I have an idea . . .
Let's become Saints! Today is the feast of St. Faustina, who entered eternal life on October 5, 1938 at age 33, and Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos, who entered eternal life on October 4, 1867, at the age of 48. Our novena to Servant of God Marcel Van turns out to end on the Vigil of Blessed Carlo Acutis, who entered eternal life on October 12, 2006 at age 16. Blessed Chiara Luce entered eternal life on October 7, 1990, Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, also known as Our Lady of Victory, on which day we celebrate the Holy League's defeat of the Ottoman Empire in the Battle of Lepanto on October 7, 1571 . . . and so her feast is transferred to her birthday on earth, October 29. She was 18 when she zipped off to Heaven. I know, I know, it's like reading about Mozart writing his first piano concerto at age 11 . . . Well, no matter, there's a lot of fun to be had on earth before Jesus finds Himself unable to resist taking us to Heaven for a second longer . . . I just find such huge inspiration in these photos above, these smiles, these loving faces and glances. I could write forever about the gifts of our saints, but let me be brief and tell one story about St. Faustina, and then we'll say our prayer to Marcel. Or better yet, let's start with our novena prayer that encompasses all these saints in its 9 day merry little way: O little Marcel Van of the Child Jesus, please pick for me a rose from the Heavenly Garden and send it to me as a message of love. O Little Flower of Vietnam, ask your Little Jesus today to grant the favors I now place with confidence in your hands . . . (mention your petitions here). Little Marcel Van, spiritual brother of St. Therese, intercede for me all the days of my life, but especially during this Novena, and obtain for me from God the graces and favors I ask through your intercession. Amen! I am praying especially for the passing of the bar (doesn't that sound fun too?) by a dear in-law of mine, so let's add today, "St. Thomas More, pray for us!" And now, to our anecdote from the life of St. Faustina. She writes in her Diary: (150) “I want to write down a dream that I had about Saint Therese of the Child Jesus. I was still a novice at the time and was going through some difficulties which I did not know how to overcome. They were interior difficulties connected with exterior ones. I made novenas to various saints, but the situation grew more and more difficult. The sufferings it caused me were so great that I did not know how to go on living, but suddenly the thought occurred to me that I should pray to Saint Therese of the Child Jesus. I started a novena to this Saint, because before entering the convent I had had a great devotion to her. Lately I had somewhat neglected this devotion, but in my need I began again to pray with great fervor. “On the fifth day of the novena, I dreamed of Saint Therese, but it was as if she were still living on earth. She hid from me the fact that she was a saint and began to comfort me, saying that I should not be worried about this matter, but should trust more in God. She said, “I suffered greatly, too,” but I did not quite believe her and said, “It seems to me that you have not suffered at all.” But Saint Therese answered me in a convincing manner that she had suffered very much indeed and said to me, “Sister, know that in three days the difficulty will come to a happy conclusion.” When I was not very willing to believe her, she revealed to me that she was a saint. "At that moment, a great joy filled my soul, and I said to her, “You are a saint?” “Yes,” she answered, “I am a saint. Trust that this matter will be resolved in three days:” And I said, “Dear sweet Therese, tell me, shall I go to heaven?” And she answered, “Yes, you will go to heaven, Sister.” “And will I be a saint?” To which she replied, “Yes, you will be a saint.” “But, little Therese, shall I be a saint as you are, raised to the altar?” And she answered, “Yes, you will be a saint just as I am, but you must trust in the Lord Jesus.” "I then asked her if my mother and father would go to heaven, will [unfinished sentence] And she replied that they would. I further asked, “And will my brothers and sisters go to heaven?” She told me to pray hard for them, but gave me no definite answer. I understood that they were in need of much prayer. “This was a dream. And as the proverb goes, dreams are phantoms; God is faith. Nevertheless, three days later the difficulty was solved very easily, just as she had said. And everything in this affair turned out exactly as she said it would. It was a dream, but it had its significance.” Hooray! "Yes, you will be a saint just as I am, but you must trust in the Lord Jesus." Jesus, I trust in You! And I'm trying to trust more with all my little might, and then I fall off the wagon and start worrying again, but as Mother Mary taught Marcel, I want to remember to say in those (99 out of 100) moments of worrying: Jesus, I offer You this worry as a sacrifice! At this moment I'm worried that I can't say all I wish about the saints above or even about Faustina's dream. But really and truly I send my angel and Pio's, Marcel's, Therese's, Faustina's, Chiara's, Carlo's, Thomas More's, and Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos' to YOU, dear reader, to help enlighten and illumine your mind and heart to know WE TOO CAN BE SAINTS. Or as good Fr. Buckley once told me, we can't become saints . . . but Jesus can make us saints! Jesus, we trust in You! Draw me; we will run! Comments are closed.
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Miss MarcelI've written books and articles and even a novel. Now it's time to try a blog! For more about me personally, go to the home page and you'll get the whole scoop! If you want to send me an email, feel free to click "Contact Me" below. To receive new posts, enter your email and click "Subscribe" below. More MarcelArchives
September 2024
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