The birth — physical and spiritual — was a gift, not a decision. The calling is from Heaven to Heaven.
We are the chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, peculiar people, called out of darkness into His marvelous light. 🙏
✦ Three Days — One Thread
The Spirit has been weaving: yesterday Smith — the calling is from heaven and to heaven. Today the Pope — the birth is a gift, not a decision. And Le, holding both together with Peter: we are the chosen generation, called out of darkness into His marvelous light.
Three voices across three centuries — a 19th-century pastor, a 21st-century pope, a 1st-century apostle — and the Spirit weaves them into one truth for the pilgrim in Le Faou. The journal has never taken denominational sides. And today it opens its arms wider still. 🙏
"Before all else, the human person is someone who is conceived and born. Thus, first of all, to be human means to be a child. None of us chose to be so. None of us decided from whom, when or where to be born.
This evident truth sheds light on something that is not merely biological but ethical: as children, we are all brothers and sisters. From the outset, our humanity is a gift and a trial, a promise and a responsibility."
"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; before you were born I sanctified you."
"Avant que je t'eusse formé dans le ventre de ta mère, je te connaissais, et avant que tu fusses sorti de son sein, je t'avais consacré."
Jérémie 1:5 · Louis Segond✦ A Gift, Not a Decision
The French says avant que je t'eusse formé... je te connaissais — before I had formed you, I knew you. Before. The knowing preceded the forming. The calling preceded the birth. Le did not choose Brazil. Did not choose California. Did not choose Lubbock at midnight. The birth — physical and spiritual — was a gift, not a decision.
The Pope says: none of us decided from whom, when, or where to be born. And Jeremiah says: God decided. The choosing was God's. The forming was God's. The sanctifying was God's. Le's response — her faith, her walking, her devotion — came second. The gift came first. Always first. 🙏
"Secondly, we are all born naked and in need. We are poor by birth, in need of bread and words, of care and affection — that is, of all that nourishes body and spirit.
Forgetting the circumstances of our birth obscures the very idea of human life, because it detaches life from the history common to us all. Thus, life is no longer understood as a gift, but as a commodity."
✦ Poor by Birth — Rich by Calling
The Pope's second point is the gospel: we are born in need. In need of bread — and Christ is the Bread of Life. In need of words — and Christ is the Word made flesh. In need of care and affection — and the Spirit is the Comforter who never leaves.
The danger: when we forget our need, life becomes a commodity instead of a gift. The pilgrim who remembers her need never treats the gift as a product. Le — who sold the apartment, who walks patiently, who says we are never desolate — has not forgotten. The need is remembered. The gift is received. The commodity is refused. 🙏
"He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will."
"En lui Dieu nous a élus avant la fondation du monde, pour que nous soyons saints et irrépréhensibles devant lui, nous ayant prédestinés dans son amour à être ses enfants d'adoption par Jésus-Christ, selon le bon plaisir de sa volonté."
Éphésiens 1:4–5 · Louis Segond✦ Chosen Before the Foundation
The French says Dieu nous a élus avant la fondation du monde — God chose us before the foundation of the world. Before the world was founded. Before Brazil existed. Before Lubbock existed. Before the motorhome was built. The choosing happened in eternity — and it landed in time as a birth in Brazil, a conversion in Lubbock, a road through France.
The Pope says: to be human is to be a child — none of us decided. Paul says: God decided — before the foundation. And the decision was made selon le bon plaisir de sa volonté — according to the good pleasure of His will. Not according to Le's merit. Not according to Le's plan. According to His pleasure. The choosing was joyful to God. 🙏
"To keep alive the memory of our common humanity is to recognize its grandeur — that is, its immense potential — even though it is diminished by many forms of evil and injustice.
This beauty has a name: justice. Freedom is indeed beautiful when it is oriented toward goodness and truth; it is disfigured when it descends into arbitrariness, violence or the thirst for power."
✦ Freedom Oriented Toward Goodness
The Pope's third point is Taylor's purity of intention in the language of UNESCO: freedom is beautiful when oriented toward goodness and truth. Taylor said: let every action be directed toward God. The Pope says: let freedom be oriented toward goodness. The direction is everything. The intention is everything.
