The Story of a Family - The Home of St Therese of Lisieux

This is wonderful!!! Deo gratias et Mariae for this

and this too!! there are so many gems here too!!!



http://www.archives-carmel-lisieux.fr/english/carmel/index.php/le-pr%C3%A9

Sainte Thérèse de l'Enfant Jésus

On this day, in the year we got married, we enthroned our house to the Sacred Heart, and as a way of remembering this, decided to post this:

Sharing this because St Therese has helped me so much and in so many different ways. I’ve learnt and grown in this life because of her. Her little way to perfection is so very easy to understand. Only a silly person like me needs so much help on this journey towards perfection. 

St Therese’s beautiful offering each day in her native French 🤗🤗🤗 It’s beautiful because she most certainly said it in French... just like how singing Je vous salue Marie is so beautiful also because countless saints from the eldest daughter of the church said it in French of course and Mother Mary said the Rosary with St Bernadette in Lourdes ... in French too! 

Mon Dieu, je vous offre toutes les actions que je vais faire aujourd'hui, dans les intentions et pour la gloire du Coeur Sacré de Jésus ; je veux sanctifier les battements de mon coeur, mes pensées et mes oeuvres les plus simples en les unissant à ses mérites infinis, et réparer mes fautes en les jetant dans la fournaise de son amour miséricordieux.

O mon Dieu ! je vous demande pour moi et pour ceux qui me sont chers la grâce d'accomplir parfaitement votre sainte volonté, d'accepter pour votre amour les joies et les peines de cette vie passagère afin que nous soyons un jour réunis dans les Cieux pendant toute l'éternité.

Ainsi soit-il.

Prière de Thérèse de l'Enfant Jésus - Offrande de la journée

Je vous salue, Marie, pleine de grâce,

Le Seigneur est avec vous,

Vous êtes bénie entre toutes les femmes,

Et Jésus le fruit de vos entrailles est béni.

Sainte Marie, Mère de Dieu, priez pour nous pauvres pécheurs,

Maintenant et à l’heure de notre mort.

Amen

https://www.littleflower.org/…/…/her-life-at-lisieux-carmel/

Wash day at Le Carmel. Therese is the second from the left. Her sister, Celine is next to her on the right.

St Therese with her real blood sisters! and the older Mother Prioress

Some thoughts, this beautiful, really beautiful period of Lent courtesy of St Therese, my patron

Prayer Card: The Little Flower of the Divine Prisoner

The night which transformed St.Therese’s life as a teenager was also resulting from this “fusion” of His Eucharistic Love with her love.  At mid-night Mass on Christmas of 1886 “‘the strong and powerful God’ of the creche whom she had just received in communion clothed her with strength forever.”  (Descouvemont and Loose.)  Moreover it was a prayer card of Jesus, the Divine Prisoner in the tabernacle, that inspired Therese to be His Little flower of love.  Painted on the card, which was given to Therese by her sister Pauline, was a little flower growing towards Jesus in the tabernacle.  It was on its stem that Pauline wrote her name.  Wishing to emulate this, St. Therese wrote, 

“The little flower of the Divine Prisoner told me so many things that I was immersed in them.  Seeing Pauline’s name written at the bottom of the little flower, I wished Therese’s name could be there too and so I offered myself to Jesus to be His little flower.”  

From the Story of a Soul, by St Therese herself: 

"The Little Flower of the Divine Prisoner" suggested so many thoughts that I would remain gazing at it in a kind of ecstasy. I offered myself to Our Lord to be His Little Flower, I longed to console Him, to draw as near as possible to the Tabernacle, to be looked on, cared for, and gathered by Him.

As Descouvemont and Loose explain, “Jesus remains alone behind the door, like a prisoner in his cell: no one comes to visit him.  The bars in the picture irresistibly brought to the minds of the child the grill of the Carmel behind which Pauline would make herself prisoner and hide herself definitively.  On May 8th, in fact, in the chapter room of the monastery or rue de Livarot, Sister Agnes would make her religious profession.  Therese hoped to join her there as soon as possible so that she too might offer the flower of her love to the ‘Divine Prisoner of the Tabernacle.’

