I received a delightful email last week. In more than timely fashion, Jack Keogan (our benefactor who translated Marcel into English) had sent to us in the U.S.A. the good news that he in England had received from Les Amis de Van in France that the annual novena to Therese's little brother and ours, Marcel Van, was about to begin, in preparation for his little feast, July 10.
Did you note the unremitting and irretrievable past tense in that long sentence? And if you are a math whiz, did you note too that as today is July 5 - as I write - we may be a bit shy of 9 days counting to July 10? So what shall we address first? We could begin with the explanation of why five days is somehow miraculously enough for a novena (i.e. a 9 day prayer). Or we could start with Jack's email. Since I haven't quite solved that numerical riddle, let's go to Jack's email before we do anything else. Jack wrote: Les Amis de Van are organising a novena with Marcel Van commemorating the death of Brother Marcel on July 10th 1959. It is prompted by concern for the spiritual needs of France during these troublesome times. Our Lord did, of course, ask Marcel to pray for France, the country for which he had a particular affection. The Friends of Van are asking us to join them in this novena, to which we could add prayers, through the intercession of Van, for our own countries whilst at the same time heeding Our Lord's request to Van that he pray a great deal for France. Here is the prayer dictated to Van on 14 November 1945. Lord Jesus, have compassion on France. Graciously hold it tightly in your love and show it much tenderness. So ordain things that, full of love for you, it contributes to make you loved in all the nations on earth. O Love of Jesus, we now promise to remain always faithful to you and to work with a heart on fire to spread your reign throughout the universe. Amen. We should offer this prayer through the intercession of Brother Marcel. And we could offer a little postscript asking Our Lord to remember the needs of our own country, whatever it may be, during this time of pandemic. The novena begins on July 1st until July 9th. Thank you and keep your distance! Jack. + + + First off, let me mention that I'm fairly certain Jack's sign-off of "Thank you and keep your distance!" is what we in America call "that dry British sense of humor" which we enjoy so very much! Jack, you're funny, just like your brother Marcel! But no worries, whether we like it or not (and speaking for myself, I don't, but God's holy will be adored and glorified in this as in everything), we are forced to stay many thousands of miles away from you across the pond. Alas, but be forewarned: I, at least, retain the hope of sitting quite near you on Mary's lap in Heaven! And let's not forget the goal: to crowd her capacious lap with so many Marcel-ites that Marcel himself and Little Jesus almost fall off! But to get back to that amazing novena prayer taught to Marcel and us by none other than the Sweet Spouse of our souls (and Les Amis and Jack), let's look at it again: Lord Jesus, have compassion on France. Graciously hold it tightly in your love and show it much tenderness. So ordain things that, full of love for you, it contributes to make you loved in all the nations on earth. O Love of Jesus, we now promise to remain always faithful to you and to work with a heart on fire to spread your reign throughout the universe. Amen. Are you struck, as I am, by the promise to work for Jesus "with a heart on fire"? That's the name of Bishop Barron's ministry! And the goal of our consecration to Merciful Love too! But we haven't yet heeded Jack's suggestion of adding our own country to the prayer, nor his advice to ask through the intercession of Marcel. How about this: Lord Jesus, have compassion on France, and the U.S.A. and Britain too. Graciously hold them tightly in your love and show them much tenderness. So ordain things that, full of love for you, our beloved countries contribute to make you loved in all the nations on earth. O Love of Jesus, we now promise to remain always faithful to you and to work with a heart on fire to spread your reign throughout the universe. We ask these favors through the intercession of our little brother and sister, Marcel and Therese. Amen. I think that's pretty good, don't you? And guess what? The angels have solved our conundrum, as I knew they would . . . We've just read-said our novena prayer 3 times, which means we have caught up! We'll want to pray it once more at the close of our post to properly open the July 5th day, but then we have 4 days (3 past, 1 today) covered all in a jiffy and we have left in our novena just the right amount of days: July 6 (5th day) July 7 (6th day) July 8 (7th day) July 9 (8th day) and July 10 (9th day), when Marcel made it out of exile at last, and into Jesus' arms once and for all! Hooray Marcel! Hooray Jesus! Long live France and every nation of the world until the new Heaven and new earth replace this worn out planet and we get to receive Jesus' kisses face to Face! The really funny thing is that I could have sworn (which I shouldn't, but rather, as Jesus taught us. just say yay or nay), that is, I could have affirmed with all my heart, yayly, that Jack said something like, "Start the novena whenever you like!" but reading more carefully I see what he actually wrote was: "The Novena begins on July 1st until July 9th." Oops! But then again, I do love a novena that procrastinates and insists on ending right on the feast itself. Otherwise I risk feasting so much that I forget to pray on The Big Day, hence I'm glad we're praying just a little behind Les Amis de Van. Lead the way, dear French friends! We will follow in somewhat disorganized but quite cheerful procession! The other think I love about a novena is when the prayer stays the same, but each day there might be something good to ponder, so let's get to the good stuff and listen to Marcel himself, or better yet Jesus Himself, as I find them today in Conversations. Especially because do you know what I discovered recently? The whole world has not yet heeded my brilliant insistence that each one quickly get a copy or two of Marcel's Conversations (with Jesus, Mary, and St. Therese)! Which somewhat thrills me - the refusal of the world to Do the Right Thing - because although some might conclude from this that my work is in vain (my only real purpose being to get everyone reading his or her own copy so that I might stop writing and immerse myself in mine), I'm an inveterate bright-side kind of gal, and so, contrariwise, I conclude with the marvelous fact that my work remains