The Difference St. Therese Makes

Today is the Feast of St. Therese of Lisieux "The Little Flower," a saint to whom I have grown quite close since entering the novitiate.  She has become perhaps my favorite saint among many "favorite saints" :)
I'm sure many of you know her story, but for those who would like a refresher, here is some basic info.

Shorter Biographical Info:
http://www.americancatholic.org/Features/SaintofDay/default.aspx

Longer Biographical Info:
http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=105

Why does St. Therese matter to me?  To the Church?  To the world?  After all, she died at the age of 24 after living her religious life behind the "grille" of a Carmelite convent.  She was weak, struggled with mental and physical ailments, was not steeped in scholarship, was misunderstood, and frequently suffered.

So much for her lifelong desire to be a crusading minister and missionary of the Church!  Yet, almost a century later she is perhaps the best-loved, most influential modern saint.  She is the youngest of 33 doctors of the Church, the only one declared so by Bl. John Paul II.  She has inspired Dorothy Day, Thomas Merton, Jean Vanier, and Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta.

I think one finds the key to understanding Therese in her renowned autobiography "The Story of a Soul," when she says after reflecting on her various senses of calling:

"Then in the excess of my delirious joy, I cried out: “O Jesus, my Love, at last I have found my vocation, my vocation is Love!... Yes, I have found my place in the Church, and it is you, O my God, who have given me this place... in the heart of the Church, my Mother, I will be Love!.... Thus I shall be all things: thus my dream shall be realized!!!”  (you can read the whole excerpt at http://www.pathsoflove.com/my-vocation-is-love.html)


Pure and simple: St. Therese was brought through the crucible of suffering to the infinite love of Jesus Christ.  She is an embodiment of the Christian paradox that although we are broken, we can be bold before God, because we are His beloved sons and daughters.  St. Therese desired to live in Heaven praying for souls on Earth, to send a "shower of roses" upon her brothers and sisters.  And she has!  Countless miracles, of both the "big" and the "little" kinds, have occurred through her intercession.

Therese has been a soul-friend to me as I have gone through my time as a Jesuit.  She reminds me of who I am as a disciple and evangelist, ever needing to follow (despite how much I fail!) her example of bold humility.  I can't recommend highly enough getting to know St. Therese's thought and works.  She was a poet, a painter, a writer, and above all a person of prayer.  She is now the co-patron of the missions, along with St. Francis Xavier.  

Although St. Therese died a century ago, she is as relevant and fresh today as ever, as a new generation of Catholics and all people of goodwill strive to be saints as well.