Preparation And feast of St Therese of Lisieux
“St. Therese of Lisieux, the "Little Flower"
1873-1897
Matthew Chapter 18:1-6 “At that time the disciples approached Jesus and said, "Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?" He called a child over, placed it in their midst, and said, "Amen, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever receives one child such as this in my name receives me. "Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.”
My dear brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ,
Therese Martin was born in Alencon France on January 2, 1873, the youngest of nine children of Louis Stanislaus Martin and Marie Zélie Guérin. On January 4 she was baptized, receiving the name of Marie Françoise Thérèse. Her father, Louis, was a successful watchmaker and jeweler. Four of Therese's siblings died at a young age; the remaining five girls eventually all entered the convent. Four became contemplative Carmelite Nuns at the Lisieux Carmel, and one became a Visitation sister.
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. Therese was rejected to get the admission in the convent because she was not of age. But Therese went to Rome with her father to seek the consent of the Holy Father, Leo XIII. He preferred to leave the decision in the hands of the superior, who finally consented and on 9 April, 1888, at the unusual age of fifteen, Thérèse Martin entered the convent of Lisieux.
On September 30, 1897 she was 24 when she died of tuberculosis. Although most of us know her as Thérèse of Lisieux, or as the Little Flower, her religious name was Thérèse of the Child Jesus and of the Holy Face.Therese offers the wisdom of the gospel: live in love and you will be transformed. As Therese once put it: life is a process of "transforming nothingness into fire".
St.Thérèse’s doctrine, known to us as “the little way of spiritual childhood.” Is based on complete and unshakeable confidence in God’s love for us. This confidence means that we cannot be afraid of God even though we sin, for we know that, being human, sin we shall but, provided that after each fall, we stumble to our feet again and continue our advance to God, He will instantly forgive us and come to meet us. St. Thérèse does not minimize the gravity of sin, but she insists that we must not be crushed by it. . . . God’s love for us must be matched, within our human limitations, by our love for Him. . . . Now this interchange of love does away with the feeling that to please God we must do great and extraordinary things.
To explore her doctrine let us focus on Thérèse’s realism.
Thérèse’s Realism
Thérèse was a realist. She was neither an optimist who saw the cup as half-full nor a pessimist who saw it as half-empty. She wanted to experience life with no illusions, seeing and knowing the truth about God, herself, and others. The basic thing for the holiness is to know oneself. When St Paul knew him well he became more and more holy. She didn’t shy away from tough questions. From a young age, a thorny theological problem presented itself to Thérèse. “For a long time,” she wondered “why God had preferences and why all souls did not receive an equal amount of grace.” Instead of dismissing, ignoring, or suppressing the question, she confronted it with a childlike openness. Jesus “set the book of nature before her and she. . . realized that if every tiny flower wanted to be a rose, spring would lose its loveliness and there would be no wild flowers to make the meadows gay.”
During her lifetime, Thérèse experienced many periods of spiritual dryness where she was acutely aware of God’s absence. She completely embraced these periods with no sugar coating.
Thérèse also had a keen sense of her self—her virtues as well as her faults. She was also fully aware of her shortcomings. At several points in her autobiography, she tells of her struggles with self-love. This realism—this knowledge—provides a key component to the development of her doctrine because knowing, intimately, her own weakness—her own sin—and knowing that she lacked the strength to do anything about it caused her to fall into the merciful arms of God with a heart full of gratitude.
Thérèse continued to worry about how she could achieve holiness in the life she led. She didn't want to just be good, she wanted to be a saint. She thought there must be a way for people living hidden, little lives like hers. " I have always wanted to become a saint. I told myself: God would not make me wish for something impossible and so, in spite of my littleness, I can aim at being a saint. It is impossible for me to grow bigger, so I put up with myself as I am, with all my countless faults. But I will look for some means of going to heaven by a little way which is very short and very straight, a little way that is quite new.
"We live in an age of inventions. We need no longer climb laboriously up flights of stairs; in well-to-do houses there are lifts/elevators. And I was determined to find a lift to carry me to Jesus, for I was far too small to climb the steep stairs of perfection. So I sought in Holy Scripture some idea of what this life I wanted would be, and I read these words: "Whosoever is a little one, come to me." It is your arms, Jesus, that are the lift to carry me to heaven. And so there is no need for me to grow up: I must stay little and become less and less."
