St. Catherine of Siena is the one who said, "All the way to Heaven is Heaven," and Blessed Fra Angelico painted the picture of her words. As to who took the picture of his photo, well, you know life is good and God is crazy generous when you realize the best way to put a clear image on your blog is to use the photo you took yourself when you were in France last Christmas. WOW! Thank You Jesus!!

But now we must ask the question of the day: Why is it Heaven all the way to Heaven? 

That's a bit like asking, "How do I love Thee? Let me count the ways . . ." (a question originally asked by Elizabeth Barrett as she was falling in love with Robert Browning, or perhaps it was asked by Elizabeth Barrett Browning as she thanked the good Lord that he scooped her up quite literally and married her because God is bigger than anything).

1. I love Thee (and Heaven is paved with Heaven along the way) because You came to us in the Incarnation, stayed with us in the Blessed Sacrament, and want to live in the closest intimacy with us until the day we see You without any veils! (for more details, check out this book: Something New with St. Therese, Her Eucharistic Miracle)

2. I love Thee because You gave us St. Therese to teach us her Little Way to Heaven which consists of sleeping in Your arms while You lift us there. (Phew. I couldn't do all those stairs, but surrendering myself like a child in Jesus' arms, while sometimes a challenge, takes my breath away in a much more pleasant fashion!)

3. I love Thee because You have given us so many cool saints who catch our hands and drag us to You on the days we've forgotten to climb into Your arms! 

Like St. Joseph of Cupertino, whose feast day was yesterday. He was such a cool guy! Not the sharpest knife in the drawer, not the brightest bulb in the pack, and yet, it was thanks to him that many of us got through school in one piece (and with some peace). 

Here's what our patroness St. Therese says about him. Her sister Celine (Sister Genevieve of the Holy Face) was complaining as Therese was dying, "God will not be able to take me immediately after your death because I won't be good enough." 

Therese replied:

"It makes no difference; you remember St. Joseph Cupertino, his intelligence was mediocre, and he was uninstructed, knowing perfectly only this verse of the Gospel: 'Beatus venter qui te.' [Blessed is the womb that bore Thee.' Luke 11:27] Questioned precisely on this subject, he answered so well that all were in admiration, and he was received with great honors for the priesthood, along with his three companions, without any further examination. For they judged after hearing his sublime answers that his companions knew as perfectly as he did. 

"Thus I will answer for you, and God will give you gratis all He will have already given me."
(Her Last Conversations, July 12, 1897)

I'm pretty excited to get there (to Heaven) and have Therese answer for me, though knowing me I'll probably interrupt her! But I'm guessing my fate might be much like Celine's. Therese promised her and the others to come back and get them quickly. (Well, maybe she didn't promise Pauline/Mother Agnes, knowing she'd have several decades of work ahead of her, all of it regarding Therese.) But God's timing - which I admit is perfect - is so different from ours. You know that old saw about a single day and a thousand years . . . and it turns out that Therese didn't answer for Celine (when Celine met their True Love and ours) for another 52 years, no kidding!

Let's see, 52 years from now I'll be 102. I am thinking lately of joining the YLI, a wonderful Catholic organization that stands for Young Ladies' Institute. Believe it or not (and I am totally serious, though also laughing!), once when my husband and I looked over their literature, we found that most of these young ladies lived well into their 100s. We were saying goodbye (through the pages of their national member magazine) to women who were 104, 109, and so on! We have a wonderful group of these women (nowhere near that old, as far as looks can show) in our parish, and they have invited me to accompany them on an annual visit to the seminary for lunch with the seminarians. I am so thrilled! And clearly this means my chances for many decades left in exile are increasing by the minute (both mine and God's).

If you've been praying for me in our triple novena with our longer prayers, or (please feel free in your prayers!) by simply blurting out occasionally, "Marcel, get a miracle for Suzie!" (or if you are praying as we like to do, as Therese and Marcel and Jesus have taught us, by a sigh of love or a glance toward Heaven or a glance at Jesus here on earth in the Blessed Sacrament), thank you!!!

Your prayers are really working. I am either getting more cancer, or staying the same, or it's disappearing!  All of these are great options because none of them rule out a miraculous cure, and as you may have guessed, we're all about helping Marcel here. You might be thinking he ought to help himself, but we are of a different mind.

In a word, we are little. Pathetic is another word for it, but that has such a derogatory ring that we prefer little. And for little ones, there is only Jesus to save us. So, we are counting on Jesus to give Marcel a miracle whenever He damn well pleases (okay, that seems funny to me, but feel free to read "dang" if that offended you) - and Jesus our sweet Savior is welcome to use me as the miracle if He would like to . . . but no rush! I'm meeting so many great people and still looking forward to some form of treatment that will require other people to bring dinner to me and my family. This is a great gig!

Meanwhile the first visit with an oncologist on Tuesday was excellent. It taught us some things we are not looking for and prepped us for our second opinion with City of Hope. Then the PET scan (sorry to shout PET but that's what they do) was cancelled, but that's good too because I got to have a banana nut muffin with a friend yesterday instead of fasting from carbs, and I am writing this blog post instead of getting ready to drive too far for a procedure that might not be necessary. 

Yes, there is a reason I have been called Pollysuzanna, and I'm sticking to it! Glad, glad, glad, and grateful, grateful, grateful. Not to mention smiling! How could I not be when I have so many people praying for me? I am experiencing what others have before me: as our wonderful Fr. Chung stage whispered to me (complete with Korean accent) in church the other day, and had to practically shout when I couldn't understand: "Prayer works!"

How could it not? God is so good, so mighty and so merciful. We obtain from Him as much as we hope for, and I'm hoping a whole lot. Those saints who take our hands and drag us, even when we're kicking and screaming, even when we're distracted by all the shiny things in the dust, even when we are trying to yank free to get a gelato, they are absolutely adamant about this - God loves us and wants us to ask for everything so we can help Him to give us everything. As Therese said to her friend and novice Marie of the Trinity, we insult God by not expecting great things, whereas we bring Him tremendous joy by asking for the moon! (Okay that's a loose translation, but it's exactly what she meant!)

For those who would like a reprise of our novena prayers in the longer form, here they are, and please remember I'm including all your intentions too!

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. And through the intercession of your littlest son, Servant of God Marcel Van, may Suzie be miraculously healed from her cancer, and may all our other needed and desired miracles be granted. Amen!

*  *  *

O Saint Padre Pio, holy bearer of the Wounds of Christ, accept us this day as your spiritual sons and daughters and keep us always on the Little Way by your intercession. And do thou, O our Spiritual Father, stay there at the Gates of Heaven until all of your spiritual children have entered through, even and including us. Through Christ our Lord, Amen.

​Dear Padre Pio, I recall your promise to the Lord, “Lord, I will stand at the gates of heaven until I see all my spiritual children have entered.” Encouraged by your gracious promise, I ask you to accept me as a spiritual child and to intercede for my prayer requests, including getting Marcel Van to intercede to heal Suzie's cancer completely and miraculously. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever, world without end, Amen.

Draw me, we will run!

Padre Pio - or St. Padre Pio as we now call him - was one funny guy. He was happy because he was in love with Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, and as we can all say of ourselves too (praise God!), they were even more in love with him!

Here he is laughing, and he's laughing because we are not asking him to give us miracles today, but merely using him as a messenger to wake up his little brother, Servant of God Marcel Van. I think Pio's plan is to tickle Marcel, but he might just give him a friendly poke with one (now ungloved) finger. Can't you picture it?

They both will then start talking to Our Blessed Mother because Marcel is asleep on her lap. He isn't shown here in the photo of Our Lady of Grace (the favorite Marian image of Pio's in San Giovanni Rotundo), but that's because Marcel wasn't in Heaven when the picture was taken for Pio's Capuchin friary. Now, though, you can't bet your bottom dollar Marcel knows the comfiest place to take a nap, and that's always on Mary's lap.

Why don't we turn to Our dear Mama Mary with them? We can use the same novena prayer we've already been using and launch into our part-two-of-three which will lead us directly (in 9 days) to September 23, Padre Pio's feast day . . . and just to make sure Pio doesn't feel too ignored (he sure has enough miracles to his credit, but we like to go with the underdog), let's add (just today, or each day if you feel like it) the prayer asking Padre Pio to be our spiritual father. This way if it seems kind of boring to just keep asking Marcel to heal Miss Marcel's cancer, we can spice it up by asking Pio to be our dad. He's a great father, and while I don't have time now to go into details, I've enjoyed both reading and telling about his kindness and compassion before, so here are a couple of links to learn more. The first essay is by me, and the second by our dear friend and children's book author (and substack-don-dolindo writer) Maura McKeegan:

THE REAL FACE OF PADRE PIO

PADRE PIO, PURGATORY, AND PLENARY INDULGENCES

And now for our novena prayers:

​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. And through the intercession of your littlest son, Servant of God Marcel Van, may Suzie be miraculously healed from her cancer, and may all our other needed or desired miracles be granted. Amen!

*  *  *

O Saint Padre Pio, holy bearer of the Wounds of Christ, accept us this day as your spiritual sons and daughters and keep us always on the Little Way by your intercession. And do thou, O our Spiritual Father, stay there at the Gates of Heaven until all of your spiritual children have entered through, even and including us. Through Christ our Lord, Amen.

​(And just for good measure :)

Dear Padre Pio, I recall your promise to the Lord, “Lord, I will stand at the gates of heaven until I see all my spiritual children have entered.” Encouraged by your gracious promise, I ask you to accept me as a spiritual child and to intercede for my prayer requests, including getting Marcel Van to intercede to heal Suzie's cancer completely and miraculously. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever, world without end, Amen.

Draw me, we will run!

P.S. I haven't been miraculously healed yet, but I sure have been sustained and refreshed by all your prayers! Thank you!!!

I am asking Our Lord to divert some of the many graces and roses pouring down from Heaven back to all your own special intentions, but rest assured (on Mary's lap) that I also have asked Him to keep me pain free. I am so grateful for His and your kindness!!

I will have a PET scan on September 19, and it will be fun to see what they find. St. Therese says in her wonderful Letter 197, "Let us stay away from all that sparkles." Apparently that is what we want to do in the PET (again, no actual pets will be harmed in the making of the film) scan, namely, stay away from all that lights up . . . but we'll see!

I think Marcel might very much want to make it worse before he makes it better, so that he'll have a bigger miracle to advance his cause, so that he can be more officially recognized as the Apostle of Children and the Second Little Flower (in other words, so he can help lots more people when they come to know him and start asking too) . . . or perhaps our little brother is just waiting for the right moment and when we see the scan results we'll just be all clear and good to go!

​I'll keep you posted, and meanwhile, Our Lady of Sorrows is hiding behind the Sunday today, so be sure to cheer her up with a Hail Mary and a cupcake! She is happy to know that Jesus' Resurrection and our little Easter have taken precedence over her sadness. What mom wants to make her kids sad? Praise God for her maternity, and Happy Sunday!

A recap of last week's episode, just like you might find at the beginning of a two-part Adam West Batman, or better yet, at the start of the next installment of your favorite K-Drama (Crash Landing on You!) . . .We are in the midst of our annual TRIPLE NOVENA:

1. Starting Sept 6 (32nd anniversary of our clothing in Carmel) we pray for 9 days leading to the Exaltation of the Holy Cross (Sept 14).