Le's August 28: intentions — I'll never forget this word. The Pope confirms: freedom without direction is disfigured. Freedom with direction — toward goodness, toward truth, toward God — is beautiful. And its name is justice. 🙏
"For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; marvelous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well."
"C'est toi qui as formé mes reins, qui m'as tissé dans le sein de ma mère. Je te loue de ce que je suis une créature si merveilleuse. Tes œuvres sont admirables, et mon âme le reconnaît bien."
Psaume 139:13–14 · Louis SegondThe French says je suis une créature si merveilleuse — I am a creature so marvelous. Psalm 139 — Le's anchor psalm — returns. The psalm of the Presence who knows our thoughts from afar now speaks of the forming: qui m'as tissé dans le sein de ma mère — who wove me in my mother's womb. Woven. Not assembled. Woven — with care, with intention, with art. The birth was a gift because the forming was worship. 🙏
"But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light."
"Vous, au contraire, vous êtes une race élue, un sacerdoce royal, une nation sainte, un peuple acquis, afin que vous annonciez les vertus de celui qui vous a appelés des ténèbres à son admirable lumière."
1 Pierre 2:9 · Louis Segond✦ Chosen — Royal — Holy — Peculiar
Le reached for the KJV — the language she loves — and claimed the identity Peter gives:
Chosen generation — not self-selected. Chosen. The Pope says: none of us decided. Peter says: God decided.
Royal priesthood — not servants only. Royalty and priesthood together. The access to God and the authority of God — in one calling.
Holy nation — set apart. Not by geography — Le has lived in four countries. Set apart by the One who called. The nation is not on a map. The nation is the people of the calling.
Peculiar people — the KJV's treasured word. Not odd. Precious. Owned. God's own possession. Le is peculiar not because she is unusual but because she belongs to the One who called her out of darkness.
And the purpose of it all: that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light. The journal is this showing forth. Every entry — a praise. Every testimony — a light. 🙏
"The birth — physical and spiritual — was a gift, not a decision. The calling is from Heaven to Heaven. We are the chosen generation, called out of darkness into His marvelous light."
Le · Le Faou · Pope Leo XIV · James Smith · Peter · Three voices, one SpiritA Gift, Not a Decision
None of us chose to be born. None of us decided from whom, when, or where. The birth — physical and spiritual — was a gift. God chose. God called. God formed.
Chosen Generation
Royal priesthood. Holy nation. Peculiar people. Not odd — precious. Not self-selected — God-chosen. Before the foundation of the world.
Out of Darkness, Into Light
The calling is from heaven and to heaven. From darkness to admirable lumière. The journal is the showing forth — every entry a praise, every testimony a light.
Pope Leo XIV at UNESCO. And Le — who was converted by a Catholic priest at midnight — reads the Pope in Brittany and hears the same Spirit who spoke through Smith yesterday and Peter two thousand years ago.
Three days, one thread: September 26 — Smith: the calling is from heaven and to heaven. September 27 — the Pope: to be human is to be a child; the birth is a gift. And Le, weaving them together: we are the chosen generation, called out of darkness into His marvelous light. Three voices across centuries. One Spirit. One truth.
The Pope and Taylor: Pope Leo XIV says: freedom is beautiful when oriented toward goodness and truth. Taylor's day five — purity of intention — said the same. The 17th-century Anglican bishop and the 21st-century Catholic pope speak the same language when the subject is the human heart oriented toward God.
Peculiar people: Le reached for the KJV and claimed the identity Peter gives. Peculiar in the King James means treasured, owned, God's own possession. Le is peculiar — not because she is unusual, but because she belongs.
The gift before the response: The Pope says: none of us decided to be born. Paul says: God chose us before the foundation. Jeremiah says: before I formed you, I knew you. The gift came before the response. The calling came before the answer. The light came before the seeing. Le's conversion at midnight in Lubbock was not Le's initiative. It was the heavenly calling arriving at the hour God chose, in the place God prepared, through the priest God sent. The birth was a gift. The calling is from heaven. And the pilgrim in Le Faou — at the end of the land — is walking toward the beginning of glory. 🙏