Happy Birthday St. Therese of Lisieux

     Our dear little St. Therese of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face was born into this world 143 years ago today, January 2, 1873, the last of nine children born into the devout French family of Zelie and Louis Martin.  She was baptized two days later and given the name Marie Francoise Therese Martin, being named first after the Blessed Virgin Mary, as were all her sisters.
     Here she is photographed at age three and we can already see that look in her eyes.  That far away look of longing to devote her life to God, something she realized at age three and wrote about in The Story of a Soul, the book that revealed the depths of our little saint's holiness to the world.
     Just two years later at age five, St. Therese would lose her mother and experience that profound loss in the comforting arms of her older sisters and devoted father.  Her oldest sister Pauline took over as a mother figure and did her best to continue her younger sister's immersion and education in the Catholic faith.
     Here's an excerpt about St. Therese's younger years from Collected Little Flower Works by Albert Dolan, published in 1929 by Carmelite Press.  "There then we have Therese, the baby of three and four years, vain of her beauty; proud of her pretty dresses; eager for praise and notice; inclined at times to fits of temper and stubbornness; so proud that when offered a coin to stoop humbly and kiss the ground, she refused to bend.  Nevertheless, this very human little girl became one of the greatest of  all the Saints.  No little of the Little Flower's influence over souls is due to the evil inclinations and  other human imperfections which we notice in her youth.  Her complete eradication of those faults has taught thousands, and should teach us, the possibility of complete victory over our faults if we imitate the Little Flower's Little Way of humility, prayerfulness and trust in God."
   Through these postings, I hope to explore the development and perfection of 'the little way' in St. Therese's life and bring her incredible message of total trust and confidence in Jesus to those who cross my path.  When she came into my life in 1997, I was ready for a new way for my life.  I just didn't know it would turn out to be St. Therese's 'little way.'  May she be an inspiration to you as well.
     The image above of St. Therese at age 3 is available for purchase on my website called the little way that is devoted to St. Therese and offers authentic holy cards and photos of her published by the Office Central de Lisieux in France.  The website also offers books and gift items centered around carmelite spirituality.
     Let me close with this prayer...St. Therese, open our hearts to your little way.  Teach us to throw ourselves into the arms of Our Lord, casting aside all doubt and fear and accepting all that He sends us as graces for the salvation of our souls.

Spiritual Roses from St. Therese of Lisieux

     I'm returning after taking a few years off from blogging about St. Therese's 'little way' with my heart full of gratitude for her intercession in my life.  The graces I have received are completely unearned...they have been given to me by Jesus through the intercession of our Blessed Mother and St. Therese of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face.  
     For all those who may still doubt the power of embracing your 'littleness' through humble obedience of what Jesus asks of you, let me assure you what you must do.  Cast all of your cares, sorrows, defeats, humiliations, desires and unfulfilled promises at the feet of Jesus and ask only what His will for you is.  Then, with complete confidence and trust, move forward in carrying out your reason for being here.
       I have accepted that Jesus asks me to be one of  St. Therese's little army who helps win souls for her to bring to Jesus.
       As we approach the anniversary of St. Therese's birth on January 2, let us remember to ask our Blessed Mother to shelter and guide us on our path to live what our dear little saint calls "her little way of spiritual childhood."  
     Her beautiful quote on this holy card commemorates the statue called Our Lady of the Smile, so called because it came alive and smiled at her, curing her of a difficult childhood illness.  We should see our Blessed Mother as just that, our heavenly Mother, going to her for comfort and encouragement in our daily lives.
   This holy card was out of stock until recently on my website called the little way that is devoted to St. Therese and offers authentic holy cards and photos published by the Office Central de Lisieux in France. It also offers books and gift items centered around carmelite spirituality.

Let me close with this prayer...

St. Therese, open our hearts to your little way.  Teach us to throw ourselves into the arms of Our Lord, casting away all doubt and fear and accepting all that he sends us as graces for the salvation of our souls.

St. Therese and Her Little Way - Like a Drop of Water Thrown Into a Flaming Furnace

Spiritual Roses from I Believe In Love by Fr. Jean C. J. d'Elbee, a personal retreat based on St. Therese of Lisieux.