Full text of "The Little Flower of the Divine Prisoner":

St. Thérèse of Lisieux’s Favorite Childhood Poem

Between two cold prison bars, there grew a humble plant That charmed away the weariness of a poor prisoner;

It was the only happiness of his suffering soul,

The only pastime of his sorrowful home!...

Beneath the gloomy walls of his dismal dwelling place, His hand had planted it ... he watered it with tears!... And as a reward for his care, he saw the poor little thing Give him unceasingly its perfumes and its flowers....

Oh! My divine Master, in the depths of the tabernacle, For 1800 years a prisoner out of love,

Despite our coldness, through a constant miracle, Near us You have fixed Your dwelling place;

And there, more abandoned, even more alone

Than the poor prisoner whose neglected state I pity,

Your tenderness implores, yea, begs for the hearts

Of Your perverse children, those ingrates who refuse You this gift....

Alas! Since they never cease to flee obstinately from You, Since they leave You all alone, O God of my heart!

Out of pity, lower Your eyes to look on my lowliness—

I will be, my JESUS, Your little flower....

Hear the unceasing prayer of my soul:

It is You who are inspiring it, Lord; grant my request.

Oh! Tell me how, humble flower that I am, in order to please You,

My soul, placed in Your hands, will forget itself, expecting nothing in return.

Jesus:

So! It is into FAITH ... it is into UNDISGUISED FAITH ...

That My hand would plant that little flower,

Who, living for ME ALONE ... unknown and unrecognized by mortals, Would have no other Sun than a glance from My heart.

For this tender flower, I would like as Root,

That hope in Me that never weakens;

Infinite hope in My divine Goodness ...

Abandonment of a child who knows that it is cherished....

For its Stem, it would need, without desire and without fear, A tranquil, a joyful, a prompt acquiescence

To the slightest call of My holy will ...

Without hesitation, without any reasoning.

It would delight me if, taking for its Leaves

Complete disregard for the esteem and consideration of others, It knew how to veil, to the eye that beholds it,

The gifts that it has received from My divine hands.

I would want it to have as its Flower a constant joy,

That could be troubled neither by setbacks ... nor sorrow ... That even racked by suffering and bitterness,

Would still know how to delight in my joy.

Finally, its Fruit would be that virtue that is so pure

That it sees GOD ALONE ... here below, as in heaven ... That no longer has regard for any created thing,

That seeks in ME alone the end and goal of its desires....

In this way, achieving the expectation of my plans, It will have been made worthy of the sweetest favor; And into My sacred heart, grafting my humble plant By uniting it to MYSELF, I will make its true joy.

Translation copyright © 2006 by Robert J. Edmonson, CJ. All rights reserved.

Fresco painted by St. Therese around the tabernacle of the Carmel in Lisieux

     O!  saint autel qu’environment les Anges!

Qu’avec transport aujourd’hui je te vois!

Ici, mon Dieu, l’objet de mes louanges

M’offre son Corps pour la premier fois…

[O holy altar where the angels are hovering!

With what transport I see you today!

Here, my God, the object of my praises

Offers himself to me for the first time].

Thanksgiving

Il est à moi, Celui que le ciel même

Que l’universe ne saurait contenir;

Il est à moi, je l’embrasse, je l’aime.

Rien ici-bas ne peut nous désunir…

[He is in me, the One whom even heaven,

Even the universe cannot contain;

He is in me; I embrace Him; I love Him;

Nothing here below can separate us].* 

Jesus, Mary, Joseph, Anne, Therese, I love You; Save Souls!

Jesu mitis et humilis corde, Fac cor nostrum secundum Cor tuum. (ter)

Deus propitius esto mihi peccatori.

Sancte Filumena (Philomena), ora pro nobis

Feast of the Transfiguration of Our Lord

Here on earth, to live for love, does not mean settling on Thabor; it means climbing Calvary with Jesus and looking at the Cross as a treasure.

