Day 7 of the novena to Blessed Louis and Zelie Martin prepared for Sainte-Therese Parish in Metz, France.  Used with the permission of Fr. Jean-Claude Lange and translated by Mary Davidson, OCDS for "Saint Therese of Lisieux: A Gateway."  Please join me in thanking them.

SEVENTH DAY

Abandonment in hope

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you” (Matthew 7:7).

Prayer to the Holy Spirit:

 “Come, Holy Spirit; come Fire of Love, come Father of the poor; loving my wounds. Lord, You chose me from my tender childhood, and I can be called the work of Your love.” (St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus)

Reading:

Rejoice with Jerusalem and be glad because of her,
all you who love her;

Rejoice with her in her joy,
all you who mourn over her

So that you may nurse and be satisfied
from her consoling breast;

That you may drink with delight
at her abundant breasts!

For thus says the LORD:

I will spread prosperity over her like a river,
like an overflowing torrent,
the wealth of nations.

You shall nurse, carried in her arms,
cradled upon her knees;
As a mother comforts her child,
so I will comfort you;
in Jerusalem you shall find your comfort.

(Isaiah 66: 10-13)

Reflection:

In the home of Nazareth as in Alençon, there is room for a gentle and rewarding education. The sweet school of the Virgin Mary, like that of Thérèse, teaches us in Wisdom and Truth: "The truth will set you free." Free to love, but also free to recognize, to receive love, and to enjoy loving. We can recognize this love because it is a source of grace and healing.

Moreover, Louis and Zelie Martin give us a great example of faithfulness in prayer during time of trial. They are faithful to novenas and pilgrimages. St. Paul says, “How beautiful are the feet that carry the good news.” In her sickness, Zelie Martin abandoned herself in confidence during a trip to Lourdes. To have abandonment, to have confidence of healing: all our states of misery should feed on one or the other. What a mystery, what a treasure to discover!

In the school of Thérèse, we receive everything from Jesus through Mary. We receive the way of childhood, this beautiful childlike healing:

“Whatever you ask the Father in my name, I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. … Whoever loves me will keep my word. My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our dwelling with him”

(John 14: 13, 23).

In this abandonment, Zelie Martin carried within her heart her nine children, consecrated to the Lord. In our innermost being, we must become willing to bear a new child: a child with the names of Love and Forgiveness.

For Meditation:

Blessed Zelie Martin, show us the path of Mary, the great way of childhood prophesied by Thérèse. Let us be reborn in the heart of Mary in confidence, setting aside our own strength.

Louis and Zelie Martin, teach us to abandon ourselves to the time and to the graces of the Father, by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Daily Prayer: Our Father; Hail Mary; Our Father

"God Our Father,

I thank you for Louis and Zelie Martin,

a couple united in faith, giving the witness of an exemplary Christian life

through the exercise of the duty of their state in life

and the practice of the evangelical virtues.

In the education of a large family,

through trials, mourning, and suffering,

they generously expressed their trust in You

and their submission to Your will.

Deign to grant, O Lord, the graces that I seek,

in the hope that the father and mother of St. Therese of the Child Jesus

will one day be proposed as models for today's families for the entire Church. Amen."

Day 6 of the novena to Blessed Louis and Zelie Martin prepared for Sainte-Therese Parish in Metz, France.  Used with the permission of Fr. Jean-Claude Lange and translated by Mary Davidson, OCDS for "Saint Therese of Lisieux: A Gateway."  Please join me in thanking them.

SIXTH DAY

The night sky near Lisieux.  Courtesy of l'instantane Normandie.

The night, the desert, the purification

"That's why I'm going to seduce her into the wilderness and speak to her heart" (Hosea 14)

Prayer to the Holy Spirit:

"Come, Father of lights, God of Love, teach me to pray. Lead me to the truth. Engrave my soul with your blazing fire and fill me with your Love. Come Holy Spirit, who made the martyrs, confessors, apostles, prophets, heroes, and all great hearts: this is the only path that leads to salvation, so therefore I take it too.” (St. Louis Marie Grignon de Montfort).

Psalm 4:

Answer me when I call, my saving God.
When troubles hem me in, set me free;
take pity on me, hear my prayer.

How long, O people, will you be hard of heart?
Why do you love what is worthless, chase after lies?

Know that the LORD works wonders for his faithful one;
the LORD hears when I call out to him.

Tremble and sin no more;
weep bitterly within your hearts,
wail upon your beds.
Offer fitting sacrifices
and trust in the LORD.

Many say, “May we see better times!
LORD, show us the light of your face!”

But you have given my heart more joy
than they have when grain and wine abound.

In peace I will lie down and fall asleep,
for you alone, LORD, make me secure.