So my dear brothers and sisters, Jesus does not demand great deeds. All He wants is self-surrender and gratitude.” Thérèse’s extraordinariness lies in her ordinariness, and it is there for us also if we only have the eyes to see. I Hope you all remember what Blessed Mother Therese of Calcutta said “The Greatest fulfillment is in doing God’s will. We do not have to do great things, only small things with great love. We do not have to be extraordinary in any way, I can do what you can’t do and you can do what I can’t do. Together we can do something beautiful for God”.
St Therese of Lisieux said “What Matters in Life is not great deeds but great Love”
First Day Sept 26, 2007
1873-1897
Matthew Chapter 18:1-6 “At that time the disciples approached Jesus and said, "Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?" He called a child over, placed it in their midst, and said, "Amen, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever receives one child such as this in my name receives me. "Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.”
My dear brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ,
Therese Martin was born in Alencon France on January 2, 1873, the youngest of nine children of Louis Stanislaus Martin and Marie Zélie Guérin. On January 4 she was baptized, receiving the name of Marie Françoise Thérèse. Her father, Louis, was a successful watchmaker and jeweler. Four of Therese's siblings died at a young age; the remaining five girls eventually all entered the convent. Four became contemplative Carmelite Nuns at the Lisieux Carmel, and one became a Visitation sister.
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. Therese was rejected to get the admission in the convent because she was not of age. But Therese went to Rome with her father to seek the consent of the Holy Father, Leo XIII. He preferred to leave the decision in the hands of the superior, who finally consented and on 9 April, 1888, at the unusual age of fifteen, Thérèse Martin entered the convent of Lisieux.
On September 30, 1897 she was 24 when she died of tuberculosis. Although most of us know her as Thérèse of Lisieux, or as the Little Flower, her religious name was Thérèse of the Child Jesus and of the Holy Face.Therese offers the wisdom of the gospel: live in love and you will be transformed. As Therese once put it: life is a process of "transforming nothingness into fire".
St.Thérèse’s doctrine, known to us as “the little way of spiritual childhood.” Is based on complete and unshakeable confidence in God’s love for us. This confidence means that we cannot be afraid of God even though we sin, for we know that, being human, sin we shall but, provided that after each fall, we stumble to our feet again and continue our advance to God, He will instantly forgive us and come to meet us. St. Thérèse does not minimize the gravity of sin, but she insists that we must not be crushed by it. . . . God’s love for us must be matched, within our human limitations, by our love for Him. . . . Now this interchange of love does away with the feeling that to please God we must do great and extraordinary things.
To explore her doctrine let us focus on Thérèse’s realism.
Thérèse’s Realism
Thérèse was a realist. She was neither an optimist who saw the cup as half-full nor a pessimist who saw it as half-empty. She wanted to experience life with no illusions, seeing and knowing the truth about God, herself, and others. The basic thing for the holiness is to know oneself. When St Paul knew him well he became more and more holy. She didn’t shy away from tough questions. From a young age, a thorny theological problem presented itself to Thérèse. “For a long time,” she wondered “why God had preferences and why all souls did not receive an equal amount of grace.” Instead of dismissing, ignoring, or suppressing the question, she confronted it with a childlike openness. Jesus “set the book of nature before her and she. . . realized that if every tiny flower wanted to be a rose, spring would lose its loveliness and there would be no wild flowers to make the meadows gay.”
During her lifetime, Thérèse experienced many periods of spiritual dryness where she was acutely aware of God’s absence. She completely embraced these periods with no sugar coating.
Thérèse also had a keen sense of her self—her virtues as well as her faults. She was also fully aware of her shortcomings. At several points in her autobiography, she tells of her struggles with self-love. This realism—this knowledge—provides a key component to the development of her doctrine because knowing, intimately, her own weakness—her own sin—and knowing that she lacked the strength to do anything about it caused her to fall into the merciful arms of God with a heart full of gratitude.
Thérèse continued to worry about how she could achieve holiness in the life she led. She didn't want to just be good, she wanted to be a saint. She thought there must be a way for people living hidden, little lives like hers. " I have always wanted to become a saint. I told myself: God would not make me wish for something impossible and so, in spite of my littleness, I can aim at being a saint. It is impossible for me to grow bigger, so I put up with myself as I am, with all my countless faults. But I will look for some means of going to heaven by a little way which is very short and very straight, a little way that is quite new.
"We live in an age of inventions. We need no longer climb laboriously up flights of stairs; in well-to-do houses there are lifts/elevators. And I was determined to find a lift to carry me to Jesus, for I was far too small to climb the steep stairs of perfection. So I sought in Holy Scripture some idea of what this life I wanted would be, and I read these words: "Whosoever is a little one, come to me." It is your arms, Jesus, that are the lift to carry me to heaven. And so there is no need for me to grow up: I must stay little and become less and less."
