Saintly Desire

Have you ever taken the time to study a rose?  In just this one little flower we can see the love that Our Lord has for us!  Most people see a rose and they admire it for a second and then move on with their day.  The saints however, could glance at a rose and be reminded of God's goodness and his beautiful plan for each one of us!  St. Francis de Sales, when observing the beauty of the rose, covered his ears and said "Stop Shouting!"  He could see the hand of God in this rose.

Beyond the fragrance, color and unique blossom- the rose has the capacity to bring joy and a tender peace to a person.  And the funny thing is that God gave us a glimpse at our own beauty when he gave us the rose.  You see, we are God's flowers!  When Our Lord gazes upon us, he sees us like this beautiful rose- but even more of a unique flower than we could ever imagine.  We were created to be a sweet smelling rose in the garden of heaven- we were created to become great saints! Unfortunately, we often times don't realize our own beauty and what we were truly made to be!

With the Feast of St. Therese fast approaching on October 1st, I thought we could all rekindle our own desires to follow after this great saint and in becoming great saints ourselves.  To be a great saint does not mean that we have to be a recognized saint however.  I want to share with you a thought on this by the late Mother Angelica who always had something to say on most every topic!  In Mother's words:  "Canonization is nothing more than the Church saying publicly that they know for sure that this person is in heaven.  I mean, there are millions of people in heaven who are not canonized.  That's why we have All Saints' Day...  I always thought, personally, that the saints who are canonized may be the very least in the kingdom.  We don't know that, but it's a good guess.  Some little old washerwoman who had tremendous love for God may be greater than St. Augustine up there.  I think we're going to have lots of little surprises when we arrive." 

What great news this is for you and I!  We don't have to worry about accomplishing great things, but strive to do all of our little things with love.  Mother Angelica had an idea on "Being a Saint."  She says, "Being a saint is being who you were meant to be:  a frail human being keeping the Commandments, especially the new one.  It's loving when you are not loved in return.  It's being patient when you want to hit somebody on the head.  It's loving your family as they are, not as you want them to be.  It's not letting the disappointments in your life crush you.  The challenge of Christianity is to have fortitude in times of suffering; to stand for the truth, even if you stand alone; to be undeterred by obstacles; to know that there is a big world out there and you are a weak, little person.  But God is looking for weakness so His power can be manifest-  He needs you!"

~Taken from Mother Angelica's Little Book of Life Lessons and Everyday Spirituality, Chapter 11

One really great way to learn how to be a great saint is to read the lives of the saints ourselves.  There is so much to gain from studying the struggles, insights, and experiences of those saints that have gone before us!  Celine spoke about doing this herself- "In my childhood I often read the lives of the saints, and these stories used to inspire me and inflame my heart.  They intensified my yearning after the good and the beautiful, and they guided and enraptured the years of my youth..." 

Celine's ending thoughts are perfect for us to close on and ponder as well- "And if our admiration for the saints be genuine, we must be ready to imitate these heroes who have inspired it.  At Carmel, however, I found in our dear little St. Therese all that I had been searching for and, through her, all these desires were realized."

~Taken from My Sister Saint Therese, page XXI

Before Mother Angelica became a nun, she was actually tormented by a very serious stomach illness and she implored the help of St. Therese.  After praying the novena prayer below, Rita Rizzo (later known as Mother Angelica) was completely healed from her infirmary!

Novena Prayer to the Little Flower

O beautiful Rose of Carmel, St. Therese of the Infant Jesus, deign according to your promise to descend from heaven to visit those who implore you.  Pour down on us in profusion those celestial graces that are symbolized by the shower of roses that Jesus your Spouse has put at your disposition.  Your power is great with His heart.  He can only listen and hear your prayer.  I have then recourse to you, O St. Therese of the Infant Jesus, assist me in this circumstance.  Speak for me to Jesus and to Mary and obtain for me to live a holy life and die a happy death.  Amen.  St. Therese hear my prayer. Show your power with God and cure me if it be for the honor of God, and the good of my soul.  Amen.

