Saint Therese of Lisieux

Saint Therese of Lisieux Lived: (1873-1897) | Feast Day: Thursday, October 1, 2015 from Saint of the Day by AmericanCatholic.org

"I prefer the monotony of obscure sacrifice to all ecstasies. To pick up a pin for love can convert a soul." These are  the words of Thérèse of the Child Jesus, a Carmelite nun called the "Little Flower," who lived a cloistered life of  obscurity in the convent of Lisieux, France. And her preference for hidden sacrifice did indeed convert souls. Few saints of God  are more popular than this young nun. Her autobiography, The  Story of a Soul, is read and loved throughout the world. Thérèse Martin entered the convent at the age of 15 and died in 1897 at  the age of 24. She was canonized in 1925, and two years later  she and St. Francis Xavier were declared co-patrons of the missions. Life in a Carmelite convent is indeed uneventful and consists  mainly of prayer and hard domestic work. But Thérèse possessed that holy insight that redeems the time, however dull that time  may be. She saw in quiet suffering redemptive suffering, suffering  that was indeed her apostolate. Thérèse said she came to the  Carmel convent "to save souls and pray for priests." And shortly  before she died, she wrote: "I want to spend my heaven doing  good on earth." On October 19, 1997, Pope John Paul II proclaimed her a  Doctor of the Church, the third woman to be so recognized,  in light of her holiness and the influence on the Church of  her teaching on spirituality. Her parents, Louis and Zélie were  beatified in 2008.

Comment: Thérèse has much to teach our age of the image,  the appearance, the "sell." We have become a dangerously  self-conscious people, painfully aware of the need to be fulfilled,  yet knowing we are not. Thérèse, like so many saints, sought to  serve others, to do something outside herself, to forget herself  in quiet acts of love. She is one of the great examples of the  gospel paradox that we gain our life by losing it, and that the  seed that falls to the ground must die in order to live (John 12:24). Preoccupation with self separates modern men  and women from God, from their fellow human beings, and  ultimately from themselves. We must relearn to forget ourselves,  to contemplate a God who draws us out of ourselves, and to serve  others as the ultimate expression of selfhood. These are the insights  of St. Thérèse of Lisieux, and they are more valid today than ever.

Quote: All her life St. Thérèse suffered from illness. As a young  girl she underwent a three-month malady characterized by  violent crises, extended delirium and prolonged fainting  spells. Afterwards she was ever frail and yet she worked  hard in the laundry and refectory of the convent. Psychologically,  she endured prolonged periods of darkness when the light of  faith seemed all but extinguished. The last year of her life she  slowly wasted away from tuberculosis. And yet shortly before her  death on September 30 she murmured, "I would not suffer  less." Truly she was a valiant woman who did not whimper about  her illnesses and anxieties. Here was a person who saw the  power of love, that divine alchemy which can change  everything, including weakness and illness, into service  and redemptive power for others. Is it any wonder that she  is patroness of the missions? Who else but those who  embrace suffering with their love really convert the world? ***** Saint Therese has provided a significant example to me  of how to live with chronic pain and illness. When I first  became ill, I took the time to read her autobiography and  as I read, I felt the calming of the Holy Spirit. More than  one spiritual adviser has told me that my suffering was for  the benefit of others, and their insights were confirmed to  me through prayer and even more so in my current inductive  study of Saint Paul's Epistle to the Philippians with the  women of Pine Valley Community Church. Christians are all  called to suffer for the Gospel in one way or another, and suffering  with joy, as Saint Paul did in prison, allowed the Gospel to  spread throughout the entire Roman Imperial Guard. May Christ be proclaimed and glorified through me-- and through you--this day and always! With warm thoughts,