God's Gift of His Saints
I recently watched the movie “Therese” and I was reminded of an incident that happened about a year and a half ago, which I would like to share with you. My reason for sharing this is to bring to light how real the saints are and to encourage our belief in the afterlife.
In December of 2004 my favorite aunt Lea died after suffering several strokes over four years. I wondered where her soul was. I found a novena to St. Terese, the Little Flower in my Pieta book and decided to pray this prayer for nine days. It is not my usual practice to pray novenas. In fact, I really don’t remember ever praying any except maybe when I was in elementary school. But it seemed like a good thing to do.
The prayer itself is simple and very beautiful. It goes like this:
St. Therese, the Little Flower,
Please pick me a rose
From the heavenly garden
And send it to me
With a message of love
Ask God to grant me the favor
I thee implore
And tell Him I will love Him
Each day more and more
So I asked her to send me a rose when my aunt was in heaven and left it at that.
In February I was invited to become part of a prayer ministry in the parish. This involved going to 20 classes, one a week, and learning how to pray with people. I had been very involved in this type of prayer ministry back in the 1980’s for about 10 years, so it was all very familiar to me.
In June we had our final meeting and one of the members, a man named Michael, brought various holy cards with relics for everyone. As I was looking at them he came up to me with a white card in his hand and said, “Laura, this is for you from St. Therese.” I took it from him and saw that it had a rose on it, blessed by her relic. I knew immediately that she had answered my prayer. I started to cry. He said to me, “I know how you feel.” I shared with him my prayer novena to St. Therese back in December and how she had just told me that my aunt was in heaven.
He also shared with me that he had prayed to her while in Lebanon and the very next day someone came to him and said, “This is for you from St. Therese.” It was a rose blessed by her relic, which he brought back to the United States where he had a very sick daughter. She was blessed with the rose and she recovered.
The saints are very important to us here on earth. They are here to help us and it is to our benefit to ask for their help. They are a sign to us from God that there is indeed an afterlife.
I try to read everyday from “The Prologue of Ochrid” about the lives of at least two or three saints. And after each I say this little prayer to them:
Please pray to God and the most holy Theotokos
And intercede before the throne of Christ
For the salvation of my soul
May I have the honor and privilege
Of making your friendship
In the Kingdom of Heaven
May God continue to bless us with his Saints.
In December of 2004 my favorite aunt Lea died after suffering several strokes over four years. I wondered where her soul was. I found a novena to St. Terese, the Little Flower in my Pieta book and decided to pray this prayer for nine days. It is not my usual practice to pray novenas. In fact, I really don’t remember ever praying any except maybe when I was in elementary school. But it seemed like a good thing to do.
The prayer itself is simple and very beautiful. It goes like this:
St. Therese, the Little Flower,
Please pick me a rose
From the heavenly garden
And send it to me
With a message of love
Ask God to grant me the favor
I thee implore
And tell Him I will love Him
Each day more and more
So I asked her to send me a rose when my aunt was in heaven and left it at that.
In February I was invited to become part of a prayer ministry in the parish. This involved going to 20 classes, one a week, and learning how to pray with people. I had been very involved in this type of prayer ministry back in the 1980’s for about 10 years, so it was all very familiar to me.
In June we had our final meeting and one of the members, a man named Michael, brought various holy cards with relics for everyone. As I was looking at them he came up to me with a white card in his hand and said, “Laura, this is for you from St. Therese.” I took it from him and saw that it had a rose on it, blessed by her relic. I knew immediately that she had answered my prayer. I started to cry. He said to me, “I know how you feel.” I shared with him my prayer novena to St. Therese back in December and how she had just told me that my aunt was in heaven.
He also shared with me that he had prayed to her while in Lebanon and the very next day someone came to him and said, “This is for you from St. Therese.” It was a rose blessed by her relic, which he brought back to the United States where he had a very sick daughter. She was blessed with the rose and she recovered.
The saints are very important to us here on earth. They are here to help us and it is to our benefit to ask for their help. They are a sign to us from God that there is indeed an afterlife.
I try to read everyday from “The Prologue of Ochrid” about the lives of at least two or three saints. And after each I say this little prayer to them:
Please pray to God and the most holy Theotokos
And intercede before the throne of Christ
For the salvation of my soul
May I have the honor and privilege
Of making your friendship
In the Kingdom of Heaven
May God continue to bless us with his Saints.
posted by Laura | 9:46 AM
3 Comments:
Amen :-)
Ageless, timeless, seamless, unlimited and unlimitable Love.
If not for St. Anthony of Padua, I'd not be around. If not for his intercession and Little Therese's intercession, example of love, and her hello's, I'd not be me.
What gratitude we owe the un/known saints and angels.. Amen --God's gift.
Love,
Honora
Glad to find your site. Therese is a beautiful saint!
God bless
Maria in the UK
www.inhishands.co.uk
Yes, how blessed we are to get to know the saints, and some of them more intimately than others - to become familiar with their backgrounds, their struggles, their heroic virtues. Their lives guide us and inspire us, and their intercession is such a gift.
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