I'm blogging from this incredibly important book published in 1969 by a French priest who truly understood the spirituality of our dear little saint. Next to Story of a Soul, this book has been the most important for my carmelite spiritual journey. After reading it, I was able to focus and hold on to the truth that Jesus indeed loves me more than I will ever comprehend. Trust, trust, and more trust is the key to our spiritual growth. When we trust to the point of 'folly' Jesus rewards us with opportunities for more trust and sends us graces for our santification. "This spiritual classic has long been beloved by Catholics for its wondrous distillation of the teaching of St. Thérèse of Lisieux into a reader-friendly set of meditations. It’s perfect as a personal retreat when you have only a few moments to spare each day — and for spiritual reading anytime and anywhere. Fr. Jean C. J. d’Elbée, a French priest deeply imbued with St. Thérèse’s spirit, brings you St. Thérèse’s teachings on God’s love and the confidence in Him that it should inspire in your soul; humility, peace, and fraternal charity; the apostolate; the Cross; and what it means truly to abandon yourself to Divine Providence. I Believe in Love has helped countless souls embark on the way to the Father. It will help you focus on Him throughout each day, rest in Him amid your troubles, and live joyfully with Him at every moment! " Excerpted from the back cover, published by Sophia Institute Press.





CHAPTER TWO - HUMBLE CONFIDENCE Continued



"It is true that instinctively we seek to climb the rough stairway of perfection instead of taking the gentle elevator of the arms of Jesus. This is because we have been told so often of our miseries. We have been told, and rightly, that we are miserable; and then, we have been told about Jesus that He is good, yes, but not enough that He is wondrously good, infinitely good, infinite charity. No one has told us at the same time that He is Savior before He is Judge and that, in the Heart of God, 'justice and peace have embraced'.

We have been trained in the habit of looking at our dark side, our ugliness, and not at the purifying Sun, Light of Light, which He is, who changes the dust that we are into pure gold. We think about examining ourselves, yet we do not think, before the examination, during the examination, and after the examination, to plunge ourselves, with all our miseries, into the consuming and transforming furnace of His Heart, which is open to us through a humble act of confidence.

I am not telling you, 'You believe too much in your own wretchedness.' We are much more wretched than we ever realize. But I am telling you, 'You do not believe enough in mercuful love.'
We must have confidence, not in spite of our miseries, but because of them, since it is misery which attracts mercy.

Oh, this word, mercy -- misericordia -- 'miseris cor dare,' a Heart which gives itself to the miserable, a Heart which nourishes itself on miseries by consuming them. Mediate on this word.

St. Thomas says that 'to have mercy belongs to the nature of God, and it is in this that His omnipotence manifests itself in the highest degree.'

Little Therese perceived this when she wrote these lines which complete and crown her maunscript: 'Yes, I sense that even if I had on my conscience all the sins which can be committed, I would go, my heart broken, to repent and throw myself into the arms of Jesus, for I know how much He cherishes the prodigal child who returns to Him. It is not because the dear Lord in His provident mercy has preserved my soul from mortal sin that I am lifted up to Him by confidence and love.'

Again, shortly before her death, speaking to Mother Agnes, she said, 'You may truly say that if I had committed all possible crimes, I would still have the same confidence; I would feel that this multitude of offenses would be like a drop of water thrown into a flaming furnace.' All possible crimes, a multitude of offenses, a drop of water in an immense furnace; that is the proportion.

And this affirmation is so logical, it is irrefutable."

To be continued on the next blog.

St. Therese, open our hearts to your little way. Teach us to throw ourselves into the arms of Our Lord, casting away all doubt and fear and accepting all that He sends us as graces for the salvation of our souls.

Spiritual Roses from I Believe In Love by Fr. Jean C. J. d'Elbee, a personal retreat based on St. Therese of Lisieux.

I'm blogging from this incredibly important book published in 1969 by a French priest who truly understood the spirituality of our dear little saint. Next to Story of a Soul, this book has been the most important for my carmelite spiritual journey. After reading it, I was able to focus and hold on to the truth that Jesus indeed loves me more than I will ever comprehend. Trust, trust, and more trust is the key to our spiritual growth. When we trust to the point of 'folly' Jesus rewards us with opportunities for more trust and sends us graces for our santification.





"This spiritual classic has long been beloved by Catholics for its wondrous distillation of the teaching of St. Thérèse of Lisieux into a reader-friendly set of meditations. It’s perfect as a personal retreat when you have only a few moments to spare each day — and for spiritual reading anytime and anywhere. Fr. Jean C. J. d’Elbée, a French priest deeply imbued with St. Thérèse’s spirit, brings you St. Thérèse’s teachings on God’s love and the confidence in Him that it should inspire in your soul; humility, peace, and fraternal charity; the apostolate; the Cross; and what it means truly to abandon yourself to Divine Providence. I Believe in Love has helped countless souls embark on the way to the Father. It will help you focus on Him throughout each day, rest in Him amid your troubles, and live joyfully with Him at every moment! " Excerpted from the back cover, published by Sophia Institute Press.