So my dear brothers and sisters, Jesus does not demand great deeds. All He wants is self-surrender and gratitude.” Thérèse’s extraordinariness lies in her ordinariness, and it is there for us also if we only have the eyes to see. I Hope you all remember what Blessed Mother Therese of Calcutta said “The Greatest fulfillment is in doing God’s will. We do not have to do great things, only small things with great love. We do not have to be extraordinary in any way, I can do what you can’t do and you can do what I can’t do. Together we can do something beautiful for God”.
St Therese of Lisieux said “What Matters in Life is not great deeds but great Love”
First Day Sept 26, 2007
Thérèse’s Love for God and for saving Souls
Mathew 11:25-30 At that time Jesus said in reply, "I give praise to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned you have revealed them to the childlike. Yes, Father, such has been your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal him. "Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for your selves. For my yoke is easy, and my burden light."
My Dear Brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ,
We try to make the spiritual life so complicated. We think that we have to do all these extraordinary things. And here is a young woman who was not complicated; she went into a Carmelite monastery when she was 15; she did not work great miracles; she did not do extraordinary things. She was just a young woman with the most intense and incredible love for God. Because she had that kind of love for God, so too, she had that kind of love for other souls. Burning with this love for God and for neighbor has made her this incredible saint.
Thérèse had a deep relation and love towards God. In response to His love, she replied: “Now I wish for only one thing—to love Jesus even unto folly! . . . I’ve finished all other work except that of love. In that is all my delight.”
The apostle explains how even all the most perfect gifts are nothing without love and that charity is the most excellent way of going safely to God. I had found peace at last. I realized that love includes all vocations, that love is all things, and that, because it is eternal, it embraces every time and place.
She cried: “Jesus, my love! At last I have found my vocation. My vocation is love! . . . I will be love. So I shall be everything and so my dreams will be fulfilled.” In her weakness, she dared give herself completely to Jesus and His mission.
It was Thérèse’s love for God that reflected so clearly in her dedication to souls: in the silence of her cloister, the flame of love in Thérèse’s heart inspired her with an ever-increasing zeal for souls. She yearned to save souls. Her zeal, however, was always in accordance with her Little Way. She knew that "the most ordinary sacrifices, if made for love of God, delight His Divine Heart." Her aim was the salvation of souls; and for this end she offered her most ordinary actions — even the picking up of a pin — as acts of love to God’s most Merciful Love. Her smallest actions were laden with eternal life.
This zeal for the salvation of souls grew ever more intense, and, in her mind, there echoed the words of the dying Savior: "I thirst", enkindling "a hitherto-unknown and very ardent fire" of love in her heart. She longed to quench the thirst for souls.
A hard-hearted bandit, seducer, and murderer, named Pranzini, was the first to benefit by her consuming zeal. All the newspapers of the time recounted a threefold shocking murder committed by this miserable criminal, who had been condemned to the scaffold and deserved it on many counts. she started praying for the conversion of this man. Her faith did not falter, but, in order to gain courage in her quest for souls, she turned to Heaven and prayed in her characteristically simple and confident way: "My God, I am quite sure Thou wilt pardon this miserable Pranzini; I should believe this even if he did not confess his sins nor give any sign of contrition, because I have confidence in Thy unbounded Mercy. But as he is my first sinner, I beg for a sign of repentance for my own consolation."
God answered her prayers and granted her wish “On the threshold of the prison, the assassin looked deadly pale. The chaplain went before him, to hide the hideous guillotine from view; others were helping him along. He pushed aside the priest and the executioners. When he came to the block, Diebler pushed him down. But before that, his conscience was evidently touched by sudden repentance, for he asked the chaplain for his crucifix, which he kissed three times."
"Love proves itself by deeds, so how am I to show my love? Great deeds are forbidden me. The only way I can prove my love is by scattering flowers and these flowers are every little sacrifice, every glance and word, and the doing of the least actions for love." She took every chance to sacrifice, no matter how small it would seem. She smiled at the sisters she didn't like. She ate everything she was given without complaining--so that she was often given the worst leftovers. One time she was accused of breaking a vase when she was not at fault. Instead of arguing she sank to her knees and begged forgiveness. These little sacrifices cost her more than bigger ones, for these went unrecognized by others. No one told her how wonderful she was for these little secret humiliations and good deeds.
