Thérèse of Lisieux: Difference between revisions
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She was born Marie-Françoise-Thérèse Martin, January 2, 1873, in Alençon, France. At the age of fourteen, Thérèse had such an ardent desire to enter the convent that, on a pilgrimage to Rome with her father, she boldly asked Pope Leo XIII during a public audience for his permission to enter the Carmel at age fifteen. He responded that she would enter “if God wills it.” The next year her request was granted by the bishop of Bayeux, and on April 9, 1888, she entered the Carmel at Lisieux where she took the name Sister Thérèse of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face. | She was born Marie-Françoise-Thérèse Martin, January 2, 1873, in Alençon, France. At the age of fourteen, Thérèse had such an ardent desire to enter the convent that, on a pilgrimage to Rome with her father, she boldly asked Pope Leo XIII during a public audience for his permission to enter the Carmel at age fifteen. He responded that she would enter “if God wills it.” The next year her request was granted by the bishop of Bayeux, and on April 9, 1888, she entered the Carmel at Lisieux where she took the name Sister Thérèse of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face. | ||
She became acting mistress of novices in 1893 and considered it her mission to teach souls her “little way.” Her path was a path of love, for, she wrote, “it is only love which makes us acceptable to God.” Her favorite works were those of | She became acting mistress of novices in 1893 and considered it her mission to teach souls her “little way.” Her path was a path of love, for, she wrote, “it is only love which makes us acceptable to God.” Her favorite works were those of [[Saint John of the Cross]], the Gospels and ''The Imitation of Christ''. She desired only “to make God loved as I love Him, to teach souls my little way”—the way of “spiritual childhood, the way of trust and absolute surrender.” | ||
With the fire of constancy and the zeal of the apostles, she determined to exemplify the path of simplicity midst a world of sophistication. In April of 1896, Thérèse was found worthy to be accorded the initiation of the [[crucifixion]]. She experienced a hemorrhage of the lungs and for a year suffered the agony of the cross that [[Jesus]] took upon himself as an atonement for mankind’s consciousness of sin. Thérèse bore her burden with the same devotion and trust in God that had marked her mission from the very beginning. In July of 1897, she was sent to the infirmary already wrapped in the ecstasy of the fires of [[resurrection]]. She repeated the words day and night, “My God, I love thee.” And on September 30, 1897, at the age of twenty-four, she returned to the heart of her greatest love. | With the fire of constancy and the zeal of the apostles, she determined to exemplify the path of simplicity midst a world of sophistication. In April of 1896, Thérèse was found worthy to be accorded the initiation of the [[crucifixion]]. She experienced a hemorrhage of the lungs and for a year suffered the agony of the cross that [[Jesus]] took upon himself as an atonement for mankind’s consciousness of sin. Thérèse bore her burden with the same devotion and trust in God that had marked her mission from the very beginning. In July of 1897, she was sent to the infirmary already wrapped in the ecstasy of the fires of [[resurrection]]. She repeated the words day and night, “My God, I love thee.” And on September 30, 1897, at the age of twenty-four, she returned to the heart of her greatest love. | ||