2. Starting Sept 15 (Our Lady of Sorrows) we pray for 9 more days leading to the Feast of St. Padre Pio (Sept 23).

3. Starting on Padre Pio day (Sept 23) we pray for 9 days to the FEAST OF ST THERESE our patroness and sister, and the sister of Servant of God Marcel Van who needs a miracle (and we're setting one up for him) to be officially recognized as Blessed.

I forgot to mention in the previous post which announced our novena that this is a VERY SPECIAL NOVENA INDEED! Do you remember Calvinball? Calvin (of "and Hobbes" fame) got to make up rules as he went along. And so too do we!

Rules: 

1. You can start any day you like.
2. You can miss as many days as you like.
3. Just in virtue of reading this or hearing about it in any way, your intentions are included.

So don't think of yourself as late, or conversely (if you were early) don't worry that I'm repeating myself . . . but simply rejoice in this beautiful "Old French Prayer for Friends" on this joyful feast of the Nativity of our Blessed Mother. Here we go:

FIRST NOVENA PRAYER (back by popular demand, a fan favorite)

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. And through the intercession of your littlest son, Servant of God Marcel Van, may Suzie be miraculously healed from her cancer, and may all our other needed or desired miracles be granted. Amen!

That is our triple novena . . .

SO WHAT IS OUR TRIPLE FEAST?

1. Birthday of Mary! (September 8, long ago - remember, a lady never reveals her exact age)

2. Profession (union with Jesus) of St. Therese, the Little Flower (September 8, 1890, Lisieux, France)

3. Profession (union with Jesus) of Servant of God Marcel Van, the Second Little Flower (September 8, 1946, Hanoi, Vietnam)

Two final questions:

Why are we saying a triple novena?
and
Who the heck is Servant of God Marcel Van?

I will answer the first (why are we saying a triple novena) in three parts:

1. Because it's fun to link these amazing dates together and have the chance to importune little Jesus three times in a row. I especially like that we step on Padre Pio's broad shoulders to climb up to Therese's feet in the third part of our novena.

2. Because Miss Marcel, who is Suzie (ack! the curtain is pulled back! Shades of the Wizard of Oz!), i.e. me, has a little breast cancer that has suddenly become interesting by spreading to some nearby "but we were just minding our own business!" lymph nodes - same slow growing, low grade, non-aggressive (friendly, we like to call it) cancer, which being by definition very slothlike and lazy (lazy is good; see Marcel's Conversations, and since I can't remember exactly where, you'll just have to read the whole book!) ought not to have traveled even this short distance.

3. And finally we are saying our triple novena because we all need LOTS of miracles, and  our buddy Marcel Van, who is merely a Servant of God - the very lowest ranking of those in the queue for canonization - needs a miracle, so why not get together and make it happen?

Which leads us to our second question and answer:
Who the heck is Marcel Van anyhow?

It has come to my attention that a little bio of Marcel is in order because many kind people are happy to pray our prayer to Marcel but may be wondering, as a kind friend recently expressed it, "I'm saying that prayer to Marcel Van for you but who is Marcel Van?" or as it was expressed even more endearingly some years ago by another dear friend upon being presented with a picture of Marcel, "Oh! I love him! . . . Who is he?"

There are two ways to answer this question.
One way is to blather on indefinitely. 
The other is to give you links so you can go find out what I've already said in my previous blathering.

How about we do a little bit of both?

So first, the facts of Marcel Van:

Vietnamese. Catholic from birth. Born 1928 in Hanoi, entered the Redemptorists when he was about 16, became a lay brother. He was never a priest but he was fully in the Order, living in a community of Vietnamese novices taught by French Canadian missionaries who brought St. Alphonsus' Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer to Vietnam in 1925.

Marcel was in the south of Vietnam in the early 50s when all hell started breaking loose, and he requested permission to go back to the north so someone would love Jesus amidst the Godless communists there. Once back in the nearly evacuated Redemptorist community in Hanoi, Marcel was soon arrested on a trumped up charge and spent the next several years in communist camps, finally dying of love in the camps in 1959 at age 31. Just as St. Therese died of love but it looked like tuberculosis (that was another cause but not the deepest cause), so Marcel died of love but it looked like beriberi, or from another perspective, martyrdom (since the beriberi was due to horrible living conditions in the camps where he was because of the communists hatred of his Faith). 

Marcel's first postulator (main one working to show he was a saint) was Cardinal Francis Xavier van Thuan, another amazing Vietnamese holy one. So holy that he died before he got very far with Marcel's cause, zipped straight to Jesus, and now has his own cause for beatification and canonization. Delightfully, Cardinal van Thuan has moved ahead of Marcel in the ranks and is now called "Venerable" because his heroic virtues have been examined, discussed, and formally recognized and approved.

That is Marcel's story in a nutshell except for one MAJOR and ESSENTIAL fact:

When he was a boy in the minor seminary, Marcel read St. Therese's memoir Story of a Soul. He asked her (like we might) to be his big sister. He felt, just like we might, that she said yes, and so he was filled with joy - just like might happen to any one of us when we connect with a new saint.

Except.
Unlike most of us, Marcel then heard a voice.

Okay, I hear voices too, but they say, "Mom, when's dinner?"

This voice said to Marcel, "Van!" {his name before he entered the Redemptorists and was called, in religion, Marcel.

"Van! My dear little brother!"

In his own words, from his Autobiography:

Then I glanced round to see if there really was someone calling me . . . I heard again the same voice, gentle as the passing breeze, which called, "Van! My dear brother!" I was stunned and a little troubled, but I remained calm as usual, and guessed immediately that this voice which called me was a supernatural voice. I then let out a hurried cry of joy: "Oh! It's my sister Saint Therese!" The reply was not long in coming:

"Yes, it is really your sister Saint Therese who is here . . . I have come here in reply to your words which have echoed in my heart. Little brother! You will be personally and from now on my little brother, just as you have chosen me, personally, to be your big sister. From now onwards our two souls will be separated no longer by any obstacle as they formerly were. They are already united in the sole love of God. From this moment I will let your know all my beautiful thoughts on love, that which has occurred in my life and has transformed me in the infinite Love of God. Do you know why we are meeting today? It is God Himself who has arranged this meeting. He wished that the lessons of love which He has taught me in the secret of my soul are perpetuated in this world, and, for that, He has deigned to choose you as a little secretary to carry out the work He wishes to entrust to you." (Autobiography, 590)

Now perhaps you can see why I'm crazy about this daring duo:
Little St. Therese, Doctor of the Church and universal patron of missionaries on a par with St. Francis Xavier himself . . . and little Marcel Van, her Vietnamese spiritual little brother, most remarkably unremarkable in his littleness and just-like-usness - these two have a message for us, and a mission. Their mission is to spread the love of God and make Him loved. Their message is that He loves us infinitely in all our pathetic humanness, our woundedness, our poverty, our "but how could I ever be a saint, I'm just an idiot with 800 faults more obvious to me and the rest of the world every single day" or worse yet our, "But then again I guess I do have some rather wonderful qualities that make me better than every one else, so of course God would love me . . ." Yes, He does! From the top of your head to the fullest extent of your toes! HE LOVES YOU INFINITELY and wants you to be happy with Him both IN THIS LIFE OF EXILE and in the next REAL LIFE of Heaven which lasts FOREVER!

So on this day of September 8, Mary Immaculate was born.
On this day of September 8 many centuries later, little Therese Martin pronounced her vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience as a Discalced Carmelite nun, which means that she became one with Jesus like those who say their wedding vows become one in virtue of those vows. (Which is why Holy Mother Church won't let people write their own vows. She wants us to get it right and actually do what we intend: namely become one with that other person through the awesome power of the words we say with understanding and free consent of our will.)

Then on this day some decades later, Marcel Van pronounced his vows as a Redemptorist brother and thus became one with Jesus on the same day as his sister, mentor, and ideal, St. Therese. 

He tells us (again in his Autobiography, though my favorite book - bar none - is his Conversations with Jesus, Mary, and Therese):

"The eighth of September. What a happy day! I see written there a double memory, which will attract my attention each year. It is first of all the birthday of the Mother of God and at the same time the day when my sister St. Therese celebrated her spiritual marriage with Jesus, her spouse of love. Since the day when I got to know the book The Story of a Soul, I have always wished to resemble Saint Therese, and I said to myself, 'If the day of my profession could coincide with that of the profession of my sister, how happy I would be!' Today this wish has become a reality, and it is once again a favour that Jesus wished for his friend. Yes, my Father, that is Love. When one loves there is no difficulty, no matter how big, that cannot be overcome; above all when one is dealing with a friend as powerful as is my friend Jesus. . . Indeed, in the presence of this infinitely magnificent Love and its immense kindness, it felt as if my soul was immersed in a state of extreme intoxication. . ." (859)

If you would like to know more about Marcel Van, you can find a few of my articles about him by clicking HERE

or read at the website of our favorite translator of Marcel's writings into English, Jack Keogan HERE

Don't forget to pray, hope, and don't worry (in the words of our friend Padre Pio), or if you are tired, don't forget to take a nap. It's a feast day of Our Lady and a special anniversary for Therese and Marcel, so help God to spoil you with your favorite treat, put your feet up, lay your head back, and may the peace beyond all understanding, the Holy Spirit of Love and sweetness, envelop you and fill you with joy!

Draw me, we will run!

And the Lord answered me: "Write the vision, make it plain upon tablets, so that he may run who reads it. For still the vision awaits its time; it hastens to the end - it will not lie. If it seems slow, wait for it; it will surely come; it will not delay."  (Habakkuk 2: 2-3)


"I have chosen you to tell everyone." - Jesus to Mary Magdalene (in Marie Miller's "Woman")

I have news! I am now officially interesting, and you can bet this makes me very happy.

I know, I know, our guiding star St. Therese exhorts us in my favorite of her letters (Letter 197 to her sister and godmother Marie of the Sacred Heart) to stay far from all that sparkles, and I admit, this has perplexed me. But then she goes on, "Let us love our littleness . . .then we will be poor in spirit and however far we are, Jesus will come to get us. He will transform us into flames of love."

As if that isn't enough (ah, nothing is enough but God, and we don't get Him completely yet, so let's thank Him for His messengers), she continues in the words our Holy Father Pope Francis said were enough to have earned her that sparkly Doctorate conferred on her after 97 years of pleading by the whole world:

"It is confidence and nothing but confidence that must lead us to Love."

And finally, she encourages us, "Since we see the way, let's run together! Yes, I feel it. Jesus wants to give us the same graces. He wants to give us Heaven for free!"

This is excellent wisdom (not just your garden variety - although once you've had "just your garden variety," you'll never see a tomato in the same way again!). I am all about Heaven for free. But don't worry, I'm not rushing there yet. I'm just continuing to meander along our Little Way smelling the many roses friends have been providing (ah, I do love roses!!!) - and going to a couple of doctor's appointments to see what Marcel has been doing lately.

So there I was yesterday with son #2 (my chauffeur) with me as the Doc repeated the news I'd first heard a few days ago on the feast of St. Gregory the Great and St. Piux X (hooray for at least two calendars, and as many more as we can find!): 

"I don't know how this happened . . ." he said.