When we think about the saints, we often think about all their miracles and all the wonderful things that they did. But when we look at Saint Therese, we learn that all we need to do is be the best husband and father, the best wife and mother; whatever your tasks happen to be in life, it is to do it in the best way that you can. But it is not merely a matter of doing it in a perfectionist way; it is a matter of doing it out of love. For those who try to make the spiritual life difficult, Saint Therese was able to bring it down and capsulate it and just simply say, "Love." That is all. If you do everything out of love, that is all that is required. It is very, very simple. But, of course, we make it difficult. We need to struggle against our own inclinations towards selfishness because that the opposite of love. If we are willing to do the little tasks of our daily life with the greatest of love, they become the most extraordinary and most wonderful things in the world. And it will bring many souls to God and give Him the greatest glory because we are doing His Will, and we are doing it with His love.
Saint Augustine basically made the point sixteen hundred years ago when he said, Love, and do what you will, because as Saint Paul says, Love never wrongs the neighbor. If we love we will not sin because love always seeks the good of the other. But the point Saint Therese is making is that if you want to be a great saint it is very simple-a little way – and it is just love.”
"Be not afraid to tell Jesus that you love Him; even though it be without feeling, this is the way to oblige Him to help you, and carry you like a little child too feeble to walk."Love is repaid by love alone."
“The only thing I really wish for ...Is to love until I die of love.” ~ St. Thérèse.
Second Day Sept 27,2007
Mathew 11:25-30 At that time Jesus said in reply, "I give praise to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned you have revealed them to the childlike. Yes, Father, such has been your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal him. "Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for your selves. For my yoke is easy, and my burden light."
My Dear Brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ,
We try to make the spiritual life so complicated. We think that we have to do all these extraordinary things. And here is a young woman who was not complicated; she went into a Carmelite monastery when she was 15; she did not work great miracles; she did not do extraordinary things. She was just a young woman with the most intense and incredible love for God. Because she had that kind of love for God, so too, she had that kind of love for other souls. Burning with this love for God and for neighbor has made her this incredible saint.
Thérèse had a deep relation and love towards God. In response to His love, she replied: “Now I wish for only one thing—to love Jesus even unto folly! . . . I’ve finished all other work except that of love. In that is all my delight.”
The apostle explains how even all the most perfect gifts are nothing without love and that charity is the most excellent way of going safely to God. I had found peace at last. I realized that love includes all vocations, that love is all things, and that, because it is eternal, it embraces every time and place.
She cried: “Jesus, my love! At last I have found my vocation. My vocation is love! . . . I will be love. So I shall be everything and so my dreams will be fulfilled.” In her weakness, she dared give herself completely to Jesus and His mission.
It was Thérèse’s love for God that reflected so clearly in her dedication to souls: in the silence of her cloister, the flame of love in Thérèse’s heart inspired her with an ever-increasing zeal for souls. She yearned to save souls. Her zeal, however, was always in accordance with her Little Way. She knew that "the most ordinary sacrifices, if made for love of God, delight His Divine Heart." Her aim was the salvation of souls; and for this end she offered her most ordinary actions — even the picking up of a pin — as acts of love to God’s most Merciful Love. Her smallest actions were laden with eternal life.
This zeal for the salvation of souls grew ever more intense, and, in her mind, there echoed the words of the dying Savior: "I thirst", enkindling "a hitherto-unknown and very ardent fire" of love in her heart. She longed to quench the thirst for souls.
A hard-hearted bandit, seducer, and murderer, named Pranzini, was the first to benefit by her consuming zeal. All the newspapers of the time recounted a threefold shocking murder committed by this miserable criminal, who had been condemned to the scaffold and deserved it on many counts. she started praying for the conversion of this man. Her faith did not falter, but, in order to gain courage in her quest for souls, she turned to Heaven and prayed in her characteristically simple and confident way: "My God, I am quite sure Thou wilt pardon this miserable Pranzini; I should believe this even if he did not confess his sins nor give any sign of contrition, because I have confidence in Thy unbounded Mercy. But as he is my first sinner, I beg for a sign of repentance for my own consolation."
God answered her prayers and granted her wish “On the threshold of the prison, the assassin looked deadly pale. The chaplain went before him, to hide the hideous guillotine from view; others were helping him along. He pushed aside the priest and the executioners. When he came to the block, Diebler pushed him down. But before that, his conscience was evidently touched by sudden repentance, for he asked the chaplain for his crucifix, which he kissed three times."
