My birthday! So full of apprehension! Over Paola and Mother Teresa and myself....
I was comforted by the Most Holy Presence and then, in the evening, by the appearance of St. Thérèse, who had also come on the evening of the 12th, with her rose, no longer in her right hand, but in her left, and with her right hand she indicated that I should take heart and be joyful and smiled even more cheerfully, I would say, than in the February apparition.192 How she smiled!
Then, later at night (after 10:30 p.m.), while Marta slept and I, unable to find rest, read a back issue of Civiltà Cattolica (given to me yesterday by Berardi193 after the two of us had discussed the Church, which he thought should be demolished... for the reasons he encountered in the Civiltà Cattolica article...) - I understood nothing because my mind was tired and far from the lines my eyes were skimming over - there appeared the Child Jesus of Lisieux, in the cloister, as seen in January.194 But He was not holding the cold, prickly globe in his beautiful little hands, as during this past winter, but a golden rose between his fingers, in all respects like the one held by his Thérèse. And He laughed, very happily, beckoning to me with the rose and his hand to go over there to Him.... And it was not night, as in the winter vision, but day. A mildly warm spring day. The cloister courtyard was joyful with sunlight. And the sunbeams extended under the arcades, over the tiles, and even beneath the little platform where Jesus was. Everything was peaceful and festive. Oh, if only He had wanted to tell me that the night was over for me and light had been shed and grace had been granted! How peaceful the cloister was! Peaceful and serene.... I would have liked to be there... and just be the little sister of Thérèse of Lisieux....
192 February 2, 1946.
193 Franco Berardi from Mantova, who rented a room from her parents for some months.
194 January 2-3, 1946.