I turned to said son and whispered, "Marcel."

Or as a friend said, a friend who knows both me and my altar ego well, "Ah. I was wondering what Marcel had up his sleeve - or in his socks!"

I had warned my husband that Marcel is an imp. I like to ask my caro sposo for his permission and approval before I launch into a new endeavor, lest I fail to take advantage of his eminent prudence (i.e. lest I fall on my face and he isn't there to pick me up). So when I thought of asking Marcel to intercede for a miracle to advance his cause, specifically for him to obtain from God my complete and instantaneous healing from cancer, I did warn DH that Marcel might make it worse before better in order to get a big enough miracle for the advancement he needs.

My husband is such a trusting man.
Guileless, even.
Is it harsh to call him naive?
At least we can say he's a babe in the woods when it comes to the clever workings of the likes of Marcel and me, despite his having known us both a long time. 

My in-laws gave us one and only one piece of advice when we married:
"Never say I told you so."

It was a relief to find out thirty plus years later that they never meant don't think it!
Impossible!" they laughed, when I said I was afraid I had definitely thought it over the years.

Since I am not allowed to say I told you so, let's just say I saw Marcel's handwriting on the wall and could have predicted the sequel . . .

No more suspense then:

The little tumor in my right breast was removed with clear margins. That is good!
That means they got it all, as far as that little lump goes. That's very good!

The sentinal lymph nodes that were removed (three in honor of the Trinity, all in a little clump) then SHOCKED THE SOCKS RIGHT OFF my good doctor.

"I'm sorry for your bad luck," he said yesterday. We then got into a rather sweet altercation because I assured him I didn't have bad luck, and he assured me I did. I said he wasn't allowed to feel bad for me and he said he sure could. 

Well, if he doesn't understand Marcel's ways of making it worse before he makes it better, I can't blame him. You need a rather blonde and possibly devious soul to understand these things. Speaking of which, I did ask him if it might be the time to go blonde, and he said now might be the time!

The upshot is that I have more cancer than he expected, though not necessarily a lot. Certainly not as much as I momentarily misunderstood him to say. When he said that all 3 nodes had cancer, and that one had 10 mm of cancer, I naturally understood him to say 10 cm of cancer. For a clear explanation and a somewhat prophetic account of my cluelessness about measurement, see Nate Bargatze in Washington's Dream HERE. (Please do follow that link - it will make everything so much more enjoyable!) Happily that was just my inner blonde imagining 10 cm. The reality of 10 mm is not that big . . .but it was nonetheless surprising because the cancer in the breast (and I think the cancer in this little lymph node clump is the same) was low grade and the tumor was small - which adds up to non-aggressive and slow growing, which means it shouldn't have had time to go anywhere else.

Hence I am interesting.
I told the Doc that he and his colleague (who will be my oncologist) could then write up a journal article on me, but he gave the impression that he doesn't want me to be that interesting.

Meanwhile, what was going to be a quick surgery (which I, for one, enjoyed), an easy recovery (so far so good!!), and a bit of radiation ("No chemo!" I kept telling everyone, "That's the bad one!") followed by some estrogen blocking pills (and after all, I did find menopause kind of funny the first time around: I'd wonder why the room/church/house/world had gotten so very hot, I'd take off my sweater, and then I'd have to control my laughter - it seemed hilarious that I could be old enough to be having hot flashes!) . . .has become SO MUCH MORE INTERESTING!

There is a whole world of people out there I haven't yet met!
I haven't forced St. Therese holy cards or Miraculous Medals on them yet!
I haven't confused them yet with my dark humor, my silly humor, my frequently ill-timed humor, and I haven't had a chance to smile at them and start conversations we never have time to finish. I haven't yet made the vision plain so they may run: the vision of God's infinite love for us that makes life so much sweeter even while we're stuck here in exile. 

So now it looks like chemo will happen (when will I learn to never say never?!) - but hey, they have anti-nausea meds and some funny ice-cap thing that you can wear on your head to keep your hair. Son #2 pointed out it was time for me to make Husband #1 feel better about his scalp (by having a matching one), and the doctor gave the A-Okay to my plan for "lived-in blonde." I'm just having a hard time seeing what's not to enjoy about this.

Okay, there was a moment the other night when for the first time (I won't give you details) it seemed like I had cancer. But the moment was quite short-lived, and a kind of good wake-up call. 

"Hello?" I said.
"Hi, this is Marcel! Just wanted to let you know that everyone's prayers are working! That's why you've had no pain, hardly any discomfort, and nothing icky to experience or feel."

No wonder why I am enjoying this!
PRAYER WORKS!!

Which brings us to our triple novena . . .

In past years we've started around now to do a Triple Novena. This means that we pray a simple prayer for 9 days leading up to the Exaltation of the Cross on September 14. Then for 9 more days, another simple prayer leading to Padre Pio's feast. And then, the icing on the cupcake, 9 more days of a simple prayer takes us to that FEAST OF FEASTS - no, not Easter - no, not Christmas - no, not my birthday - THE FEAST OF ST. THERESE the Little Flower on October 1st! (For purists you can finish September 30 on the day she died, or for double dippers, you can celebrate again on October 3, her feast in the old calendar still celebrated in the traditional Latin Mass/extraordinary form.)

A friend who has been extremely perceptive lately (well, for decades, most likely, but lately she is sharing her extreme perceptions with me) - the same one who wasn't surprised at those lymph nodes because she knew Marcel was up to his usual tricks - had a wonderful insight into how we could pray and involve our other favorite saints without taking the miracle away from Marcel.

You see, if we want the miracle to be attributed to Marcel in order to move him from the low rung of Servant of God to a higher rung like Blessed, we need to be praying fairly exclusively to him, asking his intercession with little Jesus for the miracle of my instant and complete and permanent cure from the cancer (which is now a more impressive and interesting cancer, and thus more likely to impress those very critical doctors who help the Vatican distinguish between miracles and good luck). 

Here is what my friend wrote:

"Lest Marcel not get the credit, I was so afraid of invoking someone else’s help for a cure that I didn’t talk to Jesus, Mary, and Joseph or St Therese about you, except to say, “Suzie’s sick.”  But this morning it came to me that I could pray to them to make sure that you are cured obviously through Marcel’s intercession."

Yes, that sounds just right to me. And lest we forget how powerful our prayers are, let me say something I should have told you about a month ago:

We did a 54 day rosary novena that ended on the Feast of the Assumption.
MIRACLES ENSUED!
At least two of the huge miracles we had asked for have now been granted by our kind and merciful Father in Heaven, and more are in the works.

AND the best kind of novena turns out to be not just the one that gets an answer straight out of the box, but the one that needs to be repeated until it becomes almost perpetual, and THEN God answers.

Case in point:
I keep laughing as I tell the story of the engagement of Son #1 to The Loveliest Catholic Woman on the Planet. It all started (and then progressed to engagement in 2 months) when my husband and I said a novena to St. Joseph for our sons' vocations. The Loveliest Catholic Woman (etc.) started a St. Joseph novena for her own vocation the same day (9 days before St. Joseph's March 19 solemnity). And then they met and the rest is history in the making. 

But the reason I laugh - besides utter giddiness and absolute joy - is that this CAN'T be the first time I've prayed to St. Joseph for my son's vocation. It might be the 9000th time, and perhaps that was the kind of novena needed!

So thank you a million zillion for the prayers you've already said. You are in mine for sure! And now if you're game, feel free to join in our next novenas - for your own as well as our intentions!

TRIPLE NOVENA:

1. Starting today (Sept 6 - 32nd anniversary of our clothing in Carmel) we pray for 9 days leading to the Exaltation of the Holy Cross (Sept 14).

2. Starting Sept 15 (Our Lady of Sorrows) we pray for 9 more days leading to the Feast of St. Padre Pio (Sept 23).

3. Starting on Padre Pio day (Sept 23) we pray for 9 days to the FEAST OF ST THERESE our patroness and sister, and the sister of Servant of God Marcel Van who needs a miracle (and we're setting one up for him) to be officially recognized as Blessed.

FIRST NOVENA PRAYER (back by popular demand, a fan favorite)

An Old French Prayer for Friends

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. And through the intercession of your littlest son, Servant of God Marcel Van, may Suzie be miraculously healed from her cancer. Amen.

Draw me, we will run!

"God does not demand great actions from us, but simply surrender and gratitude." - little St. Therese

That may be my favorite quote from St. Therese because we are so easily tricked into thinking we are supposed to do great and be great. Ah, but the joy of the Little Way of Spiritual Childhood which gained Therese a Doctorate is that we don't have to do anything big, just love God from our spot in the firmament (or is it terra firma?) - well, simply surrender ourselves like a child into its mama or papa's arms, and sigh with gratitude.

Easy for me to say! I just had the most pain free cancer surgery ever! Granted I'm still a little stymied that no pink swag was offered (2 dear ones who had been through this before assured me there would be pink swag offered) - the nurses even laughed at me slightly scoffingly when I suggested this during the last pre-op (I love that anything happening between diagnosis and operation is "pre-op" and thus sounds very grand!), just before it was time for "Scalpel, please."

Luckily for us all, I was well out of it when (and if) the doctor put on his Marcus Welby act (or Doogie Howser or George Clooney in E.R. - gosh, it's been a long time since I've even heard about a medical show! Hugh Laurie in House? Is that about hospitals?).

The point is that anesthesiologist did a marvelous job. Then the surgeon apparently did his job, though I could hardly tell you because if you asked me, nothing happened! Just a nice snooze, an easy return from dreamland, and I was on my little way home being driven by my chauffeur of 36 years. He's remarkably good.

So I am grateful! I got to go to early Mass with my husband yesterday, the day after surgery. I got to visit with friends, and I got to see what it would be like if I rose out of my coffin at my own funeral! Not to be morbid at all, but it was fun to see the happy expressions on people's faces when I went to breakfast at TAC after Mass. Not even one person accused me of faking the whole "I need an operation, please pray for me a lot" routine. Said husband assures me it did happen!

And I am grateful for all your prayers, dear reader. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for making my life so joyful. I know from past experience that it is possible for life to be really painful (physically and otherwise), but I know that God is a merciful Father and the kindest brother in the world, One who must turn away His face when we suffer, One who must come down to be with us in our pain. The great news is that He will never leave us alone, and the way He is showing me that this time is by your presence in my life. So thank you, with tears in my eyes, though only tears of joy and gratitude for YOU and your love. Please don't think you are unimportant because your great actions haven't been noticed. Your little ones have, and those are the ones that got Mother Teresa, St. Therese, and big St. Teresa to Heaven!

Speaking of which, I whiled away the time just before we went off to the hotel and hospital (always cushion your hospital outpatient surgery with a Hilton stay is my new advice! If it is near a hospital, they may give you a special discount and/or comp the parking and breakfast so you can pretend this is a way of life rather than a super fun and crazy adventure) - but as I was saying, as I whiled away the time before we left home, I listened and watched (mostly listened) to a lady in a bright jacket and floral dress talk about these 3 Teresas, and I was so excited. Okay, it was me, but thanks to a dear friend who is magnificent with a camera, and thanks to New Jersey for providing the fun (and soft) jacket, and thanks most of all to the angels, saints, and the Holy Spirit Who was with us the day I gave the talk for my parish - WOW, it sounded credible to me, all that stuff I said! (Okay, I didn't listen to the end, but I heard the first half, and it sounded both true and interesting. I can't ask for more!)

