bed, I called everyone over to me to make them laugh, to make them happy. With Jim they are always happy!


-But why are they happy?

-Well, aren't you happy when you receive a visitor? asked Jim.

-Of course, but we have never seen anyone come to visit you.

-When I came here I asked you for two chairs. One was for you, Father, and one was reserved for my visitor.

-But what guest? the priest asked.

-I used to go to church to visit Jesus every day at noon. But when I couldn't do that any more, Jesus came here.

-Jesus came to visit you? What does He say?

-He says: " Jim, here I am. It's Jesus."

Before dying, Jim smiled and gestured with his hand towards the chair next to his bed, as if inviting someone to sit down. He smiled for the last time and closed his eyes.

+    +     +

Jack continued his email thus:

Cardinal Thuan explained that prayer is a very simple act that triggers a relationship between man and God. He went on to say: "Often we behave rudely during prayer, talking endlessly, never allowing God the opportunity to say a word!"

*   *   *

Naturally, I (Miss Marcel) was quite concerned at this last statement of the Cardinal. It's precisely this kind of comment that makes Marcel my favorite saint, even if he's never canonized, even if Cardinal Thuan lived a very impressive life (he did) and becomes St. Van Thuan while our little Marcel remains merely a happy little Servant of God forever. Because it's not for nothin' that my mom called me Chatty Cathy once or twice . . . I'm not arguing with the Cardinal's point that we can be, perhaps, a bit talkative at prayer, but I love to read Marcel to know all the rest I need to know about this conversation with the One we know loves us, and how He responds to our blah-de-blah'ing.

When Marcel, who is just like us, sometimes chatters on and forgets to listen to Jesus or Mary's replies to his questions and comments, Our Lord and Our Lady simply tease him out of it! So really, Marcel shows us that we needn't worry too much that we never allow God the opportunity to say a word. If even Our Lady has the power to interrupt us and laughingly make sure her word gets said, how much more our Blessed Triune God can do so, He Who is all-powerful!

But I love the lesson Jack draws from Cardinal Thuan's story. Our hero (for how can the man who gave us English-speakers the writings of Marcel Van be anything less than our hero?) says:

This reminds us of Saint Therese's first meeting with Van: "So, when you speak to the good God, do so quite naturally as if you were talking to those around you. You can speak to him of anything you wish: of your game of marbles, of climbing the mountain........."

Ah yes! We can speak to Him of reading a sermon, of having remembered it wrong for decades.....of reading a blog post, of living a quiet life.......

Let's be natural with God! He has so supernaturally set aside all the trappings of His Divinity so that we won't be shy of Him. Like Marcel, speak to Little Jesus. Tell Him all that's on your mind and in your heart. And yes, sure, pause for breath and let Him get a word in edgewise. He'll be amazed by your manners!

I have a surefire way of doing this myself: I open up Marcel's Conversations, and there I see what Jesus has to say to me. You might have another favorite spiritual book. The Gospels are ideal. But most of all, be yourself.

If you're anything like me and like "most men" of whom Cardinal Newman makes mention, you live a life that is not fascinating even to yourself sometimes! That's okay, it is always fascinating to Jesus because He loves you infinitely. He can't get enough of your little stories, so don't be afraid that your life, however small or large its scope and influence, will bore him. Never! Here is what He said to me this morning so that I could say it to you now. From His words on October 8, 1945 to Marcel (and all of His words to Marcel He assures us are meant for us too):

"My little flower, how beautiful you are! But I do not want your beauty to appear externally . . . I will use the appearance of your simplicity in order to hide you in my hands . . . My little flower, the more beautiful you are, the more you will be smothered with caresses."

Those caresses are from Jesus to your soul, and they are just for you, as your beauty is just for Him!

How marvelous it is that regardless of our littleness - no, even because of it! - Jesus Who is all beautiful loves us without ceasing. As He says to us, again in Conversations, this time at (374):

"The glance of your weakness is still more powerful than mine. Yes, a single glance of your weakness suffices to charm my Love and to draw my heart to you . . . "

Thank You, Little Jesus! And though You don't have to wait long for our weaknesses to show themselves, still in case we forget to glance at You, we ask that You please do not cease to glance at us! Ah, You are God! You won't forget!

Draw me; we will run!

"Most of all I imitate the conduct of Magdalene; her astonishing or rather her loving audacity which charms the Heart of Jesus also attracts my own. Yes, I feel it; even though I had on my conscience all the sins that can be committed, I would go, my heart broken with sorrow, and throw myself into Jesus' arms, for I know how much He loves the prodigal child who returns to Him." --our sister St. Therese, Story of a Soul 

"If Magdalene at the time when she was listening to Me had written down what I was saying to her, what words of love would have been shown to the world. My child, it is for this that I have said to your holy sister: 'It is not all at once that all My love reveals itself, but little by little.'" --Jesus speaking with our little brother, Marcel Van, Conversations (86)

"My dear child, your role is to be the apostle of My love. For that you must not be happy simply to hear My words but you must also write them down for the good of souls." --Jesus to Marcel (and me)

Just this morning, on this glorious feast of St. Mary Magdalene, I found myself complaining to Jesus that I had been mission-less lately. There is nothing more likely to induce a case of ennui, I find, than missionlessness. Ennui is a great French word similar to (in my use of it, anyhow) degout. The only problem is that degout is French too! We can see, I think, why Jesus loves France so much (as comes out in Marcel's Conversations quite often) -  it has all the best words! 

Suffice it to say that ennui is the opposite of cheerful busyness, and degout is translated as disgust. I suppose the former (ennui) is the state of a soul who has lived long and partied hard without discovering the meaning of life (JESUS!) whereas the second state (degout) is that of the soul who has known very well life's meaning, but then keeps tending to forget it! And so one feels frustrated - with oneself, most of all, but with one's state (and feelings) as well.

But the best reason for knowing these words is not to be able to minutely describe their meanings, but rather so we know what we want to avoid! And if, like with quicksand when we happen to be walking through a jungle in an old movie (or something worse than quicksand in The Princess Bride), we come upon it unawares and find ourselves slipping down into it (if not sucked in almost instantaneously), well let's use all our little energy to reach toward that overhanging branch or at least cry out to our angels and Jesus for help!

Impossible though it seems, it's amazing how quickly - much more quickly than disaster - good things can happen. Take this morning, for instance. Here I was, finally acknowledging the ennui and degout into which I've been sinking lately, and crying out, "Wait! You forgot me! I'm feeling missionless!" when suddenly several missions just fell from the sky into my upreaching hand. No, not my u-preaching hand! My up-reaching hand!

Missions have wings, and so I was lifted out of my ennui and degout as fast as you can say, "Login" (that's Log In, not a shortened version of Logging, which goes on much farther north than my place here on the West Coast of the U.S.), or in other words just exactly as quickly as I started writing this post. Thank Heaven!

I knew I needed to think about Mary Magdalene today, it being her glorious feast, and I knew there was a passage where Jesus talks about her to Marcel in their Conversations. Talk about an overhanging branch! I need only grab onto it - and my angel knows by now to hold it constantly within reach no matter how short my arm is extending above the quicksand - to feel the salvation that Jesus has won for us long ago. (Not to harp on the subject, but if you don't yet have a copy of Convos, they are easily and quickly available HERE, in case you, too, want a ready way out of ennui and degout.)

Well, joy and rapture! Here is Jesus telling Marcel that it is just as we suspected. When He spoke to Magdalene, He had plenty to tell her, and it was just as consoling and uplifting as anything we might imagine, and more! Jesus uses this truth (of His words of love to MM, but that they were not written down by her) to explain to Marcel why his own words - or rather the words Jesus dictates to him, alongside his own words - are of crucial importance. Our Lord, God's "one Word," as St. John of the Cross likes to remind us, has much to say that He can only say little by little, bit by bit, for our minds and hearts are too small to receive His Love all at once.

Enter Marcel, with his book of Conversations. And enter our little blog, inspired by Marcel's book. For lo and behold, as often as I open our little brother's pages, I'm filled with a desire to share Jesus' and Mary's words  (and Therese's and Marcel's) with the whole world!