- St. Therese of the Child Jesus and Holy Face

my wonderful patron, Ora pro nobis

St Teresa of Avila!

+ J.M.J.A.T

Happy feast day of St Teresa of Avila! The patron saint of dearest St Therese of the Child Jesus and Holy Face, therefore my patron too!!! : D 

I love St Teresa of Avila's poems! From the very little I know of her poems, they are extremely rich, even though I only know them from the English translation and not in their original Spanish. They tell us of her beautiful spirituality. 

Quoting from the Foreword taken from St Therese of Lisieux's Autobiography, Story of a Soul: 

“In fact this reading moves the hearts of men, inclines their wills, amends their lives, kindles charity and produces other salutary results which absolutely transcend human power, and can find no adequate explanation except in the action of Divine Grace itself.”3”

Excerpt From: Saint Therese of Lisieux. “The Story of a Soul.”

“3. The proclamation of the heroic Virtue of Sister Thérèse of the Child Jesus by the Congregation of Rites, 14th August, 1921.”

Deo gratias et Mariae et Teresa of Avila for the beautiful poems! 

Let me share with you a short but beautiful poem by St Teresa of Avila "On Those Words: "Dilectus Meus Mihi":

Myself surrendered and given, The exchange is this:My Beloved is for me, And  I am for my Beloved. 

When the Gentle hunterWounded and subdued me,In love's arms,My soul fallen;New life receiving,Thus did I exchangeMy Beloved is for me,And I am for my Beloved. 

The arrow he drewFull of love,My soul was onesWith her Creator. Other love I want not,Surrendered now to my God,That my Beloved is for me,And I am for my Beloved. 

- St Teresa of Avila, taken from "The Collected Works of St. Teresa of Avila, Volume Three"

Jesus, Mary, Joseph, Anne, Therese, I love You; Save Souls!

Deus propitius esto mihi peccatori.

Jesu mitis et humilis corde, Fac cor nostrum secundum Cor tuum. (ter)

Happy Feast Day of our DEAREST HOLY GUARDIAN ANGEL! :D

From infancy to death human life is surrounded by their (the angels) watchful care and intercession. Beside each believer stands an angel as protector and shepherd leading him to life. Already here on earth the Christian life shares by faith in the blessed company of angels and men united to God.~from the Catechism of the Catholic Church; 336.

When tempted, invoke your Angel. He is more eager to help you than you are to be helped! Ignore the devil and do not be afraid of him: he trembles and flees at the sight of your guardian angel. - St. John Bosco

Make yourself familiar with the Angels, and behold them frequently in spirit. without being seen, they are present with you. - St. Francis de Sales

I bind to myself today the power in the love of the Seraphim, in the obedience of the Angels, in the ministration of the Archangels, in the hope of Resurrection unto reward, in the prayers of the Patriarchs, in the predictions of the Prophets, in the preaching of the Apostles, in the faith of the Confessors, in the purity of the holy Virgins, in the deeds of Righteous men. - St. Patrick of Ireland

For, as it is written in the book of the Prophets: And the angel that spoke in me, said to me... He does not say spoke to me but in me. - St. Augustine

An angel can illume the thought and mind of man by strengthening the power of vision, and by bringing within his reach some truth which the angel himself contemplates. - St. Thomas Aquinas

A Poem that St Therese wrote to her Holy Guardian Angel

TO MY ANGEL GUARDIAN

O glorious guardian of my frame!
In heaven's high courts thou shinest bright,
As some most pure and holy flame,
Before the Lord of endless light.
Yet for my sake thou com'st to earth, 

To be my brother, Angel dear:
My friend and keeper from my birth,
By day and night to me most near.
Knowing how weak a child am I,
By thy strong hand thou guidest me;
The stones that in my pathway lie,
  I see thee move them carefully. 

Ever thy heavenly tones invite
My soul to look to God alone;
And ever grows thy face more bright,
  When I more meek and kind have grown.
O thou who speedest through all space
More swiftly than the lightnings fly! 