So if you feel like hearing (and perhaps seeing) more about these 3 Teresas who got to Heaven by surrender and gratitude (okay and a little elbow grease for the 1st and 3rd, but for the 2nd, our heroine and fave Doctor, the French little Therese, not so much elbow grease as very, little, teeny, tiny daily tasks done often badly - she was terrible at housework in the convent! - with lots of love, or at least as much as she could muster!) - then go for it and click HERE:

Miss Marcel speaks at St. Sebastian's Eucharistic day of reflection, back in the spring of 2024

May God bless and reward you for your love, support, and silent prayers (and even your out loud prayers!) - they have meant so much and provided me with a cushy ride on this new stretch of road. Poor Big St. Teresa falling out of that cart. She couldn't believe she was in the mud, and told the Truth the truth: "No wonder You have so few friends, if this is how You treat them!" - If you're having that kind of day, feel free to complain, but don't forget to laugh, too, because as little St. Therese says, "Children fall often, but they don't hurt themselves much because they're already so close to the ground!"

As for my prayers for you, I can only repeat with our sister:

Draw me; we will run!

FIRST JOY - Today's Feast: The Seven Joys of Mary!!!

Second Joy: Peanuts comic strips - including this prophetic one! Here I am totally blonde (let's just admit it!) and happily receiving visitors, roses on my bedside table representing the near presence of little Therese and Marcel, while my excellent medical helper takes notes!

Okay, so Marcel didn't do a disappearing-tumor-act miracle, but that's good! You get so many fewer roses when you DON'T have surgery but just have a miracle. That's my guess! And I was (and am) really looking forward to this great surgeon I have (thanks Shirl!) doing his work well. How disappointing if yesterday he had his first surgery of the morning today cancelled with no one to replace it. A surgeon is virtuous (as a surgeon) when he practices his art excellently! So here's to doctors, nurses, techs, and all the good people I'll meet almost as soon as I finish this post!

As for the 5 other joys I mentioned in the post title, how about:

Joy #3 - your prayers! Thank you so much!
Joy #4 - God's kindness in letting me fulfill a long held dream last night of watching from a comfy hotel room His gorgeous orange sunset over the mountains and city lights! Wow! Spectacular work, God! Thank You!
Joy #5 - All the kind people we've been meeting along the way! Wow, this world is so full of kind people I hope you meet sometime too! How about start with whomever you see the minute you look up from this screen (or the first person you see whenever a person shows up in your sight!) - love him first and watch it boomerang right back to you (or be absorbed in a black hole if you got the wrong person, but hey, he needs love more than anyone!)
Joy #6 - my husband upstairs in the hotel room as I'm in the lobby wide awake - and he's hearing the alarm and wondering where I am but with confidence (I hope) that I haven't left for Vegas!
Joy #7 - the Saints! May they come to you today with their angels and greet you with joyful surprises in honor of Mary's 7 joys!

Draw me, we will run!

Wonderfully, I'm just remembering that August 26 is also the day Jesus told St. Anthony Mary Claret that He would remain sacramentally in St. Anthony perpetually between their Holy Communions. I talk about this at length in Something New with St. Therese: Her Eucharistic Miracle, so if you need a good book to pass the time while waiting for our miracle, you can get your copy HERE.

But what of the day we start the novena? As I hinted in the title above, you're welcome to start or join in whenever you stumble upon this post, but in order to finish on my surgery day, we're beginning officially on our today, which is August 19, feast of the infamous St. John Eudes.

Infamous? you say, curious and all agog.

Well, yes, infamous ever since the hilarious repartee about St. John Eudes that Jesus shot back at Marcel in one of their conversations. In case you're on a buying spree, you can buy Conversations HERE and read the whole story for yourself, but while we've got your attention, we'll tell it in a nutshell right now.

When our dear Marcel Van was a young novice with the Redemptorists, each New Year's he chose a slip of paper on which was written the name of a saint who would be his special patron for the next year. In his Conversations (with Jesus, Mary, and St. Therese), Marcel writes on January 1, 1946 the following dialog he had with Jesus about his new saint for the year:

Jesus: Marcel, for the new year I wish you an abundance of everything: much love, much joy, much suffering. I wish that you eat a lot, that you have a lot of fun, that you sleep a lot, that you work a lot . . . in a word, I wish everything for you in abundance. Were you surprised yesterday to receive Saint John Eudes, of whom you had never heard, as your patron for the year? It's very strange is it not? Is that what has made you sad?

Marcel: Yes, little Jesus, I am very sad. After having asked You insistently, You have given me neither Your name nor that of Mary and You have not even left me that of my sister Therese. You always tell me that You give me all I ask; and yet, after having begged You so much, You have not given me what I desired. Truly, You do not keep Your word. I am very sad because of it, little Jesus.

Jesus: Come, come, Marcel, what did I say to you the other day? I told you that I would choose a very strange patron for you. So, how can you reproach me for not having kept my word? . . . it is necessary that you enlarge the circle of your relations with your brothers and sisters, the saints . . .

Marcel: So, Jesus, why have You not given me my father Saint Alphonsus? And who, therefore, is Saint John Eudes, little Jesus? I know absolutely nothing about him; I only heard of him for the first time yesterday.

* * *  And here's the line which always makes me smile and laugh:

Jesus: Saint John Eudes, Marcel, is Saint John Eudes, that's all. He is a saint who loved me a lot during his life, after his death he ascended to heaven with me and the Church canonized him . . . And now, I want to give you him as your patron of the year. Marcel, you are so fussy; even if you know nothing of Saint John Eudes, that's of no consequence and I am not obliging you to know any more about him. The only thing that you must know is that I have chosen him for your patron of the year. And since I have chosen him for you, why would it not be as suitable as another. Do not be sad, Marcel. And even if you were sad, you would not be able to change is since you have already eaten some sweets in his honour; if you were going to change, all the saints would make fun of you and you would be very ashamed.

*  *  *
Well, it turns out that St. John Eudes is not only Saint John Eudes, he's also up for consideration as a Doctor of the Church! But let's face it, now that St. Therese is a Doctor, we've got our lifetime reading plan in place, so don't be afraid I'm going to give you another link to another book you need to order and not have time to read . . . instead, I'm going to copy a terrific little bio I just read on the infamous St. John Eudes, because though Jesus didn't elaborate, that's where we come in!

Who is St. John Eudes?
I'm so glad you asked! 

From the website of his religious order and refined by our editorial team:

Born in France on November 14, 1601, St. John Eudes’ life spanned the century immediately following the glorious Council of Trent, which heralded the dawn of a golden age of sanctity and mystic fervor.

No fewer than seven Doctors of the Church had lived in the previous century, including St. Francis de Sales, St. Teresa of Avila, and St. John of the Cross. Their influence, along with that of St. Ignatius Loyola and St. Philip Neri, was still fresh as St. John Eudes came onto the scene.

He was educated by the newly founded Jesuits in rural Normandy, later to be known as the land of St. Therese of Lisieux. He was ordained into the Oratory of Jesus and Mary, a society of priests based on the model of St. Philip Neri’s Oratory in Rome and recently founded by Cardinal Pierre de Bérulle, a man renowned for his holiness and named “the apostle of the Incarnate Word” by Pope Urban VII. Rounding out St. John Eudes’ heritage is the influence of the Discalced Carmelites. His spiritual director, Cardinal Bérulle himself, had brought sisters from St. Teresa of Avila’s convent in Spain to help found the Carmel in France. John Eudes would later become spiritual director to a Carmelite convent himself. Their cloister prayed constantly for his missionary activity.

As an avid participant in a wave of re-evangelization in France, St. John Eudes’ principal apostolate was preaching parish missions. Spending anywhere from 4 to 20 weeks in each parish, he preached over 120 missions across his lifetime, always with a team of confessors providing the sacrament around the clock, and catechists meeting daily with small groups of parishioners.

Early in his priesthood, an outbreak of plague hit St. John Eudes’ native region and he rushed to provide sacraments to the dying. The risk of contagion was so great that no one else dared to approach the victims. In order to protect his Oratorian brothers from contagion, St. John Eudes took up residence in a large empty cider barrel outside of the city walls until the plague had ended.

During his missions he heard countless confessions, including those from women forced into prostitution. Realizing they needed intense healing and support, he began to found “Houses of Refuge” to help them get off the street and begin a new life. In 1641 he founded the Sisters of Our Lady of Charity of the Refuge to continue this work. They would live with the penitent women and provide them with constant support. Today, these sisters are known as the Good Shepherd Sisters, inspired by their fourth vow of zeal to go out seeking the “lost sheep.”

Occasionally, St. John Eudes would return to the site of a previous mission. To his dismay, he found that the fruits of the mission were consistently fading for lack of support. The crucial piece in need of change was the priesthood. Previously, the only way to be trained as a priest was through apprenticeship to an already ordained priest, and understandably the result was inconsistent. In 1643 St. John left the Oratory and founded the Congregation of Jesus and Mary to found a seminary; his innovation was a response to a proposal of the Council of Trent. 

At a mission in 1648, St. John Eudes authored the first known Mass in honor of the Heart of Mary. In 1652 he built the first church under the Immaculate Heart’s patronage: the chapel of his seminary in Coutances, France. During the process of his canonization, Pope St. Pius X named St. John Eudes “the father, doctor, and apostle of liturgical devotion to the Hearts of Jesus and Mary.” The Heart of Jesus because he created the first Feast of the Sacred Heart in 1672, just one year before St. Margaret Mary Alacoque had her first apparition of the Sacred Heart.

Although his Marian devotion was intense from a tender age, the primary inspiration for this feast came from St. John Eudes’ theology of baptism. From the beginning of his missionary career he taught that Jesus continues His Incarnation in the life of each baptized Christian. As we give ourselves to Christ, our hands become His hands, our heart is transformed into His heart. Mary is the ultimate exemplar of this. She gave her Heart to God so completely that she and Jesus have just one Heart between them. Thus, whoever sees Mary, sees Jesus, and honoring the Heart of Mary is never separate from honoring the Heart of Jesus.

At the time of this writing, Bishops the world over have requested that the Vatican proclaim St. John Eudes a Doctor of the Church. For more information on the progress of this cause, on his writings or spirituality, contact [email protected].

*   *   *

Isn't that amazing???

And here's an extra little bit of Therese trivia to finish off the story:

St. Therese, the Little Flower, said she would have wanted to go join the Good Shepherd sisters (or some such order, but I think she may have been thinking of St. John Eudes' order) if she hadn't been accepted in Carmel, and she would have enjoyed no one knowing she wasn't a Magdalene. She loved so much! And she loved Magdalene (as well as Magdalenes) so much! I was trying to find the exact quote from her regarding this desire, but the Holy Spirit hid it from me and gave me instead an old post from MMM on Mary Magdalene. If you click on her name in bold, you can read that post after this one - for some, over ten words is too much, but in case you are in the other class of people where, when it comes to the saints, you can never read enough, you can find more of Mary Magdalene and Therese and Marcel HERE.

