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Ask This Saint for Help and Gather Roses All Your Life

By Lisa Mladinich

Image from www.LittleFlower.org

As I spoke about on Relevant Radio’s Morning Air Show, today (at the 25-minute mark, Monday, September 24), this is a great day to begin the very simple and joyful novena to one of our greatest saints, St. Thérèse of Lisieux of the Child Jesus (a.k.a., The Little Flower). In fact, any day is a great day to begin to invite her to walk with you and teach you what she knows.

Image: www.LittleFlower.org

Thérèse is a doctor of the Church because of her spirituality of simplicity and trust, as well as her highly-accessible writings, which continue to have a profound impact on the Church. I highly recommend her memoir, Story of a Soul (read it free, here), and a powerful little book (available for about $3) of her advice to novices, The Thoughts of St. Thérèse.

First, find below a little about my connection to her, and then I’d like you to know more about the saint herself.

Scroll down for catechetical takeaways!

My First Saint

When I experienced a deep conversion back to the Catholic faith, in 1992, at the age of 33, Thérèse was my first saint “friend.” She has been a powerful intercessor ever since, and I named my daughter (who came to us, finally, after many years of infertility) after this beautiful saint.

Thérèse is known for sending roses as a sign of her intercession, and I still receive roses in many different forms, quite often. Sometimes I actually receive a flower or find a rose petal laying somewhere. Sometimes it’s an image of roses that comes into view at a key moment.

Image courtesy of Pixabay

I have noticed, at speaking engagements, that I am almost always approached after my talk by someone named Rose, Rosa, Rosemary, Mary Rose, Roseanne, or even Therese.  I always tell them, “You’re my rose from St. Thérèse, today!” Often, they have something of value and beauty to share with me.

History

Marie-Francoise- Thérèse Martin was born in Alencon, France in 1873. Her mother died of breast cancer when she was very young, so Therese was a sad little girl and quite spoiled by her family, but a conversion experience struck like lightning at the age of 14 and made her want to be totally pleasing to God. Not long after that, she became very ill and was tormented by the devil, but she was healed through a miraculous statue of Our Lady that was placed in her room.

Thérèse sought entry to the Carmelite convent at Lisieux, France, at a young age and went to Rome to seek permission from the Holy Father, Pope Leo XII. She entered the order at 15, and by 21, she was the novice mistress, due to her great wisdom and sanctity.

Therese at 15: Image from www.LittleFlower.org

She suffered much for the sake of others, but she was always cheerful. She wrote poems and plays, dedicated herself to loving the most difficult nuns in her convent, and—under obedience to her superior—wrote the great spiritual classic, her personal memoir, Story of a Soul, which is something anyone can read and be blessed by.

Both of Thérèse’s parents and are also canonized saints, and her sister, Leonie, is under consideration! What an amazing family.

Her Wisdom

She is known as “The Little Flower” and her “spirituality of the smile” (a.k.a., her “little way”) has transformed the faith of so many people, increasing their trust in God and their desire for sanctity.

For example, through the saint’s description of overcoming of scruples (a neurotic feeling of constantly sinning and failing to please God), I learned not to be afraid of God, but to imitate her simplicity, trust, and joy

Among her many gifts to the Church, St. Thérèse wrote and said beautiful things about supporting the dignity of other human beings. She said, for instance, that we should always, always look for the best in another person because the best parts are the truest parts–for they are “of God.”

Takeaway: When we look for God in others, we find him. Jesus said, “Seek and you shall find” (Matt 7:7), so when we look for him, he is looking back at us. And as we gaze at each other, we become more like him. And since we are made in his image, we find our most authentic selves by imitating him. It’s a win-win-win.

By looking for Jesus in others, we swiftly grow in virtue, as well as in the gifts and fruits of the Holy Spirit, and we increase our desire for holiness. When we desire holiness, like St. Thérèse did, we should recognize as she did that we cannot become saints on our own.

Image courtesy Pixabay

Thérèse wrote in Story of a Soul that she saw herself as a little child trying to lift her tiny foot onto the first gigantic step of sanctity, but not able to reach it. She described herself as looking up at Jesus, who stood at the summit of the staircase, gazing affectionately down at her. She declared that she would lift her arms and beckon to him, and he would come down to her, lifting her in his arms and carrying her up the stairs to sainthood.

