Yesterday, Blessed Anna Rosa Gattorno of Italy (born 1831) was the Saint of the Day on my Laudate App. The description of her life started with this quote from her:

“My love, what can I do to make the whole world love you? … Make use once again of this wretched instrument to renew the faith and the conversion of sinners.”

Such devotion always amazes and inspires me. Blessed Anna Rosa was also a mother, so that amazes me even more :), that she could focus so fully on her love despite the hectic pace of life as a mom. Her dedication also reminds me of my patron saint St. Therese of Lisieux. I can only aspire to such complete and utter devotion.

So my anxious waiting brought forth fruit yesterday in the form of our new pope: Pope Francis! As I mentioned yesterday, I am so excited this time around as I am about to enter the church right at the same time we have a new leader of the church.

Over the last 24 hours, I’ve been reading whatever I can on him and I so look forward to his leadership. Pope Francis brings with him a focus on simplicity and humility which I absolutely love. I personally struggle with humility and how wonderful it is to have a such a role model to emulate.

Simplicity is also something I am working on. Over the past year, I have slowly tried to simplify my life in subtle ways. Removing fruitless ambition, being content with what I have, giving away when I want to get, being grateful for the normalcy of a day and dialing back the busy-ness of my life as much as possible to be more quiet, internal and prayerful.

I have never been a person about the material things in life and I struggle to relate to others who are so outside-focused. I never cared much for stylish clothes (I still own — and wear — clothes I had in college!), jewelry (I have worn the same simple gold earrings most days of my adult life :)), make-up or nice cars. I would instead prefer if I am going to splurge to do so on travel. The joys of my life are being outdoors in nature, prayer, Mass, reading, spending time with my family, and whenever possible traveling (though that doesn’t happen much these days). I used to be focused on climbing the entrepreneurial ladder, but I have let that go and decided to follow God’s lead. How much more peaceful it is :).

My choice of St. Therese of Lisieux as my confirmation saint is also furthering me on this path, as her way of life is known as “the little way” and she focuses on small tasks in honor of God. Another wonderful role model.

I love the reports that Pope Francis lives in a humble abode, takes public transportation, cooks his own meals. What an incredible and rare example for such a materialistic world. I’ve also heard him compared to Mother Teresa in his simplicity and focus on the poorest of the poor. They say he is not a charismatic speaker or personality, but neither was Mother Teresa. Too often it’s the charismatic ones who get us into trouble 🙂 — a good speaker does not necessarily make a good person.

Taking the name of Francis of Assisi is also inspiring. Another saint of simplicity, poverty, focusing on the simplest of things, a love of nature and animals.

I look forward to learning more about our new pope and watching how he leads the church. Consider me a faithful follower now and “officially” as of Easter :).

I have always been a mystical person, believing in signs and of works beyond this world. So I suppose it’s not really a surprise how much I have already “felt” from my confirmation saint, Saint Therese, but in another way to find mysticism in Catholicism was a surprise to me. That was not something I was expecting.

I made the decision a few weeks ago to choose St. Therese of Lisieux as my confirmation saint and have been praying to her ever since. She has unequivocally let me know she’s heard my prayers. What a blessing!

Let me share with you…

In a post a couple weeks ago I shared my first rose. But there have been many more since.

During one of the “scrutinies” (a ceremonial blessing as part of becoming Catholic) I needed my sponsor to be there, but my husband, who was filling in, had to be home with our sick child and I did not have enough time to come up with someone else. I sat there in the pew before mass nervous about what I would do. Lo and behold, right in front of me sat “Theresa” who had lead our RCIA group in the past. I immediately felt I should ask her and I quickly did before mass. Problem solved. Thanks St. Therese!

Another… during my RCIA class a fellow candidate shared a story of seeing a statue of St. Therese (not sure if it was the same one) shedding tears.

Another… After a prayer to dear St. Therese, I opened my email to find an email from a “Therese” (spelled the same).

Another… my mother-in-law, who passed in September, but who was to be my sponsor and who was a huge role model for me, chose as her confirmation saint St. Rose of Lima (note, the “rose” — St. Therese is associated with roses).

Another… St. Therese was featured on a worksheet from my younger son’s religious education class Sunday.

And they go on… Maybe this is wishful thinking but I choose to believe it’s sweet St. Therese letting me know she hears me and is praying for me. Tremendous…

I think I received my first “rose” from the lovely Saint Therese of Lisieux! I am so amazed! I have just finished reading her book “The Story of a Soul,” and after seeing how much love she has for Jesus and how often her prayers were answered for even some of the most difficult things, I decided to pray to her for a specific request.

Over the last few days, I have been praying to ask for her intercession, and first thing this morning, just after finishing a prayer to her, I headed outside to take out the dog and pick up the paper. I opened up the newspaper while outside only to find the whole page filled with pink roses and a story about how to decorate your home using roses. My first rose …

For those of you unfamiliar with St. Therese of Lisieux, she describes herself as God’s Little Flower, one of the least of his flock. In her book, she says she asked the Lord why there need to be flowers like daffodils when there are beautiful flowers like roses. He answered that the spring would not be so beautiful without all the flowers — great and small.

When people pray to her, she often grants them a rose is some form or another. Read these St. Therese intercession stories for some examples. It’s quite amazing.

I look forward to continuing to pray to St. Therese and I have decided to choose her as my confirmation saint. I hope I have many more roses yet to come :).