Meanwhile, I found a new prayer to Marcel with which I thought we'd end our post. That way we can remind ourselves, in the midst of all these giants, of the little sprout we're calling on for our miracle. And please join me in thanking God for a mini-miracle He's giving me today: there's a Miss Marcel East whose wedding anniversary is today, and I get to eat Lebanese food with her in person even though we live 3000 miles apart (on any normal day)!

Miracles are in the air, so don't forget to ask for some extras when you're saying our prayers to Marcel. I'll include your intentions too, and before we know it, we'll be rejoicing over more miracles than we can submit to Rome in a lifetime!

Marcel, you who were the hidden apostle of Love, so humble and so small,
Marcel, you to whom Jesus entrusted the mission of turning suffering into joy,
Marcel, you who lived in trust and filial tenderness with Jesus and Mary,
Marcel, you who told us that "God is Father and the Father is Love,"
Marcel, you who became Thérèse's spiritual little brother,
Join us in our trials and be our support.
Through the grace we ask of you (namely Suzie's complete, instantaneous, and lasting cure from cancer, Bosco's complete, instantaneous, and lasting cure from illness, and all the other healings and miracles we need), grant us from the Heart of Jesus an increase in faith, hope, and love.
Heavenly Father, now let the faithful who pray to You in the power of the Holy Spirit with Your servant Marcel Van see the efficacy of his intercession in answering their requests, through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen!

Draw me, we will run!!!

"Let us let ourselves be carried by the Immaculata; she will think of everything and take care of all our needs, of the soul and of the body. Let us give every difficulty, every sorrow to her, and have confidence that she will take care of it better than we could. Peace then, peace, much peace in an unlimited confidence in her . . . above all, never let yourselves be troubled, never be frightened, never fear anything." - St. Maximilian Kolbe

I've been reading a fabulous book lately:
The Miraculous Medal: Pendant of Power by Christine Watkins

Wow, this woman can write, and WOW, God has given her something worthy to write about. The quote from St. Maximilian came from this book, and I'm so grateful. We here at Miss Marcel's Musings take as our motto Jesus' words, "Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid," from the 14th chapter of St. John's gospel. But we love hearing others echo these words, starting with Mary herself in her appearance as Our Lady of Guadalupe to little Juanito Diegito, the littlest of her sons. Do you remember her words?

Hear and let it penetrate your heart, my dear little one:
Let nothing discourage you, nothing depress you.
Let nothing alter your heart or your countenance.
Am I not here who am your Mother?
Are you not under my shadow and protection?
Am I not your fountain of life?
Are you not in the folds of my mantle?
In the crossing of my arms?
Is there anything else that you need?
Do not fear any illness or vexation, anxiety or pain.

Learning about St. Max lately, I've been enjoying his insane trust in Our Lady and his absolute confidence in the wonders she will work through the gift of her Miraculous Medal. And this is where Tree comes in, and her little secretary, Hope. For the story of the Miraculous Medal, go to this link:

St. Catherine Laboure: Saint of the Miraculous Medal

And then for Tree's story, go here:

St. Catherine Laboure, the Miraculous Medal, and Me

Both are by the lovely Hope Schneir, and I'm so grateful she wrote to tell us of Tree's life, as well as her own and St. Catherine's.

If you have a chance to read Hope's articles, you'll likely next need this link:

MIraculous Medals (to get blessed by a priest once they arrive tomorrow)

I also have the joy of announcing that while we're finishing a 54 day Rosary novena tomorrow on the Assumption, I'm also planning to start another! Because . . . (drum roll please) . . . if you start a 54 day Rosary Novena on the Feast of the Assumption, you will finish on the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, also known as Our Lady of Victory for her many victories through the Rosary!

Meanwhile, let's end with something from Marcel. He's such a love, such a faithful little apostle for Jesus and Mary (and silent St. Joseph) that we can't resist pondering the words he so sweetly left us in Conversations:

Jesus: Little child of my love, do you know why Magdalene was spellbound at my feet and found so much happiness close to me that she even forgot to come to the assistance of her sister Martha? Listen my child. The reason is that at that particular moment I was speaking only words of love to her as I am actually doing now with you. Magdalene was so enchanted that she even forgot the reproaches of her sister. But, supposing that she had not then been full of joy, she would have quarreled immediately with her sister. However, because my words had taken her outside herself, she did not realize what her sister was saying to her and she satisfied herself by smiling, as you did yourself my child when I asked you if you wished to be my spouse.

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. It is true it will be necessary to cause you a little pain, but since you love me, sacrifice yourself completely for my love . . . 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." Yes, my child, it is good that way. In the manifestations of my love to man I must observe a certain moderation; if I go much beyond this restraint, man will understand nothing. . . My child, my love is limitless but a great number of souls do not believe this . . . My child, you know how much I suffer because of such an attitude . . . After all the signs of love I have given to them, men have not yet understood; they have even dared to doubt my love . . . My child, my love is always limitless; tell this to souls . . . Yes, contrary to what people think, my love is always without limits. Little child of my love, if my love for souls ever ceased to exist, that would be the sign that I myself had ceased to exist. I have recalled this truth already many times, but each time I see those who doubt my love. . .My child, comfort me... If you do not know what to say to me, listen, I am going to teach you a short prayer that you will be able to repeat to me just as it is: 'Dear Jesus, my love, even if no one wished to believe the truth of Your words of love that You are here dictating to me, I will gladly sacrifice my life to bear witness to the truth of these words."

*   *   *

How good our Jesus is, and how He loves to tell us Himself, to tell us the Truth!
Little by little, one manifestation or surprise at a time, He tells us of His love, His limitless love, and He shares this love with us through HIs Mother Mary. 

St. Maximilian wrote this about the manifestation of HIs limitless love that Jesus has ahead for us:

"Blessed Catherine Laboure - the fortunate nun to whom the Immaculata chose to appear in Paris, in the chapel of the Motherhouse of the Sisters of Charity and who, as an instrument of the Immaculata, has served to introduce and spread the Miraculous Medal everywhere - predicting the veneration with which the Immaculata would one day be recognized, exclaimed: 'Oh, how nice it will be, how nice it will be to hear: Mary is Queen of all the world!' And all her children repeat: She is the Queen of each one of us. 

"And what can we do to make this moment occur sooner? . . . Distribute her Medal wherever possible, even to children, so that they may always wear it round their necks, to the elderly and young people in particular, that under her protection they may have sufficient strength to reject the countless temptations and pitfalls that beset them in our times. Even to those who never come to church, who are afraid to go to Confession, who make a mockery of religious practices, who laugh at the truths of faith, who have immersed themselves in the mud of immorality, or who live in heresy outside the Church. Oh! to these it is absolutely essential to offer the Medal of the Immaculata and make them want to wear it, and at the same time pray fervently to the Immaculata for their conversion."

I have a few intentions to commend to you and especially with your help to Our Lady. There is our dear Bosco and his mother, still carrying a heavy cross that we need Jesus to lift, to send a Simon of Cyrene to lift, so that they may go forward in joy and peace and His love to spread Miraculous Medals and the gifts He has given them. There is a kind neighbor, Al, who died this past week, and we pray that Our Lady has already welcomed him into Heaven and the eternal embrace of the Savior whom Al embraced in his conversion to the Faith some years ago. There is a little boy who will have emergency heart surgery, a young man recently diagnosed with Crohn's disease, and a wedding coming up to unite a beautiful couple in holy matrimony - but oh, how many details there are to attend to by this Saturday, the day of their happy union. Finally, there is the little matter of Marcel curing my non-painful little cancer so that he can advance his cause (if he isn't too busy playing hide and seek in Heaven with the Holy Innocents, Jesus, Mary, and St. Therese!)! Oh! and don't let me forget all your intentions too!

With a fervent heart, then, we pray simply:

O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee!

And to Marcel:

Infinitely good Father,
You have given Marcel Van the mission of changing suffering into joy.
Inspired by the saints and comforted by the maternal solicitude of the Blessed Mother,
he totally surrendered himself to Your Love.

O sweet Jesus, grant that we may be inspired by Marcel, joyful through love, to follow him along St Therese's Little Way with simplicity and an unshakeable confidence in Your Love.

Holy Spirit of Love, attracted by Marcel's weakness, You set him on fire with Love.
Grant, we pray, that the Church may one day soon proclaim his sanctity, and please give us the grace we ask of You through his intercession, namely Suzie's complete, instantaneous, and lasting cure from cancer.

We ask this through Jesus' adorable and powerful name. Amen.

*  *  *

Draw me, we will run!!!

*  *  *

HAPPY FEASTS!!!!

From Volume 4 of Marcel Van's Collected Works (Other Writings)

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My Father, Saint Alphonsus!

Today is your feast day, a day of joy for all the Church and above all for the brothers of the Congregation. This morning, from the time of my rising, I welcomed with enthusiasm the dawn of a great happiness . . .

But now, the day has lengthened, the shadow of evening falls and I feel myself invaded by sadness and fatigue. My Father, thanks to you, I spent a great day . . . But, on earth, joyful days are finite. Necessarily, these joys come from heaven and my tired body can no longer support them.

I wish, therefore, for a life and a joy without end in the eternal country. Yes, I wish to go and rejoin you soon, but in spite of all of the ardour of my desire, all that remains for me is to rely on your intercession.        - August 2, 1954

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O Mary, your child, Marcel, feels truly happy! And he owes this happiness to your maternal heart. Yes there is nothing I wish for in secret and in calmness that is not fully granted. It is the obvious sign that, in spite of my littleness, Jesus, my heart's friend, spoils me to this extent.     - August 11, 1954

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From the Book of the Prophet Isaiah (45: 5-8)

I am the Lord and there is no other, there is no God besides Me.
It is I who arm you, though you know Me not, 
So that toward the rising and the setting of the sun
Men may know that there is none besides Me.

I am the Lord, there is no other; 
I form the light, and create the darkness.
I make well-being and create woe;
I, the Lord do all these things.

Let justice descend, O heavens, like dew from above,
Like gentle rain let the skies drop it down.
Let the earth open and salvation bud forth;
Let justice also spring up!
I, the Lord, have created this.          

*   *   *

It is I who bring death and I who give life.
I inflict injury and I bring healing, alleluia!     (antiphon from Easter season, Divine Office)

*   *   *

I am off to get a blood test and a chest x-ray, and I am smiling and so excited!
Forgive me for being strange, but let's get this out on the table:

1. I am an extrovert
2. I love doctors, nurses, hospitals, medical offices, receptionists, other patients, et al.
3. I have been waiting to see Jesus for a very long time, and yet I love miracles, not to mention ordinary medical interventions . . .

So this new diagnosis I have of (boring, non-life-threatening, friendly - i.e., non-agressive) breast cancer is, as far as I can see, win, win, win!

Might I point out that I am as illogical as any other human being (especially any other woman), despite having achieved a perfect score on the Logic portion of the GRE. Yes, that was many moons ago, and yes, they did nix that section of the GRE, possibly due to inaccuracy in the correlation of test score to actual logical ability. But hey, if you tell me 14 things about 16 people to be seated for a party and then ask me to seat them in their happiest places, 10 times out of 10 I'm going to get a perfect score in empathy! If you call it Logic, I salute you (and get into grad school, and then my boyfriend who is also accepted because he IS the Logician can propose, and the rest is happily ever after history).

