Article from Bl. Alexandrina Society Archive: http://alexandrinabalasar.free.fr/index_english.htm Bl. Alexandrina and St. Therese, The Little Flower "Blessed Alexandrina considered St. Therese, the Little Flower, her “spiritual sister” and had particular devotion to her. She was confined to bed, incidentally, in the year Therese of Lisieux was canonized and she appeared to her, sometimes; indeed, twice on the day in which she relived the Passion for the first time. Alexandrina’s feast day, 13th October, is very next to that of the Little Therese, 3rd October... Let us look at this fragment of Alexandrina’s colloquy of 3rd October 1947: "Holy Therese came, dressed in light, with a most beautiful diadem. How she was so pretty and kind! She hugged me, she kissed me often and in a prolonged hug said me: — My sister, wife of my Spouse and son of my Lord, have courage! What a great glory awaits you in Heaven! How brilliant a crown your martyrdom is forging! Suffer with joy, count on my protection here on earth and I shall come to meet you as you pass into eternity. — Holy Therese, my beloved Little Flower, I trust you, I count on your protection, love Jesus for me, and our dearest Mother and the Most Holy Trinity. Present to Them all my petitions and obtain for all that are dear to me, and all my family, the blessings and favors of Heaven. Remember all those who recommend themselves to me, remember the entire world. With the promise that she would do this, and forget nothing, she disappeared". The text is enlightening: St. Therese starts by calling her "sister" and only later adds the munificent promise: “I shall come to meet you as you pass into eternity." It was on St. Therese’s feast day that Alexandrina relived the Passion for the first time. And the repetition of this agony, as we know well, was a determinating factor in the Consecration of the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, an act which would leave St. Therese enchanted. In On the Calvary of Balasar, Fr. Pinho refers to that day like this: "In the following day, 3rd October, St. Therese’s day, after Communion and the great mystical afflictions during which she had seen herself with Christ in Gethsemane, the invitation is repeated: — Do you accept, my daughter, a calvary that I only give to my more beloved spouses? And, hearing again the generous yes, Jesus told her, as he had the day before, that at midday her passion from the Gethsemane to the Golgotha would start, and that it would finish at 3 in the afternoon. Later He would be with Her in colloquy, seeking solace for His sufferings, until 6. Indeed, everything happened as He said and the people present saw the drama of the Passion unfold in the most vivid way: Gethsemane... the arrest...the courts...the flagellation... the way of Calvary... the Crucifixion...the Death." It is good to remember here what Saint Teresa of Avila answered Jesus who told her that He treated His friends thus, immersing them in suffering: "Then it is no wonder that you have so few!" she replied. But this was the royal way of Redemption, that of his intense love for men. In the Autobiography Alexandrina recounts her first experience of the Passion in this way: "After midday, Our Lord came to make this invitation: — Look, my daughter, Gethsemane is ready and Golgotha also, do you accept? I felt that Our Lord followed me for some time in the way of the Calvary, later I felt myself alone, seeing Him higher up, life sized, nailed in the cross. I covered all the way of the Calvary without losing sight of Him...I had to go on to be near Him. Twice I have seen St. Therese. The first time, I saw her dressed as nun, between two sisters, at the door of the Carmel. The second time I saw her surrounded by roses and wearing a celestial mantle." If St. Therese was Alexandrina’s sister, how could she fail her at this moment of such great importance? Surely two things St. Therese and Alexandrina had in common were singing of their love, and of Our Lady. Let’s look now this poem of the Crucified of Balasar: ONLY FOR LOVE Only for love do I let myself be wounded Only for love does my heart bleed, Only for You, Jesus, is pain sweet, Only in the cross with You, is my soul delighted. Hard is my pain, knowing You were offended; Only for love shall I always say: martyrdom is marvellous. Here You have, my sweet Jesus, my breast for shelter. My heart was ungrateful to my God and Lord; Thus did I repay Him for His infinite love. Now I only want to love Him and sooth His pain. There is no need to say how much I love You, Jesus. You see my heart and know how much it loves the cross. Why is it suffering? It is only for You, my Jesus. And to finish, two strophes of the poem Living on Love, of St. Therese: On the evening of Love, speaking without parable, Jesus said : "If anyone wishes to love me All his life, let him keep my Word. My Father and I will come to visit him. And we will make his heart our dwelling. Coming to him, we shall love him always. We want him to remain, filled with peace, In our Love !..." Living on Love is holding You Yourself. Uncreated Word, Word of my God, Ah! Divine Jesus, you know I love you. The Spirit of Love sets me aflame with his fire. In loving you I attract the Father. My weak heart holds Him forever. O Trinity! You are Prisoner Of my Love!..."