This morning I also remembered that our sister Therese has not only great love for Magdalene, but great words on her at the end of Story of a Soul (in certain editions these words are more in the middle, but in all editions, they shine out like the beacon leading us to shore).

Looking up Therese's passage to quote for you, what a delight to find that the Little Flower whom we can't help but imitate, since we are such very tiny flowers too, is herself imitating the quintessential lover of Jesus (after His and our Mother Mary), that second Mary whose second life was spent in adoration of Him who pulled her out of her own ennui and degout. What love fills the Gospel and the universe! And how important these feasts are for reminding us of our missions!

My mission is to write, but it only finds its fulfillment by your reading and learning of your mission. Do you know (or remember) what that mission is?

It is, in a word, to love. Or better yet, to let yourself be loved.

That's it.
Quite a tall order for a new day which you may have already filled with plans for all sorts of activities and passivities, work and play, not to mention eating, drinking, and sleeping!

Happily, to let yourself be loved is like drinking cool, fresh water when you're parched, or (at other times) like finding that you do have room for dessert - it will go into the interstices that remain despite the nourishing meal you've been blessed with already!

Whether you find your day full or empty (and even when our days are full of activity, we can be running on empty, while on other rarer days of sweet retreat, we're being filled to the brim despite appearances of emptiness), I'm glad you've found yourself here. Let's thank Jesus for loving us and ask Him to convert us like He converted Magdalene. Can you imagine? Just a look from Him and she gave up everything!

I've learned from reading Marcel that Jesus most likely doesn't ask us to give up much more than our sadness, our ennui, our degout. Can we do that for Him today? Certainly not without His divine assistance!!!

Dear Jesus, please reveal to us Your infinite tenderness and compassion, so that wherever You take us today, we will not find ourselves alone. Let Magdalene teach us to be bold with You! Send Marcel as an angelic apostle to show us how to open our hearts to You as Magdalene did and Therese did in imitation of her. Give us loving audacity which turns to You in every need, every joy and sorrow, and inspires us to commend all those we love to Your care - with every confidence that You are caring for them too!

Draw me, darling Jesus; we will run!

I haven't much time because it turns out that Marcel's feast in Vietnam started more than 14 hours ago, and in France, more than 9 hours ago, and in England, more than 8 hours ago.

This means that we here in the Americas are quite behind, as we've been this whole novena. But in the tradition of Americans doing things big - I like to think we're a sort of international Costco, doing everything too big but with great prices - let's not worry about being late to the party!

And while we're at it, in the tradition of Marcel's own Conversations, let's not worry about anything, any more, ever!

Slow learner that I am, I've been worrying just a titch lately about how I would write this post. My time has not been my own, so I wondered if I could steal some from sleep. Lo and behold, my angel thought that was a great idea, and here I am! It isn't too early elsewhere, but here it is nice and quiet and I have a few moments to kick off our celebration of our name-day feast. Hooray, and thank you dear angels!

Along with worrying about when I would write today, I was also slightly concerned about what I would write today. Silly me! I should have remembered (but being Miss Marcel, I naturally forgot) that all I need ever do is open up our brother's book and I will find more than enough material for a thousand blog posts! And so, with a prayer to our angels and Padre Pio's, let's see what Marcel and Jesus have for us on this glorious day.

Oh, but first let's finish our novena by saying the prayer Les Amis de Van and Jack Keogan shared with us. Not only is it a beautiful prayer, but it was dictated to Marcel by Jesus Himself! Feel free to add your own country to our request for graces for France, and let's borrow our sister Therese's confidence that Jesus will answer beyond our wildest dreams:

Lord Jesus, have compassion on France.
Graciously hold it tightly in Your love
and show it much tenderness.
So ordain things that, full of love for You,
it contributes to make You loved in all the nations on earth.
O Love of Jesus, we now promise to remain always faithful to You
and to work with a heart on fire
to spread Your reign throughout the universe.
We ask all this through the intercession of our little brother Marcel Van, and in Your holy name, dear Jesus. Amen.

And now, Lord, send Your Holy Spirit to guide us to the passage You want to use to rejoice our hearts on this day of Marcel's entry into Your Heart!

*   *   *

Oh that Jesus! He understands us completely, and even when He tries to hide, He lets Himself be found! And so, having flipped among the beloved pages of our brother's book, here is what I find our Spouse has to say to us on this marvelous anniversary:

From Conversations (237), the words of Jesus to our souls right now:

You seem to be very tired. That's enough, go and rest; I do not wish you to tire yourself by writing [or reading]. You please me just as much by taking a rest . . . I love you very much. I do not cease giving you kisses and embracing you in my arms. I look at you all the time and I smile on you and I am always pleased with you. So, therefore, because of the single fact that you always recognize your weakness, you receive from me perpetual support. That is enough. You are very tired, very tired. I am giving you a kiss and I hold my lips close to your cheek for all eternity.

*   *   *

Taking our adorable Lord at His word, I am going to rest now. But I will take my rest with great joy and peace, which I wish to you in abundance too, today and forever! And a little prayer before we go to celebrate, each in our own way (and mine with a pillow!) -

Draw me, we will run!

p.s. Since Marcel is the second St. Therese, the shower of roses is a big part of his mission from Heaven too! I'm asking him now to shower his and our sisters' roses upon you and your loved ones in honor of all the graces Jesus has showered upon them both in their lifetimes in exile and in their glorification. Our sweet brother, so inclined to us already, won't be able to resist such a clever prayer, so expect special graces (in the form of roses, but no doubt in many other forms as well!) which are on their way!

I received a delightful email last week. In more than timely fashion, Jack Keogan (our benefactor who translated Marcel into English) had sent to us in the U.S.A. the good news that he in England had received from Les Amis de Van in France that the annual novena to Therese's little brother and ours, Marcel Van, was about to begin, in preparation for his little feast, July 10. 

Did you note the unremitting and irretrievable past tense in that long sentence?

And if you are a math whiz, did you note too that as today is July 5 - as  I write - we may be a bit shy of 9 days counting to July 10? 

So what shall we address first?

We could begin with the explanation of why five days is somehow miraculously enough for a novena (i.e. a 9 day prayer). Or we could start with Jack's email.

Since I haven't quite solved that numerical riddle, let's go to Jack's email before we do anything else.

Jack wrote:

Les Amis de Van are organising a novena with Marcel Van commemorating the death of Brother Marcel on July 10th 1959.
It is prompted by concern for the spiritual needs of France during these troublesome times.
Our Lord did, of course, ask Marcel to pray for France, the country for which he had a particular affection.
The Friends of Van are asking us to join them in this novena, to which we could add prayers, through the intercession of Van, for our own countries whilst at the same time heeding Our Lord's request to Van that he pray a great deal for France.
Here is the prayer dictated to Van on 14 November 1945.


Lord Jesus, have compassion on France.
Graciously hold it tightly in your love
and show it much tenderness.
So ordain things that, full of love for you,
it contributes to make you loved in all the nations on earth.
O Love of Jesus, we now promise to remain always faithful to you
and to work with a heart on fire
to spread your reign throughout the universe. Amen.


We should offer this prayer through the intercession of Brother Marcel.
And we could offer a little postscript asking Our Lord to remember the needs of our own country, whatever it may be, during this time of pandemic.
The novena begins on July 1st until July 9th.
Thank you and keep your distance!
Jack.
+   +   +

First off, let me mention that I'm fairly certain Jack's sign-off of "Thank you and keep your distance!" is what we in America call "that dry British sense of humor" which we enjoy so very much!

Jack, you're funny, just like your brother Marcel! But no worries, whether we like it or not (and speaking for myself, I don't, but God's holy will be adored and glorified in this as in everything), we are forced to stay many thousands of miles away from you across the pond. Alas, but be forewarned: I, at least, retain the hope of sitting quite near you on Mary's lap in Heaven! And let's not forget the goal: to crowd her capacious lap with so many Marcel-ites that Marcel himself and Little Jesus almost fall off!

But to get back to that amazing novena prayer taught to Marcel and us by none other than the Sweet Spouse of our souls (and Les Amis and Jack), let's look at it again:

Lord Jesus, have compassion on France.
Graciously hold it tightly in your love
and show it much tenderness.
So ordain things that, full of love for you,
it contributes to make you loved in all the nations on earth.
O Love of Jesus, we now promise to remain always faithful to you
and to work with a heart on fire
to spread your reign throughout the universe. Amen.