"Love proves itself by deeds, so how am I to show my love? Great deeds are forbidden me. The only way I can prove my love is by scattering flowers and these flowers are every little sacrifice, every glance and word, and the doing of the least actions for love." She took every chance to sacrifice, no matter how small it would seem. She smiled at the sisters she didn't like. She ate everything she was given without complaining--so that she was often given the worst leftovers. One time she was accused of breaking a vase when she was not at fault. Instead of arguing she sank to her knees and begged forgiveness. These little sacrifices cost her more than bigger ones, for these went unrecognized by others. No one told her how wonderful she was for these little secret humiliations and good deeds.
When we think about the saints, we often think about all their miracles and all the wonderful things that they did. But when we look at Saint Therese, we learn that all we need to do is be the best husband and father, the best wife and mother; whatever your tasks happen to be in life, it is to do it in the best way that you can. But it is not merely a matter of doing it in a perfectionist way; it is a matter of doing it out of love. For those who try to make the spiritual life difficult, Saint Therese was able to bring it down and capsulate it and just simply say, "Love." That is all. If you do everything out of love, that is all that is required. It is very, very simple. But, of course, we make it difficult. We need to struggle against our own inclinations towards selfishness because that the opposite of love. If we are willing to do the little tasks of our daily life with the greatest of love, they become the most extraordinary and most wonderful things in the world. And it will bring many souls to God and give Him the greatest glory because we are doing His Will, and we are doing it with His love.
Saint Augustine basically made the point sixteen hundred years ago when he said, Love, and do what you will, because as Saint Paul says, Love never wrongs the neighbor. If we love we will not sin because love always seeks the good of the other. But the point Saint Therese is making is that if you want to be a great saint it is very simple-a little way – and it is just love.”
"Be not afraid to tell Jesus that you love Him; even though it be without feeling, this is the way to oblige Him to help you, and carry you like a little child too feeble to walk."Love is repaid by love alone."
“The only thing I really wish for ...Is to love until I die of love.” ~ St. Thérèse.
Second Day Sept 27,2007
Suffering in the life of St Therese
Mathew5:4-11 Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted .Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me, Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in Heaven.
My dear brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ,
Sanctity lies not in saying beautiful things, or even in thinking them, or feeling them; it lies in truly being willing to suffer. Life passes so quickly that it is better to have a most splendid crown in heaven and a little suffering than an ordinary crown and no suffering.
St.Thérèse never founded a religious order; she never performed great works and never went on missions, but she understood that what matters in the Christian life is not great deeds, but great love, and that anyone can achieve the heights of holiness by doing even the smallest things well for love of God."All is well," she wrote, “when one seeks only the will of Jesus." St. Thérèse is a reminder to all of us who feel we can do nothing, that it is the little things that keep God's kingdom growing.
At the beginning of her autobiography, St. Therese tells: she opens the Gospels and finds these words in Luke 3:13, "And going up a mountain, he called to him people of his own choosing and they came to him." Therese then goes on, "This is the mystery of my vocation, my whole life, and especially the mystery of the privileges Jesus showered upon my soul. He does not call those who are worthy, but those whom He pleases."
On the night between Holy Thursday and Good Friday in 1896, Therese experienced her first hemoptysis (spitting up of blood) from tuberculosis. Over the next 18 months, her condition steadily deteriorated.
The disease was developing-constant vomiting, suffocation, loss of consciousness. Still Teresa struggled on. "I can't breathe and I can't die," and so hanging between life and death she renewed her offering, "I am quite willing to go on suffering." At the last moment of her life on earth she turned again to her crucifix: "I love him.... O God, I love you... that was her last word. Then offering her sufferings for the salvation of souls, Teresa closed her eyes, and died of tuberculosis. It was about twenty past seven in the evening of September 30, 1897; she was twenty-four years and nine months old. In the months prior to her death, she prayed for the grace to "spend my heaven doing good on earth" and promised that after her death she would send "a shower of roses" from heaven.
The whole convent knew that Sister Teresa was going to die. She heard the kitchen-sister wondering what the mother prioress would find to write in her obituary notice. "She came here, she lived here, she was taken ill, and she died," and that indeed was all there was to be said-except that those things were or would be done in the perfection of charity.
She was beatified on April 29, 1923; St. Therese was solemnly canonized by Pope Pius XI on May 17, 1925. On December 14, 1927, Pope Pius XI proclaimed St. Therese Principal Patroness, equal to St. Francis Xavier, of all missionaries, men and women, and of the missions in the whole world. On May 3, 1944, Pope Pius XII named St. Therese Secondary Patroness of France, equal to St. Joan of Arc.
Pope John Paul II named St. Therese a Doctor of the Church on October 19, 1997, World Mission Sunday. She became only the third woman in the Church to be so honored as Doctors, joining St. Catherine of Siena and St. Teresa of Jesus, co-foundress of the Discalced Carmelites.
