Pope John XXIII
A blessed feast of St. John XXIII!
How intimate the connection is between St. John XXIII and St. Therese, whose life and thinking in the 1890s anticipated so many of the graces of the Second Vatican Council, which was his gift to the Church. (Of its genesis, he said "My soul was illumined with a great idea, which I received with indescribable trust." Is trust not the virtue of St. Therese?).
To celebrate, please treat yourself to:
"Holy Popes, friends of Therese, pray for us!" - an article by Father Olivier Ruffray, rector of the Shrine at Lisieux, which appeared in the May 2014 issue of "Therese of Lisieux," the Shrine's magazine.
"St. John XXIII and St. John Paul II, the friends of St. Therese of Lisieux," my brief article at the time of their canonization.
"What if Louis and Zelie Martin had known about Vatican II?", a conference presented by Mgr Jacques Habert, bishop of Seez (the diocese in which Louis and Zelie spent their married life) in 2012. This reflection shows that the riches which would be articulated in Vatican II were prepared and lived in the Martin family even before the birth of St. Therese:
The beatification of Louis and Zélie is therefore a prophetic gesture, for it shows that sanctity is accessible to and embraces ordinary people who are living the reality of marriage.
One thing is certain: that God is leading us, whatever the trials, whatever the darkness, we can get through the night. For the lives of Louis and Zélie were not a tranquil stream. Trials and troubles were at the heart of their experience, but also the simple, everyday joys through which the Lord led them on the road of perfection. We receive this beatification, and, perhaps, tomorrow their canonization, as a sign for today, as a call to everyone in the contemporary world to promote their model of the family.
May St. John XXIII continue to open a window for us!