But let's get back to the point here. I know it doesn't make sense to be super happy when you're told you have breast cancer, but I've been on cloud 9!

We could review my top 2 excuses above (extrovert who likes interventive medical world and its people), but I think the 3rd one is the charmer. I can't see how to get to Jesus unless He opens a window, and this looked like a window.

Before you get too excited, let me finish the story.
I did what any sane person would do - I gripped the window to pull myself up (let's ignore for the moment that my pulling-up skills leave much to be desired) - and Jesus did a kind of typical God thing and closed the window on my fingers! Not hard, but just enough to let me know there would be no climbing through this time around.

So there I was awaiting my diagnostic mammogram. That comes after your regular mammogram. They send you a text and email on the Saturday of a 3-day weekend saying cheeerfully, "Call us back as soon as possible!" and then they, naturally, aren't there to answer so you, naturally, freak out and then promptly join a class action law suit against annoying mega-radiology-corporations with lots of technology and no heart.

Or, better yet, you know they are calling you back for something silly, so you don't worry about it. I chose that option, though the freak out and sue seemed more fitting for a California girl like me. No matter, I called Tuesday, talked to a really sweet woman in a foreign country, and found out they saw something that warranted a diagnostic mammogram and ultrasound, and they could fit me into their busy schedule three months later.

Huh.
Just do it (thanks, Nike!).
Just say no (thanks, Nancy).
Stop, drop, and roll (yes, I am a native and grew up in earthquake country).
Early detection (sponsored by the world of pink).

One of these is not like the others.
Well, okay, Nike's and Nancy's really need to be fit into the context of a larger prudent decision.
I can't remember when I'm supposed to stop, drop, and roll. I think that must be when I'm on fire, not when I'm in an earthquake - though in an earthquake (and I've been in many, though one of the best in Virginia, so it's not just a California thing), what I've found most successful is to look out the window at a pool (if there happens to be one nearby) and see if the water is sloshing. That is super cool AND lets you know if it's actually an earthquake or you've had one of those little crystal balancing things in your ear dislodge . . .

Gosh, I seem to be getting off topic.

What I want to say, though, is that "early detection" as a pithy mantra is quite effective in helping not to die of cancer if you follow the early detection with more early detection. Such as:

Radiology lab: "Hello, we were trying to detect, nice and early, if you might have breast cancer. We think you possibly could, but don't worry, it's probably just a smudge on our lens."

Me: "Okay, what do I do next?"

Radiology lab: "How about you come in for a more fancy picture."

Me: "Sure. My schedule is completely open for the rest of my life. When would you like me there for my photo op?"

Radiology lab: "Hmmm. We have bought up every radiology lab in California except one, so we're available to take your pictures in . . . how about 7 years from next Saturday? At a location pretty inconvenient and far away?"

Me: "Let me check my calendar . . ."

So I go to church. That's what we like to do in my neck of the woods. Super nice priests, great Holy Mass, lots of Jesus to go around, friends who are there to chat afterward. In the afterward chat out in the sunny courtyard of the church, I mention the foregoing dialog to a friend. She says, "Oh! I happen to know the place they didn't buy and it is lovely. Why don't you get your next photos there?"

And thanks to M-K and her timely advice, I do!
I get an appointment that's much sooner and much closer than Mega-Corp had available and I go.
They are very nice, and they are happy to diagnose me with - the need for more testing.
That works for me as my schedule is still wide open.
Except . . . "Sorry to say, I know this is a bummer, but Mega-Corp bought us and are taking over immediately. So we can't actually schedule the test you need that we would normally do in a week. Come back in 7 years."

Hmmmm.

I did what we all must do in situations like this. I emailed my friend who was dying of breast cancer until the doctors told her she wasn't at all. She really likes these doctors! They must do photo ops there too, I imagined. They did! I got her place - which was bought up by UCLA so is less likely to also be bought up again by Mega Corps - and I went in a week, and they told me a few days later the exciting news. It is the real deal! Not pre-cancer. Not a shadow or smudge. But actually breast cancer.

This is good and bad.
The window opens, but then it shuts again.
This is easy to treat, let's just get rid of that lump and maybe zap you a little with the nice stuff that makes you tired (I like being tired! Then I can sit down and rest. We have a lot of comfy couches and chairs and beds in my house. I hesitate to tell you how many lest you send some agency over to confiscate them). None of that icky stuff that makes you lose hair or feel sick (I'm not a big fan of feeling sick. And incidentally I have felt nothing uncomfortable at all so far. This is a great kind of cancer).

I know, I know.
I am not supposed to be thrilled to have cancer. Or maybe the better way to put it is that I am not supposed to be thrilled by the prospect of death - or rather entrance into eternal life - but what can I say? A good Catholic liberal education goes a long way, and it seems to me St. Augustine was right that we can't be called truly blessed unless it lasts forever. Marcel said the same thing at the top of this post. So let's all go to Heaven, where the bliss never ends!

Except.
Marcel can be so annoying, telling me the truth everywhere I turn in his books (and wow, I love his books! Thank you Jack for translating them!) . . .and here's what he's been telling me ever since I found out I have this very curable cancer that won't actually be life threatening and get me to Heaven yet. (Sigh. Of Love. More work here below, it looks like!)

I should preface this by mentioning that St. Alphonsus was right. He was Marcel's spiritual father since he was the founder of the Redemptorists and Marcel was a Redemptorist brother (as in "Brother Marcel Van"). And today is his feast, so at the top of our post we put a couple great quotes from this gentle giant who loved people so much that he reformed moral theology and came up with ways to help us all get rid of our scrupulosity. Thank you, St. Alphonsus!

So what was St. Alphonsus right about that I'm thinking of now?
Exactly what he says in our quotes above:

It's the conversation with Christ that really cements our friendship with Him.
God stoops down - even to the extent of becoming man so we can rub shoulders with Him - and we pour out our hearts. That's what delights Him, no matter how big or small our stories are. We tell Him everything - at least He wants to hear everything - and He listens with attentive love. And sometimes He talks back, whether through Scripture, nature, the saints' writings, our imaginations, or a word from our friends.

That's exactly how Marcel's life with Christ unfolded - in a series of conversations. 

My favorites are in his book called Conversations with Jesus, Mary, and Therese of the Child Jesus, or (in brief) simply Conversations, but recently I found this little snippet of a dialogue in his Other Writings from a conversation Marcel and Jesus had May 29, 1951:

Marcel: If truly I have not been deceived, why, when I hear You say to me unceasingly that You will come soon to take me to paradise, why do I not see anything happen?

Jesus: It is also necessary, Marcel, that you understand this: when one has undertaken an important work which is not yet finished, is it appropriate to leave it to one side to go and rest? Now, your personal work is not yet accomplished . . . 

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Ah, yes. Bummer!

There are 4 people very close to me, one tall and super logical, a second who makes me laugh a ton, a third as zany as the second and recently a beloved, indispensable member of our family, and a fourth who's just the greatest guy in the world. 

They all agree and insist that my personal work isn't done, and they should know since they're the ones God has given me to work for (if you can call it work, and sometimes you can).

So I'm here for a while longer (probably a very long while), and that means I need to create some drama (since the breast cancer thing was a red herring in the drama department).

How about we ask Marcel for a miracle?
He needs one to advance his cause for beatification.
I have one ready for the plucking.

Marcel, obtain from Almighty God the cure of my cancer - instantaneously and permanently - if you want to get a feather in your cap and a little shove toward canonization. Amen.

Here is a longer prayer (for those who like longer prayers) because in order for a miracle to count toward a prospective saint's progress and cause, it must be documented. That is, we must document that I'm sick with cancer (check) and then we must document that we prayed to Marcel, not just every or any friendly saint and angel (that would be all of them) for my cure. It is up to Marcel to be the one to whisper our request - or shout it, depending on his mood and the volume of angelic singing up there - into little Jesus' ear as they sit on Mary's lap together. So here goes, our official "we are invoking Servant of God Marcel Van's intercession for a miracle" prayer:

Prayer for the Beatification of the Vietnamese spiritual little brother of St Therese,
Servant of God Marcel Van:

Infinitely good Father,
You have given Marcel Van the mission of changing suffering into joy.
Inspired by the saints and comforted by the maternal solicitude of the Blessed Mother,
he totally surrendered himself to Your Love.

O sweet Jesus, grant that we may be inspired by Marcel, joyful through love, to follow him along St Therese's Little Way with simplicity and an unshakeable confidence in Your Love.

Holy Spirit of Love, attracted by Marcel's weakness, You set him on fire with Love.
Grant, we pray, that the Church may one day soon proclaim his sanctity, and please give us the grace we ask of You through his intercession, namely Suzie's complete, instantaneous, and lasting cure from cancer.

We ask this through Jesus' adorable and powerful name. Amen.

*  *  *

Draw me, we will run!!!

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P.S. Lest this post and project seem, in any way, discouraging to you (although it is not at all for me), let me remind you that it is the feast of our father St. Alphonsus de Ligouri, and in his honor we must, therefore, ply ourselves and each other with feasting essentials. Choose from the following list as many as you can manage according to your personal preferences, time, ability, desires, and taste!

I have never really figured out pinterest, goodreads, and certainly not facebook, to name a few. I'm not sure what snapchat and instragram are exactly (or even inexactly). But I do have a new favorite online place, and I'm grateful that whoever tracks my whereabouts from one rabbit hole to the next (hello google elves! give my love to papa google!) seems to know that I have recently discovered and would like to be redirected frequently to sotheby's.com.

My dad had this darling habit of not being able to correctly pronounce half a dozen English words (his first language was Arabic, second was French, third Spanish, so English was fourth - unless it was third and Spanish was fourth, but you get the idea). One of them was "Southern" which he always pronounced "South-ern." For those of you reading who were (or are) homeschooled, the correct American pronunciation is typically Suthern, like butter, only without that delicious creaminess. And so, like him, I wanted to call this website I found, "South-bees," but my husband, highly  amused, somewhat condescendingly explained it was pronounced Suth-a-bees. That "th" is hard, too, like mother (only we are soft, let's hope).

But my point is: Did you know you can buy gorgeous art - real master paintings - from auction houses online? This is important info because I love gifts - giving and receiving - and in case any of you billionaires (or even millionaires) reading our musings also love gifts - especially giving them - please be sure to check out sotheby's to find the latest in tokens of gratitude to send Marcel and me!

On a more serious note (or rather a more specific note), the painting at the top of our post was sold at auction last April. I know, I know, it makes one wonder if all our priorities are skewed. What were you doing last April? My birthday is in April, and so are the birthdays of many people I love, including a relatively new friend (only known and adored her for about six years) named April. Very recently I found out her birthday was in April (others might be quicker on the draw, but I say that slow dawns can be the most beautiful), and in particular on April 7, my very birthday too! A twin! (The year was different, but who's counting?)