Are you struck, as I am, by the promise to work for Jesus "with a heart on fire"? That's the name of Bishop Barron's ministry! And the goal of our consecration to Merciful Love too! But we haven't yet heeded Jack's suggestion of adding our own country to the prayer, nor his advice to ask through the intercession of Marcel. How about this:

Lord Jesus, have compassion on France, and the U.S.A. and Britain too.
Graciously hold them tightly in your love
and show them much tenderness.
So ordain things that, full of love for you,
our beloved countries contribute to make you loved in all the nations on earth.
O Love of Jesus, we now promise to remain always faithful to you
and to work with a heart on fire
to spread your reign throughout the universe.

We ask these favors through the intercession of our little brother and sister, Marcel and Therese.
Amen.

I think that's pretty good, don't you? 
And guess what? 
The angels have solved our conundrum, as I knew they would . . .
We've just read-said our novena prayer 3 times, which means we have caught up! We'll want to pray it once more at the close of our post to properly open the July 5th day, but then we have 4 days (3 past, 1 today) covered all in a jiffy and we have left in our novena just the right amount of days:

July 6 (5th day)
July 7 (6th day)
July 8 (7th day)
July 9 (8th day)
and 
July 10 (9th day), when Marcel made it out of exile at last, and into Jesus' arms once and for all! Hooray Marcel! Hooray Jesus! Long live France and every nation of the world until the new Heaven and new earth replace this worn out planet and we get to receive Jesus' kisses face to Face!

The really funny thing is that I could have sworn (which I shouldn't, but rather, as Jesus taught us. just say yay or nay), that is, I could have affirmed with all my heart, yayly, that Jack said something like, "Start the novena whenever you like!" but reading more carefully I see what he actually wrote was: "The Novena begins on July 1st until July 9th."

Oops!

But then again, I do love a novena that procrastinates and insists on ending right on the feast itself. Otherwise I risk feasting so much that I forget to pray on The Big Day, hence I'm glad we're praying just a little behind Les Amis de Van. Lead the way, dear French friends! We will follow in somewhat disorganized but quite cheerful procession!

The other think I love about a novena is when the prayer stays the same, but each day there might be something good to ponder, so let's get to the good stuff and listen to Marcel himself, or better yet Jesus Himself, as I find them today in Conversations.

Especially because do you know what I discovered recently?
The whole world has not yet heeded my brilliant insistence that each one quickly get a copy or two of Marcel's Conversations (with Jesus, Mary, and St. Therese)!

Which somewhat thrills me - the refusal of the world to Do the Right Thing - because although some might conclude from this that my work is in vain (my only real purpose being to get everyone reading his or her own copy so that I might stop writing and immerse myself in mine), I'm an inveterate bright-side kind of gal, and so, contrariwise, I conclude with the marvelous fact that my work remains important, nay, ESSENTIAL, for the common good!

In other words, if I don't keep touting and quoting from Conversations, how will the disobedient and wandering masses (as in lots of people, not the Holy Sacrifice) ever come to their senses, see the light, and procure their much needed copies of our little brother's masterpiece?

I don't know. 
I mean I don't know how they will ever, unless I keep writing and quoting. And besides, St. Thomas has this great bit about how the best life is contemplative but bursting into action because what kind of lout would or could keep to himself the fruits of his contemplation?

Exactly! The kind of lout that I am just can't, no way, keep from singing out to everyone what I find Truth telling us in this adorable book through the adorable mouth of Marcel. And why shouldn't the book and the mouth of our brother be adorable? Little Marcel Van has been kissed by the Truly and Originally Adorable mouth (and words) of The Word made Flesh, our Brother and Best Friend, none other than Jesus Our True Love!

But enough beating around the bush. How about I do some quoting? No reason to simply go on my testimony. I'm going to put you in the way of having some testimony of your own, whether you have and read your copy of this book or not. Here goes, then. Here is what Marcel and Jesus said today that tugged at my heart and made everything easier. From Conversations (226), 31 December 1945:

Marcel (and me): Little Jesus, I understand absolutely nothing.

Jesus: Marcel, who is obliging you to understand? Ignorant as you are, how would you be able to understand? If you have not yet understood what it is to lack poverty and to renounce yourself, you will understand even less what I have just said. . . Besides, I have not said these words for you, but really for souls who are afraid of me. Since you are not afraid of me, it is not necessary that you understand. Since you already love me, what would you be afraid of? Till the day you die you will only love me; consequently, you have no reason to be afraid. Marcel, how I love you. I would wish to hold you close to me always and cover you with kisses, and this desire will remain unchangeable for eternity. Yes, Marcel, my little friend, I will love you. I will give you kisses, I will hold you close to my breast, and you will be filled with delights. Then all that you wish for, I will gladly grant you . . . Marcel, may your love melt entirely into mine and then you will possess exclusively all love.

*    *    *

So which are we? Are we the souls who are afraid of Jesus, or the souls who love Him? And what if we do both (love and fear Him)?

Remember first that Jesus understands our lack of understanding and doesn't scold us for it. And then let me quote for you some more of my favorite words in Convos, favorite because they set the stage for all the words that follow.

The question at stake is: For whom are these words meant? Are they meant for us as well as for Marcel?

Here is the answer Truth (Who only speaks truly) gave to Marcel on 4 November 1945:

Jesus: . . . All the words that I have spoken to you from the beginning until the last one I speak to you in the future - know that it is not to you alone that I am speaking, but to all souls. You see by this that I communicate with all of them. And if, like you, they are sincere in their relationship with me, then I am speaking also to them. It is not necessary that you understand this. Do not be afraid, therefore, if later somebody says that I spoke only to you . . .  

*   *   *

Which brings me to the quote I found two days ago, then lost, then found again this morning. Here is why I love Marcel and why I'm confident that even if my words reach only one soul with his words (and Jesus' words especially) in Conversations, it will be worth it. Though it might have been any page of little Marcel's Conversations, today (thank you guardian angel for returning me to 10 November 1945!) it is this one:

Jesus: You, my child, you know that I always call you by the name of little flower. You, therefore, belong to the category of my little flowers, and, in fact, you are a very fragile little flower; the slightest breath of wind is enough to make you fall at my feet. That is why I dare not depart from you. Is that not to your advantage? It is precisely because of your weakness that you are, on my part, the object of a greater love and that my lips are always ready to cover you with kisses. But you are very weak, so weak that you cannot even put up with my kisses. My little flower, remember always that you must never be sad because of your weakness. And no matter how great your weakness may be, be tranquil always, believing that my love would never have the heart to separate itself from you, my little flower.

*   *   *

There, I think that should be enough for now; enough to soothe our little souls and remind us of what Jesus most wants us to know today . . . 

Let's say our prayer again, then, asking Jesus to bless our nations (especially France, but our own as well if it is another than France) through the intercession of our dear Marcel:


Lord Jesus, have compassion on France (the U.S.A., Britain, Canada, Venezuela, Poland, Ireland, Lebanon, Syria, Scotland, Japan, Belgium, South Africa, Nigeria, Nepal, Italy, China), and all of our countries.
Graciously hold them tightly in Your love
and show them much tenderness.
So ordain things that, full of love for You,
our beloved countries contribute to make You loved in all the nations on earth.
O Love of Jesus, we now promise to remain always faithful to You
and to work with a heart on fire
to spread Your reign throughout the universe. 

We ask these favors through the intercession of our little brother and sister, Marcel and Therese.
Amen.

Draw me, we will run!!!

*   *    *
I hope to write again soon. Wouldn't it be marvelous if I could muse each day for the rest of the days of the novena, here with you so we could say our prayers on time together? I don't know if my circumstances will allow that, so please do return and say our prayer from this post daily if another post doesn't follow before the 10th.

But above all, don't be discouraged if you forget! I vote that even if we forget absolutely everything, let's remember that we have nothing to be afraid of, least of all our Jesus. He loves us! He will never let us be separated from Him, so rest in His arms and pour your heart out to Him. Or simply rest. He is with you and won't let you go away, not really. 