Reflection

Our concepts of desert, of loneliness, and of night mingle with those of abandonment, sadness, and punishment. If we accept that our earthly time is not that of God, then we can better understand these negative ideas. For Our Father does not appear to us in storms, or major events, but as Elijah experienced Him: in silence and a gentle breeze. Is it not in the slightest whisper that we tell a secret? For God gives. and He takes away again. in a great mystery of exchange in love. From our perspective, it happens that when we give. sometimes we feel we are not understood. Sometimes we refuse to give, even as we refuse to receive.

Blessed Zelie Martin gave everything she had for her children, right up until her death. Blessed Louis Martin gave his all to the Eucharist on the altar. And the “all” they gave led to their crowning in Heaven. Thus, our earthly nights or our deserts are not those of Heaven. As the dawn triumphs silently over darkness, knowing that morning is inevitable, we must accept without stubborn resistance our night, our desert, or our purification.

On Calvary, the spear brought forth blood and water, a gushing fountain of life. It was necessary for God to suffer in order for us to accept Him. At the end of Christ’s agony, the spear foreshadowed a birth. He could not come before the agony that had announced a death. Therese wanted the Coliseum dust, the dried blood of the martyrs. Zelie Martin brought forth a holy family through her physical and psychological trials. Louis Martin brought to Carmel his desire for the priesthood, and, like Moses after crossing the desert, he could see the Promised Land. Let us read again the writing of Louis Martin: "God has opened a way to lead all people to the happiness that He intends for them. It is a path of contradictions and of the cross. It is for the princes as well as the shepherds, and faith teaches us that no one is exempt. "

For Meditation:

Blessed Louis and Zelie Martin, teach us to be simple, to be poor in spirit as instruments of God.  As St. Therese prepared the altar for each Eucharist, may we invite our God to our table. As we wait for His presence, may we become His servants.

Daily Prayer: Our Father, Hail Mary, Our Father.

"God Our Father,

I thank you for Louis and Zelie Martin,

a couple united in faith, giving the witness of an exemplary Christian life

through the exercise of the duty of their state in life

and the practice of the evangelical virtues.

In the education of a large family,

through trials, mourning, and suffering,

they generously expressed their trust in You

and their submission to Your will.

Deign to grant, O Lord, the graces that I seek,

in the hope that the father and mother of St. Therese of the Child Jesus

will one day be proposed as models for today's families for the entire Church. Amen."

In the spring of 2013 the relics of St. Therese visited Cambodia.  See the lovely two-and-a-half-minute video (with English subtitles) of their visit to Chomkarcheang Village.  Bishop Olivier Schmitthaeusler, Apostolic Vicar of Phnom Penh, is seen speaking to the schoolchildren about the relics.  You will see a subtitle that mentions "Smiling Notre Dame Church."  This translation is a reference to a church named for "Our Lady of the Smile," as the statue in the Martin family home before which the sick Therese, age ten, and her sisters were praying when Mary suddenly appeared to Therese, who was cured. 

The Carmel of Phnom Penh was founded from the Saigon Carmel, which was founded from Lisieux.  Bishop Schmitthaeusler, like St. Therese's spiritual brother, is a member of the Foreign Mission Society of Paris.  Please pray for his work and for the Church in Cambodia. 

 Day 5 of the novena to Blessed Louis and Zelie Martin prepared for Sainte-Therese Parish in Metz, France.  Fr. Jean-Claude Lange gave this novena to us, and Mary Davidson, OCDS translated it for "Saint Therese of Lisieux: A Gateway."    We thank them both.

Louis Martin, released from the Bon Sauveur psychiatric hospital in Caen.  Photographed in 1892 in the garden of7 rue Labbey, Lisieux, where he spent his last years. Photo courtesy Fr. Antonio Sangalli.

FIFTH DAY

Beyond all suffering

“Nevertheless, do not rejoice because the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice because your names are written in heaven.”   Luke 10:20

Prayer of thanksgiving:

"O Mary, living in the mind of the Father; Mary, spouse of the Father’s will: wrap me in your maternal presence and remind me that I was created with inexpressible wisdom and love. Filled with gratitude for a Father so infinitely good, I pray: "Thank you, Lord, for the miracle I am." O Mary, visit the moment of my conception, which I consecrate to you. The marriage of my earthly father and mother I consecrate to you. I consecrate to you all the unions of the earth, that in the image of God, humanity might give life with wisdom and love. "  (Fr. Ephraim)

Reflection:

If we are promised that beyond all suffering eternal joy awaits us, can we say that there is a beginning and an end to all suffering? Pain is always part of life. But if life is a free gift, resistance to pain can lead to struggle, doubt. and. therefore. suffering. We must choose between control and abandonment:

"When God's goodness chooses someone for a particular grace or a sublime state, He gives all the necessary strength to that person and greatly increases his spiritual beauty."(St. Bernardine of Siena).

