Today is the First Saturday, September 1, 2018. On July 28th, I began the Consecration Preparation for the Triumphant Victory of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, (ISBN # 1-882972-20-1.) This was the second time to do this preparation. The first time was during the “reign” of Pope John Paul II, while I was the secretary to the rector at the Jesuit Community at the Jesuit School of Theology in Berkeley, California. A beautiful young student at JSTB gave me the little booklet, witnessed and accepted by Paul Maria Hnilica s.j., Titular Bishop of Rusado on November 1, 1993. (The young student warned me that she experiences spiritual warfare when she does the consecration.)
So, for thirty-three days, plus added days to make up for the days I missed,I have been praying the preparation each evening. When my luggage was inadvertently left in Incline Village, Nevada, I had to wait until UPS delivered the little booklet to our door before I could continue the preparation. So, I decided today would be the day of the consecration, on the First Saturday of September. I planned to attend a special healing mass in Fremont or at least confession and mass in Castro Valley. Instead, I did the whole First Saturday observance at home, following the book used in Houston, Texas at St. Anthony parish.
A few mishaps occurred during the preparation. James jumped down from a chair and injured his tendon while trying to rig up an antenna for me so that I could watch Francis and Friends on a t.v. in my studio. Then today, I weeded the vegetable garden, watered it, and then fell into a rose bush as the old wooden chair I was sitting on broke. Instead of calling 911 and ending up at Eden Hospital with a broken hip, I removed myself from the rosebush, picked myself up off the ground, and turned off the water, totally uninjured, thanks be to God!!!
Prior to my trip to Incline Village, we received a very threatening letter from the local fire department, saying they would put a lien on our house if we did not do substantial fire prevention measures in our garden. James forked out a couple grand to pay Jose to clean up our trees. Then, last night, at 6;30 p.m., we received a second letter from the fire department stating that we did not pass the second inspection. We had seven days to remedy the situation. The notice was dated August 24 and the letter arrived seven days later, the final day of the deadline. Of course, by 6:30 p.m., all the offices were closed. I called and left a message. Then, I called Jose and told him the problem. He said he was three doors down, visiting another client. He came and kindly said he would bring in a crew the next morning to remedy the problem.
So, this morning, a big crew, dressed in bright yellow-orange sweat shirts arrived with their chain saws and big chopping rig. They parked in our neighbor’s driveway, so of course, we thought they had made a mistake. They did not speak English, but assured James that they were not at the wrong address. Soon, Jose’s crew arrived and did another clean-up of the neighbor’s oak tree that spills over our driveway and our holly tree, along with some volunteer trees in the back yard along our neighbor’s fence.
Hot, sweaty, and dirty, I came into the house after falling into the rose bush when the old, wooden chair I was resting in broke, after I had weeded and watered our vegetable garden. I took a much needed shower with rose shampoo from The Fairmont, San Jose, during the STJ500 celebration. I am too tired to go to confession and mass, so will formally do the Consecration For the Triumphant Victory of the Immaculate Heart of Mary tomorrow, The Lord’s Day, on September second. May the Blessed Mother accept my consecration!!!
Love and blessings,
Susanna Maria Ax, ocds
p.s. The Chair of Susanna and the Chair of James became nearly our downfall!!!
May God guide and protect the Chair of Peter!
Ax's Acres 