Roses for "Maman"

With the month of September being the month to honor the Blessed Mother I thought maybe we could ponder a little bit of St. Therese's devotion to the Blessed Mother.  With Our Lady's three big feasts in this month- Sept. 8th The Nativity of Mary, Sept. 12th The Holy Name of Mary and Sept. 15th, Our Lady of Sorrows- this is a great time to reflect on the tremendous gift she truly is for all of us!

When St. Therese was young and was making her First Holy communion- she made a promise to say the Memorare prayer every day.  She confidently recited this prayer, recommending all of her petitions and particular needs to the intersession of Mary.  I love how the prayer begins with the word "Remember!"  St. Therese was imploring Mary to remember her promise to come to our aid in all things- and that never was she know to fail in her help!

As the Saint grew older, she began to pray the daily rosary (even before entering Carmel).  She might have not known at the time, but this practice of praying the daily rosary was preparing her for her life at the Carmel.  With each Hail Mary we say, we present the Blessed Mother with a rose.  By the end of the rosary, we give Mary a beautiful bouquet of 53 roses (from the writings of St. Louis Marie De Montford).  I wonder if St. Therese knew of what a beautiful gift she was making for her "Maman" as  she would tenderly call Mary in French- meaning mom or mommy.  This saint who loved roses and even sends her devoted petitioners roses as a sign of answered prayers- began her early years of her life giving beautiful bouquets of roses to her Maman with her daily rosary.

St. Therese also attributes her miraculous healing as a child to the graces of Our Lady of the Smile.  When she was just a child again, she was taken ill by something that her doctor at the time had never seen before.  She was struck with fevers and hallucinations for an extended period of time.  During her illness, her whole family prayed endlessly for her healing and her father even paid for special masses to be said for little Therese at the Shrine of Our Lady of Victories.  Soon afterwards, Therese's gaze fell upon a statue of the Blessed Mother in her room and little Therese saw Mary smile tenderly at her.  Miraculously, Therese was healed from that moment on and she continued to grow stronger and stronger each day, never to experience any more of her prior symptoms of the sickness.  St. Therese lived her entire life with gratitude and a particular love for the Blessed Mother, knowing that Mary took  pity upon her in her own grave sufferings.

Later, while in Carmel, the Saint would consecrate all her handiwork to the Blessed Mother.  St. Therese would continuously recite a Hail Mary every time she began her work.  She had confidence that Mary could use all her labors for the graces of a much needed soul.

At the very end of St. Therese's life, she wrote a beautiful poem about her Maman titled "Why I love Thee, Mary."  This would be the Saint's masterpiece of all her poems, of which there were many!  She wrote this poem just 4 months before her death and put all of her heart and soul into it.  This would be the very last poem she would compose before her death.

The conclusion of this beautiful poem is:

Soon I'll hear that sweet harmony.
Soon I'll go to beautiful Heaven to see you.
You who came to smile at me in the morning of my life,
Come smile at me again...Mother...It's evening now!...
I no longer fear the splendor of your supreme glory.
With you I've suffered and now I want
To sing on your lap, Mary, why I love you,
And to go on saying that I am your child!...

If you would like to read the entire poem "Why I love Thee, Mary" check it out at:

http://www.therese-de-lisieux.catholique.fr/Why-I-love-you-o-Mary.html

~Taken from My Sister Saint Therese- pages 122-123

Grace Giving Cross

We just celebrated the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross on Sept. 14th and this has gotten me thinking about how we carry our own crosses.  Often times I will talk with people who are going through a hard time in any way and I want to tell them to unite your sufferings to those of Jesus.  This is not a subject that is talked about all that often but truly has a tremendous amount of power!  The evil one is afraid of holy suffering because of how much good it can do.

It is true that the sufferings that Jesus endured during His passion and death were completely adequate to save all souls and ransom us back from what should have been eternal death.  His suffering was perfect in every way.  Where the problem comes in is at our end.  Unfortunately, not everyone is willing to be saved at every moment of their lives because they can be very much caught up in the pull of the world.

