October 1, 2011 - ST> THERESE OF LISIEUX

Today is the Feast of St. Therese of Lisieux, also called the "Little Flower." She has been called, "The Greatest Saint of Modern Times." What a tribute to an ordinary French Carmelite nun who spent her short 24 years of life within the cloister!. Who is St. Therese of Lisieux?

St. Therese of Lisieux was born in Alencon, France on January 2, 1873. She was a pampered daughter of a mother who had wanted to be a nun and a father who had wanted to be a monk. Five daughters lived out of the nine children born into the marriage. At the age of four, her mother died and so she became close to her elder sister, Pauline. Five years later, Pauline entered the Carmelite Convent. The loss of her second mother affected her so much. She became so ill that many thought she would die. Doctors were helpless over her case. Through all her pain, she kept close to the Blessed Virgin with her rosary and other prayers. Then, one day, the statue of Mary smiled at her. Suddenly, she was cured. She tried to keep the grace of the cure to herself for a long time.

The entrance of her sisters, Pauline and Marie to the Carmelite Order inspired Therese to follow their footsteps. After sometime, she gained her father's blessing in regard to her desire. But the parish priest and the Bishop denied the request on the basis of her age. Later, she and her father went on a pilgrimage to Rome. Before the Papal Audience, the pilgrims were forbidden to speak with the Pope but that did not stop Therese. When she knelt before him, she told him of her wish to be a nun and appealed that his blessing to her prooposal be granted. The Pope assured her that God's will be done. She was carried out by two guards. But a year later at age 15, she was admitted to the Carmelite Convent in Lisiuex.

Her idea of convent life met with reality in a way she did not expected. As a cloistered nun, she could not even visit her father who suffered a series of strokes which affected him physically and mentally. She was grief-striken! She endeavored twice as hard to show love in every little work, every humiliation and untrue accusation and in every glance or smile. These little sacrifices cost her more than the big ones because they wene unrecognized by others.

Therese continued to worry how she could achieve holiness in the life she lived. She did not want to be just good. She wanted to be a saint! She said, "God would not want me to wish something impossible. So in my hidden life and countless faults, I will look for some means to go to heaven by a little way which is very short and very straight.

As a Carmelite nun, she spent much time alone with God in prayer, meditation and penance. Living the cloistered existence, no one knew that she had been receiving special favors from God. With her sisters, Pauline and Marie in the convent, she used to relate vividly stories of their childhood days. So, Pauline, who was Mother Prioress at that ime "ordered" her to write her autobiography, Hesitantly at first, she wrote her aautobiography and titled it, "The Story of a Soul" especially because she revealed her "little way" to spiritual sanctity. She declared, "I understood that love is everything; that it embraces all times and places. Oh, Jesus, my love! My vocation is love!"

Then in 1896, she coughed blood. She kept working without telling anybody until her illness became worse. She envisioned the work she would do after her death: helping those on earth. She promised, " My heaven will be spent on earth. I will let go a shower of roses!"

She died on Septembeer 30, 1897 at age 24. Therese's "little way" of trusting in Jesus and his merciful love to make her holy and relying in small daily sacrifices instead of great deeds appealed to thousands of people who were trying to find holiness in ordinary lives. Generations of Catholics have admired the "Little Way" and called her "Little Flower. They found in her short life more inspiration for their own lives than in volumes by theologians.

She was canonized by Pope Pius IX in 1925. She is referred to as St. Therese of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face or St. Therese of Lisiuex. She was declared Doctor of the Church in 1997 by Pope john Paul II. She is one of the only three Women Doctors of the Church, along with St. Catherine of Siena and St. Teresa of Avila.

Morning Prayer of St. Therese of Lisiuex

Oh, my God, I offer Thee all my actions of this day for the intentions of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. I desire to sanctify every beat of my heart, my every thought, my simplest works by uniting them to its infinite merits. I wish to make reparations for my sins by casting them into the furnace to its merciful love.

Oh, my God, I ask of Thee for myself and for those I hold dear, the grace to fulfill perfectly Thy holy will, to accept for love of Thee, the joy and sorrows of this passing life. Amen.

St. Therese of Lisieux is one of my favorite saints. As such, I have tried to influence my grandchildren to be close to her, too. So, every time a grandchild graduated from Grade VIII, I rewarded them with a trip to Paris and a visit to Our Lady of Lourdes in Southern France. During the Paris sojourn with Joshua, Christina and Tiffany Anne, we also visited the shrine of St. Therese in her hometown, Lisiuex. We all found the experience at her magnificent basilica and the Carmel Monastery where her body lies a most unforgettable experience. While I have taken Diana, Michael and Christian to Paris and Lourdes, the trip to Lisiuex was missed, so I am looking forward to taking them there in the near future....so help me, Lord!