Thoughts Of Saint ThéRèSe Of The Child Jesus - free ebook by de Lisieux Thérèse

OF SAINT THÉRÈSE OF THE CHILD JESUS

Nihil Obstat REMIGIUS LAFORT, S. T. D. Censor Imprimatur A cross JOHN CARDINAL FARLEY Archbishop of New York NEW YORK, October 22, 1915 A picture of Saint Thérèse The Little Flower of Jesus...

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OF SAINT THÉRÈSE OF THE CHILD JESUS

TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH "PENSÉES" BY AN IRISH CARMELITE NEW YORK · PUBLISHED BY P. J. KENEDY &amp; SONS · 1915 COPYRIGHT, 1915 BY P. J. KENEDY &amp; SONS THE·PLIMPTON·PRESS NORWOOD·MASS·U·S·A TO PETITE THÉRÈSE AND MÈRE AGNÈS DE JÉSUS A LITTLE TRIBUTE OF REVERENT AND LOVING GRATITUDE FROM CARMEL OF KILMACUD June 9, 1914 LOVE OF GOD LOVE OF OUR NEIGHBOUR FAITH HOPE HUMILITY DETACHMENT MORTIFICATION OBEDIENCE POVERTY CONFIDENCE SELF-ABANDONMENT GRATITUDE ZEAL SIMPLICITY PRAYER HOLY COMMU

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OF SAINT THÉRÈSE OF THE CHILD JESUS

A design...

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LOVE OF GOD

J ESUS! . . . I would so love Him! Love Him as never yet He has been loved. . . IV LETTER TO MÈRE AGNÈS DE JÉSUS ( Her sister Pauline .) T HE science of love! Sweet is the echo of that word to the ear of my soul. I desire no other science. Having given all my substance for it , like the spouse in the Canticles, I think that I have given nothing. [1] HISTOIRE D'UNE AME, CH. VIII [1] Cant., viii, 7. W ITHOUT love, deeds, even the most brilliant, count as nothing. HIST. D'UNE AME, CH. VIII O NE eve

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LOVE OF OUR NEIGHBOUR

T HERE are moments when we are so wretched within, that we must needs hurry away from ourselves. The good God does not oblige us to remain at such times in our own company; indeed He often permits that it should be displeasing to us just that we may leave it. And I see no other means of going out of ourselves than by going to visit Jesus and Mary, that is, hastening to deeds of charity. COUNSELS AND REMINISCENCES I APPLIED myself above all to practise quite hidden little acts of virtue; thus I l

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FAITH

W HAT helps me most when I picture to myself the interior of the Holy Family is to think of a quite ordinary life. The Blessed Virgin and St. Joseph knew well that Jesus was God, but wondrous things were nevertheless hidden from them and like us they lived by faith. Have you not noticed what is said in the sacred text: " And they understood not the word that He spoke unto them ," [1] and these other words no less mysterious: " His father and mother were wondering at those things which were spoke

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HOPE

T IME is but a shadow, a dream; already God sees us in glory and takes joy in our eternal beatitude. How this thought helps my soul! I understand then why He lets us suffer . . . VIII LETTER TO HER SISTER CÉLINE A DAY . . . an hour . . . and we shall have reached the port! My God, what shall we see then? What is that life which will never have an end? . . . Jesus will be the soul of our soul. Unfathomable mystery! "Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man w

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HUMILITY

I T appears to me that humility is the truth. I know not whether I am humble, but I know that I see the truth in all things. COUNSELS AND REMINISCENCES I HAVE understood what true glory is. He whose Kingdom is not of this world [1] showed me that the only enviable royalty consists in loving to be unknown and esteemed as nothing , [2] and finding our joy in contempt of self. I wished that like the Face of Jesus, mine might be as it were hidden and despised . [3] That none upon earth might esteem

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DETACHMENT

I F the impossible were possible and that God Himself did not see my good actions, I would not grieve about it. I love Him so much that I should like to be able to give Him pleasure without His knowing that it was I . . . Knowing and seeing it, He is, in a way, bound to repay me . . . I would not give Him the trouble. COUNSELS AND REMINISCENCES T HE glory of Jesus . . . that is my whole ambition; my own I abandon to Him; and if He seem to forget me, well, He is at liberty to do so since I am min

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MORTIFICATION

F AR from being like to those great souls who from their childhood practise all sorts of macerations, I made my mortification consist solely in the breaking of my will, restraining a hasty word, rendering little services to those around me without making anything of it, and a thousand other things of this kind. HIST. D'UNE AME, CH. VI I had no taste for games, I should have liked to spend my life reading, but I was only to take a very limited time for this chosen recreation, and this was the gro

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OBEDIENCE

A S I had self-love as well as the love of what is right it was sufficient but once to tell me: "Such a thing should not be done," and I would have no desire to do it again. HIST. D'UNE AME, CH. I F ROM what anxieties do we not free ourselves by making the vow of obedience! How happy are single-minded religious. Their sole guide being the will of Superiors, they are ever secure of going the right way without fear of error, should it even appear to them certain that the Superiors are mistaken. Bu