Thank You, Jesus, for Your infinite and infinitely tender and solicitous love!

Happy Feast of the Sacred Heart of our True Love, Jesus!

I offer the following prayer for so many intentions dear to my heart, but especially at this moment asking graces for dear Jack Keogan, translator of Marcel into English and thus changer-of-my-life, who so kindly sent me this prayer (below) on the back of a holy card where I saw it (and instantly loved it) for the first time this past year, and for Fr. Ambrose who sent it to me again in whats app today (along with the glorious picture above), and finally for the original - okay second to M's little sister Anne-Marie Te and me (or is that third?) - Miss Marcel, who shares a birthday with Jack next week and who talked me into great joy today (or let me talk myself into said joy today by trying to talk me out of it, strange as that sounds) - may God reward and bless them all in greater abundance than ever before, if that's even possible. Since all things are possible for God, we say it is not only possible, but will happen! And may He bless you too, dear reader, through this delightful and down to earth (yet reaching to Heaven) prayer:

Novena of Confidence to the Sacred Heart of Jesus

O Lord Jesus Christ,
To your most Sacred Heart,
I confide this intention:
(mention your intention here)

Only look upon me,  And then do what your Sacred Heart inspires.
Let your Sacred Heart decide; I count on it, I trust in it.
I throw myself on Your mercy, Lord Jesus! You will not fail me.

Sacred Heart of Jesus, I trust in You.
Sacred Heart of Jesus, I believe in Your love for me.
Sacred Heart of Jesus, Your Kingdom come.

O Sacred Heart of Jesus, I have asked you for many favors,
But I earnestly implore this one. Take it.

Place it in Your open, broken Heart;
And, when the Eternal Father looks upon It,
Covered with Your Precious Blood, He will not refuse it.
It will be no longer my prayer, But Yours, O Jesus.

O Sacred Heart of Jesus, I place all my trust in You.
Let me not be disappointed. 

Draw me, we will run!!!

*     *      *

And, in honor of our adorable Lord and His infinitely tender Heart, please remember Jesus' words in the Gospel and to Marcel:

Do not let your heart be troubled or afraid.
Don't worry any more, ever!

Courage! It is I; do not be afraid!
          - the 'great' God (Matthew 14:27)

If St. Anthony and Baby Jesus look a little blurry, no doubt my hand was shaking when I took this screenshot. It's not every day you get to take a photo of two of your favoritest people in the universe! And on the feastday of one of them, no less!

Which brings me to my conundrum: what to say on so great a feast, in the company of such great friends and so great a God?

As I quoted just the other day from Therese, our littlest Saint and greatest friend, "I'm not breaking my head over the writing . . . it's as though I were fishing with a line: I write whatever comes to the end of my pen."

Our little sister said these words on June 11, 1897, and two days later on June 13 (feast of St. Anthony of Padua and Lisbon, just where we find ourselves today 123 years later), she said in explanation of her imagery of the Thief Who would come to steal her away to Heaven:

"Whenever I am speaking of the Thief, I'm not thinking of little Jesus; I'm thinking of the 'great' God."

Do you ever find it disconcerting to move from season to season in this life? I suppose that discombobulation could apply to moving from one season of life to another (it's always a bit disconcerting, I find, to get married, for instance. Thank the good Lord I've had that change of seasons only once so far!), and certainly if you live in a place that has radical climate shifts from let's say winter to summer (some call it spring, but I think there are locales where it is simply freezing and then broiling), that might certainly be disorienting. Not to mention the change that happens in gloriously leaf-turning centers of orange and red and yellow when those last leaves fall and winter is upon one.

I'm thinking now, though, of the change in liturgical seasons, and I feel it most between Christmas-tide and Lent. Sure, there's the steady counting of Ordinal (or Ordinary) Time in between, but if you stretch Christmas out to Februrary 2nd and then procrastinate in taking down your decorations, you can find yourself in Lent (if it's an early Lent) lickety-split, and before you know what's hit you, that transition from Little Jesus to the great God-made-man come to save us is (at least for me) a touch alarming.

But then, for those of us who like Therese and Marcel are card carrying members of the Child Jesus Fan Club, the switch back to Little Jesus (or the option to return unto Him) at the close of the Easter Season is quite a welcome relief if perhaps abrupt too. At least this time of year we have the 7 weeks of Easter (whew! That's a lot of partying and I haven't succeeded yet in keeping Easter completely!), then the novena of Pentecost following the Ascension . . . Though does anyone else find the drop from Pentecost Sunday to "counting time" again (Ordinal or Ordinary Time) just a wee bit fast (again) in the new calendar? Thankfully we have the glorious Feasts of the Most Holy Trinity and then Corpus Christi to help make the landing easier . . . but with St. Anthony's feast amidst these, our musings - at least over here at Miss Marcel's place - certainly return to Little Jesus!

And GUESS WHAT? Little Jesus and St. Anthony have a special announcement they've asked me to make. They're feeling slightly fuzzy after the time change from Eternity to Universal Co-ordinated, so let's give them a second to adjust and I'll make that announcement for them. Are you feeling out of focus too? Get a grip, because we have big news and you'll want to be sitting down (or better yet lying down - or laying down as the case may be, depending on whether your angel sets you there or you set yourself, if I remember my grammar). Ready?

This is the day to ASK FOR MIRACLES!!!!

We are finishing up our St. Anthony novena, and it is a doozy this year, running neck and neck with our prayers to Servant of God Julia Greeley,  Blessed Anne of St. Bartholomew (one of the big St. Teresa's besties), and Tim-the-best-hugger-ever (see our blog post a couple down for more on this holy (though uncapped) trinity of feast day compatriots, Julia, Anne, and Tim). 

In fact, this year in our run-up to St. Anthony we've also been slightly pre-occupied, but in a hilariously little way, you might say, with the 125th anniversary of Therese's Act of Oblation to Merciful Love - and another Trinity, the Real One-in-Three Whom we celebrated last Sunday, and a third dear trinity, though this last one of anniversaries actually: for on the Feast of the Most Holy Trinity we celebrated (albeit somewhat silently) Therese's initial offering of herself to Merciful Love (125 years ago this year on that day), then this past Tuesday, June 9th, we celebrated the same again though on the calendar date (rather than the liturgical calendar date), and finally on Thursday we managed a blog post (just below this one you're reading now) in honor of Therese's formal offering with Celine to the same Merciful Love of the Good God - yep, 125 years ago that very day, June 11.

But here is the GUESS WHAT part, for those who have survived that last paragraph. I'm almost dizzy myself (always ditzy and sometimes with a touch of vertigo) after all those dates, anniversaries, and parentheses! So let's try to relax, catch our breath, and get a load of this crazy conjunction:

This past Thursday, June 11, the 125th anniversary of Celine and Therese making their Act of Oblation together before the Virgin of the Smile, was actually the Feast of Corpus Christi - at least in those places where it hasn't been transferred out of immense kindness for the masses who work so that they can go to Masses in honor of The Body and Blood of Our Lord on Sunday!

Have you heard about Something New? I don't mean just anything new, but Therese's Eucharistic Miracle book which I was privileged (and pushed by her) to write and which was recently published. Something New with St. Therese: Her Eucharistic Miracle, which you can read for fun and for free - and begin as soon as you wish by simply clicking on one of those boxes that crowd around "Miss Marcel's Musings" at the top of the page near the roses from Therese -  or for $15 (print copy) by clicking on the bold title or HERE, is all about Therese's Act of Oblation to Merciful Love, but more specifically it is about one petition in that Act, a petition Therese encourages us to pray with her, and in this prayer obtain for ourselves a miracle having to do with our union with Little Jesus, the great God, Who gives Himself to us Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity!

How fortuitous, then, that God's one single thought from all eternity has included this beautiful and tenderly solicitous happenstance of days in which He brought together our tiny 125th anniversary of Therese and Celine's history-changing Act and the Feast of Corpus Christi!

