Rome and the Martin family

"We will have our places Saint Pierre, which will reveal to us that what we live sometimes a little in expectation or bitterness, is not the last word of our lives...” Homily of November 18, 2020

There was a choice this morning between continuing this reading of Saint Luke, which is quite rich and which we are called to meditate on these days, or honoring the memory of the consecration of these two basilicas of Saint Peter and Saint Paul. I admit that my heart leaned towards this second choice for two reasons.
The first is that this month of November is definitely rich in memory, and that it invites us to carry in the same hand on November 9, the consecration of Saint John of Lateran, and on this day that of Saint Peter and of Saint Paul. We have a concentrate of this mystery of Rome, of the way in which this primacy of Peter and his successors is rooted in a local church, which is that of Rome of which he is the bishop, and this cathedral reminds us of this. It is also rooted in the double testimony of Peter and Paul, admirably united in this city. 
The 20th century was very rich from an archaeological point of view. We were able to find in the very axis of the altar of Saint Peter, this primitive nucleus of the place where Saint Peter rested, next to the Circus of Nero. We have archaeological confirmation of a continuity of veneration of this place.
Which made the priest Gaius say, in the 3rd century: “ If you come to Rome, I'll show you the trophies of Peter and Paul"

The second reason is the place that Rome can have in the Martin family.
We are, in this month of November, right in the time of Thérèse's trip to Rome to obtain from the Pope the authorization to enter Carmel from the age of 15. It is his great and last chance that the Pope will at least say “Come on, let's go”.
They left on November 4, 1887 and returned on December 2. Almost a month, with many anecdotes. You could almost follow their journey, day after day, being in Rome with them.
Thérèse tells us about her discovery of Rome, and we can draw a parallel with Saint Paul who arrives by the Via Appia. The Martins arrived at 8 a.m. after a night on the train. " The first day was spent outside the walls and it was perhaps the most delightful because all the monuments have retained their cachet of Antiquity while in the center of Rome, one could believe oneself in Paris with the magnificence of the shops and hotels. . This walk in the Roman countryside left me with very fond memories. » 
This Roman countryside is the same paths as those of Saint Paul. It is there that she discovers the catacombs of Saint Calixte as well as the two beautiful figures of Saint Cecilia and Saint Agnes, these martyrs of Antiquity, with whom she will identify a little bit with her way of giving her life. for Christ. It will also be with the Colosseum and the rather audaciously venerated martyrs, which would be worth recounting. It will be among the great memories of his Roman pilgrimage.
She went to Saint Paul, but also to Saint Pierre. But at Saint Peter's, she was probably busy with something else, nothing less than the meeting with the Pope himself which, according to some, was a fiasco, but which finally brought peace to Thérèse's heart, which did the errand she had to do. She thought she had come to the end of doing the Lord's will. The pope had told him, "God willing, you will enter." So he was now inviting her into the hands of the Lord for his decision.
She realized with a little delay, but she still had this conscience to be in peace, while keeping a bitterness in her heart because she would have liked so much that that could accelerate. 

You have to look more on the father's side to have information on Saint Peter of Rome that we are celebrating today. Two years earlier, on his return from an aborted trip to Jerusalem, Louis went to Rome after a visit to Constantinople. He writes this to his daughters: We finally arrived in Rome at 6am. Saint Pierre is indeed, for me, the most beautiful thing in the world. I prayed for you whom I love so much, it is so sweet to pray there. I thought of you in all the sanctuaries we visited. Everything I see is splendid. »
There is just one note of sadness, that the pope has been a prisoner since the reunification of Italy. " Ah, how sad that the Holy Father is in captivity. It's a stain and this shadow makes us mope despite everything. »
The black he will crush is rather that of leaving Rome where he liked it so much. It has this expression in the second letter: " Leaving Rome, I was like a cat, one-eyed and black, circling around the corner of a milestone in rainy weather. That's a type of expression that Louis likes to have. We don't know where he must have found it. He specifies : " It is an earthly beauty and our heart is not satisfied with anything until it has the infinite goodness which is God. »
He has this note to end: See you soon the intimate pleasure of the family, it is this beauty that brings us closer. "
As if there were, in the mystery of the family and of love, something which announces to us this communion to which we are destined one and the other. " I embrace all five of you with all my heart. Your father who loves you" 

To conclude, Rome is both a place of happiness and a place of trials, which takes on its full dimension when, a little more than a century later, in Saint Peter's Square, where Thérèse was torn between peace and bitterness, the fulfillment of a life was manifested: when Thérèse was, in a crowd filling the square, recognized as a Doctor of the Church. What we experience at some point in our lives, we will see all the strength and all the fullness when everything is accomplished.
What is true for Thérèse is also true for us. We will have our places Saint Pierre, which will reveal to us that what we live sometimes a little in expectation or bitterness, is not the last word of our lives.
Amen.