CHAPTER TWO - HUMBLE CONFIDENCE

"You must believe in the love of Jesus for you. Love calls for love. How do you give Jesus love for love? Before all and above all, by your confidence in Him.

This word, confidence, summarizes the three theological virtues: faith, hope, and charity - sovereign virtues which bring all the others in their train. But if these are the highest virtues, then the greatest heroism is demanded of us in order to realize them in the face of the mystery of a 'hidden God.'

A man must be heroic to live always in faith, hope, and love. Why? Because, as a result of Original Sin, no one can be certain with the certainty of faith that he is saved, but only with a moral certainty based upon fidelity to grace; and because as sinners we are constantly tempted by doubts and anxiety.

It was in order to resolve this conflict between our desires and our powerlessness that Jesus came to earth and took our informities upon Himself. Little Therese understood that it is our state of misery which attracts His mercy.

Before her, St. Paul wrote, 'Gladly, therefore, will I glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may dwell in me.' 'I can do all things in Him who strengthens me.'
How profound is the theology of St. Paul! He glories in his infirmities; he rejoices in being weak, because Jesus is there.

For it is this confidence, and nothing but confidence, which will open the arms of Jesus to you so that He will bear you up. Confidence will be for you the golden key to His Heart.

In her desire to be holy, and comparing herself to the saints, St. Therese said that there was, between them and herself, the same difference as between a mountain whose summit is lost in the heavens and an obscure grain of sand, trampoled under the feed of passersby. Rather than becoming discouraged, she thought:

'The good God would not inspire unattainable desires; I can, then, in spite of my littleness, aspire to sanctity. For me to become greater is impossible; I must put up with myself just as I am with all my imperfections. But I wish to find the way to go to Heaven by a very straight, short, completely new little way. We are in a century of inventions; now one does not even have to take the trouble to climb the steps of a stairway; in the homes of the rich an elevator replaces them nicely. I, too, would like to find an elevator to lift me up to Jesus, for I am too little to climb the rough stairway of perfection.

So I have looked in the books of the saints for a sign of the elevator I long for, and I have read these words proceeding from the mount of eternal Wisdom: "He that is a little one, let him turn to me." So I came, knowing that I had found what I was seeking and wanting to know, O my God, what you would do with the little one who would answer Your call, and this is what I found:

"As one whom the mother caresses, so will I comfort you. You shall be carried at the breasts and upon the knees they shall caress you." Never have more tender words come to make my soul rejoice. The elevator which must raise me to the heavens is Your arms, O Jesus! For that I do not need to grow; on the contrary, I must necessarily remail small, become smaller. O my God, You have surpassed what I expected, and I want to sing Your mercies.'

All the theology of little Therese, which echoes that of St. Paul, is summarized and put at our disposal in these lines, on which we could meditate endlessly without exhausting their richness.

What I cannot do myself Jesus will do. He will take me and lift me up to the summit of the mountain of perfection, to the summit of the mountain of love." chapter two continued in the next blog.

St. Therese, open our hearts to your little way. Teach us to throw ourselves into the arms of Our Lord, casting away all doubt and fear and accepting all that He sends us as graces for the salvation of our souls.

Spiritual Roses from Story of a Soul - A little bit of bitterness is at times preferable to sugar

Welcome to my series featuring excerpts from the book that started it all - Story of a Soul. I'm calling the series Spiritual Roses from Story of a Soul and I hope that you will visit here every day for an inspirational message from our dear little saint.

"I told you dear Mother, that I had learned very much when I was teaching others. I saw first of all that all souls have very much the same struggles to fight, but they differ so much from each other in other aspects that I have no trouble in understanding what Father Pichon was saying: "There are really more differences among souls than there are among faces." It is impossible to act with all in the same manner. With certain souls, I feel I must make myself little, not fearing to humble myself by admitting my own struggles and defects, seeing I have the same weaknesses as they, my little Sisters in their turn admit their faults and rejoice because I understand them through experience. With others, on the contrary, I have seen that to do any good I must be very firm and never go back on a decision once it is made. To abase oneself would not then be humility but weakness. God has given me the grace not to fear the battle; I must do my duty at all costs. I have heard the following on more than one occasion: "If you want to get anything out of me, you will have to win me with sweetness; force will get you nothing." I myself know that nobody is a good judge in his own case, and that a child, whom a doctor wants to perform a painful operation upon, will not fail to utter loud cries and to say that the rememdy is worse than the sickness; however, when he is cured a few days later, he is very happy at being able to play and run. It is exactly the same for souls; soon they recognize that a little bit of bitterness is at times preferable to sugar and they don't fear to admit it."