Luckily for us, we are now in the octave of that anniversary, celebrating today our beloved St. Anthony, wonder worker and model adorer of Little Jesus and Grown Jesus too! And this St. Anthony Day is going to crowd into and morph into (in its later hours) the Vigil of Corpus Christi - which we get to celebrate again because hey, come on, how could one feast alone be enough for the Body and the Blood of Christ?! (How's that for feminine logic? You should see my feminine finances! If you have a spare moment, watch William Powell and Irene Dunne in "Life with Father" and enjoy Irene's illustration of the same.)

Anyhow, have I gotten off the beaten path again? This is the trouble with musing and taking whatever He puts on the end of my line: He tends to lead me, just like He led Marcel (unless it was Marcel leading Him!) always on an extremely little way. I'm not complaining; I don't want to be anywhere but with Jesus and Marcel and Therese on Mary's lap, but sometimes I seem to lose the obvious thread in these meandering musings, and I sure hope I haven't lost you!

Let's get down to basics then.

Today is the Feast of St. Anthony. 
He is so great that you find his statue - like our sister Therese's image - in churches All Over The Planet. I bet if we ever find prayerful life on other planets, we'll find statues of St. Anthony holding baby Jesus there too! Because what's not to love? I started this post with Jesus' words because when I opened the Gospel last night (after a day of dusting-as-prayer but knowing that prayer-as-prayer certainly deserves its place too!), those were the words Jesus gave me:

Courage! It is I; do not be afraid! 

And I felt their perfect timing for St. Anthony's day, the day of one who has so many titles that his Litany is replete with stunning imagery. Did you know St. Anthony is the Hammer of Heretics? And although unknown in his official litany, he is also to Nigerians (and honorary Nigerians like myself) the Marco Polo of every need - instead of blindly calling out "Marco" and having your compatriots reply "Polo" from the other parts of the pool, the Nigerian St. Anthony Guild has taught us to call out "Anto!" when in search of something lost (or even just to let out a resounding battle cry of Love), to which our fellows reply "Padua!" How very marvelous is that?

And yet there is one image of St. Anthony that trumps all the rest. . . whether painted by Murillo or drawn by the loving hand of a child, who can resist those Franciscan arms outstretched in love and most often seen embracing darling Jesus?

What a gift! Here is Jesus in so adorable a form that none can resist Him! I love, love, love the many pictures and statues of Him caressing St. Anthony's face, or gazing into his eyes, or merely resting in his arms. This is hope! This is the image of how Jesus wants to be with us! This is the whole substance of Marcel's Conversations! Jesus cannot get enough of us - bizarre as that may seem and be!

And He puts Himself in a position, whether as the infinitely great Merciful God of Love to whom we offer ourselves, or as the tiny consecrated Host we will receive on the Feast of God's Body and Blood, or as the little child in St. Anthony's embrace: He puts Himself in a position to love us and be loved by us without fear.

Without fear?

Yes, without fear. 

God does not fear to come to us. He trusts us to love Him, as pathetic as our love may be and often certainly is.

And He asks us - better yet, He who said "Let there be light" and at that moment there was light, commands us, and may it be according to His all-powerful Word - Be Not Afraid, have courage, trust in Him because He is here among us, so near that we can close our eyes and embrace Him just as St. Anthony endlessly does.

What miracles will you ask for today? I'm posting early, and I'm giving my day for your and your miracles. Let's do it! Let's have confidence in God, and when our confidence is falling short (like already, or in about 45 seconds), let's ask the Saints for their confidence. They had confidence to spare, which is how they always had miracles to spare - and they don't need their confidence anymore because in Heaven (where they are) sight has replaced blindness and knowledge has supplanted hope, so let's ask for their hope, their bold confidence, their miracles, and take all they offer for the asking!

St. Therese, Celine, and St. Anthony, Marcel and Julia Greeley, Blessed Anne and your BFF St. Teresa of Avila, St. John of the Cross and dear Tim M: give us your confidence that we might hold Jesus and demand all we need for ourselves and those we love! Bring back to the Faith all those who have wandered that they too might enjoy the Love of the Good God! Heal all those who are sick - through the power of God, the Mighty and Merciful One-in-Three Who gives us more than we ask or imagine because He can't contain His Goodness!

And dear St. Anthony, on this your feast, thank Little Jesus for us, for letting us know and love Him, and kiss Him countless times for us today and until we, like you now, embrace Him face to Face!

Draw me, we will run!!!

"I'm not breaking my head over the writing of my 'little' life; it's as though I were fishing with a line: I write whatever comes to the end of my pen." - Therese, June 11, 1897

Those words were spoken by St. Therese a few months before she died, and they provide inspiration to me today as I search for words to offer on this very special June 11, 2020.

Why is today so very special? I used to celebrate June 11 as the Feast of St. Barnabas, Apostle (as it is, and so shall we still celebrate it), and then later, I loved to celebrate it as the birthday of the Saints of Leon Bloy. He was a French writer at the turn of the 19th to 20th centuries (a little more than a hundred years ago) who befriended and then god-fathered Jacques and Raissa Maritain when they, along with Raissa's sister Vera, were baptized on this day in 1906. Hooray for the Maritains and Leon Bloy! God rest their souls in His infinitely tender and merciful Love that makes Saints from such varied and sundry material!

But this year I am quite pre-occupied with a different feast, and anniversary, for at long last (it's taken a century and a quarter!) it is the 125th anniversary of our dear sister St. Therese and her own sister (and thus ours too) Celine: the 125th anniversary of their Act of Oblation to Merciful Love!

On this day 125 years ago, Therese and Celine knelt before the statue of the Virgin of the Smile, a statue which had been the instrument of great graces for their family (including Therese's miraculous healing 12 years before), and together Celine and Therese prayed the Act of Oblation to Merciful Love that Therese had written out after her own initial offering of herself on Trinity Sunday, June 9, two days before.

So yes, if you're paying super close attention to the dates here, you might notice (but don't worry if you're skimming because I'll tell you what you might have noticed but perhaps didn't!): Today is the third 125th anniversary of the Offering to Merciful Love that we're celebrating this week!

First was on Trinity Sunday, which we celebrated a few days ago, and which was the feast on which Therese first felt her inspiration to offer herself to Merciful Love and so promptly and spontaneously did.

Second was this past Tuesday, June 9, the actual calendar date of Therese's first offering.

But finally, today is the day I've decided we ought to celebrate most wonderfully because this was the day on which Therese had her first follower on this little way of oblation.

Right after Mass on Trinity Sunday, right after she'd made her own offering, Therese grabbed Celine's hand as they were leaving the chapel of the Carmel, and went to their sister Pauline, their mother superior. Therese asked for herself and Celine that Mother Agnes (Pauline) give permission for them to offer themselves formally as Victims to Merciful Love. Mother Agnes said yes, leaving Therese the task of explaining to Celine what in the world she had in mind this time!

And then, so simply and marvelously, by her mere cooperation (tantamount to allowing her younger sister to lead her where she would, as usual), Celine paved the way for the legion of little souls who came after, and among whom we count ourselves, poor and weak and (if you don't mind my saying so) pathetic as we are.

Like our hero and brother Marcel Van, and like Celine before him (not to mention their other sisters Pauline, Marie, and Leonie, their cousin Marie Guerin, and Therese's novice Marie of the Trinity, et cetera), we too need only allow Therese to drag us (or push us) hither and yon, and we too will become other little great saints! And how? You might as well say, "And how!" for the road is long, with many a winding turn, but believe me - or better yet, believe Therese! - we'll get there, and she knows exactly where! To the Heart of Love, the very Merciful Love of God to which we abandon ourselves without reserve.

Sounds good, surely, but if you wonder how in the world it might work, well let's just follow Marcel and Celine following Therese. I'm going to insert a picture of the lovely Virgin of the Smile, and the text of the Act of Oblation to the Merciful Love of the Good God. Without a lot of explanation, because as Fr. Thomas Dubay used to frequently acknowledge, we have a time pressure problem. Let's hurry, then, and not allow anything to stop God from pouring out His infinitely tender love into our hearts, quickly, before we get distracted or bored, before we forget what we're doing, before we fall asleep at out prayers.

Okay, maybe not that last. If you're reading this late at night, and you nod off in the middle, no worries! Therese will assist and make the Act in your name, as she assisted Celine, and later Marie of the Trinity, and later still our little Marcel. 

