Thoughts
St. Therese of Lisieux
"The Little Flower"
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SAINT THERESE OF LISIEUX
Born Marie-Francoise Therese on the second
of January, AD 1873, our Saint had a ordinary and happy childhood as the
youngest daughter of Louis and Azelie-Marie Martin. Her mother died in AD
1877, and her father moved the five children from Alencon to Lisieux
(Calvados), to be near their aunt Mme Guerin. Louis had a particular
affection for Teresa, while her older sister Mary ran the household and
the eldest Pauline was responsible for the religious upbringing of the
children.
Pauline entered the Carmel at Lisieux when Teresa was nine,
and Mary followed when Teresa was fourteen. Teresa was 
strongly
drawn to the religious life, and the same year that Mary entered the
Carmel the Saint underwent a profound conversion
experience. Teresa petitioned her father to enter Carmel, and he approved.
However, her age was used to decline her entry by the Superioress of
Carmel. The next year the family made their way to Rome for the jubilee of
Pope Leo XIII. When the Pope passed to the Saint, Teresa boldly broke
'protocol' and spoke to the Holy Father, asking to
be admitted to Carmel. He was impressed, but upheld the decision of the
Superioress.
At the end of that year, the Bishop allowed her to enter
Carmel, thence Teresa began her religious life in April of 1888. Sadly,
their father had to be institutionalized after a pair of paralytic attacks
the next year. However, Teresa had said that the three years of his
'martyrdom' before he passed were of tremendous spiritual fruits. She
professed in September of AD 1890.
As praying for priests is one of the major duties of
Carmelites, Teresa offered ceaseless prayer for priests in her duties, and
especially prayed for the apostate ex-priest Hyacinth Loyson. She was
physically slight, and this caused her to not be allowed to fast. In her
autobiography, L'histoire de'une ame, Teresa writes in an engaging and
deeply spiritual manner of spiritual beauty, clear and surprising turns of
phrases on knowledge and the Faith, and her unconscious self-revelation.
Teresa was made assistant to the novice-mistress of Carmel,
and was all but in fact mistress. After the death of her father,
Celine, her other sister, joined the Order. Teresa was called to
French Indochina, but in that year of 1894 on Maundy Thursday-Good Friday
she suffered a hemorrhage at the mouth. For the next eighteen months the
saint was bed-ridden suffering much in physical and spiritual trials. She
could not for the last months of life receive Holy Communion due to
illness, and finally gave up her ghost on September thirtieth, AD 1897.
Saint Teresa Lisieux is the Patroness of the Missions, and Patron of the
works for Russia.
~~~
On the Love of God
wITHOUT
love, deeds, even the most
brilliant, count as nothing...
LOVE!
...that is what I ask... I know but one thing now - to love thee,
O Jesus! Glorious deeds are not for me, I cannot preach the Gospel, shed my blood... what
does it matter? My brothers toil instead of me, and I, the little child, I keep quite
close to the royal throne, I love for those who fight.
... Story of a Soul, Ch. XI
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I
do not will |
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How sweet is the way of Love!
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In times of aridity
when I am
incapable of praying, of practicing virtue, I seek little opportunities,
mere trifles,
to give pleasure to Jesus; for instance, a smile, a pleasant
word when inclined to be silent and to show weariness. If I find no
opportunities, I at least tell Him again and again that I love Him; that
is not difficult and it keeps alive the fire in my heart. Even
though this fire of love might seem to me extinct I would still throw
little straws upon the embers and I am certain it would rekindle.
... XVI Letter to her Sister Celine
On the Love of Neighbor
THERE are moments when we are so
wretched within,
that we must need hurry away from ourselves. The good God does not oblige
us to remain at such times in our own company; indeed He often permits that it should be
displeasing to us just that we may leave it. And I see no other means of going out of
ourselves than by going to visit Jesus and Mary, that is hastening to deeds of charity.
...
Counsels and Reminiscences
A novice remarked to Saint Therese:
"I do
not like to see others suffer, especially saintly souls." She replied
instantly: "Oh! I am
not like you: to see saints suffer never moves me to pity! I know they have the strength
to endure, and they thus give great glory to God: but those who are not holy, who know not
how to profit by their sufferings, Oh! how I pity them; they do indeed arouse my
compassion, and I would do all I could to comfort and help them.".
... Counsels and Reminiscences
On Humility
I TRIED MY BEST
to do good
on a small scale, having no opportunity to do it on a large scale.
As it was, all I could do was to take such opportunities of denying myself
as came to me without the asking; that meant mortifying self-love, a much
more valuable discipline than any kind of bodily discomfort ... I've
always wished that I could be a saint. But whenever I compared
myself to the Saints there was always this unfortunate difference - they
were like great mountains, hiding their heads in the clouds, and I was
only an insignificant grain of sand, trodden down by all who passed
by. However, I wasn't going to be discouraged; I said to myself:
"God wouldn't inspire us with ambitions that can't be realized.
Obviously there's nothing great to be made of me, so it must be possible
for me to aspire to sanctity in spite of my insignificance. I've got
to take myself just as I am, with all my imperfections; but somehow I
shall have to find out a little way, all of my own, which will be a direct
short-cut to heaven. Can't I find an elevator which will take me up
to Jesus, since I'm not big enough to climb the steep stairway of
perfection?" So I looked in the Bible for some hint about the
life I wanted, and I came across the passage where Eternal Wisdom
says: "Whosoever is a little one let him come to
Me." To that Wisdom I went; it seemed as if I was on the right
track; what did God undertake to do for the child-like soul that responded
to His invitation? I read on, and this is what I found: I will
console you like a mother caressing her son; you shall be like children
carried at the breast, fondled on a mother's lap. I could after all,
be lifted up to heaven, in the arms of Jesus! And if that was to
happen, there was no need for me to grow bigger, on the contrary, I must
be as small as ever, smaller than
ever.
... Story of a Soul
It
appears to me
that humility is the truth. I know not whether I am
humble, but I know that I see the truth in all this
... Counsels and Reminiscences
Jesus
made me understand
that the true, the only glory
is that which will last forever; that to attain to it we need not perform
wonderful deeds, but rather, those hidden from the eyes of others and from
self, so that the left hand knoweth not what the right hand doth. (Matt
6:3) ... Story of a Soul, Chapter IV
I
am a very little soul
who can offer only very little things to the good God; yet, it
often happens that these little sacrifices which give such peace to the heart,
escape me; but that does not discourage me, I bear with having a little less
peace and I try to be more watchful another time ... Story of a Soul,
Chapter X
On Prayer
Prayer
is, for me,
an outburst from the heart; it is a simple glance darted
upwards to Heaven; it is a cry of gratitude and of love in the midst of
trial as in the midst of joy! In a word, it is something exalted,
supernatural, which dilates the soul and unites it to God. Sometimes
when I find myself, spiritually, in dryness so great that I cannot produce
a single good thought, I recite very slowly a Pater
or an Ave Maria;
these prayers alone console me; they suffice, they nourish my soul.
On Confidence
Since
it has been given
to me too,
to understand that love of the Heart of Jesus, I own that it
has chased all fear from mine! The remembrance of my faults
humiliates me, and urges me never to depend upon my own strength which is
nothing but weakness: still more does this remembrance speak to me
of mercy and of love. When, with all filial confidence we cast
our faults into the devouring furnace of love, how should they not be
totally consumed? ... V Letter to her Missionary "Brothers"