St. Therese of Lisieux, the "Little Flower"
Therese Martin was born in Alencon
France in 1873, the youngest of nine children. Her father,
Louis, was a successful watchmaker and jeweler. Her mother
Zelie Guerin, built a cottage industry in lace making,
beginning in the village of Alencon, which is known for its
delicate lace. Four of Therese's siblings died at a young age;
the remaining five girls eventually all entered the convent, so
deep was their call to sanctity. Four became contemplative
Carmelite Nuns at the Lisieux Carmel, and one became a Visitation
sister. Therese wasn't always a
nun nor was she always a saint. She was a very regular little
girl, who was rather sensitive. In fact, she seemed like a
spoiled little girl, who would stomp her feet and have a temper
tantrum if she did not get her own way. After the
death of her mother, while Therese was only 4, her father, who
referred to her as "my little queen" would give her
anything she wanted to keep her happy. Louis Martin was
protective of his daughters. He wouldn't allow them to read
the newspapers, fearful that it would make them too worldly. But
the mischievous girls would steal away with the newspaper while
papa napped and carefully return it before he awoke.
At a young age, this precocious child wanted everything. She would get more than she bargained for. Sick physically and emotionally, she was healed by Our Lady of the Smile at the age of 11. She experienced a profound conversion on Christmas eve, 1886, at the age of 13. She felt a call to enter Carmel as a contemplative Nun, so that she could give herself totally to Jesus. But she was too young. Appeals to the Mother Superior and Priest Chaplain yielded: "when you are old enough -16". Not content, Therese and her father appealed to the Bishop. Not getting the response she wanted, she appealed directly and personally to the Pope while on a parish pilgrimage to Rome. Therese had always said: "I want everything" - and she usually got it.
Persistence paid off. Therese was allowed to enter the
Lisieux Carmel at the age of 15 - her father lived to see her
professed a Carmelite Nun. She took the religious name of
Sister Therese of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face. God's
spirit worked powerfully in Therese, so open was she to Divine
Love. Still dreaming of taking on the world as a priest and
missionary, she wrestled with her vocation and place in the
Church. Finally she came to realize that her "vocation
is love" - the love of God was the energy source for the
Church - and fulfillment of the human heart and longing.
Despite her desire for the dramatic and expansive, Therese developed a simple spiritual based on the spirituality of childhood - a bold and confident trust in God. The spirituality of her "little way" was not about extraordinary things - but rather doing the simple things of life well and with extraordinary love. She believed and taught that "everything is grace" - God's face and presence could be experienced in every person and situation of our lives, if we just attend with love and expectancy. Her struggle, like ours, is to be where God places us and the real life situations of our lives. Therese's is a hands-on, challenging and focused spirituality. This is what made Therese shine, and why she has been declared a Doctor of the Church. Her spirituality is simple, childlike, profound and human - it is refreshing in our confusing and complicated age.
Experiencing the dark night of the senses and spirit refined the power and energy of this young, precocious Carmelite. Her poems and plays reflect her struggle to give all to God. Her love became surrender, as she slowly died of tuberculosis. Her journey through darkness into light was accelerated. Her superior asked her to write down her reflections, which became the Story of a Soul. She died at the age of 24, believing that her life was really just beginning for God, promising to spend her heaven doing good on earth. Her promised "shower of roses" began and have become a torrent in the Church ever since.
She was canonized
by the Church in 1925, when she would have been only 52 years
old. In October, 1997, Pope John Paul II declared her a
Doctor of the Church, because of the impact and challenge of her
spirituality has had on the lives of so many of God's children.
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