Marcel is a darling guide to this offering as well, because he had no idea what it meant, and yet I do think the whole of his book Conversations (with Jesus, Mary, and St. Therese) is an extended commentary on this Act of Oblation. He even asked Jesus straight out to explain it, quite a while after Therese had made the Act for him since, little as he was, he entrusted himself to her clear and sure guidance as do we. Marcel asked, "So, little Jesus, tell me what 'Victim of Love' means." Jesus responded:

"They are victims who, through love, offer themselves to Love. These victims leave to Love complete liberty to accomplish His desires in them but of themselves, they do nothing to expend themselves; it is Love, that is to say the Holy Spirit who acts spontaneously in them."

There you have it then, and so let's waste no more time in chit chat. I offer to you below (in order to help Therese offer you to God) our patroness the Virgin of the Smile, our dear Mama Mary, and the Act of Offering which Therese and Celine recited before her on this day 125 years ago.

But before I do, I almost forgot - we are in the middle (or toward the end) of a sweet novena culminating in St. Anthony's Day on Saturday. We commend to him the health of many of our loved ones and all who are ill, asking his powerful intercession to heal them, as well as to fulfill the many other needs and desires - including our thanks to God for miracles already granted - as mentioned in the previous post. Here then, is a little novena prayer to dear St. Anthony, and then we'll proceed with our Offering. Thank You Jesus, for all these irresistible Saints you give us to help us on our little way! 

UNFAILING PRAYER TO ST. ANTHONY

Holy St. Anthony, gentlest of Saints, your love for God and charity for all God's creatures made you worthy when on earth to possess miraculous powers. Miracles followed your word, which you were ever ready to speak for those in trouble or need. 

Encouraged by this thought, I implore you to obtain for me also my requests . . . 

The answer to my prayer may require a miracle' even so, you are the Saint of Miracles!

O gentle and loving St. Anthony, whose heart was always full of human sympathy, whisper my petition into the adorable ears of the Holy Infant Jesus, who loved to be held in your arms, and the gratitude of my heart will always be yours. Amen.

ACT OF OBLATION TO THE MERCIFUL LOVE OF THE GOOD GOD

O My God! Most Blessed Trinity, I desire to Love You and make you Loved, to work for the glory of Holy Church by saving souls on earth and liberating those suffering in purgatory. I desire to accomplish Your will perfectly and to reach the degree of glory You have prepared for me in Your Kingdom. I desire, in a word, to be saint, but I feel my helplessness and I beg You, O my God! to be Yourself my Sanctity!
     Since You loved me so much as to give me Your only Son as my Savior and my Spouse, the infinite treasures of His merits are mine. I offer them to You with gladness, begging You to look upon me only in the Face of Jesus and in His heart burning with Love.
     I offer You, too, all the merits of the saints (in heaven and on earth), their acts of Love, and those of the holy angels. Finally, I offer You, O Blessed Trinity! the Love and merits of the Blessed Virgin, my Dear Mother. It is to her I abandon my offering, begging her to present it to You.
     Her Divine Son, my Beloved Spouse, told us in the says of His mortal life: "Whatsoever you ask the Father in my name he will give it to you!" I am certain, then, that You will grant my desires; I know, O my God! that the more You want to give, the more You make us desire. I feel in my heart immense desires and it is with confidence I ask You to come and take possession of my soul. Ah! I cannot receive Holy Communion as often as I desire, but, Lord, are You not all-powerful? Remain in me as in a tabernacle and never separate Yourself from Your little victim.
                                                                                                            
     I want to console You for the ingratitude of the wicked, and I beg of you to take away my freedom to displease You. If through weakness I sometimes fall, may Your Divine Glance cleanse my soul immediately, consuming all my imperfections like the fire that transforms everything into itself.
     I thank You, O my God! for all the graces You have granted me, especially the grace of making me pass through the crucible of suffering. It is with joy I shall contemplate You on the Last Day carrying the scepter of Your Cross. Since You deigned to give me a share in this very precious Cross, I hope in heaven to resemble You and to see shining in my glorified body the sacred stigmata of Your Passion.
     After earth's Exile, I hope to go and enjoy You in the Fatherland, but I do not want to lay up merits for heaven. I want to work for Your Love Alone with the one purpose of pleasing You, consoling Your Sacred Heart, and saving souls who will love You eternally.
     In the evening of this life, I shall appear before You with empty hands, for I do not ask You, Lord, to count my works. All our justice is stained in Your eyes. I wish, then, to be clothed in Your own Justice and to receive from Your Love the eternal possession of Yourself. I want no other Throne, no other Crown but You, my Beloved!
     Time is nothing in Your eyes, and a single day is like a thousand years. You can, then, in one instant prepare me to appear before You.
                                                                                                           
     In order to live in one single act of perfect Love, I OFFER MYSELF AS A VICTIM OF HOLOCAUST TO YOUR MERCIFUL LOVE, asking You to consume me incessantly, allowing the waves of infinite tenderness shut up within You to overflow into my soul, and that thus I may become a martyr of Your Love, O my God!
     May this martyrdom, after having prepared me to appear before You, finally cause me to die and may my soul take its flight without any delay into the eternal embrace of Your Merciful Love.
     ​I want, O my Beloved, at each beat of my heart to renew this offering to You an infinite number of times, until the shadows having disappeared I may be able to tell You of my Love in an Eternal Face to Face!

Draw me, we will run!!!

Do you know these faces? And though there are only 4 pictures, what would you say if I asked, "Which one of these is not like the others?"

Introductions first:
In sepia tones, we have St. Therese and her sister (the taller one) Celine. In the black and white image, circa 1915, we have Servant of God Julia Greeley of Denver, with Marjorie in her arms. Finally in what looks like a painting by Murillo (but it is probably a photo, don't you think?) we have our dear St. Anthony and little Jesus, our Savior and Spouse of our souls!

The One I would say stands out as "not like the others" is the middle image of Julia and Marjorie because - guess what? - until this morning, while I had heard of Julia G (starting a few years ago thanks to my amazing friend A.W., also known as "Aw, Awesome!"), I didn't really know anything about her except that she is popular in Denver and many want her Sainthood proclaimed. Oh, also recently I knew that another awesome friend has written a children's book about her, but there is more to be done (the usual stuff like finding an illustrator and publisher), so I haven't seen the book yet. Nonetheless, this morning was magical because said friend #2 published an article at our dear Catholic Exchange, and the article is Servant of God Julia Greeley: A Name Written in the Sacred Heart
It is wonderful - the article, the Saint (yet to be named, but so clearly one with Jesus!), and her impending feast that coincides this year with Trinity Sunday - this Sunday! Which links her, most adorably, with a friend of mine named Tim who no doubt brought her to my attention today (because that is his feast too, June 7), whom you can read about HERE (thanks to another friend of mine - boy they pile up, these amazing women I know!), and his mom's special Saint (whose feast is ALSO on June 7!), Blessed Anne of St. Bartholomew, whom you can read about HERE, and you'll want to since she was a cool cat and good buddy of St. Teresa of Avila, La Madre!

There is another event we will commemorate this Sunday, though, on the Feast of the Most Holy Trinity, and this is where we jump back to the first photo of Therese (and Celine). Are you sitting down? (Lying down is acceptable too, but if you're standing, please hold on to something to steady yourself because this is BIG NEWS!!)

This Sunday, Feast of the Holy Trinity 2020, is the 125th anniversary of Therese first making her Act of Oblation to Merciful Love (on Trinity Sunday 1895)!!!!! And God bless Monsignor Ken Loughman, retired Irish American priest of the archdiocese of NY, for letting us know that this anniversary is just around the corner! Woohoo and Hooray! Alleluia and Deo gratias!!!

The actual date of Therese's making the Oblation was June 9, which is why we had planned and announced we would start a novena last Monday on June 1st. Little circumstances and obstacles prevented that, so we thought we'd start on Wednesday, since June 11 is the day Therese and Celine formally made the Act of Oblation together before the statue of the Virgin of the Smile (enter Celine, then) . . . but no, God's hand held us gently back, so that we could start our little novena today (3 days until Sunday, just like the cross to the Resurrection!) and make it a super spectacular all encompassing novena by letting it commemorate the Most Blessed and Adorable Trinity, St. Therese, Servant of God Julia Greeley, Blessed Anne of St. Bartholomew, the best hugger in heaven (vying with Marcel for best tickler as well) Tim, and Celine, as well as (no doubt) a handful of other greats who will lead us in 9 days to - Il Santo! The Saint! Anthony of Padua and Lisbon, our special patron (my middle name saint, my grandmother's saint, my husband's saint, my sons' middle name saint, etc. etc, etc!)