Clearly I (we?) should have been on this auction. What a great birthday present this painting would have made, either for me or anyone I know. Preferably someone who lives close so that I could go visit my present frequently. Although I ought to have learned my lesson long ago about giving gifts I want to play with. One of the funniest (and most challenging at the time) social situations I've ever been in - okay, let's just say Awkward - was when, as a little girl, I got to go to Bonnie Shebl's birthday party. (The names have not been changed to protect the innocent because in case Bonnie ever comes across our musings, I'd like to take this opportunity to apologize hugely!). I gave her the best kind of gift - that is, one I wanted terribly myself. It was a  . . . heavens to murgatroyd, I can't think of the name. Hold on. Everyone think hard. Send me your guardian angel (can that work outside of time?) . . . You know those things that are in parades and you toss up in the air (if you're lucky and talented)? A stick - aha, a baton! Not a conductor's baton, but I gave her a silver baton with two white knobs, one on each end. Does anyone love batons anymore??

We were at Mickey's Grove for her birthday party, and after Bonnie opened her gifts, we were playing. I asked to play with the baton and promptly flipped it (very accidentally!) into the lake. Hmmmm. Awkward. 

But no need to worry about old embarrassing episodes when there are possibly new ones on the horizon! If you haven't read The Paradise Project (click on the tile to have to opportunity to buy it instantly! We just love distributism over here, and that link is the fastest way we know to distribute laughter), or if you haven't read it recently, you'll find in it many such episodes which our heroine overcomes with grace, or at least with rueful wistfulness, and I like to think this means that said episodes in my own life have borne fruit beyond counting. (Ewoks come to mind.)

Marcel and I thought we'd talk about How to Pray today, and somehow we've been looking sadly into Mickey Grove's lake (yes, I'm not sure where that possessive goes) . . .But whatever happened next that fateful day, I know we all got over it, and happily, batons are no longer a big birthday gift so that very particular episode is unlikely to recur in post-post-post modern life (I forget how many posts we've achieved!). Especially if we win the lottery and start giving our friends paintings by the old masters, we won't have to worry about them falling into lakes (I hope!), so let's get praying. Although I do want to add that while I've known people who told me they were praying (or wanted me to pray) that they'd win the lottery, I suggest other intentions (like Bosco's healing, since he's still suffering) because studies show that lottery winners aren't (please sit down to take in this news) happier once they're rich. My goodness. What a deceptive world we live in!

But back to our painting above, here is what Sotheby's says (and it is already sold, so you won't be tempted to blow your grocery money, pin money, rainy day money, or house fund!):

Lot Details
Description
Property from a European Private Collection
Workshop Giuseppe Maria Crespi
Bologna 1665 - 1747
The Holy Family with Saint Joachim, Saint Anne, Saint Elisabeth and Saint John the Baptist
oil on canvas
unframed: 90.5 x 71.2 cm.; 35⅝ x 28 in.
framed: 92.7 x 73.4 cm.; 36½ x 28⅞ in.
Condition Report
Provenance
M. Stepanoff, Paris, 1928;
Alessandro Pepoli, Bologna, 1935;
Raisini collection, Milan;
F. Mont, New York, 1948;
Acquired by the father of the present owner.

Literature
M.P. Merriman, Giuseppe Maria Crespi, Milan 1980, p. 256, no. 72, reproduced fig. 72 (as location unknown).

Catalogue Note
A workshop version based on the prime painting by Giuseppe Maria Crespi, today in the Pushkin Museum, Moscow.

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I don't know about you, but when I see "Acquired by the father of the present owner," I'm afraid the father of the present owner, or rather the father of the owner who sold this on Sotheby's, was too involved with art collecting and not enough involved with teaching his son the importance of beauty. Oh former present owner, what in the world could you have wanted more than to stare at this painting until it was time for Heaven when you could stare at the originals???

Let's give him the benefit of the doubt and imagine he had sold absolutely everything else, and now needed to sell this painting to have money to take care of his aging father (destitute due to his desire to own and gaze upon this painting after a lifetime of laying bricks and sweeping walkways, a humble but admirable profession that didn't make him enough money to both buy this painting and save in a 501k, if that's what you save in for retirement).

Sigh.
(It should be noted that all our sighs are sighs of love. Jesus taught Marcel that, and he taught us. That way none are wasted.)

And yet hooray! Hooray that the google elves took me to sotheby's.com when I was looking for an image of St. Anne. We might have spent this earthly exile without ever seeing that painting, even just on the internet, and now how rich we are! And also how ready to learn to pray!

I had originally subtitled our blog post "Part 1 of 800" but realized that might lead to difficulties.

1. You, my gentle reader, might be discouraged. 800 lessons in prayer? Not good!
2. Even I, "chatty Cathy," as my mother once called me, might have a hard time fulfilling my promise.

You never know if 800 posts are in your future, or if you'll get bored before writing post #374 on one particular topic.

Hence the edited implication that there may be more to say on prayer than will be said here and now, yet without any clear indication just how much more we might eventually say. I do admit that many a time I've been reading Marcel's Conversations and laughing and rejoicing in the brilliant (and EASY) methods of prayer employed, taught, and recommended therein by Jesus, Mary, Therese, and Marcel himself. Thus the "Part 1" - I'd hate to limit us to what I might tell you in the following paragraphs . . . Marcel always has more to say, and my job is to get his words to you, although today we'll be seeing a lot more of Therese's words than Marcel's. No matter, they are both Jesus' Little Flowers . . .

And so, on prayer.

First off, I was going to start a novena today. Well, two novenas. This is a way to pray that I love. You find a saint, blessed, or generally holy person who has gone before us to the real Promised Land of Heaven, and you start asking. Ask 9 times (that's related in Latin to "novena") - usually you ask for 9 days, like the Apostles and disciples did in the upper room for those 9 days (the first novena) leading up to Pentecost. Sometimes, though, I like Mother Teresa's hint that if you're in a hurry, just ask 9 times quickly. She used to say the Memorare nine times in a row, and then add a Hail Mary in thanksgiving, since she knew Our Lady would take care of the needs of the poorest of the poor.

Aha! That's already two ways to pray!

1. Nine times in a row, ask a saint for help - that is, ask your prayer partner in Heaven to climb up on God's lap and cajole Him into giving us what we need (or want).

2. Better yet, make that person you ask Mary, and you will be asking Our Blessed Mother (Jesus said from the cross to John, His beloved disciple, "Behold your mother," and to Mary, "Behold your son" - that applies to us too!). Well, since she is His Blessed Mother also, she doesn't have to climb onto the lap of God. Little Jesus is already snuggling on her lap . . . or playing . . . Just look again at the photo above!

Which brings us to the third way to pray:

3. Holy Mother Teresa of Avila recommended always going to prayer with a picture of Jesus and a book. The picture is to keep you focused at least a little, and remind you how wonderful He is and how much He loves you. The book is so that you might have something to raise your mind, as well as your heart, to God. Except she wouldn't have said "raise" because she was really big on our recognizing that He is right here with us.

Which brings us to 4 more ways to pray:

4. Go into a church and pray in the Real Presence of Jesus - Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity - in the Blessed Sacrament.

5. Read some Elizabeth of the Trinity to learn about the Holy Trinity indwelling in us.

6. Open the Sacred Scriptures to the Psalms, the Song of Songs, the Gospels - any book you like! Let God speak to you in His love letters to us.

7. My favorite: Just talk to Jesus! He's your best friend and so curious what you'll say. Okay, yes, He is God as well as man, and He surely knows what you're going to say. But He's delighted by your reaction to what you say, and that won't happen unless you say it! For instance, let's start now. Here's a practice run at prayer from me at this moment (just as an example, but think of it like Mad Libs and supply your own nouns, adjectives, verbs, etc.).

Dear Jesus - I'm so hungry! Should we get breakfast? Oh, yes, I should finish this post first. Weren't we going to talk about St. Anne? I know I know hardly anything about her, but really, Love, aren't I the one typing? You're playing with Marcel and Therese and making me do all the work. Yes, I know it isn't hard. But let's finish so we can eat!

If you are less than edified or inspired by this prayer (or if it doesn't apply to your situation, being as you might have already had breakfast), please recall that this blog is Miss Marcel's Musings because Marcel is our muse. He is often hungry and talking to Jesus about food. Perhaps this is why I feel such a bond with our little brother! They say great minds think alike, but little minds think alike too.

Which reminds me of more solid food I have for you today. I was reading some Thoughts of St. Therese this morning that I wanted to share with you. No wonder she's a Doctor of the Church - she not only sees the truth, but she expresses it wonderfully. These thoughts are on confidence, and they fit into "how to pray" because it is not much fun to pray without confidence, whereas when we have confidence (even shaky confidence buttressed by our little sister's words), prayer can be super fun. If you haven't noticed this yourself, I won't say "try it!" because I hate to put you through the ordeal of praying without confidence. Trust me, it's a lot more pleasant to pray with confidence! Like asking someone for a favor, or telling someone you love him. If you start with the conviction that the other loves you, or even just likes you, your delivery is much more a thing of joy! But let's hear St. Therese explain it.

The following passages are from a collection compiled by Therese's sister and novice Celine (Sister Genevieve of the Holy Face in the Lisieux Carmel with Therese). My copy is titled, "Thoughts of Souer Therese of the Child Jesus" but that's only because this very old book was given to me by a priest friend who found himself charmed by my over-the-top silliness. I think he hoped I would use this book to spread devotion to St. Therese - and look how smart he was! But the great thing is that TAN kept this book in print for a long time (maybe still does) under the title "Thoughts of St. Therese" and you can at least get it digitally for very cheap. BUT WAIT! I'm going to give you the best pages right here and now, so no worries about fetching the rest of the book (which features such less interesting chapters as "Suffering"). Without further ado, here is Therese. Since Celine gathered these gems from the treasure chest of Therese's written words, you'll find references to her specific writings after each excerpt.

CONFIDENCE

"Believing that I was born for glory, and seeking the means to attain to it, it was revealed to me interiorly that my glory would never be visible to mortal eyes but would consist in becoming a saint. This desire might well seem presumptuously bold, considering how imperfect I was, and how imperfect I am still after so many years in religion; and yet I feel ever the same audacious confidence of becoming a great saint. I count not on my merits, having none; but I trust in Him who is Virtue and Holiness itself. He alone it is who, satisfied with my feeble efforts, will raise me up even unto Himself, will clothe me with His merits and make me a saint." (Story of a Soul)

"Ours is an age of inventions: nowadays, with the rich a lift [an elevator] saves the trouble of climbing the stairs. And I, fain would I too find a lift to bear me up unto God, for I am too little to climb the rugged steps of perfection.

