St. Therese and Sisters washing the floor. Image via Wikipedia
February 16, 2011 Dear Family of Mary! "Dear children! I thank you for every sacrifice you have offered. And now I urge you to offer every sacrifice with love. I wish you, the helpless ones, to begin helping with confidence and the Lord will keep on giving to you in confidence. Thank you for having responded to my call." (July 4, 1985) We might be stunned to hear Our Lady call us "helpless ones." Is she insulting us? I not that bad off! Who says I'm helpless! But I think that she is only being truthful. From her vantage point in heaven, we must all look pretty little. And actually, I think she is calling us to be little, helpless ones. She calls us her "dear little children" every time she addresses us! But truly there is some genius behind her statement. To understand it, let's turn to Saint Therese, the one who truly understood the little way. Saint Therese of Lisieux wrote:
Image via Wikipedia
"What pleases Him is to see me love my littleness and poverty, the blind hope I have in His mercy...That is my sole treasure; why should not this treasure be yours?...
"Understand that to love Jesus, to be His victim of love, the weaker one is, without desires or virtues, the more apt one is for the operations of that consuming and transforming Love. The desire to be a victim is enough of itself, but one must consent to stay always poor and without strength, and that's the difficulty, for where are we to find the man truly poor in spirit? He must be sought afar, says the psalmist. He does not say we must look for him among great souls, but 'afar,' that is, in lowliness, nothingness. Ah! Do let us stay very far from all that is brilliant, let us love our littleness, love to feel nothing, then we shall be poor in spirit, and Jesus will come for us, far off as we are, He will transform us in love's flames...Oh! how I wish I could make you realize what I mean!...It is trust, and nothing but trust, that must bring us to Love...Fear brings us only to Justice." Letter to Sister Marie of the Sacred Heart, September 17, 1896) We, the helpless ones, can begin helping with confidence! "Let us love our littleness..." says St. Therese, "The desire to be a victim is enough of itself, but one must consent to stay always poor and without strength..." Being the helpless ones, the little ones, the poor in spirit, is essential if we want to help Jesus. He needs only our surrender to Him, our little sacrifices. He will turn them into graces big enough to change the world. "I wish you, the helpless ones, to begin helping with confidence and the Lord will keep on giving to you in confidence." In Jesus and Mary!
Cathy Nolan PS. Many people have been confused about the new iphone application about confession. The creators of this app have asked me to share these links with you, explaining the Confession app.
Let's clear the confusion on the new application developed for iPhone and iPads, Confession: A Roman Catholic App. I would be grateful if you would click on the 3 links below and take a peek. I think this will help to clear up the confusion about the product, caused by misrepresentation by so many "journalist's" in the secular media. (Catholic reporters generally got it right!) I would also be most grateful if you would pass these links on to others you know who might also have the wrong impression about the app, and the Holy See's stance on it. Thanks so much. I think it's wonderful that so many are talking about the Sacrament of Confession. I think The Holy Spirit is working hard! Video from the Vatican
http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=10150172695948508&oid=7891870722&comments Print article from Zenit, in Rome
http://www.zenit.org/article-31701?l=english Video interview with the Associated Press and the App's developers
http://video.ap.org/?f=WHIZ&pid=V8kSta8Ha_ExeGtkPlbm1wMsfuV5Mqkx
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