This is where our job comes in.  You may say what is the point of our suffering if Jesus' suffering and death were complete?  But our job to offer our sufferings up is a little different.  I'm going to quote the writings of a woman who has taken the name "Anne, the lay apostle."  She has been approved by her Bishop and she writes down her conversations that she has with Jesus.  She has ten volumes out but this was taken from her first volume.  This is her describing our work in offering our sufferings:

"Our suffering is not ransoming souls.  That work has been completed.  But our suffering is buying precious graces, graces that can be used for suffering souls, sinning souls, hardened souls, dying souls, souls in error, in ignorance, souls being victimized, abused.  Souls on the brink of hell can be brought back with our sufferings.  We're trading them in for graces.  The Blessed Mother, the Mediatrix of All Grace, takes our little offerings and uses them to buy mercy for souls, despite the horrendous behavior of us in this modern world." (pages 39-40 of Volume I)

Does that make a little more sense now?  We are not ransoming souls but buying souls the grace to have a conversion of heart.  When we offer up our sufferings to Jesus, Mary knows which souls are in most need of grace and she knows our hearts so well and the people in our own lives.  We never need worry about where our sufferings are being used because she takes everything into consideration and uses it where it is needed most.

It is a truly powerful tool to use to help save souls and we can all do a tremendous amount of good just by picking up our daily little sacrifices without complaint and offering all things up to Jesus and uniting it to His cross.  As simple of a prayer as:  "I offer this suffering up to you Jesus as an act of love."  Also, at the beginning of each day you can say a "daily offering" prayer and this will tell Jesus that you offer up all of the events of the day- both good and bad- to be used in whatever way needed.

Our beloved St. Therese used to offer all things up to her precious spouse and this was very important in her Little Way.  Even as a child, St. Therese would count her sufferings of the day on a little string of beads called sacrifice beads.  She knew the value of suffering from a very young age.  As she grew older, she took up a special desire to help missionaries all around the world in their hard work of spreading the gospel to the ends of the earth.  This is why St. Therese is the patron saint of missionaries but never left the soil of the convent where she lived.  Her little daily offerings of sacrifice were tremendously powerful and she did not know how far they helped souls until she reached her heavenly home.
                             
If this is something new to you, just try it.  You will not feel any different for doing it, but you will be making the difference for some soul that could really use the graces for their eternal salvation!

Check out the book at Amazon here:  https://www.amazon.com/One-Direction-Apostle-Thoughts-Spirituality/dp/1933684666/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&qid=1473762898&sr=8-9&keywords=anne+a+lay+apostle

Little Watch Dog

Do you ever have one of those days where you just can't seem to help getting discouraged because everything that you mean well just doesn't turn out the way you planned??  Celine once went to St. Therese lamenting that she was further away from her goal than she ever thought she was before.  She told the Saint, "It seems that the more I desire to advance in virtue, the worse I become.  I long to become sweet and patient, humble and charitable, but I do not think I shall ever succeed."

How often do we try so hard to be patient and kind but then speak and do the very things that we promised ourselves that we would not do?  Take heart, Jesus knows our struggle!  In Matthew 26:41 Jesus told his disciples  "The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak."  The Lord knows our hearts and he knows the interior struggles that we have between our spirit and our flesh.

Celine found a quote from St. Gertrude that brought her much comfort in the matter.  When St. Gertrude was having the same feelings of discouragement, Our Lord told her "In all things and above all things, hold on to your good will, for this disposition alone will impart to your soul the splendor and the special merit of all the virtues....  Furthermore, it might sometimes happen that one soul would derive more profit from such a desire than some other soul might gain from the performance of good works."

How beautiful it is that God takes into consideration our hearts and our good will of our every action.  Our Lord, who lives inside of our very selves, hears all of our desires and expressions of charity and love no matter how they may end up revealing themselves in our actions and efforts to show these desires.

When Celine told St. Therese about her findings, the Saint told her a story to confirm the truth of the importance of good will.

In the words of St. Therese, "Do you know that the Life of Father Surin contains a striking passage on this subject of good will?  He had just performed an exorcism and the demons confessed;  'We are victorious on all sides, yet, when it comes to this little watch-dog whose name is good will, we must always yield.'  And so, even if you are without virtue, you at least have 'a little watch-dog' who will save you from all danger.  Be consoled, for it will eventually bring you to heaven!  Ah!  Where is the soul who does not desire with all her heart to possess the virtues?  This longing is common to us all.  On the other hand, how very few there are in the spiritual life who are willing to fail, to stumble and fall, to be happy when others find them prostrate on the ground!"