Only God could design a novena this great!

So what are our intentions?

1. Thanksgiving for miracles small and LARGE - and if you can't think of one in your life right off the top of your head, please join us in our thanks for my father in law Paul discovering - to our great delight and his even greater delight! - that he is in remission from cancer! A remission that was not even hinted at as part of his deadly prognosis, but hey, that's where miracles come in, and we are SO INDEBTED for all your prayers and love and support that brought Paul to this joyful new reality!

which leads us to:

2. For all the intentions and health, happiness, and so on and so forth, of those who have prayed for Paul (and throw in an Ave now to be enrolled in this long list of names kept by our angels!)

and then:

3. For more miracles! for Physical (and other) Healings for two dear children-of-friends, for a dear sister-of-a-dear-friend, and for all the healings needed by you and those dear to you! St. Anthony is past master of these kinds of healings (easy peasy for one so close to Christ!), so let's pile up the petitions and watch him knock them down into grace and mercy and Jesus' healing power like so many bowling pins into the - well, wherever knocked down bowling pins go!

and finally:

4. For the vocations of all the young people who have just graduated (even without the pomp and circumstance) from college, high school, and every other place (like the boy in our neighborhood who had a graduation from kindergarten congrats sign on his lawn - too darling!) - and for those of us who will be happy to keep discovering our missions within our vocations, just according to Jesus' sweet will and joy for us. I have in mind a particular daughter of a friend (almost a daughter to me too), and another dear Miss Marcel, and so many more! Add your loved ones (and yourself!) to this list too!

and last but not least:

5. The quick restoration of the Sacraments to us, and us to the Sacraments, with special added graces for all seminarians, deacons, priests, Bishops, and the Holy Father.

We will feel free to add intentions as they arise, and please do so too!
So what will our prayer be?
I have the opportunity to go to Mass right now (and I will be late, as ever, even after such long absences that have made my heart grow fonder) so for now, let's start with these prayers I know by heart. We can add or change later, but for now:

We love You, Jesus, please make us Saints!
Little Flower, in this hour, show your power!
Dear Saint Anthony, please come around, there's something lost (Faith, Health, knowledge of God's will, the sacraments in our daily lives, etc) that must be found!

Draw me Jesus, we will RUN!!!!!!

If I were to simply quote James Taylor and be done with it, the Meaning of Life is enjoying the passing of time. Actually, to quote him more literally (or his song), The Secret of Life is enjoying the Passage of Time. And as with many of James' lyrics, I must say: How true, how true! And with St. Thomas (lest you think I'm as silly all the time as I sound much of the time), "All truth, by whomever spoken, is from the Holy Spirit." The great thing about that St. Thomas quote is that he wasn't (by far) the first to say it! So there you go - as our sister Therese said too, there really is no such thing as intellectual property since it all comes from God and the angels. That isn't an exact quote, but she was firm on the idea and if I had more time, I could get you word for word from her on the topic.

As it is, I don't have much time left. Of my blessed stay in Florida, that is. I am writing this post for Pentecost on the Vigil thereof, and even the morning of the Vigil because my husband and I will travel home today. Please say a little prayer for safe and easy travel that brings us home to our son and community, and please say another little prayer for those we leave behind here: my dear in-laws whom we love so very much!

Dear Jesus, please send Your Holy Spirit upon the Florida Andres that they may bask in Your Love even when those who have enjoyed pouring it upon them are in Calfornia. And also, dear Lord, please send Your angels (with Your mom's permission of course, since You have made her queen over them) to guide Miss Marcel and her Mister home safely and sweetly to all that awaits them there. Bless too, please, all those who have prayed for them - may the kindness of those who have prayed for the Andres rebound and multiply so that it showers down upon them in blessings beyond counting!

There, nothing like saying a prayer together! Which reminds me, before we launch full joy into Pentecost, I would love to say a couple more prayers with you - those Holy Spirit prayers that are so sweet and rich that they kind of remind me of the banana cheesecake I had last night. (A real revelation, as it was not from the Factory of Cheesecare Worship but actually from a nearby pizza place called Grimaldi's which had a kind of pandemic promotional with a slice of the BEST banana cheesecake ever for only $3!). The thing about prayer, though, is that it tastes even better than anything we can put in our mouth food-wise (except Jesus Himself!) because it doesn't pall. It has a thousand varieties (prayer), and I think we maybe need to start a prayer network similar to the food networks. Wouldn't that be fun? A lot like EWTN, so maybe they have it covered already, but there are two food networks now, I think, so maybe someday two Catholic networks too . . .

Meanwhile, here is our reflection from St. Cyril of Jerusalem, followed by our prayer to the Holy Spirit a la St. Mary Magdalene de Pazzi (doesn't that a la remind you of mode? I think I'm hungry!).

Reflection from St. Cyril:

His action is different in different people, but the Spirit Himself is always the same. In each person, Scripture says “the Spirit reveals His presence in a particular way for the common good.”

The Spirit comes gently and makes Himself known by His fragrance.
He is not felt as a burden, for He is light, very light. Rays of light and knowledge stream before Him as He approaches. The Spirit comes with the tenderness of a true friend and protector to save, to heal, to teach, to counsel, to strengthen, to console. The Spirit comes to enlighten the mind of the one who receives Him, and then, through him, the minds of others as well.

Prayer Proper from St. Mary Magdalene de Pazzi, Carmelite (feast May 25):

Come, Holy Spirit. Let the precious pearl of the Father and the Word’s delight come. Spirit of truth, you are the reward of the saints, the comforter of souls, light in the darkness, riches to the poor, treasure to lovers, food for the hungry, comfort to those who are wandering; to sum up, You are the One in whom all treasures are contained. Come! As You descended upon Mary that the Word might become flesh, work in us through grace as You worked in her through nature and grace. Come! Food of every chaste thought, fountain of all mercy, sum of all purity. Come! Consume in us whatever prevents us from being consumed in You.

Draw me, Holy Spirit of Love, we will run! 

You might wonder how we can top that awesome reflection and so lovely prayer. I was wondering that myself until a beautiful Nigerian priest started sending me his collection of novena prayers in preparation for Pentecost. Thank you, Father Ambrose!

What I found in Father's treasure trove just before sleep last night (or maybe it was upon waking this morning - yes, I think that was it) is the perfect Pentecost prayer to cap our novena! Do you ever feel a little letdown at the end of the novena when the feast arrives and you are plumb out of special prayers? I am not a long pray-er, that is, I don't do well with long prayers. But if I find a prayer I love (like the one from St. MM de P above, or my old go-to stand-by, "Come Holy Spirit, enlighten our minds with Your Mind and enflame our hearts with Your Love!"), then when I've said it 9 times over 9 days more or less (haha, usually less!), I like to continue it if I remember (which I pull off for about a day!) because it seems wrong for the culmination of 9 days of prayer to be no more prayer! I don't mean I think it's a sin, but rather it just feels like there ought to be a fast, then a feast, not vice versa!

So to share Fr. Ambrose's gift to me and a feast of a prayer for Pentecost itself, here is - and isn't it too funny when the Marian "brothers" Fr. Gaitley and Fr. Calloway are supplying us hand over fist with consecrations, each one more stunning than the last! - here is a Consecration to the Holy Spirit:

O Holy Spirit of Light and Love,
to You I consecrate my heart, mind, and will for all time and eternity.

May I be ever docile to Your Divine inspirations
and to the teachings of the holy Catholic Church whose infallible guide You are.

May my heart be ever inflamed with the love of God and love of neighbor.
May my will be ever in harmony with Your Divine will.

May my life faithfully imitate the life and virtues of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
To Him, with the Father and You, Divine Spirit, be honor and glory forever. Amen! 

