Little Tessa Sale has entered into life

Little Tessa Sale entered into life on Saturday, February 7th.  Her funeral Mass is at eleven o'clock on Wednesday, February 11.  Please pray for her mother, father, sisters, and all her family.

Although Blessed Louis and Zelie Martin did not obtain Tessa's cure, I count on them to persuade God to work the miracle of consoling her family.  I can't help thinking of the letter Zelie's sister, Sister Marie-Dosithee, wrote her on February 23, 1870, after the death of her five-year-old Helene, the third child to die in three years:

"Sursum corda! Lift up your heart! Our angel is in Heaven, and without having undergone the trials of this world. Clothed in her white baptismal robe she has passed from the arms of her mother into those of our Lord. We would have liked to keep her with us; she was so promising, but who can foretell the future? Does she not possess true blessedness which she might have lost in the future? God is no less lovable when He takes away than when He gives to us.

* * *

I cannot help but think that you are happy to give to Heaven chosen souls, who will be your crown and joy. And then, too, your faith and your unshakable confidence will have their magnificent reward someday.

So be sure that the Lord will bless you, and that the measure of your trials will also be that of the consolations stored up for you. That is, will you not be completely rewarded if the good God, so pleased with you, will give you that great saint whom you have so much desired for His glory?"

Abandon them with me, if you please, to "the abysses of love and mercy of the Heart of Jesus."  Receive the gratitude of Tessa's family, and my gratitude, for accompanying them in your prayer.

Blessed Louis and Zelie Martin in Sri Lanka: homily of Archbishop Gomis of Colombo

His Grace, the Most Rev.  Dr. Oswald Gomis, Archbishop of Colombo, preached at a special Mass in honor of Blessed Louis and Zelie Martin on November 30 at St. Theresa's Parish in Colombo, Sri Lanka.  Thanks to the kindness of His Grace and of Father Neil Dias Karunaratne, pastor of St. Theresa's, I have the honor of offering his homily on thereseoflisieux.org.  To listen to it, please click here or visit this page.

"Exposition: Story of a Family: Louis and Zelie Martin"

One of the highlights of my pilgrimage to Lisieux for the beatification of Zelie and Louis Martin, the parents of Saint Therese of Lisieux, was visiting the "Exposition: Story of a Family: Louis and Zelie Martin" mounted by the Pilgrimage Office at St. Jacques Church in Lisieux.  Hundreds of items from the everyday lives of the Martin and Guerin families were beautifully displayed.  As part of the beatification festivities, costumed guides representing Louis and Zelie Martin and Isidore and Celine Guerin conducted us through the candlelit exhibit on the evening of Thursday, October 16.