Dear Jesus (*In English or Spanish)
A six year old little girl, Venerable Antonietta Meo, who has been described as a mystic, will inspire you and your children with a deep love for Jesus Eucharistic as you read her amazing letters. A great preparation for First Holy Communion and anytime– to help us always remember the great privilege of receiving Holy Communion–receiving God Himself. Antonietta knew that well, as you will learn from her letters which manifest a knowledge of God that rivals even that of some theologians!
This book is written for children to help them grow in the understanding that the Holy Eucharist is not a thing but a Person: It is Jesus in His Glorified, Risen Body Who is longing for their love. We should never underestimate the potential children have for sanctity. Their pure souls nourished in an environment of love for God and His Holy Church, participating in the Sacraments and private and family prayer can reach the heights of holiness. Venerable Antonietta, a six year old child, is an example of this. Her understanding of the Sacred Mysteries exceeds even that of some theologians!
An Excerpt from 30DAYS, International Monthly Magazine:
“Dear Jesus Eucharist, I am so very, very happy that you have come into my heart. Never leave my heart, stay forever and ever with me. Jesus I love you so, I want to let myself go in your arms and do what you will with me … O loving Jesus give me souls, give me a great many!”
The writer of these words was a young girl of barely six. The handwriting and the mistakes are those of someone who has just learned to use a pen. Her name was Antonietta Meo, affectionately known as Nennolina. When she wrote this letter to her “dear Jesus” she had recently made her first communion and the illness that had been devouring her had already cost her the loss of a leg. She was to die of bone cancer in Rome three months later on July 3, 1937. She was only six and a half years old. And yet her death was accompanied by conversions and grace bestowed. Notes of thanksgiving and prayer were to cover her grave in Rome’s Verano cemetery. In the short space of a year two biographies of her were published. Nennolina’s reputation for sanctity immediately and spontaneously spread beyond the confines of the parish of Santa Croce in Gerusalemme, of Rome and Italy. By 1940 biographies were coming out abroad, even in Armenia. The cause for beatification was begun in 1942 and the diocesan phase concluded in 1972.