Takeaway: We can do the same! This spirituality of great trust and affection for Jesus can teach us the practice of abandonment to grace, which allows God to work miracles in our souls.

Thérèse also addressed human dignity. She said, “How great must a soul be to contain a God.”

Takeaway: We should never doubt the dignity of our own souls, which by virtue of our baptism are tabernacles of the presence of God. Especially after Holy Communion, we are tabernacles of the presence of Jesus, which is why we don’t genuflect, as we enter the pew!

Image courtesy of Pixabay

Just as the hidden presence of Jesus in our churches impacts the culture for good, that same mysterious presence of Jesus in our souls can impact society, as well. And remember that God himself contains all of his creation: the angels and saints, the planets and stars, the earth and all its many layers of life, the Holy Souls in purgatory, and all of our loved ones, living and dead. And that presence is contained in your soul! God dwells in you in all his completeness.

Contemplate the majesty and mystery of that powerful and holy presence in your soul, every day, and then cultivate an awareness of that presence in others. In effect, continue to seek the face of Jesus in others.

Image courtesy of Pixabay

St. Teresa of Calcutta was a great devotee of the Little Flower and frequently quoted her, saying, “Do small things with great love.”

Takeaway: Such an accessible spirituality is truly worthy of our devotion, and such a sweet, charming saint is a precious gift to model ourselves after!

The novena (nine days of presenting a prayerful petition, modeled on the nine days of prayer that preceded Pentecost), starts today, culminating on her feast day, October 1. Of course, we can do the novena at any time, and many of her friends pray the novena prayer daily. Ask Thérèse to teach you her spirituality of simple trust, and watch your life change for the better.

And as you befriend the Little Flower, St. Thérèse of Lisieux, watch for roses! She always sends them. Here is a rose for you, today!

Image courtesy Pixabay

 

For more information, visit the Society of the Little Flower:

https://www.littleflower.org/prayers-sharing/childrens-section/prayers/my-novena-rose-prayer/

And EWTN:

https://www.ewtn.com/therese/therese1.htm

Read all posts by Lisa Mladinich Filed Under: Featured, General Tagged With: Catholic prayer, novena, St. Therese of Lisieux, The Little Flower

Our Redemption and Memory

By Gabe Garnica

 

As we proceed through Lent, the recurring themes of redemption and forgiveness bubble to the surface of our thoughts. We understand redemption as literally being saved from our own sinfulness through the blood of Christ.  Left to ourselves, we would surely fall under the repeated weight of our imperfection and weakness.  Through God Almighty’s love and mercy embodied in the Parable of the Prodigal Son, however, we aspire to a salvation we would not otherwise be capable of attaining.

A critical, core component of this second chance for salvation is the willingness of both sides to forget a sinful past.  By this I mean that our redemption is possible only if both God Almighty and each of us as sinners are willing to forget our past sins.

God Almighty’s memory of our sins

God’s willingness is especially supported by a trio of scriptural references. In The Book of Hebrews (8:12) God tells us

For I will forgive their evildoing and remember their sins no more.

In The Book of Psalms (103:12) we find David’s wonderful expression that

     As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our sins from us.

Finally, in Isaiah (43:25) we find God’s powerful assurance that

It is I, I, who wipe out, for my own sake, your offenses; your sins I remember no more.

People often have difficulty with the notion of a perfect and omniscient God forgetting anything. Scholars debate whether this simply means that He chooses not to act on our past sins or that He, as all-powerful, chooses to forget. Here we must insert one of my favorite saints, St. Therese The Little Flower, who reminds us to trust God with child-like innocence immersed in love.

Our memory of our sins

Having confirmed God’s part in this dual forgetting, we must turn to ourselves. It is ironic that the same imperfection which leads us to sin likewise prevents us from forgiving ourselves for the very sins that God is willing to forgive us for!  How many people avoid confession altogether out of fear or shame?  How many others turn their very confessions into further sin by concealing sin? Finally, how many of us leave the confessional doubting God’s mercy?

