Zelie & Louis, meet Connie & Henry on this glorious feast of Saints Henry & another Teresa!7/13/2024
I said yesterday that I hoped to write more on Saints Louis and Zelie, and I can't leave that promise unfulfilled because I also left a question unanswered. I had written:
"Where did Therese get her sanctity? The answer is simple: From God. How did God give Therese her sanctity? Through her holy parents and siblings. What does all this teach us?" And in answer to that last question (What does all this teach us?) I could only answer, "Well, gosh, lots of things, but I have about two seconds before it's time to finish." Humph, as a little boy I once knew used to say. That isn't much of an answer, so I'm going to try again. What do we learn from Therese's sanctity coming through the love and formation God gave her through her saintly (and sainted) parents and her super holy family? Well, perhaps you're thinking, "Gosh, my family is nice, but wow, I'm not sure they're saints!" Or perhaps you're saying, "Hmmm . . . . I'm sure they did their best, but what a mess our family was!" Or maybe even, "Yikes! Do my kids have a chance with ME for a parent?" I have great news! The saints come from all sorts of backgrounds, with parents and siblings who fall into every sort of configuration from the good, the bad, and the ugly, to the more traditional categories of saints and sinners. First off, I'm sure Therese and her parents and siblings would like us to remember that all saints (except our Blessed Mother) are sinners well before they're saints! Second, we want to remember that while grace builds on nature, God is the author of both, so He can make us lovely and one with Him (lovely by being one with Him) through both. The calendar of saints is such a living museum illustrating this miraculous work of God in all circumstances. Take the last few days, for instance. On July 10, we had our dear little brother and namesake Marcel Van. His status, currently, is Servant of God, which means he has a cause for canonization, but not too much progress. That's okay - he is a perfect model of little-tiny-ness at this point. And what was his family life like? Well, his parents loved him tremendously and things began well. But then there was a natural disaster that wiped out the family's livelihood, his brother went blind, and his dad took to drinking and gambling. Poor family! Marcel went to live with a priest in a parish so that he could set out on his lifelong ambition to be a priest. But he was just a little tyke! Really, maybe 7 years old! And that's a bit young, in our opinion, for even the minorest of minor seminary situations . . .The priest ended up getting busy and letting Van be more of an unpaid and underage servant in the house than a second Samuel. Later, in search of more and better training to become the priest he yearned to be for God, Van found himself in a really bad place where there was much immorality. He remained untainted and fought it, but wow, this is a far cry from the romantic image we may have of saints with saintly parents and siblings. The previous post for Louis and Zelie's feast contains links to more on Marcel's life story, but for now I'll simply add that it all worked out! Therese came into his life and told him God wanted him to be a religious brother rather than a priest, and God led Marcel (albeit circuitously!) to the Redemptorists in Hanoi. There his "bearded Jesus" - Fr. Anthony Boucher - was an excellent novice master and spiritual director, very kind to Marcel, and providing on a natural level the love, understanding, and guidance that Therese provided on a supernatural level. Together with Jesus and Mary, they helped Marcel grow emotionally and spiritually into a saint. Through his prayers and encouragement, his dad reformed his life and returned to the sacraments, and his younger sister Te became a Redemptorist nun. And do you know the wonderful thing? She is still a Redemptorist nun with her community in Canada. The saints are not as far away as we might imagine! July 11 we celebrated the feast of St. Benedict. What a great gift to the Church he is! While he is known for his monasticism back in the day and his protection of us now, what I know and admire with a holy envy is the friendship he had with his sister, St. Scholastica. If I have the story right, the last time they were able to visit (he was at her monastery having a spiritual chat with her over tea, the way I picture it), Scholastica was super disappointed when it was time for Ben to leave, but he was firm that he had to get back to monking. She pleaded for him to stay, but when that didn't work (even the best of brothers can sometimes be hard-hearted), she pleaded with God. He was more understanding, and He who calmed the storm now created one just for her! It prevented Ben from leaving, and they got in a bit more holy talk and prayers together - and I hope some laughter too! July 12 brought us Louis and Zelie, the saint-parents of our patroness St. Therese. While they did a great job raising their children, there were SO MANY ups and downs for both of them. Zelie was raised by a pretty cold mother (God rest her soul!) and that probably contributed to her own maternal solicitude and affection for her children - she wanted to give them what she had so badly missed. Both Louis and Zelie wanted to - and tried to - enter religious life, but both were rejected by their prospective religious orders. After they married, they lived as brother and sister for several months, until a priest explained that God wanted them to have children and be a more regular family. They did! They had nine kids, but four died young, and as those who have lost a child know, this is a lifelong sadness. Zelie was always adamant in her insistence that she wouldn't rather have not had these children; her joy in their existence and eternity with God never left her even as she grieved their absence. And then, there were the remaining five daughters to occupy her. Louis gave them endearing nicknames, took them for walks, and read to them. Zelie dressed them in delightful girly clothes and wrote long letters about their exploits. Both parents taught them in word and example to be generous with the poor, and especially they taught the girls about God's unsurpassed love and providence. These were important lessons because Zelie was taken from the family way too early - when Therese, the youngest, was only four years old - and Zelie left with one especially worrisome task undone. Their middle daughter, Leonie, was born with less of the beauty and talents that her sisters shared, had a difficult temperament, and to make matters worse, she'd been traumatized in childhood by a mean-spirited maid (God rest her soul too!). As for Louis, he was both father and mother to the five girls after Zelie went Home to God. He moved the family from Alencon to Lisieux in order to be near Zelie's brother Isadore and his wife Celine (the Auntie after whom Therese's soul-mate sister Celine was named), and devoted himself to his daughters well being. He blessed them as they left, one by one, to live in seclusion as cloistered nuns, but after Therese left (Celine and Leonie were still home with him), he began to suffer from the disease that eventually brought him to God and Zelie. This disease meant an abrupt decline into senility. The patriarch who had been the stronghold of the family, the hero of his daughters (and a hero really and truly) became, suddenly, a very old man who lost his beautiful mind and had to be confined to a mental hospital. It was run by good Sisters, but this was a stunning blow to the daughters who wanted to care for him as he had cared for them. Three were cloistered nuns and couldn't go to him. Leonie was dealing with her own interior struggles. Celine would have provided every care, but his needs were beyond her abilities. Marie, Pauline, Leonie, Celine, and Therese called this their greatest trial and their greatest treasure, this illness that took their Papa from them so quickly and yet so slowly. Louis died at home, thanks be to God, and it was a blessed release as well as the moment he had lived for and desired long before he was sick. He and Zelie made their home a domestic church and raised their family in the knowledge that this "life" is simply a prelude to Real Life, and Therese was right to laughingly call it "exile." As for Leonie, she found much joy in this exile before it was her turn to depart for Home. Though she had suffering in her childhood and young adulthood, happily, there were lots of great influences and amazing people in her life, and ultimately, there was little Therese. After Leonie had failed at religious life three times, Therese promised to help her. It was clear Therese was dying, and Leonie was the only one of the five not in the Carmel of Lisieux. They corresponded and Therese promised in her letters that once she got to Heaven she'd help Leonie fulfill her vocation as a Visitation nun. And so it happened! After Therese entered eternal life, Leonie entered the Visitation of Caen one more time, and finally was able to stay. She lived and followed her sister's Little Way there for 42 years! I cherish the memory of my Nigerian son calling me one day with exciting news. "Mome!" he said. "One of St. Therese's sisters has a cause beginning! Guess which one?" I guessed Celine. I guessed Pauline. Nothing personal Marie, but after my two strikes, I realized where this was going, so I didn't offer your name . . . "Leonie!?!?!" I asked with great joy. "YES! Leonie!" came the answer across the miles. How good God is, making the ugly duckling into a beautiful swan. Isn't that finally the fairy tale we're all living? Therese loved to explain that it wasn't due to her own brilliance or virtue that she'd never been a great sinner. God had spoiled her and kept her safe, that was all. And if you haven't been quite so spoiled and safe, perhaps you are a Leonie rather than a Therese, and that needn't stop you from being a saint too! But wait! Time is flying, and I haven't introduced Zelie and Louis to Connie and Henry. And then there's St. Teresa of the Andes politely (if slightly restlessly) waiting in the wings too. Come out, guys! Zelie and Louis, you have most likely been friends with Connie and Henry for years now, but I'd better introduce them to anyone who's wandered over to our musings . . . Connie is short for Cunegunda, and she is the royal Sainted wife of Henry, the only Holy Roman Emperor to ever become a canonized saint! Congrats, you two! It's hard enough to be saints without two nickels to rub together, when circumstances force you to call on God for help night and