September with St. Therese - September 22

Welcome to our series tracing the last month of St. Therese's life on this earth which was September 1897. It's called September with St. Therese and I hope you will visit here every day for an inspirational message about our dear little saint.

We will bring you excerpts from Her Last Conversations and Novissima Verba which follow her struggle the last few months of her life. On days for which there are no specific quotes, I will select a passage from one of her writings.

"After having recalled several circumstances of her religious life in which she had been terribly humiliated, I added: "Oh! how many times I felt sorry for you!'"
'It wasn't necessary, I assure you, to be so sorry for me. If you only knew how I floated above all those things! I was going along strengthened by humiliations; there was no one as brave as I in the line of fire.'

"She wanted to talk to me but was unable to do so:"
'Ah! how hard it is to be in such a state of weakness! With you! It was so nice when I could talk to you! This is what is the most difficult to take.'

"I was saying when looking at the picture of Theophane Venard: There he is hat in hand, and to top it all, he doesn't come to get you!"
"With a smile she said:"
'I myself don't make fun of the saints...I love them so much!...They want to see..."
"What? I asked, "If you're going to lose patience?" With a mischievous but grave look, she said:"
'Yes...But especially if I'm going to lose confidence...and how far I'm going to push my confidence....'

"She called Sister Genevieve her 'bonbonne', Sister Marie of the Trinity, her 'doll', and she did this simply to distract us, and not because of any dissipation or childishness on her part. We began going too far in this matter, and she said:"
'We should not call ourselves by all sorts of names. After all, it isn't being religious!'

"Time must seem long to you."
'No, time doesn't seem long; it seems like yesterday that I was following community acts, writing my copybook.' (her Life)

"What a terrible sickness and how much you're suffering!"
'Yes! What a grace it is to have faith! If I had not had any faith, I would have committed suicide without an instant's hesitation...' Excerpted from Her Last Conversations.

St. Therese, open our hearts to accept the sufferings that Jesus sends us. Teach us your litle way and help us to see the graces that can come from joining our sufferings to the passion of Jesus.