A Doughty Young Girl

Today’s feast day of St Jane Frances de Chantal (1572-1641), co-founder with St Francis de Sales of the Order of the Visitation, is a reminder of the miraculous spread of Carmel in seventeenth-century France.  Jane Frances was counselled and mentored by Francis de Sales and he was intimately involved in the establishment of Carmel in their country.  On the face of it, we might think that this was not a particularly difficult task to complete, but there were all kinds of complications, not least the fact that Carmelite Sisters formed by Teresa had to be brought from Spain over the Pyrenees, an undertaking opposed even by the Spanish Friars.  A story from the childhood of St Jane Frances caught my eye:  One day, when Jane was only five years old, her father was at home arguing with a Calvinist pastor, who explicitly denied the Real Presence of Our Lord in the Eucharist. Upon hearing this, the girl – who was following the conversation from a distance – declared to the heretic, without human respect and with the determination of a preacher: “Our Lord Jesus Christ is present in the Blessed Sacrament, because He himself said it. If you wish to deny what He has said, you make a liar of Him.”  Seeking to earn the good graces of the little one, the Calvinist gave her some caramel candies. But Jane immediately threw them into the fire, declaring: “This is how the heretics, who do not believe what Jesus Christ said, will burn in hell.” [Courtesy of catholicmagazine.news]  I had to smile when I read this because it was apparent that the net had sent me to this particular site because of the closeness of the word ‘Carmel’ to the word ‘caramel’!!!!!!

Intercessions

RIP Fr Jon Bielawski, Jacqui, Sister Maisie, Anne Widdecombe

Cancer: Brian Davis, Bernard (and wife Angela caring for him), Catherine, Alex (43 with five children), Theresa K, Elena

Sophie – newborn having heart surgery; Sianna, young child in the post-operative phase; James, recovering from heart surgery

Ivy – sick child

Brian (recovering from Pneumonia)

Kevin (heart attack)

William Gove (in recovery)

Illness:  Katy Keeling

Siena, Elara – sick children

David OCDS – housebound

Grace – troubling ailments, job difficulties, family (deceased mother and health of father)

Mark – brain infection

Michael, Kira – vulnerable youngsters

Defence of the unborn and the elderly

We are asked to pray for the Diocese of Chiang Mai and Northern Thailand, as the Northern Mission celebrates its centenary. The process of selecting a new bishop continues.