St Ignatius Loyola says: “If the Lord sends you great tribulations, it is evidence that He has great designs upon you, and that He wills that you become a saint. There is no wood more proper to enkindle and feed the fire of divine love than the wood of the cross.”
Sufferings and afflictions are a token of God’s love; “for”, as St Paul tells, “whom the Lord loves He chastise. God deals with you as with His sons; for what son is there, whom the father does not correct?” Heb.12:6, 7.
The grandest music of the Human heart breaks forth in the day of trial; the sweetest songs are sung in sorrow; the best things in character are developed in the time of afflictions.
Shelley wrote: “Our sincerest laughter with some pain is fraught;
Our sweetest songs are those that tell of saddest thought”.
Jesus’ golden promise afterward to St Paul was: “I will show him what great things he must suffer for my name’s sake” Acts 9: 16
How blind then we are if we believe that every suffering is a calamity and a proof of God’s wrath; and that prosperity, and nothing but prosperity, is a sure sign of His favor!
a) He sends suffering in His mercy to atone here for past sin, to do here quickly the slow work of purgatory.
b) He sends suffering also to prevent sin; and to draw us out of sin, as suffering brought the prodigal son him to Him.
c) Lastly He sends suffering to His Chosen ones, as to St Paul; and these chosen ones then become, like Himself, Savior unto many.
When God sends suffering to St Francis Xavier he would exclaim” Still more, My God, Still more”.
St Vincent De Paul my patron Saint whose feast we celebrated on September 27 writes: “If we know the precious treasure which is hidden in our infirmities, we would receive them with the same joy that we receive the greatest benefits, and we would bear them without complaining.”
I suffer much but do I suffer well? That is the important thing.
The End
Third Day
Mathew5:4-11 Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted .Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me, Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in Heaven.
My dear brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ,
Sanctity lies not in saying beautiful things, or even in thinking them, or feeling them; it lies in truly being willing to suffer. Life passes so quickly that it is better to have a most splendid crown in heaven and a little suffering than an ordinary crown and no suffering.
St.Thérèse never founded a religious order; she never performed great works and never went on missions, but she understood that what matters in the Christian life is not great deeds, but great love, and that anyone can achieve the heights of holiness by doing even the smallest things well for love of God."All is well," she wrote, “when one seeks only the will of Jesus." St. Thérèse is a reminder to all of us who feel we can do nothing, that it is the little things that keep God's kingdom growing.
At the beginning of her autobiography, St. Therese tells: she opens the Gospels and finds these words in Luke 3:13, "And going up a mountain, he called to him people of his own choosing and they came to him." Therese then goes on, "This is the mystery of my vocation, my whole life, and especially the mystery of the privileges Jesus showered upon my soul. He does not call those who are worthy, but those whom He pleases."
On the night between Holy Thursday and Good Friday in 1896, Therese experienced her first hemoptysis (spitting up of blood) from tuberculosis. Over the next 18 months, her condition steadily deteriorated.
The disease was developing-constant vomiting, suffocation, loss of consciousness. Still Teresa struggled on. "I can't breathe and I can't die," and so hanging between life and death she renewed her offering, "I am quite willing to go on suffering." At the last moment of her life on earth she turned again to her crucifix: "I love him.... O God, I love you... that was her last word. Then offering her sufferings for the salvation of souls, Teresa closed her eyes, and died of tuberculosis. It was about twenty past seven in the evening of September 30, 1897; she was twenty-four years and nine months old. In the months prior to her death, she prayed for the grace to "spend my heaven doing good on earth" and promised that after her death she would send "a shower of roses" from heaven.
The whole convent knew that Sister Teresa was going to die. She heard the kitchen-sister wondering what the mother prioress would find to write in her obituary notice. "She came here, she lived here, she was taken ill, and she died," and that indeed was all there was to be said-except that those things were or would be done in the perfection of charity.
She was beatified on April 29, 1923; St. Therese was solemnly canonized by Pope Pius XI on May 17, 1925. On December 14, 1927, Pope Pius XI proclaimed St. Therese Principal Patroness, equal to St. Francis Xavier, of all missionaries, men and women, and of the missions in the whole world. On May 3, 1944, Pope Pius XII named St. Therese Secondary Patroness of France, equal to St. Joan of Arc.
Pope John Paul II named St. Therese a Doctor of the Church on October 19, 1997, World Mission Sunday. She became only the third woman in the Church to be so honored as Doctors, joining St. Catherine of Siena and St. Teresa of Jesus, co-foundress of the Discalced Carmelites.
