I Have Three Gifts for You

Excerpt from  "A Stigmatist Marie-Rose Ferron" by Jeanne Savard Bonin

At the end of charming hours spent together, I offer you three precious gifts sent to you by Little Rose.  They will yield in proportion with the value of your appraisal.

 

Here Is Your First Gift

The Second Gift is a Recipe

The second gift is the "spiritual recipe given by Rose to those who asked for her secret in the art of suffering."  She dictated it to Father Vincent:

"Grind up all your sufferings
in the mill of patience and silence; mix them with the balm
of the Passion of the Savior; 
shape them into a small pill
and swallow it with faith and love, and the fire of charity
will digest it."

And the Third Gift
is a Bouquet

The third gift is a spiritual communion composed and recited by Rose many times a day.  I invite you to make it with me in union with Little Rose:

"My Jesus, I love You,
I adore You,
I desire You a million times! 
When will you come to me? 
If my tongue cannot tell you every second that I love You,
at least, I wish my heart to repeat it as often as I breathe. 
Give me the grace
to suffer while loving You,
and to love You while suffering
and to have the feeling that
I love You."

"I thank You a million times,
Lord Jesus,
for having come to me
in Holy Eucharist
spiritually (or sacramentally). Amen."

Excerpt from  "A Stigmatist Marie-Rose Ferron" by Jeanne Savard Bonin

Love is patient; Love is kind;

Love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude.

It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;

 it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth.

It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Love never ends. 
[Corinthians 12:4-7]

Rose Ferron began to develop the virtue of charity as a little girl.  When she was but four years old with love in her little heart she helped others by praying to Saint Anthony to find articles that had been lost or misplaced.  When the family which was not well off financially had a special treat of cake or pie, Rose would give up her share in order to make someone happy and to make a little sacrifice out of love for her Jesus who carried that heavy cross and suffered so much for love of us.

Yes, this little angel at the age of seven was saying the rosary, making the way of the cross and asking Jesus that she might suffer for the salvation of souls!    When she was twelve she was hired out for work so that she could do something to help her parents.  When she was older and had to use crutches her tiny sister and brother would come into her bed at night; she calmed their fears by putting her loving arms around each of them while holding her crutches at the sides so they would not fall out of the bed.

When she passed through her teen years her charity continued to grow and blossomed into a rare flower whose beauty could be seen by all who came in contact with her.  Yes, charity is patient and how truly patient was Rose in suffering pain and trials.

In her modesty and humility she did not exalt herself in any way; she considered herself a mere nothing - a little nobody.  She sought nothing for herself and her only ambition was to please God, to do His Will and to bring Him as many souls as she could through her offerings and prayers united with others.  She judged or blamed no one and she prayed all the more for those who turned against her and tried to ruin her reputation.

Charity never fails - and Rose never failed anyone who came to her with a problem or need.  With her heart overflowing with love she would turn to her Jesus and plead in their behalf offering whatever she could to obtain help for them.

If men of the world today had some of the love the saints had the world would certainly be a much different place.  There is no problem, no quarrel, no barrier, no obstacle, that cannot be overcome by love....for LOVE conquers all!

Faith lays out the foundation of HOPE in the heart of man.

Beginners should be on their guard first of all against the two excesses opposed to hope:  presumption and despair.  Presumption consists in expecting from God Heaven and the graces necessary to reach it, without willing to take the means He has ordained.  One may presume on the Divine Goodness, by neglecting God’s commandments, persuading oneself that God is too good to sentence one to damnation.  This is to forget that if God is good, He is also just and holy, and that He hates iniquity.

Others, on the other hand are exposed to discouragement and, at times, to despair.  Frequently tempted, and at times overcome in the struggle, or tortured by scruples, they lose heart; imagining they cannot reform, they come to despair of their salvation.

Those advanced in the way of perfection not only practice the virtue of hope, but entertain a filial confidence in God, relying on Jesus Who has become the center of their lives.  Incorporated into Christ, they await with invincible trust that Heaven where Jesus has prepared a home for them, and where they already abide, through hope, in the Person of their Savior.
 
Here one is reminded of Little Rose speaking to her Jesus while in ecstasy.  Once when she talked to Him for forty-five minutes, she would pause once in a while and say: “How sweet it is to rest by Thy side, O my Jesus, Thou knowest that I love Thee.”
 
Hope makes us habitually live, in spirit, in Heaven and for Heaven.  And, since the joys of communion are a foretaste of Paradise, we shall, whilst waiting, seek therein the consolations our heart needs.
 
And Holy Communion must have been a foretaste of Paradise for Rose.  Recall how she longed to receive Jesus in Holy Communion, and what a staggering blow it was for her when she was expecting to receive Him and was not able to because the priest was away?

Faith provides us with deep convictions which greatly strengthen our will, and faith ever keeps before our eyes the eternal reward that will be the rich fruit of the sufferings of the moment : Then with St. Paul, we say, “I reckon that the sufferings of this time are not worthy to be compared with the glory to come,” and like him we rejoice, even in the midst of tribulations, for each of these, if patiently borne, will earn for us a further degree of God’s vision and of God’s love.
                              
 Recall momentarily how Little Rose in her suffering followed Jesus in His suffering, and when the cross became heavier than ever, when humiliations beset her so that she staggered under its weight, she kept her gaze fixed on Jesus carrying His heavy cross and she followed Him along the same path.
 
When Rose was a young invalid confined to her house, some of the school children made derogatory remarks about Rose to her sisters.  When Rose saw how it upset her sisters she said, “Jesus was dragged through the streets and the mud, and I wouldn’t want to be treated any better than my Master.”  And remember when Rose became Our Lord’s little victim of love.  She won the battle over herself and she made up her mind to do the will of God.  She accepted her sufferings as her vocation in life and then she rejoiced that she was found worthy to suffer with Christ for the ransom of souls.
 
Faith is likewise a source of comfort when we have the misfortune of losing our dear ones.  We are not among those who sorrow without hope.  We know that death is but a sleep, to be soon followed by the resurrection, and that through death we merely exchange a temporary dwelling for an everlasting mansion.
 
Our chief consolation is the doctrine of the Communion of Saints.  While awaiting the day when we shall be reunited to those that have departed this life we are even now bound to them by the most intimate ties in Christ Jesus.  We pray that their time of trial be shortened and their entrance into Heaven hastened; they in their turn, now assured of their salvation, ardently pray that we may one day join them.
 
Finally, faith is a source of manifold merit:  the act of faith itself is highly meritorious, for it subjects to divine authority the best that is in us, our intellect and our will.  This faith has all the more merit since in our times it is made the object of more numerous attacks, and since those who made open profession of their faith are, in certain countries, exposed to ridicule and persecution.

Excerpts from the book  "Virtues and Glories of Little Rose". 
This book is a collection of selected articles and testimonies that appeared in the "Little Rose Magazine"
issues from 1965 through 1979.