This little saint is a saint, but a very great one.
You agree with Pope Saint Pius X: she is “the greatest saint of modern times.” And the youngest of the thirty-three doctors of the Church, since she died at the age of twenty-four.

We continue to contemplate in Saint Thérèse the wonderful work of God’s grace.

Sanctified with few mediations. Some expressions of Saint Thérèse are extremely bold, and she is aware of this. «Perhaps you judge my expressions to be exaggerated… But I assure you that in my little soul there is no exaggeration; Everything about her is calm and serene. When writing, I turn to Jesus and speak to him; This makes it easier for me to express my thoughts” (IX,1v).

The grace of God works wonders in her in the Eucharist, the sacraments, in her family, in the faithful observance of life in Carmel, etc. But apart from these fundamental means, it uses very scarce means. She has no spiritual director, nor does she read many books, apart from the holy Carmelite Masters. She has a kind of chronic lack of appetite to read various books that the monastery library offers him.

«In the midst of this my impotence, the Holy Scripture and the Imitation of Christ They come to my aid. In them I find a solid and completely pure food. But what sustains me in prayer is above all the Gospel. In it I find everything my poor soul needs. I always discover in it new lights of hidden and mysterious meanings. I understand, and know from experience, that “the kingdom of God is within us” [Luke 17:21]. Jesus does not need books or doctors to instruct souls. He is the Doctor of doctors. Teach without noise of words. I never hear him speak, but I know he is inside me. It guides me, and inspires me at every moment what I should say or do.. Precisely at the moment when I need them [not before, he never gives him provisions], I find myself in possession of lights whose existence I would not even have suspected. And it is not precisely in prayer where such illustrations are abundantly communicated to me; Most of the time it is in the middle of the day’s activities…” (VIII,83rv).

Immensely privileged by the love of the merciful God. To her sister Paulina, the one who most influenced her Christian education as a child and adolescent, and now her Prioress of Carmel, M. Inés de Jesús, she confesses: «Oh, my dear Mother! After so many graces, will I not be able to sing with the psalmist: “The Lord is good and his mercy is eternal” [Ps 117,1]?…. I believe that if other creatures enjoyed the same graces as me, God would not be feared by anyone, but loved madly. And by loving him, not fearing him, no soul would offend him… I understand, however, that not all souls can be alike. It is necessary that there be different models, in order to especially honor each of God’s perfections. He has given me his infinite mercy, and through it I contemplate and adore the other divine perfections. Thus, they all appear to me radiant with love. Even Justice – and perhaps she more than any other – seems to me to be clothed with love” (VIII,83v).

«You know the rivers, or rather, the oceans of grace that have flooded my soul… I feel that Love penetrates me and surrounds me. It seems to me that this Merciful Love renews and purifies my soul every moment., leaving no trace of sin in it. Therefore, I cannot fear purgatory. I know that on my own I would not even deserve to enter that place of atonement, to which only holy souls have access. But I also know that The fire of Love is more sanctifying than purgatory. I know that Jesus cannot wish us useless suffering, and that I would not be inspired by the desires I feel if I were not willing to fulfill them.» (VIII,84r).

«My mother: Jesus has granted your daughter the grace of penetrating the mysterious depths of charity. If it were possible for me to express everything that is given to me to understand, you would hear a heavenly melody” (XI,18v). «Oh my Jesus! Maybe it’s an illusion, but I believe that you cannot fill a soul with more love than you have filled mine.. That is why I dare to ask you to love those you gave me as you love myself.» (XI,35r)… «I ask Jesus to draw me to the flames of his love, to unite me so closely to himself that he lives and works in me.» Divine Love will do in Therese and with her all the works it wants, “because a soul burned with love cannot remain inactive” (XI,36r). And yet…

Dark night, habitual absence of sensible consolations. «Do not think that I swim in the midst of consolations. Oh no! My consolation is not having her on earth [It is the special grace that he asked for in his first communion, making his own a phrase from the Imitation IV,16,2]».(IX,1r). The Lord “allowed my soul to be invaded by the densest darkness… And this trial was not to last only a few days or a few weeks: it will not be extinguished until the hour marked by God… and that hour has not yet struck. I would like to be able to express what I feel, but, alas, I think it is impossible. It is necessary to have traveled through this black tunnel to understand its darkness” (X,5v). «Dear mother, perhaps it will seem to you that I exaggerate the anguish of my soul. In fact, if you judge me by the feelings I express in the poems I have composed this year, I must seem like a soul full of consolations, for whom the veil of faith has almost been torn.

«And yet, It is no longer a veil, it is a wall that rises to the sky and hides the starry firmament from me.. When I sing the happiness of heaven, the eternal possession of God, I don’t experience any joy, because I simply sing what I want to believe. Sometimes, it is true, a tiny ray of sunshine comes to illuminate my darkness; then the test ceases for an instant. But immediately, the memory that this ray of light brings with it, instead of causing me joy, makes my darkness even thicker. I have never experienced how sweet and merciful the Lord is like now.. He did not send me this inner martyrdom before, but at the moment when I find myself with the strength to endure it, because if it had been before, I think I would have sunk into discouragement. At present, this torment cleanses all that there may be of natural satisfaction in my desire for heaven. It seems to me that now nothing stops me from flying, because I have no great desires, except to love until I die of love. (June 9 [1895])» (X,7v).

