Yesterday . . .

My husband has an adorable - and sometimes annoying, perhaps? - habit of breaking into song at the least provocation. Take today's blog post title. No, I don't compose aloud, nor is he usually around when I'm composing silently, and when he is nearby he's mostly busy reading other great stuff (Belloc's Path to Rome, lately) besides Miss Marcel's blog post titles (let alone the blog!), but IF he were here, no doubt he'd launch into how "Yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away . . . "

Mine too, in fact, thanks to an early morning visit with Marcel and Jesus. But first, let me give you the real reason for our heading "Yesterday" today - or rather, the real reason for our heading today "Yesterday"!

Yesterday was, believe it or not, the 504th birthday of our holy mother St. Teresa (of Jesus) of Avila. That's why she's in the photo atop these words; she's the one seated and writing (age has privileges) while Therese, on the left, is welcoming her to Miss Marcel's Musings.

I know - she looks great for her age, doesn't she?

I might have used a portrait painted of her during life, rather than a Heavenly photo, but I happen to know what she said to the friar who made her sit for the portrait, once she saw the finished painting (and I'm not kidding):

"May God forgive you for making me, after all that, so old and ugly!"

You see why our holy mother in Carmel is so very approachable - I bet if she'd lived in modern times, she'd have deleted the photos with her in them, wondering (like we do) if she really looks like THAT? There's a lot to the argument that portraits capture people's real selves better than photography, so we can just admit that the photos aren't capturing the Real Us - though I hasten to add that while portraits can be better,  I'm not endorsing Teresa's rejected one!

Anyhow, although most of us mothers feel about 504 at least half the time, no mother that I know wants to actually be 504. I don't remember much about Methuselah, but she was very old and you just don't want to be compared to her, let alone be as old as her. Sooooooooo, I had a feeling St. Teresa (the big St. Teresa, she's called - it doesn't get any worse than that!) might not appreciate a birthday post on the day, but I gave it my best shot anyhow. That was yesterday.

And then POOF, the post disappeared! It wasn't finished, it wasn't great, and really you didn't miss anything you needed (I'll include the important info here in this day-after post), but wow was that Poofing strange.

Since words flow from my fingers like water from Niagara in the rainy season, I can't ever really regret losing a bunch of them. (They are easily replaced.) I'm usually more fascinated with the question: Why? . . . And yesterday was no exception. Why did Jesus think that post was better off Poofed?

I quickly decided it was because He didn't like it, but I'm starting to suspect it was my holy mother showing that age does not prevent her from having picked up a few tricks from Marcel, Heaven's favorite wannabe Carmelite. Since she's every Discalced Carmelite's mother, even though Marcel ended up a Redemptorist, he still gets big Teresa as a mama because she's his Carmelite sister Therese's holy mother, and your sister's mom is usually your mom too (yes, these things can get complicated, but please don't start calling Teresa of Avila the stepmother of Marcel - that just leads to more Poofing).

However they're related, certainly Marcel has charmed the socks off holy mother Teresa by now (ha! just a joke! She's discalced - shoeless! - so I'm guessing no socks! ah but now I'm going to get Marcel sore at me since Jesus made him wear socks with sandals . . .). Socks or no socks, you'd think her affection for our little brother would make her a frequent visitor here at MMM, but clearly she was busy yesterday receiving her own visitors, accepting many happy returns of the day and suchlike, and thus not ready for a post in her honor until today.

Which brings us up to date, except for needing to catch up on what we missed with that Poofing.

For although yesterday was post-less, the good and loving Madre did give me a pair of delightful gifts in honor of her birthday, gifts for which I'm deeply grateful. Having the Blessed Trinity, the Holy Family, all her brothers and sisters the saints, her daughters and sons in the Order, and the entirety of nine angelic choirs at her disposal. she was in need of nothing herself and inclined to shower gifts rather than receive them. So here's what came my way from her largesse:

1. This is the craziest and most unexpected - but yesterday I had the joy of making my own first visit to a friend's blog, and what to my wondering eyes did appear (no, not Santa or reindeer, but good guess!) -- but a blog post on St. Therese, dedicated to moi! That's me (in Miss-Piggy-French), Miss Marcel!

Can you believe it?
Here, I'll show you right now!
Click anywhere on the line below this sentence (the line that says "Draw Me"), and you'll be magically transported to this lovely gift:

"Draw Me" from the beautiful blog A Grain of Salt by my even more beautiful friend, Felicity!

Felicity takes all her own photos, and they are gorgeous! (Though again, not as gorgeous as she is!) But even better than her photos are her words . . . She writes:

"Therese is always trying to pull us back. She is always on the lookout for little ones who are left behind. And she herself prayed to be drawn. She knew that, if she could be drawn, other little souls would be drawn with her."

See what I mean? It's a great gift to have a blog post dedicated to you (or me, in this case), but to have it be about St. Therese and contain such truth and beauty - I'll admit it: I wear socks! And this post with its sweet dedication and delightful content simply knocked them off! 

I'm also thrilled to be able to share Felicity's blog with you because there are So Many posts! Once you're over at A Grain of Salt, just click away and enjoy to your heart's content. Thank you, Felicity!!!

2. As if it wasn't enough to meet Therese over at Felicity's place, I had the most wonderful visit with Marcel and Jesus yesterday morning. I woke very early (way too early, but that's good prayer time since no one else is awake, not even the poodle!), I couldn't go back to sleep, and so I took my bedside copy of Conversations and my journal over to the couch.

(Yes, I have a couch in my bedroom, and we might as well admit it right here, that makes me as rich as Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, or any other pretender to great riches. All you need is a couch in your room and you are richer than rich, if you ask me. Sure, it came from the curb in front of our neighbor's house, but it was in fine shape and has served us well!)

I wrote in my journal this question for Jesus: "Were you displeased with me yesterday?"

Not to get our yesterdays confused, let me point out that this was yesterday morning, and I was asking Him if I'd displeased Him the yesterday before that - or the day before yesterday now.

I heard this little interior voice say, "Look at (33)."

Part of me wanted to argue, but the smarter part said, "Hey, it's all lovely - whatever (33) says it's gotta be good, so don't worry about whether that was simply your imagination or simply God - let's check out (33)!"

We did. I opened Conversations to (33) and found Marcel asking Jesus, "Do I ever make You sad?"

Jesus answers: "Only if you are sad. When you are happy, how could I be sad? So be happy always. A single one of your joys suffices to console me very much."

I have decided that along with Mary's brilliant idea to pray, "Little Jesus, I offer You this worry as a sacrifice," I need to remember this too, from Jesus:

"When you are happy, how could I be sad? So be happy always. A single one of your joys suffices to console me very much."

Who knew it was all this easy?
Therese knew.
She taught Marcel and then he knew, but he forgot.
So Jesus told him again. And again, and again! That's what fills the pages of their Conversations, and that's why it's my favorite book.

Before today is yesterday too, I need to post this. Happy (belated) Birthday, holy mother Teresa! Thank you for the gifts, and thank you for coming to visit!

Thank you, Felicity, for the beautiful blog post on Therese!

And thank you Therese for giving us your Little Way again through Marcel.

Jesus, there isn't enough space on the whole internet to thank You as we would like. So instead, we'll ask a favor:

Draw me, we will run!!!

I'm smiling, figuring that's a good indication of happiness and thus a way to keep our Jesus smiling too. Are you smiling? I hope so! My angel is coming to kiss your angel, and may he kiss you too while he's there!