important, nay, ESSENTIAL, for the common good! In other words, if I don't keep touting and quoting from Conversations, how will the disobedient and wandering masses (as in lots of people, not the Holy Sacrifice) ever come to their senses, see the light, and procure their much needed copies of our little brother's masterpiece? I don't know. I mean I don't know how they will ever, unless I keep writing and quoting. And besides, St. Thomas has this great bit about how the best life is contemplative but bursting into action because what kind of lout would or could keep to himself the fruits of his contemplation? Exactly! The kind of lout that I am just can't, no way, keep from singing out to everyone what I find Truth telling us in this adorable book through the adorable mouth of Marcel. And why shouldn't the book and the mouth of our brother be adorable? Little Marcel Van has been kissed by the Truly and Originally Adorable mouth (and words) of The Word made Flesh, our Brother and Best Friend, none other than Jesus Our True Love! But enough beating around the bush. How about I do some quoting? No reason to simply go on my testimony. I'm going to put you in the way of having some testimony of your own, whether you have and read your copy of this book or not. Here goes, then. Here is what Marcel and Jesus said today that tugged at my heart and made everything easier. From Conversations (226), 31 December 1945: Marcel (and me): Little Jesus, I understand absolutely nothing. Jesus: Marcel, who is obliging you to understand? Ignorant as you are, how would you be able to understand? If you have not yet understood what it is to lack poverty and to renounce yourself, you will understand even less what I have just said. . . Besides, I have not said these words for you, but really for souls who are afraid of me. Since you are not afraid of me, it is not necessary that you understand. Since you already love me, what would you be afraid of? Till the day you die you will only love me; consequently, you have no reason to be afraid. Marcel, how I love you. I would wish to hold you close to me always and cover you with kisses, and this desire will remain unchangeable for eternity. Yes, Marcel, my little friend, I will love you. I will give you kisses, I will hold you close to my breast, and you will be filled with delights. Then all that you wish for, I will gladly grant you . . . Marcel, may your love melt entirely into mine and then you will possess exclusively all love. * * * So which are we? Are we the souls who are afraid of Jesus, or the souls who love Him? And what if we do both (love and fear Him)? Remember first that Jesus understands our lack of understanding and doesn't scold us for it. And then let me quote for you some more of my favorite words in Convos, favorite because they set the stage for all the words that follow. The question at stake is: For whom are these words meant? Are they meant for us as well as for Marcel? Here is the answer Truth (Who only speaks truly) gave to Marcel on 4 November 1945: Jesus: . . . All the words that I have spoken to you from the beginning until the last one I speak to you in the future - know that it is not to you alone that I am speaking, but to all souls. You see by this that I communicate with all of them. And if, like you, they are sincere in their relationship with me, then I am speaking also to them. It is not necessary that you understand this. Do not be afraid, therefore, if later somebody says that I spoke only to you . . . * * * Which brings me to the quote I found two days ago, then lost, then found again this morning. Here is why I love Marcel and why I'm confident that even if my words reach only one soul with his words (and Jesus' words especially) in Conversations, it will be worth it. Though it might have been any page of little Marcel's Conversations, today (thank you guardian angel for returning me to 10 November 1945!) it is this one: Jesus: You, my child, you know that I always call you by the name of little flower. You, therefore, belong to the category of my little flowers, and, in fact, you are a very fragile little flower; the slightest breath of wind is enough to make you fall at my feet. That is why I dare not depart from you. Is that not to your advantage? It is precisely because of your weakness that you are, on my part, the object of a greater love and that my lips are always ready to cover you with kisses. But you are very weak, so weak that you cannot even put up with my kisses. My little flower, remember always that you must never be sad because of your weakness. And no matter how great your weakness may be, be tranquil always, believing that my love would never have the heart to separate itself from you, my little flower. * * * There, I think that should be enough for now; enough to soothe our little souls and remind us of what Jesus most wants us to know today . . . Let's say our prayer again, then, asking Jesus to bless our nations (especially France, but our own as well if it is another than France) through the intercession of our dear Marcel: Lord Jesus, have compassion on France (the U.S.A., Britain, Canada, Venezuela, Poland, Ireland, Lebanon, Syria, Scotland, Japan, Belgium, South Africa, Nigeria, Nepal, Italy, China), and all of our countries. Graciously hold them tightly in Your love and show them much tenderness. So ordain things that, full of love for You, our beloved countries contribute to make You loved in all the nations on earth. O Love of Jesus, we now promise to remain always faithful to You and to work with a heart on fire to spread Your reign throughout the universe. We ask these favors through the intercession of our little brother and sister, Marcel and Therese. Amen. Draw me, we will run!!! * * * I hope to write again soon. Wouldn't it be marvelous if I could muse each day for the rest of the days of the novena, here with you so we could say our prayers on time together? I don't know if my circumstances will allow that, so please do return and say our prayer from this post daily if another post doesn't follow before the 10th. But above all, don't be discouraged if you forget! I vote that even if we forget absolutely everything, let's remember that we have nothing to be afraid of, least of all our Jesus. He loves us! He will never let us be separated from Him, so rest in His arms and pour your heart out to Him. Or simply rest. He is with you and won't let you go away, not really. Thank You, Jesus, for Your infinite and infinitely tender and solicitous love! 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
December 2024
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