THE RETURN OF THE TRIPLE NOVENA!! or...Miracle for Marcel Take 2!

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!