Excerpted from Story of a Soul, ICS Publications, Third Edition, page 239. This book and many others along with a line of holy cards and photos of St. Therese imported from her monastery in Lisieux can be found at my webstore The Little Way.

St. Therese, open our hearts to your little way. Teach us to throw ourselves into the arms of Our Lord, casting away all doubt and fear and accepting all that He sends us as graces for the salvation of our souls.

Spiritual Roses from Story of a Soul - Obedience

Welcome to my series featuring excerpts from the book that started it all - Story of a Soul. I'm calling the series Spiritual Roses from Story of a Soul and I hope that you will visit here every day for an inspirational message from our dear little saint.

"O Mother, what anxieties the Vow of Obedience frees us from! How happy are simple religious! Their only compass being their Superiors' will, they are always sure of being on the right road; they have nothing to fear from being mistaken even when it seems that their Superiors are wrong. But when they cease to look upon the infallible compass, when they stray from the way it indicates under the pretext of God's will, unclear at times even to His representatives, then they wander into arid paths where the water of grace is soon lacking.

Dear Mother, you are the compass Jesus has given me as a sure guide to the eternal shore. How sweet it is to fix my eyes upon you and thus accomplish the will of the Lord! Since the time He permitted me to suffer temptations against the faith, He has greatly increased the spirit of faith in my heart, which helps me to see in you not only a loving Mother but also Jesus living in your soul and communicating His will to me through you. I know very well, dear Mother, you are treating me as a feeble soul, a spoiled child, and as a consequence I have no trouble in carrying the burden of obedience. But because of what I feel in my heart, I would not change my attitude toward you, nor would my love decrease if it pleased you to treat me severely. I would see once more that it was the will of Jesus that you were acting in this way for the greater good of my soul."

Excerpted from Story of a Soul, ICS Publications, Third Edition, page 218. This book and many others along with a line of holy cards and photos of St. Therese imported from her monastery in Lisieux can be found at my webstore The Little Way.

St. Therese, open our hearts to your little way. Teach us to throw ourselves into the arms of Our Lord, casting away all doubt and fear and accepting all that He sends us as graces for the salvation of our souls.

Spiritual Roses from Story of a Soul - Charity

Welcome to my series featuring excerpts from the book that started it all - Story of a Soul. I'm calling the series Spiritual Roses from Story of a Soul and I hope that you will visit here every day for an inspirational message from our dear little saint.

"Yes, I feel it, when I am charitable, it is Jesus alone who is acting in me, and the more united I am to Him, the more also do I love my Sisters. When I wish to increase this love in me, and when especially the devil tries to place before the eyes of my soul the faults of such and such a Sister who is less attractive to me, I hasten to search out her virtues, her good intentioons; I tell myself that even if I did see her fall once, she could easily have won a great number of victories which she is hiding through humility, and that even what appears to me as a fault can very easily be an act of virtue because of her intention. I have no trouble in convincing myself of this truth because of a little experience I had which showed me we must never judge.

During recreation the portress rang twice; the large workman's gate had to be opened to bring in some trees for the crib. Recreation was not too gay because you were not there, dear Mother, and I thought that if they sent me to serve as third party I would be happy; at exactly that moment Mother Subprioress told me to go and serve in this capacity, or else the Sister who was at my side. Immediately I began to untie our apron but slowly in order that my companion untie her before me, for I thought of giving her the pleasure of serving as third party. The Sister who was replacing the Procuratrix was looking at us, and seeing me get up last, she said; "Ah! I thought as much, that you were not going to gain this pearl for your crown, you were going too slowly.

Certainly, the whole community believed I had acted through selfishness, and I cannot say how much good such a small thing did to my soul, making me indulgent toward the weaknesses of others. This incident prevents me from being vain when I am judged favorably because I say to myself: Since one can take my little acts of virtue for imperfections, one can also be mistaken in taking for virtue what is not but imperfection. Then I say with St. Paul: ' To me it is a very small thing to be judged by you, or by any human tribunal, but neither do I judge myself. He who judged me is THE LORD.'

In order that this judgment be favorable or rather that I be not judged at all, I want to be charitable in my thoughts toward others at all times, for Jesus has said: 'Judge not, and you shall not be judged.' "

Excerpted from Story of a Soul, ICS Publications, Third Edition, page 221. This book and many others along with a line of holy cards and photos of St. Therese imported from her monastery in Lisieux can be found at my webstore The Little Way.

St. Therese, open our hearts to your little way. Teach us to throw ourselves into the arms of Our Lord, casting away all doubt and fear and accepting all that He sends us as graces for the salvation of our souls.