St Ignatius Loyola says: “If the Lord sends you great tribulations, it is evidence that He has great designs upon you, and that He wills that you become a saint. There is no wood more proper to enkindle and feed the fire of divine love than the wood of the cross.”
Sufferings and afflictions are a token of God’s love; “for”, as St Paul tells, “whom the Lord loves He chastise. God deals with you as with His sons; for what son is there, whom the father does not correct?” Heb.12:6, 7.
The grandest music of the Human heart breaks forth in the day of trial; the sweetest songs are sung in sorrow; the best things in character are developed in the time of afflictions.
Shelley wrote: “Our sincerest laughter with some pain is fraught;
Our sweetest songs are those that tell of saddest thought”.
Jesus’ golden promise afterward to St Paul was: “I will show him what great things he must suffer for my name’s sake” Acts 9: 16
How blind then we are if we believe that every suffering is a calamity and a proof of God’s wrath; and that prosperity, and nothing but prosperity, is a sure sign of His favor!
a) He sends suffering in His mercy to atone here for past sin, to do here quickly the slow work of purgatory.
b) He sends suffering also to prevent sin; and to draw us out of sin, as suffering brought the prodigal son him to Him.
c) Lastly He sends suffering to His Chosen ones, as to St Paul; and these chosen ones then become, like Himself, Savior unto many.
When God sends suffering to St Francis Xavier he would exclaim” Still more, My God, Still more”.
St Vincent De Paul my patron Saint whose feast we celebrated on September 27 writes: “If we know the precious treasure which is hidden in our infirmities, we would receive them with the same joy that we receive the greatest benefits, and we would bear them without complaining.”
I suffer much but do I suffer well? That is the important thing.
The End
Third Day
Feast of Little Flower
We all know all about her, how Therese Martin was born on January 2, 1873 to a middle-class family in Lisieux, , at the age of 15 ,in 1889, she entered the cloistered Carmelite convent, she took the name "Therese of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face;" she became the mistress of novices; she contracted TB and died at age 24, on September 30, 1897, saying her last words, "My God, I love you." She became the 33rd Doctor in the history of Church. The Little Therese – whom Pius XI on February 11th 1923 called "God’s word to the world of today" giving us a great lesion on her feast day to be like little children if you wish to grow in holiness.
In the Gospel reading today, Our Lord tells us very clearly that unless we become like little children we will not enter into the kingdom of Heaven. To be as a child, that means, to have complete confidence Loving God.
What does it mean to be a child in practical terms?
Little children do not worry about whether they are going to have a meal; they just assume that they will. They do not worry about whether they are going to have a roof over their head but nonetheless they have confidence that all of these things are going to be taken care of. They just go. They just move on from one thing to the next and they do not worry about all the little things. That is the same kind of confidence we have to have. She explained: "To be little means that we do not attribute to ourselves the virtues we practice, as if we were capable of any good; we recognize that God has placed this treasure in the hand of His little child and that the treasure is always His ... To be little means that we are never discouraged at our faults, for, although children often fall, they are too small to hurt themselves seriously."
Any of you who are parents know how children are. They do not go very far from Mom and they make sure they pay a visit quite often. They are off playing all by themselves; they come back racing over, grab her by the legs, go back, and play. A few minutes later, they come racing back, just want to sit on her lap for thirty seconds, and off they go to play again. They are constantly coming back. How many times a day do we check in with Our Lord? How far do we go away from the Lord? Little children always want to be right in the sight of their mother. They do not even like to be in the next room.We need to keep God always in our presence. No matter where we are, He is in our hearts if we are in the state of grace, but we need to keep our minds focused on Him.
That is the way God wants us to live and that is what we learn from our little Saint of today – how to be like a little child in the arms of God.
To be a child means not to worry - the Father is doing all the worrying. To be a child means to enjoy what you are given because everything is a grace, everything is a gift given to you not because you deserve it but because God is good.
To be a child means accepting and using even your failings and your sins. "Look at kids," she writes to Celine, "they break things, they tear up paper, they fall even if they love their parents and their parents keep loving them all the same." If the dad calls him, the child does not bother to clean himself before running to embrace him.
To be a child means to rely on someone else. On a Father who is powerful and good. And to be happy about it! Sometimes the child goes to the well of life to draw water. The bucket is too heavy. He tries and tries because there is often stubbornness. The child thinks, "Of course I am strong and can surely do it, all alone." He cannot. He realizes this and turns to the Father with a smile that says, "I give up." The large arms move. One holds the hands of the child and the other the rope. Slowly the two pull up the bucket. "So we did it,", the Father tells the child. That's God!
