Happy Feast Day, St. Therese!

Yesterday (10/1-the day I started this post!) was St. Therese's feast day. Saint Therese of Lisieux, who lived January 2, 1873 - September 30, 1897, is one of the most famous, popular and beloved saints in all of Catholic history. Although she did not live a long life, her insight into how to make meaning from her life has been so influential that she has been proclaimed a Doctor of the Church. She is one of a handful of women to be given that distinction. Tradition has it that St. Therese promised a shower of roses after her death and that roses did indeed appear to the sisters in her community.  She is revered as one of the most powerful saints in the Catholic hierarchy.

A Letter Sister Therese carried on her heart on the day of her Carmelite profession:

O Jesus, My Divine Spouse!  May I never lose the second robe of my baptism!  Take me before I can commit the slightest voluntary fault.  May I never seek nor find anything but Yourself alone.  May creatures be nothing for me and may I be nothing for them, but may You, Jesus, be everything!  May the things of earth never be able to trouble my soul, any may nothing disturb my peace.  Jesus, I ask for You nothing but peace, and also love, infinite love without any limits other than Yourself; love which is no longer I but You, my Jesus.  Jesus, may I die a martyr for You.  Give me martyrdom of heart or of body, or rather give me both.  Give me the grace to fulfill my Vows in all their perfection, and make me understand what a real spouse of Yours should be.  Never let me be a burden to the community, let nobody be occupied with me, let me be looked upon as one to be trampled underfoot, forgotten like Your little grain of sand, Jesus.  May Your will be done in me perfectly, and may I arrive at the place You have prepared for me.

Jesus, allow me to save very many souls; let no soul be lost today; let all the souls in purgatory be saved.  Jesus, pardon me if I say anything I should not say.  I want only to give You joy and to console You.

Dear St. Therese, we joyfully claim your promise of roses from Heaven!  You are such an inspiration to us!