Recall the lesson of Judas and Peter. Judas let his pride and doubt lead to hopelessness, despair, and ultimate, final surrender to the Devil after his sin. In contrast, Peter’s love of Christ overwhelmed his pride leading to humble contrition and surrender to Christ’s love and mercy.  Both men’s ultimate destiny was not shaped by their respective sins but, rather, by their response to their own sin. What better example of such mercy can we find than Our Lord’s promise of paradise to the contrite thief in Calvary?

Conclusion

Scripture confirms God’s promise to forget our sinful past. The harder question as we move through Lent is how willing we are to forget that past ourselves as we reach out to a lovingly forgiving, and forgetting, God.

2018  Gabriel Garnica

Read all posts by Gabe Garnica Filed Under: Catholic Spirituality, Featured, Scripture, Spiritual Warfare, Theology Tagged With: Gabriel Garnica, Hebrews 8:12, Isaiah 43:25, Parable of the Prodigal Son, Psalms 103:12, Redemption, St. Therese of Lisieux

The Saint in the Mirror is Waiting for Your Acceptance

By Gabe Garnica

 

 

hand of Christ

 

The Feasts of All Saints and All Souls defy our mistaken belief that sanctity is beyond us.  St. Therese of Lisieux reminds us that sanctity is beyond us only if we allow it to be.  Most people think of saints as holy super heroes with powers beyond those of mere mortals.  Under this view, thinking that one can become a saint is about as naïvely foolish as pretending that one can become a grand pianist while poking at two keys in our first lesson at age eighty.

Why do we so often sell ourselves short when it comes to striving for sanctity?

For one thing, many define a saint as someone who performs extraordinary things in incredible ways, such as working miracles or practicing extreme penances and sacrifices.  Certainly, there are saints who have done this, but they are the more famous saints and not representative of the vast majority.

St. Therese of Lisieux reminds us that becoming a saint is no more than seeking to please God by doing the ordinary extraordinarily well. Fame and public relations have nothing to do with sanctity.   St. Therese is famous now, but she was a virtually unknown, cloistered Carmelite during her life.  One must only seek to please God over seeking fame, fortune, or self-benefit.

The saint is one wrapped in God, in love, and in service.  If we always put God first, others second, and ourselves last, we will be on the way to sanctity.

We grow in sanctity by merely striving for sanctity, and we must never feel that we are holy enough for God.  The saint is not complacent because there is always more to do for God.

Another reason that many ignore or surrender their calling to be saints is that it is much easier to pretend that sanctity is impossible than to admit that it is very possible.  There is no criticism of the grade school student who fails a bar exam because nobody expects such a student to pass it.  Likewise, the  very young and inexperienced skater who fails to medal in a competition is not rebuked because nobody expects her to be ready to medal anyway.

Still others argue that they are not called to be saints because of this or that reason.  Such people forget that saints come in all shapes, colors, backgrounds, talents, and types.  In fact, we need diverse saints because people and the Church have diverse needs.

I once read that inventions are merely creative ways to solve problems  and answer needs.  We are each a unique, beautiful invention of God.  Each of us is blessed with special gifts and talents waiting to be used in His service.  God invites each of us to fulfill that purpose and that potential to be saints.  Our mistaken notion that saints are superheroes beyond our abilities  prevents us from daring to believe that we too can become saints.

Armed with God’s love and mercy and dressed in our faith, each of us is a saint waiting to happen.   The question is not if we can become saints. Rather, the issue is will we accept Our Lord’s standing, loving invitation to serve Him and love others with the very tools He has provided.

Gabriel Garnica,   2016

Read all posts by Gabe Garnica Filed Under: Culture, Evangelization, Spiritual Warfare, Theology, Vocations Tagged With: sainthood, St. Therese of Lisieux

Review: To the Heights, by Brian Kennelly

By Guest Post

ToTheHeightsCoverREVIEW by JT Therrian

I’ve often wondered what my life would’ve been like by now had I followed the call of God’s voice as a young boy. Erroneously believing that a life of pain and hardship lay in that direction, I hardened my heart and adopted a more “realistic” attitude toward my future.

