O God, who gave St. Therese of Lisieux a great love of contemplation and prayer, help us to consecrate our work for the vulnerable to You through prayer and sacred reading.
St. Therese,
Pray for us
3 Our Father
3 Hail Mary
3 Glory Be
About St. Therese of Lisieux:
Therese was born in Alencon, France on January 2, 1873 to saintly parents Louis and Zelie Martin (canonized 2015). Therese was a very sickly child, including having scruples for a year and a half. At the age of 14, Therese felt the call to become a Carmelite nun. Even at this time, 14 or 15 was considered a very early time to enter the religious life. As such, Therese was denied by the convent because of her age. After this, she traveled to Rome to ask Pope Leo XIII himself to allow her to enter Carmel. After hearing her impassioned cry, Pope Leo agreed to allow her to enter the convent. He sent word to the Carmelites, and she entered as a postulant. Her life as a Carmelite was one of completing little jobs and guiding the novices as the prioress' assistant. (prioress is the Carmelite version of the Benedictine 'abbess'). She called her way to holiness the 'little way', one of simplicity and service. She believed that it was not necessary to accomplish great works to become holy, but to simply "scatter little flowers of sacrifice". Therese caught Tuberculosis, and her final years were filled with sacrifice and suffering. She died in 1897 and was only 24 years old.
I have found that it can often be harder to be holy everyday in little things than to be holy in a big way.
ReplyDeleteSt Therese, pray for us!