The Lord shows him his personal vocation: to be love in the Church. Saint Thérèse, although she was so aware of her smallness and weakness, confesses with all daring: «To be your wife, Jesus, be Carmelite, be for my union with you mother of souls, it should be enough for me… But it is not like that… I feel other vocations in me. I feel the vocation of a warrior, of a priest, of an apostle, of a doctor, of a martyr… I feel in me the vocation of a priest…Oh, Jesus, my love, my life! How to reconcile these contrasts? How to fulfill the desires of my poor soul? I have the vocation of an apostle, I would like to travel the earth, plant your glorious cross in unfaithful land. But, my Beloved, a single mission would not be enough for me. I would like to announce the Gospel at the same time in the five parts of the world… I would like to be a missionary, and not only for a few years, but to have been one since the creation of the world and to continue being one until the consummation of the world” (IX,10v).

Thus wrote in her cell the one who would be, rightly, the universal Patroness of the Catholic missions… «Jesus, Jesus! What will you answer to all my madness? Is there a soul smaller and more impotent than mine? And yet it was precisely this weakness of mine that always moved you, O Lord, to fulfill my small desires, and that moves you today to fulfill other desires of mine greater than the universe” (IX,3r). Once again, the Lord responds to the desires that he had instilled in her, showing her the Pauline hymn of charity, 1 Corinthians, 12-13:

«At last I had found rest for my soul… Considering the mystical body of the Church, I had not recognized myself in any of the members described by Saint Paul; or rather, I thought I recognized myself in everyone. Charity gave me the key to my vocation…I understood that the Church had a heart, and that heart was burning with love… I understood that love contains all vocations, that love is everything, that love encompasses all times and all places, in a word, that love is eternal. Then, in a transport of delirious joy, I exclaimed: Oh, Jesus, my love! I have finally found my calling; my vocation is love. Yes, I have found my place in the Church. My God, you taught me that yourself. In the heart of the Church, my Mother, I will be love. “This is how I will be everything, this is how my dream will be realized” (IX,3v).

A humble, holy and sanctifying path for the little ones. and for everyone. “I have always wanted to be a saint,” Saint Thérèse confesses, at the same time that she declares her great littleness and weakness. And being aware of his minimal personal condition, “instead of discouraging me, whenever I have thought about it, has led me to this reflection: God cannot inspire unrealizable desires. Therefore, despite my smallness, I can aspire to holiness. Growing up is impossible for me. I have to tolerate myself as I am, with all my imperfections. But I want to find a way to go to heaven by a very straight, very short path; on a completely new path (I have loved the beauty of the sky for a very young girl, very young, very courteous, a very new girl.). “We are in the century of inventions.” Now instead of trying to climb stairs, just take the elevator. «I would also like to find an elevator to get to Jesus, because I am too small to climb the rough staircase of perfection. Then I searched in the Sacred Books… and found these words: “let anyone who is little come to me” [Prov 9,4]» (X,2v).

«Mother, I am too small to feel vanity, I am also too small to make nice phrases in order to make you believe that I have great humility. I prefer to recognize in all simplicity that The Almighty has worked great things in the soul of the daughter of his divine Mother; and the greatest of all is precisely to have made him aware of his smallness and his impotence.» (X,4r).

Saint Thérèse speaks of her invention with irony, as a joke, because in reality she in no way understands it as a new path. Since she was a child, before her first communion, she has been taught “the means to become holy by faithfulness in the smallest things» (IV,33r). And she knows well that all the saints have reached holiness by experiencing and discovering the infinite divine Mercy in the unfathomable misery of the human being. All the saints are recognized as a child illiterate, who can only write something valid if his hand is led by the hand of God. But there have been some who didn’t get the joke. A certain French author, for example, wrote a book on the spirituality of Saint Thérèse, giving it a brand new subtitle un chemin entièrement nouveau, discovered, by the way, in France. In reality, Thérèse, in the most precise etymological sense, invent = finds, in the middle of a jungle of voluntarist Catholics, Pelagians or semi-Pelagians, and Lutherans, Quietists, Jansenists, etc., the true path of the Catholic faith. There is no other. There is no other path of perfection in the Church than that of spiritual childhood.. “Unless you become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven” (Mt 18:3). It’s clear.

Love of neighbor. Saint Thérèse asked herself, How to love one’s neighbor as Jesus loved him? It seems an impossible mandate to fulfill. The Council of Trent affirms that “God does not command impossible things,” because He makes their fulfillment possible by His grace (Denz 1536). And this is how our holy and young Doctor answers your question. The commandments are thanks external, by which Christ reveals to us that which, assisting us with his grace internalHe wants to work in us and with us.

«Ah Lord! I know that you never send anything impossible. You know my weakness better than I do. You know that I could never love my Sisters as you love them, If you yourself, oh Jesus, do not also love them in me. And because you wanted to grant me this grace, that is why you imposed a new commandment. Oh, with what love I accept it, because it gives me the certainty that It is your will to love in me all those you command me to love! Yes, I experience it: as many times as I am charitable, it is Jesus who works in me.. And the more united I am to him, the more I love my Sisters” (X,12r).

«I have noticed, and it is very natural, that the holiest Sisters are the most loved… On the contrary, imperfect souls are not sought… their company is avoided… Well, see the conclusion I draw from all this: At recreation, in free time, I must seek the company of the Sisters who are less pleasant to me and fulfill the office of the good Samaritan with those wounded souls. A word, a kind smile, is sometimes enough to cheer up a sad soul… I want to be kind to everyone – particularly to the Sisters who are less pleasant to me – to please Jesus and follow the advice that he gives us in the Gospel [Lk 14:12-14; Mt 6,4]» (XI,27v-28r).

We will continue, God willing.

Author: Pbro. José María Iraburu