St. Therese Oct. 1st

 

 Today we celebrate the glorious feast of St. Therese of Lissiex, who was born in Alençon, Normandy in France, on Jan 2nd 1873.

There were nine children in the family but four died young and the surviving five were all daughters and very close to each other. I think we could say Thérèse was almost a pampered little girl. Her father used to call her his Queen!

Tragedy struck the family when Thérèse was only four and a half years old. Her mother died of breast cancer on August 28^th, 1877. Little Thérèse was devastated. On the day of her mother’s burial Thérèse took her elder sister Pauline as a new mother. On October 2^nd, 1882 Pauline entered the Carmelite Convent at Lisieux. It was like losing her mother for a second time. Not long afterwards Thérèse became sick.. A miracle was necessary to cure her and it occurred on Pentecost Sunday, May 13th, the following year, 1883. The statue of Our Lady in her bedroom smiled to her, and she describes what happened, “All of a sudden the Blessed Virgin appeared beautiful to me, so beautiful that never had I seen anything so attractive; her face was suffused with an ineffable benevolence and tenderness, but what penetrated to the very depths of my soul was the ravishing smile of the Blessed Virgin. At that instant, all my pain disappeared…”

Thérèse writes beautifully of receiving her First Holy Communion on May 8^th, 1884, “Ah! How sweet was that first kiss of Jesus! It was a kiss of love; I felt that I was loved, and I said: “I love You, and I give myself to You forever!”

We could describe Thérèse as a cry-baby. The least criticism would make her cry and then she would cry because she had cried. Christmas 1885 was a turning point in Thérèse’s life. After Midnight Mass her father who was tired remarked that it was the last year she would be getting Christmas presents. She wrote, “Jesus desired to show me that I was to give up the defects of my childhood and so He withdrew its innocent pleasures. He permitted Papa, tired out after Midnight Mass, to experience annoyance when seeing my shoes at the fireplace, and that he speak those words which pierced my heart: “Well, fortunately, this will be the last year!”….

But Thérèse was no longer the same; Jesus had changed her heart! St. Therese said, “Forcing back my tears, I descended the stairs rapidly…I withdrew my slippers and placed them in front of Papa, and withdrew all the objects joyfully…. Thérèse had discovered once again the strength of soul…”

On the pilgrimage to Rome she understood that her vocation would be to pray for priests. “I understood my vocation in Italy and that’s not going too far in search of such useful knowledge. I lived in the company of many saintly priests for a month and I learned that, though their dignity raises them above the angels, they are nevertheless weak and fragile men. This is Carmel’s vocation since the sole purpose of our prayers and sacrifices is to be the apostle of the apostles. We are to pray for them while they are preaching to souls through their words and especially their example.”

Although Thérèse frequently calls herself a ‘little flower’ in Story of a Soul she had a strong personality. In 1887 when she was fourteen she asked permission to enter Carmel when she would be fifteen! Her father granted permission.

She solicited Bishop Hugonin for permission but he said he would give her an answer during their diocesan pilgrimage to Rome. As part of the pilgrimage they had the privilege of a Papal Audience on November 20th. They were warned not to speak during the audience. She wrote in her autobiography, “A moment later I was at the Holy Father’s feet. I kissed his slipper and he presented his hand, but instead of kissing it I joined my own and lifting tear-filled eyes to his face, I cried out: “Most Holy Father, I have a great favor to ask you…Holy Father, in honor of your Jubilee, permit me to enter Carmel at the age of fifteen!” --- “Well, my child,” the Holy Father replied, looking at me kindly, “do what the Superiors tell you!” Resting my hands on his knees, I made a final effort, saying in a suppliant voice: “Oh! Holy Father, if you say yes, everybody will agree!” He gazed at me steadily, speaking these words and stressing each syllable: “Go…go…You will enter if God wills it!” God did will it because on December 28th Bishop Hugonin gave her permission.

Having the vocation of a Carmelite, she felt she had other vocations within her also. Then she read 1 Cor 12-13 that all cannot be apostles, prophets etc. In 1 Cor 12:31 Paul wrote, “Set your minds on the higher gifts. And now I am going to put before you the best way of all.” Then in following chapter he explained how the most perfect gifts are nothing without love. Thérèse wrote “Charity is the most excellent way that leads to God. I finally had rest…I understood that the Church had a Heart and that this Heart was burning with love. I understood that love comprised all vocations, that love was everything, that it embraced all times and places, in a word, that it was eternal! Then in the excess of my delirious joy, I cried out: O Jesus, my love, my vocation, at last I have found it, my vocation is love!”

Thérèse reminds us we can all aspire to sainthood by doing the ordinary things extraordinarily well, e.g. by picking a pin up from the floor with love.

How did St. Thérèse live this little way? St. Therese describes it: “There is in Community a Sister who has the faculty of displeasing me in everything, in her ways, her words, her character, everything seems very disagreeable to me. Each time I met her I prayed to God for her, offering Him all her virtues and merits…I wasn’t content simply with praying very much for this Sister who gave me so many struggles, but I took care to render her all the services possible, and when I was tempted to answer her back in a disagreeable manner, I was content with giving her my most friendly smile. Ah! What attracted me was Jesus hidden in the depths of her soul.”

On Holy Thursday night 1896, Thérèse coughed up blood. It was the first summons to die. The following year she would die from TB. During her illness Thérèse underwent a great trial of faith. In her last months before her death in 1897, she felt that her work after her death would extend far beyond the publication of her journal. On July 17th she made her famous prediction, she said, “I feel that my mission is about to begin, my mission of making others love God as I love Him, my mission of teaching my little way to souls. If God answers my request, my heaven will be spent on earth up until the end of the world. Yes, I want to spend my heaven in doing good on earth.” Between August 22nd-27th her sufferings reached their peak and it was only around this time that her illness was diagnosed as tuberculosis. She suffered violently with every breath she took and felt like she was being stretched on spikes. The Little Flower died at the age of 24, on Thursday, September 30th. St. Thérèse of Lisieux, pray for us.