Monday, October 3, 2011

Hail, saintly "Little Flower" and Doctor of the Church



Saturday was the feast of St. Therese of Lisieux (1873 AD - 1897 AD).  St. Therese died of tuberculosis at the age of 24,  in the Carmelite convent she'd entered at the age of 15.  After such a short and hidden life, Therese might have been expected to pass quickly into obscurity.  However, the year after St. Therese's death her journal, which she'd kept in obedience to her superiors,  was published under the title "The Story of a Soul."  The work became hugely popular, and produced a great impact upon the Church and throughout the world.  St. Therese was beatified in 1923 and canonized in 1925 by Pope Pius XI, named co-patron of the missions (with St. Francis Xavier) in 1927, co-patron of France (with St. Joan of Arc) in 1944, and Doctor of the Church (the youngest person ever so honored) by Pope John Paul II in 1997.

The list of St. Therese's devotees is very long and varied.  It includes not only Mother Teresa of Calcutta, who chose Therese as her namesake because "she did ordinary things with extraordinary love," but also Edith Piaf, who believed herself cured of blindness through the intercession of St. Therese after a pilgrimage to Lisieux.  Indeed, the basilica of St. Therese in Lisieux is second in popularity only to Lourdes as a place of pilgrimage in France.

St. Therese teaches that the accomplishment of great deeds is not necessary to achieve sanctity.  What is required instead is to follow her "little way" of great love.  St. Therese writes:

"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."

St. Therese of Lisieux, pray for us.



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