Go very often, in my place,
To those I love most tenderly.
With thy soft touch, oh! dry their tears;
Tell them the cross is sweet to bear; 

Speak my name softly in their ears,
And Jesu's name, supremely fair.
Through all my life, though brief it be,
I fain would succor souls from sin. 

Dear Angel, sent from heaven to me,
Kindle thy zeal my heart within!
Naught but my holy poverty,
And daily cross to give have I; 

O join them to thine ecstasy,
And offer them to God on high.
Thine are heaven's glory and delight,
The riches of the King of kings; 

The Host in our ciboriums bright
Is mine, and all the wealth pain brings. 

So with the Cross, and with the Host,
And with thine aid, dear Angel Friend,
I wait in peace, on time's dark coast,
Heaven's happiness that knows no end.
                                                                                                       February, 1897

Deus propitius esto mihi peccatori.

Jesu mitis et humilis corde, Fac cor nostrum secundum Cor tuum. (ter)

Jesus, Mary, Joseph, Anne, Therese, I love You; Save Souls! 

St Therese of the Child Jesus and Holy Face, ora pro nobis

taken from the Raccolta

Prayer invoking the help of dearest St Therese of the Child Jesus and Holy Face

O marvellous Saint Therese of the Child Jesus, who, in thy brief mortal career, didst become a mirror of angelic purity, of daring love and of whole-hearted surrender to Almighty God, now that thou art enjoying the recompense of thy virtues, turn thine eyes of mercy upon us who trust in thee. Obtain for us the grace to keep our hearts and minds pure and clean like unto thine, and to abhor in all sincerity whatever might tarnish ever so slightly the ouster of a virtue so sublime, a virtue that endears us to thy heavenly Bridegroom. Ah, dear Saint, grant us to feel in every need the power of thy intercession; give us comfort in all the bitterness of this life and especially at its latter end, that we may be worthy to share eternal happiness with thee in paradise. Amen.

V: Pray for us, O blessed Therese,

R: That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

Let us pray.

O Lord, who hast said, "Unless you become as little children, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven"; grant us, we beseech Thee, so to walk in the footsteps of thy blessed Virgin Therese with a humble and single heart, that we may attain to everlasting rewards: Who livest and reignest world without end. Amen.

An indulgence of 300 days, once a day.
A plenary indulgence on the usual conditions, if these prayers are said daily with devotion for an entire month (S. P. Ap. , July 2, 1925 and Sept. 30, 1935)

Love, Love, Love, EVERYTHING is there! - St. Pio (dear Padre Pio)

+

First Friday & First Saturday of

 March

Second Sunday of Lent

A little tribute to the Most Sacred Heart ever-present in all ourCatholic altars, all over the whole wide world, right now! (how brilliant is that?) =))

The title of this post I took as a quote (which I heard from today's very encouraging sermon) from St "Padre" Pio who once talked of the Eucharist and of our Lord present in the Eucharist, "Love, love, love, EVERYTHING is there! All you need to do is Love."

Whenever we go and visit our Lord present in the most holy Tabernacle, whenever we go for Mass and we kneel down and pray, know always that we are always near Him, the omnipotent. Know that behind the golden door of the Tabernacle, He resides there, waiting to hear all us, talk to him with our hearts. As Saint Therese said once, that our dear Jesus does not come down from heaven everyday just to sit in a golden ciborum. Our dear Jesus comes down from heaven everyday, to find another place more worthy, that is in our heart of hearts, the heaven of our souls - created in His Image, to be the living temple of the most Holy & Adorable Trinity.

"Our Lord does not come down from Heaven everyday to lie in a golden ciborium. He comes to find another heaven which is infinitely dearer to Him - the heaven of our souls, created in His Image, the living temples of the Adorable Trinity."

-St. Therese of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face (The Little Flower)

It is a most beautiful thing, just to kneel there and be mindful that you are in the presence of the Most-High - and that the Most High wants to be there, where He is, as a prisoner of His own Love.

