Triple Feast in Triple Novena or Just the Facts, please, ma'am.

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!