Did I say I was worried that we'd run out of prayers once the Holy Spirit arrives in earnest?
I think I implied it, and I know I felt it a smidge, but the thrilling reality is that the day after Pentecost (which enfolds within its Divine embrace the sweet sisterly embrace of Mary and Elizabeth at the Visitation - since Pentecost is May 31st this year) - the day after Pentecost, June 1st, we will begin - God willing - a new novena to prepare our hearts to celebrate - are you sitting down?? -

The 125th anniversary of Therese's Act of Oblation to Merciful Love!

And you know how we little Marcelites are always forgetting things, like to say each day of a novena? Well this is, fittingly enough, the perfect little novena because it doesn't have one single end date feast! Two days after her own Act of Oblation to the Merciful Love of the Good God on June 9, 1897, Therese and Celine made their formal Act of Oblation to the same, together before the family statue of the Virgin of the Smile! So if June 9 scares you with its imminence, you can keep going - forgetting novena prayers or remembering them, as is your custom - until June 11th! On June 9th we also celebrate the feast of the great St. Ephrem the Syrian, poet of Our Lady, deacon and Doctor of the Church. On June 11, we have the feast of the oft-forgot but really terrific St. Barnabas, Apostle - not one of the original 12, but a co-worker with St. Paul, so in that 2nd wave of those we still honor with the name. His day is special to me because on it Jacques and Raissa Maritain, along with Raissa's very beloved sister Vera, were baptized!

All that is coming soon, but I have yet to tell you more exciting news. This is BIG!!!

Yesterday I got a phone call from Nigeria. Yes, that is big too, but it was even bigger in the news it brought. The call was from one of my favorite sons, and in the course of a delightful conversation I was informed that there are more saints in the making. I mean the official canonized kind, and the news is TREMENDOUS! I am so consoled that even plagues can't stop saints from rising to the top and shining down on us like so many bright starts to light our little way. READY??? 

I get my Saint-news from Hagiography Circle - and you can click on that bold name to go there too, when you want to find the latest, although I must admit I usually get my news from a couple Saintly-news-hounds who are quicker to see the news than I am. Then I go to Hagiography Circle!

Here is the latest in saints from that glorious site! I will put the 3 that particularly made my month at the top - I can't believe it, and yet I can. So Thrilling!!!!!!! The others I will include because my heavens, these are our brothers and sisters too, even if we don't know them yet. But ah, those first three are almost a case of read it and weep! Hooray for the Holy Spirit who makes saints and then makes them again, first in their lives of union with Jesus on earth, and then in their glory recognized by holy Mother Church! Alleluia and Woohoo!!

VATICAN CITY - Yesterday, 26 May 2020, Pope Francis received Cardinal Angelo Becciu, Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, in a private audience. In the course of the audience, the Holy Father authorized the Congregation to promulgate decrees regarding:

-  the miracle attributed to the intercession of Blessed CHARLES DE FOUCAULD (in religion: CHARLES OF JESUS), priest of the diocese of Viviers; born in Strasbourg, Bas-Rhin (France) on 15 September 1858 and died in Tamanrasset, Tamanghasset (Algeria) on 1 December 1916; beatified on 13 November 2005;

-  the miracle attributed to the intercession of the Venerable Servant of God MICHAEL McGIVNEY, priest of the archdiocese of Hartford and founder of the Knights of Columbus; born on 12 August 1852 in Waterbury, Connecticut (United States of America) and died in Thomaston, Connecticut (United States of America) on 14 August 1890; heroic virtues confirmed on 15 March 2008;
-  the miracle attributed to the intercession of the Venerable Servant of God PAULINE-MARIE JARICOT, layperson of the archdiocese of Lyon and founder of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith and the Living Rosary Association; born on 22 July 1799 in Lyon, Rhône (France) and died there on 9 January 1862; heroic virtues confirmed on 25 February 1963;

-  the miracle attributed to the intercession of Blessed CÉSAR DE BUS, priest and founder of the Congregation of the Father of the Christian Doctrine; born in Cavaillon, Vaucluse (France) on 3 February 1544 and died in Avignon, Vaucluse (France) on 15 April 1607; beatified on 27 April 1975;
-  the miracle attributed to the intercession of Blessed MARIA DOMENICA MANTOVANI (in religion: MARIA GIUSEPPINA OF THE IMMACULATA), cofounder and first superior general of the Institute of the Little Sisters of the Holy Family; born on 12 November 1862 in Castelletto di Brenzone, Verona (Italy) and died there on 2 February 1934; beatified on 27 April 2013;
-  the martyrdom of the Servants of God SIMÈON CARDON and 5 COMPANIONS, professed religious of the Cistercian Congregation of Casamari; killed in Casamari, Frosinone (Italy) in odium fidei between 13 and 16 May 1799;
-  the martyrdom of the Servant of God SANTE SPESSOTTO (in religion: COSMA), professed priest of the Order of Friars Minor; born on 28 January 1923 in Mansué, Treviso (Italy) and killed in San Juan Nonualco, Zacatecoluca (El Salvador) in odium fidei on 14 June 1980; and,
- the heroic virtues of the Servant of God MELCHIOR-MARIE DE MARION BRÉSILLAC, titular bishop of Prusa, ex vicar apostolic of Coimbatore, and founder of the Society of African Mission; born on 2 December 1813 in Castelnaudary, Aude (France) and died in Freetown (Sierra Leone) on 25 June 1859

*     *     *

As if that weren't enough . . . our dear brother and internet patron Carlo Acutis, whose beatification is scheduled in June in Assisi, may just have that event happen with zoom participation! How perfect that would be! I was lucky enough to be part of a virtual tour of Assisi a few weeks back, and I heard the Bishop of Assisi, the sweetest man ever, talk about how he might go ahead, despite plague time, and possibly do the beatification with world wide participation thanks to the world wide web that so fascinated - and became such a tool of Love for - our brother Carlo. Plus this may be the month I get my act together and write his and Charlene Richard's book at last!

Speaking of books, it is high time I explain the reversal of Babel! Don't hold your breath waiting for the reversal of my own babble - that was a bit of a joke (and sorry if you are disappointed :) - but Babel reversed by Pentecost is much more dependable, and we are doing our little part, even while we continue to babble.

Guess what's new at Little Way Books? 

Thanks to the amazing ladies who help me (God bless you dear M, N, Sr M, LM, and T!), there is another link you can click to get a new free ebook. THIS IS SO AWESOME!!!!!

It is (drum roll please) - the bilingual Spanish/English Stations of the Cross with Our Sister St. Therese!!! Simply go to suzieandres.com (our welcome page) and scroll down until you see the picture of the book - then click on it! Or if you are feeling lazy, or simply want more immediate gratification (and that must be a good thing when these are holy things that gratify!) click HERE!

I can't believe how amazing my elves are. They have helped God shower us with book-miracle-roses, and you will love what you see! The print book will be available at amazon soon, and it is gorgeous! But the ebook is ready now, so enjoy our Pentecost gift and let St. Therese lead you closer into the Heart of Our Love!

And now, I'd better wish you a happy Pentecost and get moving so I can write again soon, though 3000 miles from where I write today! Enjoy the descent of the Holy Spirit - and may the Wisdom, Love, Light, Joy, Peace, and absolute MYSTERY of God fill you with everything you desire and need! (And your loved ones too!) 

Come Holy Spirit!
Draw me, we will run!

P.S. I almost forgot to tell you the meaning of life! I finally got to spend a little time in more quiet prayer this morning (don't feel too sorry for me about that "finally" - it just means I didn't stand in my way as much as I usually do :). And Jesus was kind enough to tell me the Meaning of Life, so I thought I'd better write and tell you before I forget.

The Meaning of Life is God's infinitely tender and solicitous love for us.
or if you want it more in action form (as in, "What is the meaning of life? What should I do?" - well then the Meaning of Life is to Let God Love us. As St. Elizabeth of the Trinity put it, "Let yourself be loved." That's it! Thank You, Holy Spirit, for making it all so simple. And may Your little daughter Therese continue to shower this crazy world with Heavenly Roses in abundance, and even more so!

 Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, in a private audience. In the course of the audience, the Holy Father authorized the Congregation to promulgate eight decrees regarding miracles, martyrdom and heroic