Today is also the Second Sunday of Lent and it is the time when we reflect on what we have done for Lent so-far, from Ash Wednesday, till today. Have we kept up with our Lenten resolutions? If we have done so, pray for the grace of perseverance, if we have not done so, fear not, because St. Pio (and all other saints) reminds us that we need to never be discouraged. That what is most important is that we never fail in our hearts and we pick ourselves up again and continue in His grace. 

Today's gospel talks about how Jesus brought the three apostles, the same three He was to bring nearest with him in Gethsemane, to the Mountain of Tabor. And in today's gospel, Jesus was transfigured and Moses and Elias appeared together with Jesus on top of the mountain. The three apostles were frightened, but Jesus told them not to be. "Arise and fear not." (You can read today's gospel at this website: "http://www.drbo.org/chapter/47017.htm")

Whenever I read or think about the Transfiguration of our Lord, I recall several beautiful words (spiritual poems) by St. Therese again, a saint whom I am very glad to call my patron:

Here on earth, to live for love, does not mean settling on Thabor; it means climbing Calvary with Jesus and looking at the Cross as a treasure.

What does it mean to climb Calvary with Jesus? How do we look at the Cross as a treasure? 

For that, we need to embrace suffering (like all the martyrs and all the saints in heaven now) and come to the ultimate conclusion that Love = Suffering (something that I wrote about a long time ago) and even though we suffer, we are happy, because we know that in the end, our one main goal and aim in life is to be with Jesus and Mother Mary and all the Angels and Saints in heaven. 

Another quote from our dear Padre, who during his life on earth has suffered the pains of Jesus's Passion:

 

"You cost too much to Jesus. He CANNOT abandon you."

I find this spiritually quite uplifting because no matter what, when we feel that we are down and out, we need always to know that we can never be discouraged, that we need to persevere because there is one person on earth who will never ever give up on us (that is until our death-bed; particular judgment) as He actually loved us so much, that He gave up His life for us on the cross, therefore, logically speaking, He CANNOT ever ever ever abandon us. 

And because our dear Mother is so inextricably linked to Jesus, because she is His Mother, who bore Him, and she is Our Mother, because He gave her to us when He was dying on the Cross, Mother Mary can never ever, even more logically speaking, give up on us, as she will never ever abandon us. 

Ah, the most beautiful mystery of love.

I beg of you dear readers to never forget to keep me in your prayers this Lent, as I will for you, too.

Deus propitius esto mihi peccatori.

Jesu mitis et humilis corde, Fac cor nostrum secundum Cor tuum. (ter)

Jesus, Mary, Joseph, Anne, Therese, I love You; Save Souls!

Happy Feast Day of St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus! =)))

Never be discouraged!

It's the most blessed and happy feast day of St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus (more affectionately known as: The Little Flower). She's my name saint! And so today, it's just like my birthday! :D when it is my patron saint's birthday in heaven! :D

I strongly recommend her autobiography, "The Story of a Soul".

In a tribute to my dearest patron saint who has taught me so much, so much and who has guided me so much, so much, here is a post, dedicated specially to her, written almost entirely in her own words:

When she was a child, when her mother asked her a question, "Where dwelleth God, think you?" She replied,

"O, everywhere in all the world,

Then in the heaven so blue."

When I first read her autobiography as a teenager growing up, this struck me:

I often asked myself why God had preferences, why all souls did not receive an equal measure of grace. I was filled with wonder when I saw extraordinary favours showered on great sinners like St. Paul, St. Augustine, St. Mary Magdalen, and many others, whom He forced, so to speak, to receive His grace. In reading the lives of the Saints I was surprised to see that there were certain privileged souls, whom Our Lord favoured from the cradle to the grave, allowing no obstacle in their path which might keep them from mounting towards Him, permitting no sin to soil the spotless brightness of their baptismal robe. And again it puzzled me why so many poor savages should die without having even heard the name of God.

