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ONE OF MY FAVOURITE SAINTS - ST. THÉRÈSE OF LISIEUX (written by Willy Effinger)
“O Jesus, my Divine Spouse, grant that the robe of my Baptism be never sullied! Take me, rather than suffer me here below to stain my soul by committing the slightest willful fault. May I never seek nor ever find but Thee alone! May all creatures be nothing to me, and I nothing to them! May no earthly thing disturb my peace! Grant that I fulfill my engagements in all their perfections; that none concern themselves about me; that I may be trodden underfoot, forgotten, as a little grain of sand. I offer myself to Thee, O well Beloved, that Thou mayest ever perfectly accomplish Thy holy will for me, without let or hindrance from creatures.”
This prayer of Saint Thérèse sums up a whole life offered to Christ. It is a prayer that has touched me deeply, as the summit of all her inspired writings. To me, this prayer encompasses the first and second commandments in their entirety and sheds light on what has become known as her “little way”. This is truly a prayer that we should all strive to make our own. Saint Thérèse was born on January 2, 1873 as the fifth surviving child of Louis and Azelie-Marie Martin. Baptized Marie-Françoise Thérèse Martin, she grew up as the youngest of the family, surrounded by a deep love from her parents and her four older sisters. It was this love which opened Thérèse's soul to the love of God at a very early age. She was to write later in her life, “From the age of three, I have never refused the good God anything.” When she was only four and a half years old, her beloved mother died; the family moved from Alencon to Lisieux in order to be closer to her aunt Mrs. Guerin who was a holy woman. The loss of Thérèse's mother triggered a severe emotional sensitivity; she became very shy and cried at the least provocative words from others. In her diary, “The Story of a Soul”, she wrote that her “conversion” took place on Christmas night when in an instant she regained strength for which she had prayed for almost ten years. From this point on, her spiritual life grew in leaps and bounds, especially after she recognized that one's spirituality could be summed up in LOVE. At the age of fifteen, she joined the Carmelites; two of her sisters had already offered themselves to pray and serve the Lord in this same order. Although Thérèse's favourite Saint was Joan of Arc, she knew that her fight would not be fought by the sword but by embracing her own littleness. She strove to trust completely in God and to give Him the victory of her “little way of spiritual childhood”. Only one thing pleased Thérèse - to make her life “one act of perfect love.” In 1984, Thérèse felt the urge to serve as a missionary in Indo-China. However, because her health prevented her from doing so, she decided to offer her sufferings and prayers for the missions. It should be noted that Thérèse's words of prophecy were recorded at that time: “I have never given the good God aught but love, and it is with love that He will repay. After my death, I will let fall a shower of roses.” At the age of twenty-two, her health began to deteriorate even further due to tuberculosis. Though her physical suffering was intense, she suffered spiritually even more as she underwent darkness of the soul, during which God and eternity seemed to her like a bad joke! Heaven, joy and hope faded into nothingness as she was plunged into deep darkness. Yet, she clung to God with sheer faith, bearing all with a smiling face. She remarked at one time that her life was “like a bottle of brightly coloured medicine – appearing sweet and delicious on the outside but in reality it was very bitter.” She also added that she was always happy that God loved her so much and that through His grace, she was able to “love Him to folly”. At the age of twenty-four, the “Little Flower” went home to her beloved Bridegroom. Almost immediately after her death, people who asked for her intercession received great blessings from Heaven. The roses that she had promised have been showered upon many - most of them by way of favours, but some also as real roses. Saint Thérèse was canonized by His Holiness Pope Pius XI in 1925 and was later declared co-patron of the missions along with St. Francis Xavier; in more recent years, she has also been named one of the Doctors of the Church because of the depth of her spiritual writings. I would like to end this reflection with another of Saint Thérèse's prayers:
“O my God! I offer Thee all my actions of this day for the intentions and for the glory 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; and I wish to make reparation for my sins by casting them into the furnace of Its merciful love.”
Saint Thérèse of Lisieux, pray for us!
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