SAINT THERESA=THE LITTLE FLOWER

 

SAINT THERESA=THE LITTLE FLOWER

 

Saint Therese’ of Lisieux=

Was a FANCISCAN CARMELITE

Who was one=of the MOST FAMOUS

Modern day Saints

 

Right before her death

In 1897=she said

“I feel that MY MISSION-

Is about to begin”

She died at the age of 24

 

She also said

“MY mission is of making people

LOVE GOD=as I love him=

Of teaching them=MY LITTLE WAY”

 

I consider her=the Saint

Of ORDINARY THINGS

And I try to love God

As she loved=THROUGH THE ORDINARY

 

My mom and dad named

My sister Terri=Theresa

After her

 

She wrote a book

About her little way=that was about her family

And her convent experiences

 

She was CANONIZED=ONLY 28 years

After her death

By Pope Pius XI

 

She loved=

Despite her faults and weaknesses

And RELIED ON

The total goodness of God

That is HER MESSAGE=to us

 

She had a supernatural trust

In God=which made her LIFE

And teachings=so attractive

 

She LIVED with joy=SPIRIT=courage

SIMPLICITY in prayer=and was indifferent

To everything=that was against the SCRIPTURES

Of our Lord

 

She once said

“Sanctity=does NOT CONSIST

In this or that practice

 

But in a disposition OF HEART

Which makes us humble=and SMALL

In the arms of God”

 

She RELIED on the SCRIPTURES

And her family=and through DIVINE HELP

To bring her=close to God

 

Her parents had NINE CHILDREN=

Four who died in infancy

And all the others=were girls

Who became nuns=four Carmelites

 

Therese’ was the youngest=and

She LOST her mother

When she was four=and at ten developed

A strange nervous illness

 

She was ATTRACTED

By the foreign missions=

But chose a CONTEMPLATIVE LIFE

And prayed=particularly for priests

 

At age 15=she took her case

Personally to Pope Leo XIII=to become a nun

And was finally ACCEPTED IN

Becoming a nun=the next nine years=she spent

 

HER LIFE=in ordinary ways=

DOING household and sacristy work

And in the TRAINING OF NOVICES

 

She once WROTE=

“You want a means for

ACHIEVING PERFECTION

I know of ONLY ONE=LOVE”

 

We should all STRIVE

To live like Saint Therese’

The LITTLE FLOWER=and live

Her little way OF LOVE=through the ORDINARY

 

She died in 1897=and today

She is RECOGNIZED=as the

PATRON SAINT=of foreign missions

 

Let us all live=like the LITTLE FLOWER

And live LOVE=IN THE ORDINARY

Her feast day is OCTOBER 1st

In Jesus’ name

 

Robert P. Wallman

9-30-2022