Hello!
I need another week to catch up. I’m trying to write posts a week ahead, so I can have more time to discuss them with my excellent (and uncompromising) editor. So, while we figure that out, here are some thoughts I sent to the local Confraternity of Christian Mothers. Essentially, we’re a group of women who pray for eachother. More on that below. I wrote about a Saint who has showed up at exactly the right time for me - this Spring has been a rather full season, and I have been so grateful for the example and the prayers of the fearless (and recently canonized) Zelie Martin.
Saint Zelie Quick Takes:
She’s the mother of Saint Therese of Lisieux, Doctor of the Church.
This quote (from one of her letters) kind of encapsulates her devotion to her faith and her willingness to be extremely practical about matters of holiness: “I want to become a saint, and that won’t be easy. There’s a lot of wood to chop and the wood is as hard as rock. It would have been better if I’d tried earlier, while it was less difficult. Oh well, ‘better late than never.’” So many more quotes. If you need encouragement from someone who experienced a faith and family life that could only laughably be described as “challenging,” find something written by Saint Zelie.
She was canonized with her husband, Louis Martin. The miracles that led to their beatification and canonization both revolved around the miraculous healings of newborns - an impossibly beautiful picture of intercessory graces, since the Martins lost three of their own children as infants.
Here’s the text of my email:
A friend recently loaned me her copy of A Call to a Deeper Love, a book of letters written by Saints Zélie and Louis Martin, the parents of Saint Thérèse of Lisieux. The book contains more than 200 letters, which, for the most part, were written by Saint Zélie and sent to her sister-in-law and brother in Lisieux, or to her daughters, Marie and Pauline, at boarding school. Saint Zélie’s letters give an incredible picture of her motherhood – her grace, her gratitude, and her grit.
Saint Zélie was a member of the Archconfraternity of Christian Mothers. She attended monthly meetings in her city, Alençon, France. In one of her letters to her daughter Pauline, dated March 26, 1876, she describes a meeting of the Archconfraternity, noting that a priest “gave a sermon to the Christian Mothers in the chapel at the Monastery of the Poor Clares.” Saint Zélie doesn’t write much more about the meeting, but the editor included a footnote about the Archconfraternity of Christian Mothers. If you’ve wondered, “Why CCM?” here’s an excellent answer:
The Archconfraternity of Christian Mothers was a movement of Catholic women founded by Louise Josson de Bikhem, the wife of a government official, on May 1, 1850, in Lille, France. It was founded in response to fears that the influences of modern society were severely undermining family life and causing husbands and children to lose their faith. Mothers gathered at monthly meetings to pray for one another, their husbands and their children, to discuss their problems, and share ideas regarding the Christian rearing of their children. They were also encouraged to realize the importance of their maternal vocation, to take responsibility for educating and sanctifying the souls of their children by providing a sound Catholic education at home, and by helping the mothers to become a strong spiritual presence within their own family. The Archconfraternity became a worldwide movement that still exists today. (224)
We’re part of CCM because we need the prayers and sacrifices offered by other Christian mothers. We know, like the women in 19th century France knew, that the souls of our families need divine protection. Through Jesus and Mary, we want to be strongholds within our families. In our motherhood, we want to choose faith over fear. We need each other. We need each other’s prayers.
I keep a copy of the Christian Mother’s Daily Prayer for the Children over our sink. I can see it while I’m doing the dishes. The text of the prayer asks Our Sorrowful Mother to “commend our beloved children” to her Son. Every time any of us prays that prayer, we’re praying for all of our children. And on days when I forget to pray, I’m comforted by the thought that another mother in Colorado Springs – and even more mothers around the world – remembered to pray that prayer, for her children and for mine.
I don’t know which prayers the Christian Mothers said in Alençon over one hundred years ago, but they did pray for each other and for each other’s children. I had no doubts that Saint Zélie prayed for her own children, but it was revelatory to me that she asked the other women in her community to pray for her children, too. Of course she did. And, in some way, however small, the faithful women of Alençon did their part to raise up Saints – a Doctor of the Church, even!