"Then I turned to the Holy Scriptures, seeking from them an indication of this lift, the object of my desires; and I read these words which have issued from the very mouth of the Eternal Wisdom: 'Whosoever is a VERY LITTLE ONE, let him come to me.' (Prov 9:4). Then I drew nigh unto God divining truly that I had discovered what I sought: wishing however to know what He would do with the very little one, I continued my research and here is what I found: 'You shall be carried at the breast and upon the knees; as one whom the mother caresses so will I comfort you.' (Isaiah 46: 12, 13)

"Ah, never came words more sweet, more tender, to gladden my soul. Thine arms, then, O Jesus, are the lift which must raise me up even unto Heaven! For this I need not grow, on the contrary I must remain little, I must ever tend to become yet more little. O my God, Thou hast gone beyond my expectations, and I - I will sing Thy mercies! 'Thou hast taught me, O God from my youth: and till now I have declared Thy wondrous works. And unto old age and grey hairs' will I proclaim them." (Story of a Soul)

"Since it has been given to me too, to understand the love of the Heart of Jesus, I own that it has chased all fear from mine! The remembrance of my faults humiliates me, and urges me never to depend upon my own strength which is nothing but weakness: still more does this remembrance speak to me of mercy and of love. When, with all filial confidence we cast our faults into the devouring furnace of love, how should they not be totally consumed?" (from a letter to her missionary brothers)

"Though we must needs be pure indeed to appear in the presence of the God of all Holiness, yet I know too that He is infinitely just; and this justice which affrights so many souls is the ground of my joy and my confidence. Justice not merely exercises severity towards the offender; it moreover recognizes a right intention, and awards to virtue its recompense. I hope as much from the Justice of the good God as from His Mercy; it is because He is just, that 'He is compassionate and merciful, long-suffering and plenteous in mercy. For He knows our frame. He remembers that we are but dust. As a father has compassion on His children, so has the Lord compassion on us!' (Psalm 103: 8, 13, 14)

"Listening to these beautiful and consoling words of the Royal Prophet, how can we doubt but that the good God will open the portals of His Kingdom to His children who have loved Him . . .

"That is what I think of the justice of the good God; my way is all confidence and love, I do not understand those souls who fear so tender a Friend." (Letter to her missionary brother)

"What joy to think that God is just, that is to say, that He takes our weakness into consideration, that He thoroughly knows the frailty of our nature. Of what then, should I be afraid? Must not the good and infinitely just God, who with such tender mercy deigns to pardon the Prodigal Son, must He not be just towards me too - 'who am always with Him' (Luke 15:31)?'" (Story of a Soul)

"I want to make you understand by a very simple comparison how much Jesus loves souls, even the imperfect, who trust in Him. Suppose the father of two wayward and disobedient children, coming to punish them, sees one tremble and draw away from him in terror; while the other, on the contrary, throwing himself into his arms, says he is sorry, promises to be good henceforward and begs for a kiss as punishment. Do you think the delighted father will withstand the filial confidence of this child? He knows nevertheless that his son will fall again many a time into the same faults, but he is disposed to pardon him always, if always there be an appeal to his heart." (Letter to her missionary brother)

"Truly I am far from being a saint. I ought not to rejoice at the aridity of my soul, but attribute it to the scantiness of my fervour and fidelity. I ought to grieve because I fall asleep very often during my prayer and my thanksgiving. Well, I do not grieve! I reflect that little children when they sleep are as pleasing to their parents as when they are awake; that in order to perform operations, doctors put their patients to sleep; in fine, that 'the Lord knows our frame, He remembers that we are but dust.' (Psalm 103: 14) (Story of a Soul)

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I could comment on these passages all day (in fact, you might say that's what I do for a living), but here I want to mention only one thing. Did you notice her hilarious sauciness in that last excerpt? Here it is:

"I ought to grieve because I fall asleep very often during my prayer . . . Well, I do not grieve!"

And then she give a spirited and convincing defense. She doesn't grieve because sleeping pleases parents. If you are a parent or if you've had a younger sibling, you know well how blessed the time is when that wailing babe finally falls asleep. Hush! Nobody breathe! The baby is finally asleep. Oh look. She is beautiful when she's sleeping. We can love her some more now that she's giving us a respite!

I buy it! And her point is that God does too. Which brings us back to her previous point that when Jesus directs us to little children as our models, we can take that as far as we want. Phyllis McGinley once said that saints are the ones who take Jesus literally. Let's take him literally when he says to be like kids. Enjoy those sweets and treats! Laugh when something is funny! Fall asleep when you are tired . . . And when you've been naughty, admit it with kisses. Don't just kiss Him on His feet. Go to His face and cover Him with kisses from His brow, to His nose, to His chin! Make Him laugh and He will forget your misdeeds. They are all small to Him because His love is HUGE! Therese used to call Pranzini her "firstborn" and she said he was very naughty. She was speaking of a terrible man, but she was confident God had heard her prayer to save this sinner, and she was also sure that He would see (as even she could) that in this life, sometimes we do really stupid things because we are really stupid! What do you expect from dust?

Our sister is the little one about whom Jesus spoke in the gospel this week at Mass. We are in Matthew chapter 11 for our daily Mass gospels, and wow, I love Our Lord's prayer to HIs Father there. If you have a chance, go re-read His consoling words on the Father's revealing mysteries to little ones, and His even more consoling invitation for us to come to Him and rest on Him . . .

It's true, I'd love to comment all day on Therese's wisdom, but we need to get to those novenas I've been thinking about . . .

I recently discovered St. Anne, or rather had her foisted on me by a great lover of hers. If we start with Jesus and look at those who loved Him, first we find Mary and Joseph. They make with Jesus an adorable holy family, and we could sit for hours contemplating their familial love and affection - if we didn't fall asleep or spend most of our waking hours wondering what's to eat next. (Do you ever feel like Winnie the Pooh? Maybe it's just me . . .)

But if we go back before Mary holding baby Jesus, we find St. Anne holding Mary when she (Mary) was a baby herself. Joachim and Anne are the parents of Our Blessed Mother, and that makes them our grandparents. I can't do the whole "if your dad is cousins with my dad, then that makes us first cousins once removed" - okay, I think I just did, but I can't do it much, or with that confidence we're trying to promote today. But I can do, "If you're my mom, and she's your mom, then she's my grandma!" And that's where St. Anne comes in. She is the grandmother of Jesus, and since he is our brother (to look at it from another angle) than she is our grandma too!

Incidentally, I just found out this past weekend that "Situ" (sit-oo) which I always thought was grandma in Arabic, is really great grandma, and "Tita" (tite-ah) is grandma. Well. It just goes to show that family weddings can be a lot of fun, especially if you get to sit with long lost cousins whose heritage, like yours (or rather like mine in this case) goes back through Venezuela to Lebanon. What a wonderful world!

Perhaps due to all these glorious weddings, I have a tendency lately to think about doing novenas rather late in the day, and late in the 9 days running up to a feast as well. St. Joachim and Anne are now both celebrated (in the new calendar) on July 26 (which used to be just St. Anne, but I sure like to keep these married couples together), which leaves us from now - wait while I count on my fingers - about 7 days for our novena. So how about we pray our prayer 3 times today for a running start, and then we can keep going with once a day for a total of 9 somewhere in or around their feast.

What prayer shall we say?

I figured I'd adapt an old favorite. That way we don't have to spend the morning starving and wandering the desert of the internet looking for sustenance (or a good prayer). I'm going to copy it in three times below, so we get our first 3 prayers in. If you're wondering why we're multiplying words when Jesus said not to, I refer you to a lovely verse from the prophet Hosea that floated back into the liturgy and my consciousness last week. I'll give you the verses that surround it too, since they're all spectacular, but I like the emboldened one in particular:

"Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God,
for you have stumbled because of your iniquity. 
Take with you words, and return to the Lord;
say to Him, 'Take away all iniquity,
accept that which is good, 
and we will render the fruit of our lips.
Assyria shall not save us, 
we will not ride upon horses,
and we will say no more, "Our God,"
to the work of our hands.
In Thee the orphan finds mercy.'"  (Hosea 14)

So now, taking with us words, let's return to the image presented above of little Jesus in Mary's arms, with St. Anne looking lovingly on them both.

Dear St. Anne, attend to us too. Little Jesus is having so much fun, but some of us are suffering today. Turn your gaze upon us and then whisk up little Jesus into your grandmotherly arms and whisper in his sweet ear our petitions, our needs, our intentions, and the needs of all those we love (and of all those in need, which should cover absolutely everyone).

Novena to St. Anne:

Blessed Grandmother of those whose names you can read in my heart, watch over them with every care. Make their way easy and their labors fruitful. Dry their tears if they weep; sanctify their joys; raise their courage if they weaken; restore their hope if they lose heart, their health if they be ill, truth if they err, and repentance if they fall. Amen.

(And for our first day, catching up on the days we forgot to start) -

Blessed Grandmother of those whose names you can read in my heart, watch over them with every care. Make their way easy and their labors fruitful. Dry their tears if they weep; sanctify their joys; raise their courage if they weaken; restore their hope if they lose heart, their health if they be ill, truth if they err, and repentance if they fall. Amen.

Blessed Grandmother of those whose names you can read in my heart, watch over them with every care. Make their way easy and their labors fruitful. Dry their tears if they weep; sanctify their joys; raise their courage if they weaken; restore their hope if they lose heart, their health if they be ill, truth if they err, and repentance if they fall. Amen.

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While we're here, I wanted to start a novena to Blessed Solanus Casey too. We love him, and there will be plenty of time to talk about him in later posts, but if we start our novena to him now, we'll have plenty of days to skip or forget before his feast, or we can make up for all the years when it never occurred to us to turn to him. And oh, what a wonderful benefactor to turn to! Since he spent much of his priestly life humbly serving as the porter, or door-opener, for the Capuchin Franciscans in Detroit, he is no doubt standing with Padre Pio - a fellow Capuchin Franciscan who promised to stand at the gate of Heaven till all his spiritual children had entered - at the Door of doors. Why don't we pray to them together?!

Novena to Solanus Casey and Padre Pio (asking them to send their angels to help us too)

Dear Blessed Solanus and Padre Pio,
You were both so fatherly on earth, we can't imagine you any less fatherly now that you're in Heaven. You loved Jesus like crazy - share your love for Him and His Blessed Mother with us. Give us a love of the Rosary and teach us, remind us, instill in us that saint-making habit you had of thanking God ahead of time. We give you all our needs, we ask your intercession for the intentions commended to us and all those for whom we've promised to pray. When you were on earth, you both heard so many petitions and by God's infinitely tender compassion you were allowed to "do miracles," You told God what people needed, and He answered with healings galore. Tell him now about the miracles we need and bring them to us quickly. Send them to us with your angels. We are so little, so poor, so distracted and so dumb. Be our advocates. Remember what we have forgotten and ask Our Lady and St. Joseph to help you ask little Jesus. Bring us, then, from Heaven, all sorts of treats! Bring us miraculous healings, reconciliations, an outpouring of wisdom, peace, joy, and confidence. Finally, bring us Jesus. Don't let us go away without Him, and teach us to thank Him always for everything. We ask this through His adorable name. Amen.

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I was going to ask for cupcakes, but you might prefer a glass of wine (ugh), a gin and tonic (yum), or a slice of chocolate cake! I did say "treats" so hopefully they got the idea!

Today is also the Feast (even the Solemnity for some Carmelites) of St. Elijah.
May he and his raven keep you hydrated and fed - spiritually as well as materially! 
Even I admit it's a bit late for a novena leading up to his feast. and I hate to add more prayers lest we feel like he did, wilting under the broom tree . . . Instead, let's say a quick prayer to this awesome prophet who got to visit with Jesus in His Transfiguration, and then we'll close with our Song of Songs prayer - right before we eat!

St. Elijah, our father in Carmel, please give us a double portion of your spirit!

​Draw me; we will run!