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POVERTY

A FTER I was clothed with the holy Habit abundant lights on religious perfection were granted me, chiefly regarding the vow of poverty. During my postulate I was pleased to have for my use, anything that was nice, and to find at my hand whatever was necessary. Jesus bore with this patiently, for He does not like to disclose all to the soul at once. He ordinarily gives His light little by little. After Compline one evening I looked in vain for our lantern on the shelves appointed for them; it was

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SAINT THÉRÈSE OF THE CHILD JESUS

The Little Flower of Jesus! O NE evening as they were telling her something which had been said at recreation, touching the responsibility of those who have the charge of souls, Sœur Thérèse de l'Enfant Jésus spoke these beautiful words: "'To him that is little, mercy is granted.' [11] It is possible to remain little , even in the most important offices; and is it not written that at the end the Lord will arise to save the meek and humble of the earth? [12] It says not to judge but to save ." HI

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SELF-ABANDONMENT

I CANNOT think without rapture of the dear little Saint Cæcilia: what a model! In the midst of a pagan world, in the heart of danger, at the moment when about to be united to a mortal who sought none but earthly love, it seems to me that she ought to have trembled and wept. But no, while her bridal was celebrated with joyful melody Cæcilia was singing in her heart . [1] What abandonment to God! Without doubt she listened to other melodies than those of earth; her Divine Spouse, He too, was singi

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GRATITUDE

O H, how happy God makes me! How easy and how sweet it is to serve Him upon earth. HIST. D'UNE AME, CH. X S EEING several of my companions form special attachments to some one or other of our mistresses, I wished to follow their example but could not succeed therein. O happy inability! from how great evils has it saved me . . . How I thank God for having made me find only bitterness in the friendships of earth. With a heart such as mine I should have been captured and had my wings clipped; then

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ZEAL

T HE cry of Jesus agonizing, "I thirst!" re-echoed continually in my heart, firing it with an ardent zeal till then unknown to me. I longed to give to my Beloved to drink: I too felt myself consumed with the thirst for souls, and at all cost I would wrest sinners from the eternal flames. HIST. D'UNE AME, CH. V T HE Precious Blood of Jesus I poured on souls, to Him I offered these same souls renewed by the Dew of Calvary; thus I thought to quench His Thirst; but the more I gave Him to drink, the

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SIMPLICITY

W HEN I read certain treatises where perfection is set forth as encompassed by a thousand obstacles, my poor little head grows weary very quickly. I close the learned book which puzzles my brains and dries up my heart, and in its stead I open the Holy Scriptures. Then all appears clear, luminous . . . one single word discloses to my soul infinite horizons, perfection seems easy. I see that it is sufficient to recognize our nothingness, and to leave oneself like a child, in the arms of the good G

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PRAYER

A S I grew older I loved the good God more and more, and very frequently did I offer Him my heart, using the words my mother had taught me. I strove in all my actions to please Jesus and was most watchful never to offend Him. HIST. D'UNE AME, CH. II M Y whole strength lies in prayer and sacrifice, these are my invincible arms; they can move hearts far better than words, I know it by experience. HIST. D'UNE AME, CH. X G REAT is the power of prayer—a queen, as one might say, having free access alw

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HOLY COMMUNION

H OW sweet it was, the first kiss of Jesus to my soul! Yes, it was a kiss of Love. I felt I was loved, and I too said: "I love Thee, I give myself to Thee for ever!" Jesus asked nothing of me, demanded no sacrifice. Already for a long time past, He and the little Thérèse had watched and understood one another . . . That day our meeting was no longer a simple look but a fusion . No longer were we two: Thérèse had disappeared as the drop of water which loses itself in the depths of the ocean, Jesu

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SR. THÉRÈSE OF THE CHILD JESUS

AND OF THE HOLY FACE Carmelite of the Monastery of Liseux 1873-1897 A NOVICE was complaining of being more tired than her Sisters, for besides the common work, she had done another task, of which they knew nothing; Thérèse answered: "I want to see you always like a valiant soldier who does not complain of his pains; who thinks very seriously of the wounds of his brothers and regards his own as mere scratches. Why do you feel this fatigue to such a degree? It is because no one knows about it. . .

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THE DIRECTION OF SOULS

O UR Lord allowed me the consolation of closely studying the souls of children. Considering these innocent souls I used to compare them to soft wax, upon which any impression may be stamped the bad, alas! like the good; and I understood those words of Jesus: " But he that shall scandalize one of these little ones . . . it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea ." [1] Oh! how many souls might attain to a high degree of holi

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THE BLESSED VIRGIN

H OW I love the Blessed Virgin! Had I been a Priest, oh! how I should have spoken of her. She is represented as unapproachable, rather ought she to be shown as imitable. She is more Mother than Queen. I have heard it said that all the Saints are eclipsed by her radiant brightness as the sun at rising makes the stars disappear. How strange that seems—a mother eclipsing the glory of her children! I think quite the contrary. I believe that she will immensely increase the splendour of the elect . .

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VARIOUS SUBJECTS

L ÉONIE, no doubt finding that she was growing too old to play with dolls, came one day to Céline and me, with a basket full of dolls' clothes, odds and ends of pretty materials, trimmings, etc., on which she had laid her doll, saying to us: "There, little sisters—choose!" Céline looked, and took a knot of edging. After reflecting a moment I, in turn, put out my hand saying: "I choose all!" and I carried off basket and doll without further ceremony. This trait of my childhood is, as it were, a s

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