To the Heights, Mr. Brian Kennelly’s novelization of Bl. Pier Giorgio Frasseti’s life (1901-1925), showed me what such a life devoted to caring and loving, begun at a very early age, might have looked like. Pier Giorgio simply and humbly believed that no one is ever too young to love and to care for others, especially for the marginalized, the poor, and the disenfranchised.

I found the life of Bl. Pier Giorgio Frasseti incredibly inspiring. I admit that before reading To the Heights I had not heard of this popular third order Franciscan. Mr. Kennelly does a great job fleshing out Pier Giorgio Frasseti’s love for his family along with his passion for the Catholic Church; his pious devotions to praying the Rosary; attending daily Mass; and spending time in adoration of our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament.

It is important to show young Catholics the rewards of a strongly-lived faith. This book does just that. To the question: given the current state of the world, how can I believe in a God? Mr. Kennelly replies, through Pier Giorgio Frasseti’s humble actions and words: take account of all the graces in your life. How can you not believe in God?

As a Vincentian, I was heartened to read of Bl. Pier Giorgio Frasseti’s work in the St. Vincent de Paul Society. The spirit of caring and charity rings true on every page. In a moving passage, Pier Giorgio explains to someone seemingly indifferent to serving the poor, “There is a special light behind the poor and unfortunate, one we do not have, one that has nothing to do with riches and health. I urge you to see that light tonight, not with your eyes, but with your heart.”

There are many echoes of past saints and sanctifying grace in the young man’s life: his fondness for hiking reminded me of Pope St. John Paul II’s passion for the outdoors; Pier Giorgio’s love of the poor and the sick, and the selfless acts of kindness with which he filled his days, brought to mind St. Vincent de Paul and St. Thérèse of Lisieux (especially in his love of flowers); and his limitless charity towards the poor is exemplary of St. Francis’ concerns.

But Mr. Kennelly also shows us that the tenderhearted and pious young man was no stranger to physical confrontations. Pier Giorgio lived through WWI and the chaotic political aftermath in Italy which gave rise to Mussolini’s infamous fascist (and anti-Catholic) Black Shirts. Pier Giorgio did not back down from unjust confrontations, although he would only fight when all peaceful avenues had been exhausted. In reaction to the Black Shirts, he remarked, “It’s a sad day when Catholics cower to evil and treat the teachings of their Church as if they are merely suggestions, abandoning them without the slightest sign of a troubled conscience.” How prophetic and timely this warning, as our Church continues to face relentless assaults from the secular world.

I truly enjoyed To the Heights and I will be recommending it to everyone for years to come. Mr. Kennelly not only understood what was in Bl. Pier Giorgio Frasseti’s mind, he showed us the care, love and charity alive in the blessed’s heart. We are grateful to such a talented author for revealing these graces. I also enjoyed the book’s short chapters, and I liked that Mr. Kennelly includes some actual prayers in the text, introducing some of the Church’s treasures, such as the Tedeum, to readers.

If you know someone, especially a young person concerned about the plight of the poor or injustice in the world, you must inspire them to action with a copy of To the Heights.

 

 

 

JT writer picJT Therrien is a Catholic Canadian fiction writer working in a variety of genres: literary;  commercial; children’s and young adult; inspirational (mostly based on the Theology of the Body and traditional Catholic doctrine); art-themed; paranormal; romance and love stories. He plies his craft in short story, novella and novel-length works. Readers who enjoy Brian Kennelly’s To the Heights might also like JT’s art-themed, Theology of the Body, young adult, dystopian novella Sprainter, available at all online e-book retailers. Readers can also follow JT online: https://twitter.com/jttherrien – Twitter, https://jttherrien.blogspot.ca – blog, https://sites.google.com/site/jttherrienauthor – website, https://www.amazon.com/author/jttherrien – Amazon author’s page, and at many other social networking sites.

 

Read all posts by Guest Post Filed Under: Book Reviews, Resources Tagged With: book review, Brian Kennelly, John Paul II, JT Therrian, Pier Giorgio Frasseti, saints, St. Francis, St. Therese of Lisieux, St. Vincent de Paul, To the Heights

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