Thank you, St. Therese...

This post is intended to fulfill a promise I made to the ever-popular St. Therese Martin of Lisieux, affectionately nicknamed the "Little Flower" by Catholics all across the globe (to read more about her, click here).  

Within the past two months, I asked the Little Flower for two different favors, via separate novenas I prayed in her honor.  Each time, before I was even done with the customary nine days of a novena prayer, this Saint delivered... and also left me with her signature calling card - roses!

"I will let fall a shower of roses!"

~ Words of St. Therese of Lisieux

The first novena was started on Sunday, October 1st, 2017, which was actually St. Therese's Feast Day. I recall kneeling in the pews at St. Anthony of Padua Church in Kailua, while saying the prayer shown below. I asked the Little Flower for a specific spiritual grace and added jokingly, "... and I better get a rose this time." Well, I received that rose on the very next day from an unforeseen source - it came through the mail all the way from Dallas, Texas, to Hawaii... and survived, intact, and still fragrant! As it turned out, it was a thoughtful gift from Carmelite nuns whom I had become acquainted with!  I was in awe to say the least but, needless to say, I completed the novena to St. Therese with a deeper sense of fervor and appreciation... and a tinge of amusement, as well.

Rose #1:  A dark-pink rose, which I placed

over my small notebook of prayer intentions

& home-shrine petition box.  A rose of this

color supposedly represents Gratitude.

+ + + + +

Rose #2:  A yellow rose, which according

to online sources, is supposed to represent

Friendship & Optimism.

The second novena was prayed starting in the last week of November and I asked St. Therese for help in peacefully resolving a delicate issue I was having with a certain individual.  It was during this novena that I made a promise to St. Therese that, if she helped me with my dilemma, I would post the prayer I was using on my blog, as well as, testify to the effectiveness of her intercession... and what do you know - within a few days, my prayer was answered! And, although I didn't specifically ask her for another one, I received a second rose anyway - an unexpected gift from a fellow parishioner on the First Saturday of this month; just a day after it fully dawned on me that my prayer request had been granted.  Again, awe and gratitude towards this wonder-working, "big-sister" of a Saint...

So here we are today - I'm keeping the promise I made to her.  Below is the prayer I offered on both occasions, as a novena to St. Therese.  It's a short, popular prayer to the Little Flower that devotees of the Saint are familiar with.  I prayed it daily during the course of my novenas, sometimes more than once a day.

The "Rose Prayer" to St. Therese

O St. Therese,

the Little Flower, please pick

me a rose from the Heavenly

Garden and send it to me as

a message of Love.

[mention your prayer intention]

Ask God to grant me the

favor which I, thee, implore...

and tell Him I will love Him

each day, more and more.

Amen.

[After the Rose Prayer, add an

Our Father, a Hail Mary, and a Glory Be

in honor of St. Therese]

With the above being shared, I encourage readers to pray with confidence to the Little Flower whenever in need; to allow her the opportunity to pleasantly surprise you, as she did me.  May the gentle power of her intercession and the inspiration of her "little way" be a great blessing to all who have recourse to her... ultimately leading to a deeper faith and love for Jesus Christ, our Lord, who our dear St. Therese loved and served above all else.

If you've ever received your own "rose(s)" from St. Therese, I invite you to share your personal story in the Comments Section below.  I would greatly enjoy reading other testimonies of favors received from this Saint, and I'm sure other visitors to this blog will too.  Much Mahalo.

St. Therese, the Little Flower of Jesus, pray for us!

* * * * *  UPDATE  * * * * *

I have a little postscript to that was just too amusing not to share... 

Soon after posting this particular blog, I went to visit with a friend at his house.  We were talking and catching up, while he cleaned out an old fanny pack that he had.  As he was sorting through his stuff, he suddenly asked me if I needed postage stamps to which I replied, "Why don't you just keep 'em?"

My friend then said something to this effect, "I found them at my job.  They're kinda old, though, but you can probably still use them."  So I told him, "Sure.  I'll take 'em if you don't want 'em.  I'm always mailing stuff.  Plus they're always gonna be good."  He then tossed to me a small paper packet, which included these...

Coincidence?  I don't think so - I don't believe in coincidences.  I know me getting them unexpectedly from my friend had something to do with St. Therese... and, in this instance, Jesus, too.  Just look at the printed value on these old stamps - 33 cents!  Too funny, I tell you - I can't make this up!