Our Lord has deigned to explain this mystery to me. He showed me the book of nature, and I understood that every flower created by Him is beautiful, that the brilliance of the rose and the whiteness of the lily do not lessen the perfume of the violet or the sweet simplicity of the daisy. I understood that if all the lowly flowers wished to be roses, nature would lose its springtide beauty, and the fields would no longer be enamelled with lovely hues. And so it is in the world of souls, Our Lord's living garden. He has been pleased to create great Saints who may be compared to the lily and the rose, but He has also created lesser ones, who must be content to be daisies or simple violets flowering at His Feet, and whose mission it is to gladden His Divine Eyes when He deigns to look down on them. And the more gladly they do His Will the greater is their perfection.

I understood this also, that God's Love is made manifest as well in a simple soul which does not resist His grace as in one more highly endowed. In fact, the characteristic of love being self-abasement, if all souls resembled the holy Doctors who have illuminated the Church, it seems that God in coming to them would not stoop low enough. But He has created the little child, who knows nothing and can but utter feeble cries, and the poor savage who has only the natural law to guide him, and it is to their hearts that He deigns to stoop. These are the field flowers whose simplicity charms Him; and by His condescension to them Our Saviour shows His infinite greatness. As the sun shines both on the cedar and on the floweret, so the Divine Sun illumines every soul, great and small, and all correspond to His care—just as in nature the seasons are so disposed that on the appointed day the humblest daisy shall unfold its petals.

I finally understood a great many things. Of her simplicity in her approach to the spiritual life, of her great trust and love in our Lord Jesus and of course, of his dearest Mother, Our Mother Mary. And because of what she understood, she called herself, "The Little Flower", a nickname how apt and how not so apt! (oh the irony!) Her "Little Flower" way of Spiritual Childhood:

The Way of Spiritual Childhood stresses again that love & not great

outward achievement is the fulfilling of the law...Beneath St

Therese's childlike phrasing the saint has portrayed a life which calls

for an unflagging generousity & courage which, united with the

humility & confidence of a little child, is heroic indeed. Benedict XV

has called her way "the secret of sanctity."

To me, one of the most beautiful things she has said and written about is this:

"Our Lord does not come down from Heaven everyday to lie in a golden ciborium. He comes to find another heaven which is infinitely dearer to Him - the heaven of our souls, created in His Image, the living temples of the Adorable Trinity."

I juxtaposed this quote of hers to another I heard, on the 16th Sunday After Pentecost 2011 (also the feast day of The Holy Guardian Angels):

That there are 2 kinds of graces, (1) Sanctifying grace: grace that makes ordinary actions HOLY and (2) Actual Grace: grace that God gives to help us in all our needs.

(1) Sanctifying grace makes us saints, brings us closer to God. When you are in a state of grace (or sanctifying grace), all your ordinary actions become holy, you are in a state of habitual grace or permanent grace: and so it says in Holy Scripture, precious, very precious words of Jesus:

John 14: 23

Christ's discourse after the Last Supper:

[21] He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them; he it is that loveth me. And he that loveth me, shall be loved of my Father: and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. [22] Judas saith to him, not the Iscariot: Lord, how is it, that thou wilt manifest thyself to us, and not to the world?[23] Jesus answered, and said to him: If any one love me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him, and will make our abode with him. [24] He that loveth me not, keepeth not my words. And the word which you have heard, is not mine; but the Father's who sent me. [25] These things have I spoken to you, abiding with you.

And who is this "we", that Jesus speaks about?

It is none other than the Most Blessed Trinity: God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Ghost!

-------

I want to end off with this quote from a friend:

Admittedly, many a time, the limits of our fallen human nature have

caused me unfortunately to fall , time and time again. However, I

know that St Therese will patiently guide this little sister of hers

towards the rock of eternal life, to Jesus , through His Holy Mother

Mary. For my part, I will strive to imitate her as best as I can, in my

state of life.

And a prayer, a most beautiful prayer to St Therese, asking her help to implore our dearest Jesus to help us:

St Therese the Little Flower, please pick me a rose from the heavenly garden and send it to me with a message of love. Ask God to grant me the favour I thee implore and tell God that I will love Him, always, more and more.

Amen.