From the Bl. Alexandrina Archive (See link above): From Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque to Blessed Alexandrina Fr. Mariano Pinho, who started to direct Bld. Alexandrina in August 1933, arrived at Póvoa de Varzim in 1929 – coming from Paray-le-Monial. In that year of 1929, the image of Saint Margaret Mary had been acquired for what had already been built of the Sacred Heart of Jesus Basilica. Since its initiation this basilica had had the assistance of the Jesuits. Having been exiled by the Republic they were now returning to that town. When Fr. Mariano Pinho arrived to take account of the direction of the Messenger of the Heart of Jesus, his colleagues had already been there for four years. The message of Saint Margaret Mary had acquired current notice with the publication of the encyclical letter Miserentissimus Redemptor ("The Most Merciful Redeemer"). This encyclical letter, that explains the theological basis and the meaning of reparatory expiation, was published in 1928. Fr. Mariano Pinho was to quote this paragraph of it in his biography of Alexandrina, On the Calvary of Balasar: While the wickedness of men has been greatly increased, at the same time, a marvellous increase has been made in the number of the faithful of both sexes, who, by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, eagerly endeavour to make satisfaction for the many injuries offered to the Divine Heat; nay more, they do not hesitate to offer themselves to Christ as victims. In 1929, and in following years, the Messenger repeatedly wrote about Saint Margaret Mary and her director, at that time "Venerable" Colombière. Also, there was an artistic arrangement that repeatedly appeared opening those articles, where this axiom could be read: "To suffer, to be silent, to repair". Indeed it is the same one that the Beata of Balasar would adopt, in 1933: "To suffer, to love and to repair". Since then the Beata is, clearly, in the same league as Saint Margaret Mary. But it was on 30 of July 1935 that the name of Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque explicitly appeared in a letter to Fr. Pinho. Then Jesus spoke thus: Say to your spiritual Father that, in proof of the love that you dedicate to my Most Holy Mother, I want an act of consecration of the whole world to be made every year on a feast day chosen by you - the Assumption, or the Purification, or the Annunciation - asking the Virgin without the stain of that sin which shames and confuses impure ones, that they may draw away from sin and not offend Me any more. Just as I asked Saint Marguerite Mary to have the world consecrated to my Divine Heart, so I ask you to have it consecrated to Her with a solemn feast. Saint Margaret Mary will appear again in a colloquy, but much later, on 1 of October 1954; the text emphasises the parallels between Bd. Alexandrina and the French saint: ... Jesus came and, on an impulse, his love fortified me more and thus spoke to me: "Come, my daughter: I am with you. Heaven, with its whole power, is with you". At this moment, through the wound of his Divine Heart came out a flash so great and so luminous that its rays radiated everything. Shortly afterwards, from his divine Wounds emanated rays that rent my feet and my hands! From his holy Head to mine also passed a "sun" that rent my whole brain. Speaking about the first flash and the rays that emanated from his Divine Heart, Jesus said with all clarity: "My daughter, just as with Saint Margaret Mary, I want you inflame in the world this love that has been extinguished in the hearts of the men. Inflame it, inflame it! I want to give, I want to give my Love to men! I want to be loved by them. They do not accept Me and they do not love Me. Through you I desire that this love be set alight in all the humanity, just as by you the world was consecrated to my Blessed Mother. Beloved spouse, act so that that the entire world be inflamed with the love of our Hearts!" "How, Jesus? How can I do this? If it is not accepted through You, how will the men receive it through me?" "With your pain, your pain, my daughter! Only by this means are the very fibre of soul grasped, and afterwards their hearts will be left burning with my love. Allow these divine rays of my Wounds to penetrate into your hidden wounds, into your mystical wounds". In the last page of his book Alexandrina, the Agony and Glory, Francis Johnston tells of a meeting in Balasar with Fr. Umberto. During the conversation, he asked Alexandrina’s second director if she might not one day be considered a second Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque. Fr. Umberto answered with the most determined yes: "he gave a most emphatic yes".