day, but Wow! Together you ruled a big part of the world, and you still managed to fall in love with God, as well as each other! There are so many amazing things to tell you about Henry (and by implication, Connie) that I have to leave the task to another . . . Marcel is ready for us to bring out Teresa, and I'm with him, so here's a link to St. Henry and Connie (click on the word "link" to read about them in more detail). Today is, in fact, the feast of St. Henry, who is buried with his St. Connie in the Cathedral of Bamberg where I once was with my dear sis Camille and our own Henry - not a saint then, but his Carol worked on him until he was ready for God, if not canonization! Remember when I accidentally insulted St. Josemaria the other day, rejecting his reality and substituting my own? It was simply a matter of taste - he preferred practicing heroism by hopping out of bed at the first sound of the alarm, whereas I define "the heroic moment" along Theresian lines. I recall vividly that day in Bamberg. We were going, suddenly and unexpectedly, to the Cathedral and the tomb we found there (which you can see at the top of this post) - the tomb of our fearless leader Henry's patron saint and his beloved. This was good because Henry needed a patron saint at that moment to save the day from ruin. He'd been churlish or angry about something small (our Henry, not St. Henry) that very morning, and it was rough going being on a jaunt in the German countryside with him driving a million kilometers an hour while my sister and I recovered from his previous moment of unkindness. Therese says life is just a moment between two eternities. That's about what we felt that day, or at least I did. Maybe more like life is just a few moments between two eternities. After the first unhappy moment of family strife, there came another moment. We had stumbled upon the Cathedral of Bamberg and St. Henry. Our Henry was thrilled. My emotions were more on the human level and I felt less than thrilled. And then, somehow (most likely due to angelic help), I saw the moment for what it was. This was A Heroic Moment Waiting to Happen. And amazingly, by God's grace, it did happen! Instead of sulking (which I still say I had every right to do), I smiled. I just smiled, real big, which is my skill. Voila! Joy! Which is a lot about our Henrys, but doesn't tell us a thing about the other Teresa in our post title. I can sum up the Hanks by saying that I'm smiling again to imagine them helping God rule the world from where they are with Him now. And our Henry became a Carmelite, so he has special joy in sharing his feast day (and his patron's) with Teresa of the Andres, because it's her feast today too. Marcel loves her because she got to go to Heaven at age 20, she was (like his favorite Therese) a Carmelite, and she played tennis and swam. He never played tennis, but it's like the time he asked Jesus, "Did you eat bananas?" (I'm not making this up, he did ask, and Jesus answered no, so Marcel promised to eat two bananas that night - one for himself and one for little Jesus!) Marcel and I aren't good tennis players like Henry's Carol, so we're hoping Teresa played tennis at least once for us too! Oh, and she loved to ride horses! Her cool factor keeps rising, and she's another great illustration of the timelessness and timeliness of the saints. What about her family life? This is where she shows us that God has a different and perfect plan for each one of us, a plan to bring us into closest union with Himself no matter what our backgrounds, no matter what our relationships have been. Teresa's parents raised her Catholic, but she outstripped them in generosity (as saint-children generally do), and when she wanted to become a bride of Christ by entering Carmel, her dad was totally against it. Her brother was too. She did what she could: she explained, she cajoled, she reminded them of the principles of their common faith, all to no avail. She did end up entering the monastery, after eventually obtaining her father's reluctant permission, but once there, she didn't last long. She was a flower now in full bloom, and Jesus was ready to pluck her and bring her to Heaven. Teresa got special permission to make her final vows so she could die as a fully professed Carmelite, and then she zipped off to do in Heaven what she couldn't succeed at on earth - to help her family understand how in leaving them she was preparing them for a deeper friendship with her. The friendship of the saints is beyond my descriptive powers, but suffice it to say that what we struggle to do with all our words and actions, Jesus and the saints can accomplish in an instant! This is as true for our relationships as it is for every other part of our lives. God loves hearing our prayers and healing our wounds, even as He allows us to keep our weakness and fail again - so we will pray again, and He can help again! I hope and pray that this day of Saint Henry and Saint Teresa brings you new friends (in Heaven and on earth) and many miracles. I've been praying for quite a few miracles lately, and yours are included. May we continue to fling ourselves into Jesus' loving embrace and remind Him, in a shout or a whisper, whatever we can do, "Jesus, I 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
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