A SPECAL KIND OF FLOWER

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Therese of Lisieux 1873-1897

This past Thursday, October 1, was the feast of St. Therese of the Child Jesus, the "Little Flower." I want to share a couple of personal thoughts about this popular saint but often misunderstood saint.

When I was studying in Paris I joined an excursion to Normandy, which included a visit to the house in

Therese's home

Alencon where Therese of Lisieux was born and raised. I remember that the rooms were tiny by American standards, and were furnished in the style of the time. Lots of decorations and furnishings, for example. I don't remember being particularly overpowered by the experience at the time, but years later the memories of that visit would prove helpful.

Then in 1994, while traveling on a sabbatical year, I had occasion to visit the town of Lisieux and the basilica dedicated to Therese. I remember being overwhelmed by the  immense church that seemed to be glowing with the love and devotion of the faithful who still venerate her as one of the most popular of all modern saints.The second part of the visit to Lisieux was to the carmel or convent where Therese lived and died and the chapel where the saint would have spent so much time praying. 

Chapel at Lisieux

Once again I remember noting that the place, like the house in Alencon, reflected the style and the spirituality of the time. The exterior of the chapel was typical of the era, reflecting a certain ornate fussiness and the spiritual stodginess of the day. This time, however, I could sense Therese's presence, and prayed to her there.

These two places -- the house in Alencon and the Carmel in Lisieux -- were the only places that Therese ever lived. They shaped her way of being and of seeing.

A couple of years ago in the monastery here we read a book at supper about Therese. That was when my picture of "The Little Flower" began to mature. The book, a modern biography of the saint, helped me to filter out all of the incidentals that used to distract me -- especially the emotional and sometimes cloying spirituality, and the ways of expressing one's way of relating to God.  My brief visits to Alencon and Lisieux helped me with the job of filtering out the distracting elements that reflected Therese's time and culture so as to get to the basic message of her extraordinary life.

And according to the book, it was indeed an extra ordinary life, far from soft and sentimental and "nice." In the biography I met a young woman of tremendous strength, a fiercely faithful follower of the suffering Christ. She died at the age of twenty-four after a long period of suffering with tuberculosis.

Her superior asked her to write her autobiography, which we now know as "The Story of a Soul." In it we see a courageous and determined woman being tried in the crucible of suffering in her community life and in her prayer life, but whose life was uncompromisingly filled with love. One of the reasons that she became so beloved so quickly was her teaching ordinary Christians the secret of her "little way" of holiness: to do little things out of love, to do everything, even the smallest acts, for God. This was not towering mysticism or heroic martyrdom, but something within the reach of every Christian, even the "littlest."

In these days, when there seems to be so much suffering in the world and in our own lives, we can pray to Therese for a share of her courage, of her absolute trust in God and in the redemptive value of suffering. By the way, you might enjoy watching this10-minute video on the life of Therese by Fr. James Martin.

Saint Therese of Lisieux, pray for us!

Basilica in Lisieux