A simple story to conclude. When Schia was 4 years old, her baby brother was born. Little Schia began to ask her parents to leave her alone with the new baby. They worried that, like most 4-year-olds, she might want to hit or shake him, so they said no. Over time, though, since Schia wasn't showing signs of jealousy, they changed their minds and decided to let Schia have her private conference with the baby. Elated, Schia went into the baby's room and shut the door, but it opened a crack - enough for her curious parents to peek in and listen. They saw little Schia walk quietly up to her baby brother, put her face close to his, and say, "Baby, tell me what God feels like. I'm starting to forget."
Perhaps we have grown older and have forgotten how God is like. Therese tells us today that it is not too late to return and enter the kingdom of God like a little child (Mark 10:15).
The End
We all know all about her, how Therese Martin was born on January 2, 1873 to a middle-class family in Lisieux, , at the age of 15 ,in 1889, she entered the cloistered Carmelite convent, she took the name "Therese of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face;" she became the mistress of novices; she contracted TB and died at age 24, on September 30, 1897, saying her last words, "My God, I love you." She became the 33rd Doctor in the history of Church. The Little Therese – whom Pius XI on February 11th 1923 called "God’s word to the world of today" giving us a great lesion on her feast day to be like little children if you wish to grow in holiness.
In the Gospel reading today, Our Lord tells us very clearly that unless we become like little children we will not enter into the kingdom of Heaven. To be as a child, that means, to have complete confidence Loving God.
What does it mean to be a child in practical terms?
Little children do not worry about whether they are going to have a meal; they just assume that they will. They do not worry about whether they are going to have a roof over their head but nonetheless they have confidence that all of these things are going to be taken care of. They just go. They just move on from one thing to the next and they do not worry about all the little things. That is the same kind of confidence we have to have. She explained: "To be little means that we do not attribute to ourselves the virtues we practice, as if we were capable of any good; we recognize that God has placed this treasure in the hand of His little child and that the treasure is always His ... To be little means that we are never discouraged at our faults, for, although children often fall, they are too small to hurt themselves seriously."
Any of you who are parents know how children are. They do not go very far from Mom and they make sure they pay a visit quite often. They are off playing all by themselves; they come back racing over, grab her by the legs, go back, and play. A few minutes later, they come racing back, just want to sit on her lap for thirty seconds, and off they go to play again. They are constantly coming back. How many times a day do we check in with Our Lord? How far do we go away from the Lord? Little children always want to be right in the sight of their mother. They do not even like to be in the next room.We need to keep God always in our presence. No matter where we are, He is in our hearts if we are in the state of grace, but we need to keep our minds focused on Him.
That is the way God wants us to live and that is what we learn from our little Saint of today – how to be like a little child in the arms of God.
To be a child means not to worry - the Father is doing all the worrying. To be a child means to enjoy what you are given because everything is a grace, everything is a gift given to you not because you deserve it but because God is good.
To be a child means accepting and using even your failings and your sins. "Look at kids," she writes to Celine, "they break things, they tear up paper, they fall even if they love their parents and their parents keep loving them all the same." If the dad calls him, the child does not bother to clean himself before running to embrace him.
To be a child means to rely on someone else. On a Father who is powerful and good. And to be happy about it! Sometimes the child goes to the well of life to draw water. The bucket is too heavy. He tries and tries because there is often stubbornness. The child thinks, "Of course I am strong and can surely do it, all alone." He cannot. He realizes this and turns to the Father with a smile that says, "I give up." The large arms move. One holds the hands of the child and the other the rope. Slowly the two pull up the bucket. "So we did it,", the Father tells the child. That's God!
A simple story to conclude. When Schia was 4 years old, her baby brother was born. Little Schia began to ask her parents to leave her alone with the new baby. They worried that, like most 4-year-olds, she might want to hit or shake him, so they said no. Over time, though, since Schia wasn't showing signs of jealousy, they changed their minds and decided to let Schia have her private conference with the baby. Elated, Schia went into the baby's room and shut the door, but it opened a crack - enough for her curious parents to peek in and listen. They saw little Schia walk quietly up to her baby brother, put her face close to his, and say, "Baby, tell me what God feels like. I'm starting to forget."
Perhaps we have grown older and have forgotten how God is like. Therese tells us today that it is not too late to return and enter the kingdom of God like a little child (Mark 10:15).
The End
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