How happy we must make Our Lord every time we have good intentions- even when it looks like we have failed from everyone looking from the outside!  Take heart and keep persevering in your desire to be a saint!

~Taken from My Sister Saint Therese, pages 22-24

Run with Sacrifice

Up to this point, we have aspired to live the Little Way with complete trust and blind faith in God but St. Therese did not stop there!  Not only did she rely on her total confidence in God but she fully cooperated with her own acts of generous virtue as much as she possibly could.  The Saint would often remind her novices of the importance of personal co-operation in the matter of our sanctification and modeled it beautifully for them!

St. Therese would explain that abandonment and confidence in God are only nourished by sacrifice.  So, the Saint is telling us that we have to do work- often times hard work- to help us along in our sanctification.  Having complete trust in Our Lord is extremely important but we need to put forth our own effort of sacrificial love in order to dive even deeper into our trust in God.

Here are some of St. Therese's own words on the matter:  "We must do all in our power to give without counting and to deny ourselves constantly.  We must prove our love by all the good works of which we are capable and which, after all, are of little worth....  Even when we have done all that we think should be done, we are to consider ourselves 'unprofitable servants' (Luke 17,10) hoping at the same time that God will, through His grace, give us all that we desire."

I love the beautiful way that the Saint has no doubt that Our Lord will fulfill her every desire.  In our own lives God will often times exceed our every expectation, as we place our trust in Him and do our own little works of sacrifice with love.

St. Therese concludes by saying:  "This is what all little souls who run in the way of spiritual childhood should hope for."  "Remember, I say run, not rest."


~Taken from "My Sister Saint Therese" pages 56-57

Happy in Humility

There is a book that I truly love that was written by the childhood sister of St. Therese, Celine Martin or later known as Sister Genevieve of the Holy Face.  The book is titled simply "My Sister Saint Therese."  As I have told you before, St. Therese was put in charge of the novices at her convent as novice mistress.  She spent much time forming the souls of the young sisters that would join their community.  As it worked out, Celine Martin, even though older than her sister by four years, entered Carmel after St. Therese so that she could care for her father in his declining health.  When Celine entered Carmel, she was being guided by her younger sister in the religious life.  Celine did not dislike this but rather thrived at being back with her soul-sister and tentatively listened to all that St. Therese advised.  Many years later, after St. Therese died, Celine began to write down all of the beautiful little teachings that her sister had shown her.  This really can be such a beautiful guide for all of us!

These two sisters were an inspiring gesture of the love that God can put into our hearts for one another.  Growing up they were partners in about everything they did- even the mischief they found themselves in.  These women are not what you may think of when you picture a cloistered nun living behind the walls of Carmel.  They were really quite heroic in their efforts to conform their wills to God's will and the life of sacrifice that they lived.  Their lives were filled with much hard work and discipline but yet they were truly happy and filled with peace as they offered all their prayers, works, joys and sufferings to Our Lord.  They did not loose their joy but rather through the perspective of their faith they really had a contagious joyful spirit about them.

When St. Therese would have her novices come to her with any type of discouragement she would quickly remind her sisters to stay close to humility so their joy would not be taken from them.  Once, Celine went to the Saint in a state of sadness and discouragement due what she thought was because of physical fatigue.  The Saint was quick to tell her that she should never blame her lack of virtue on anything physical or any other trial but rather make it an opportunity for humility and "take your place in the rank and file of little souls since you are so weak in the practice of virtue."  She went on to tell her that her soul was in a greater need for humility than practicing heroic virtue.  If all our actions were done perfectly then we would become prideful but when we recognize our weakness then we can recall these times of defeat and it will remind us of our littleness.  The Saint also told her that when our actions go unnoticed and unappreciated- it is actually a good thing for it keeps us humble!  We many never think we have the virtues we admire in other people and this will keep us close to humility.

After their talk, Celine asked her sister how she could "entertain such noble sentiments" and St. Therese replied, "My little method consists in this- rejoicing always and continually smiling- in times of defeat as well as victory."

~Taken from My Sister Saint Therese, pages 24-25