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"I prefer the monotony of obscure sacrifice to all
ecstasies. To pick up a pin for love can convert a soul."
The words of Therese of the Child Jesus, a Carmelite nun who lived
a cloistered life in the convent of Lisieux, France.
For St. Therese ecstasy was prayer and few saints are more popular
than St. Therese. Saint Therese' biography, The Story of a
Soul, is read and loved throughout the world. Therese Martin
entered the convent at the age of 15 and died in 1897 at the age
of 24.
Life in a Carmelite convent consists primarily of prayer and
hard domestic work. Therese said she came to the Carmel Convent
"to save souls and pray for priests." Shortly before
she died, she wrote "I want to spend my heaven doing good
on earth." (from Saint of the Day edited by Leonard Foley,
OFM. St. Anthony Messenger Press, 1975)
Saint Theresa spent a great deal of her life battling illness
and tragedy. She was very ill and weak as an infant. Near the
age of seven she nearly died from a fever. Her mother died from
breast cancer when Therese was just four year old.
Therese saw herself as a child of God. She liked to keep things
simple and focused as children do. While some spiritualities stress
complicated practices and extraordinary journeys of the soul,
the life of St.Therese and her spirituality remained simple. She
referred to it as her "little way". She believed life
presents continual challenges and opportunities for grace; that
God is everywhere, in every person and every situation, especially
in the ordinary, simple details of life.
'Saint Therese of the little way' teaches us to do the ordinary
things of life with extraordinary love. A smile; a note of encouragement;
a phone call, a simple unnoticed task; opening the door for another;
saying 'thank you' for the good deed of another, are examples
of her spirituality. The smallest action done with love is more
important than great deeds accomplished for personal glory, gratification
or simply out of obedience.
To many even in the convent, St. Therese seemed an average, ordinary
person; yet, her greatness showed in her love for others in the
simplest of ways.
Even in prayer. St.Therese did not like long prayers. She disliked
the rosary She fell asleep during community prayer. As a child
she developed a habit of mental prayer where she would find a
place between her bed and the wall and think about God, life,
eternity in solitude. She prayed from her heart as a child speaks
honestly and trustingly to a parent they love. Therese was faithful
to the Gospel of Jesus and the core of his message. The power,
and simplicity of her message is why the Catholic Church declared
her a Doctor of the Church in 1997.
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