Suffering can be existential, physical, or psychological. Suffering can be a choice of life and death. Are we ready to accompany our Lord Jesus Christ every Thursday night in Gethsemane?

“When he rose from prayer and returned to his disciples, he found them sleeping from grief. He said to them, ‘Why are you sleeping? Get up and pray that you may not undergo the test.’” Luke 22:45 & 46

Let us not be tempted to escape, to retreat, to become bitter in a struggle against what appears to be unfair. Our pain should be shared with others, offered up at any time, but it is really beyond our earthly comprehension. For beyond all suffering emerges acceptance of grace, of recognizing ourselves as children of God in Jesus Christ, and therefore to be recognized as sons and daughters of God. If we cannot remember, let the tears come because they are always nourishing and the fruit of the Spirit. Any form of desire without suffering can be understood as an illusion of love. The suffering experienced and accepted by the great Saints is a school for everyone, but we never consider suffering as an end in itself. If our weakness is our strength, compassion at the foot of the cross no longer appears as a weakness, but as an expectation, a silent hope. For if at the foot of the cross stood the first church, let us also in this compassion, be willing for it to set us ablaze:

“As they led him away they took hold of a certain Simon, a Cyrenian, who was coming in from the country; and after laying the cross on him, they made him carry it behind Jesus.”(Luke 23:26).

For Meditation:

 Blessed Louis and Zelie Martin, teach us every day to discover and recognize the triumph of love over suffering encouraged by Therese. Let us accept as you did, entrusting ourselves for adoption to the Virgin Mary and St. Joseph for all our healing. Thank you, Louis and Zelie Martin, as you show us the way to choose and accept our adoptions as sons and daughters to live in Nazareth as at Les Buissonnets in your family.

Daily Prayer: Our Father, Hail Mary, Our Father

"God Our Father,

I thank you for Louis and Zelie Martin,

a couple united in faith, giving the witness of an exemplary Christian life

through the exercise of the duty of their state in life

and the practice of the evangelical virtues.

In the education of a large family,

through trials, mourning, and suffering,

they generously expressed their trust in You

and their submission to Your will.

Deign to grant, O Lord, the graces that I seek,

in the hope that the father and mother of St. Therese of the Child Jesus

will one day be proposed as models for today's families for the entire Church. Amen.

World Youth Day pilgrims to venerate a piece of the white mantle of St. Therese of Lisieux

St. Therese of Lisieux will be an important figure at World Youth Day 2013.   The theme of WYD 2013 is "Go and make disciples of all nations" (Mt. 28:19).   As Patroness of Missions, St. Therese has been named one of only five patron saints of World Youth Day 2013.  Pilgrims will have the chance to venerate a relic of St. Therese that has been brought to Rio de Janeiro especially for this occasion.

In May two representatives from the Pilgrimage Office at Lisieux, Dominique Menvielle and Sister Marie-Christine, traveled to Rio de Janeiro to deliver the relic, a fragment of the white choir mantle worn by St. Therese, to the Local Organizing Committee for World Youth Day. This relic, together with relics of other saints, will be present at the Main Events of World Youth Day.  

About St. Therese's Mantle and Habit

The white cloak of which this relic is a fragment is part of the formal religious dress of Discalced Carmelite nuns.

The white mantle of the Carmelite nun

 The Carmelite habit had at least thirteen separate pieces, all fastened with pins.  See photos and descriptions of all these garments right here at the Web site of the Archives of the Carmel of Lisieux. 

The  nuns wore the mantle for choir and for other formal religious occasions.   Above, Celine photographed the community in their white mantles in July 1896.  Therese is in the second row, third from left.

St. Therese's habit would have been passed on to another nun, but Pauline asked Leonie to offer to buy it back.  The monastery was very poor; the prioress accepted the offer, so the habit was preserved.  You may see it today at the Lisieux Carmel. These two photographs were  the gift of Tom and Dee Curci.

When and Where to Venerate The Fragment of St. Therese's Mantle

The relic of St. Therese's choir mantle will be present at the Main Events of World Youth Day.  At other times, the relic will be exposed for veneration in a chapel at Quinta da Boavista as part of the Vocations Fair, which is part of WYD 2013.  All pilgrims are welcome to attend the Vocations Fair, which runs from July 23-26 and is open from 8:00 a.m. through 8:00 p.m.  More than 150 religious orders, diverse movements, and new communities will be present.  Quinta da Boavista ("Farm with a Good View"), a public park, is located in the São Cristóvão neighborhood of Urca, in Praça General Tibúrcio, Sugar Loaf’s underfoot.

World Youth Day pilgrims will also get to visit the special exhibition "St. Therese of Lisieux, or, Burning with Love" that drew seven million visitors at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris last summer.  More about this exhibit in another blog entry.