St.Therese of Lixieux: Champion of life

It was in 2009, I witnessed a sea of people at the Westminster Cathedral in London. I was pleasantly surprised to witness so many people storming the church. It was the day when the relic of St. Therese of Lisieux was brought to the Cathedral. I had not known much about this saint. Hence, my curiosity grew after I witnessed the families at the Cathedral. I asked a priest to help me in this curiosity. He recommended that I read “The story of a soul: The Autobiography of St. Therese of Lisieux.” This was the beginning of an important phase in my Jesuit life. I ventured on reading and researching on the little flower of Jesus. This autobiography has been of great interest after, “The diary of a young girl” by Anne Frank and “My experiments with Truth” by M.K. Gandhi. I was touched by the humility in the title of the Autobiography as St. Therese named, “The story of the Springtime of a Little White Flower.”

I was deeply moved by this little flower and a little saint of Christ. It was indeed a profound experience after I read the diary of a child saint; profound, not in any theological or deeply mystical way, but profound in a realistic way. St. Therese must have inspired millions of people, including St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta who names herself after St. Therese of Lisieux, but every time I think about this saint, I am inspired profoundly as if I am experiencing for the first time. Every time, I come across her quote, I am thrilled and moved to be strong and at time even tears. Her dedication in struggles, her hope in frustrations, her integrity in confusion and endurance in pain is spellbinding.

St. Therese has some realistic lessons to teach us from her own real and honest life. Each of us can learn from her life and from her experience. Her lessons of life is for everyone across the board. If you are depressed in life, just know St. Therese’s life. If you are easily offended, then know that St. Therese had it all. There are many more lessons for our day-to-day life. I would like to reflect and share with you a few of them.

Total surrender to God’s love and confidence: St. Therese knew that God is in charge of her life. Even though she had her few hiccups in her faith, she knew to depend on God’s love which made her confident in her faith. Most often, we struggle in our faith because, either we dwell on our shortcomings and the past life or someone letting us down by judging us. In both these cases, we shy away from God’s mercy and love.

If you are in this situation of being constantly reminded that your no good because of your past or shortcomings, St. Therese is the model and example for you. She had her struggles till her last breath but she knew how to surrender herself to God’s mercy and love. God understands our failings and shortcomings.

Offer with simplicity: When St. Therese was about to give up on her vocation just before her final profession, her superior tells her, “the more come closer to God, the more simpler you will be.” Is this not true in our lives too, when we realise that God is the ultimate unmoved mover, we become simpler. We give up on our own ego and strengths and depend on God’s strengths.

St. Therese was a simple little girl who offered roses (flowers) to Christ. She served the Lord by offering flowers, this made her humble person who has nothing than a bunch of flowers from the nature. Don’t be afraid to be simple and humble before God. What have you to offer to Christ?

Praying in our own way: This is an amusing but profound real story of St. Therese prayer life. She found herself sleeping during prayers and after communion. She writes, “I should be distressed that I drop off to sleep during my prayers and during my thanksgiving after Holy Communion. But I don’t feel at all distressed. I know that children are just a dear to their parents whether they are asleep or awake and I know that doctors put their patients to sleep before they operate. So I think that God, “knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust.”

St. Therese knew that she failed but she kept trying. She wanted to be perfect but she failed again and again until she realised that failures in prayer or anything must be the reference point for the future.

Sense of Humour: St. Therese pictures show us her hidden cheeky smile and sense of fun in her eyes. Some might relate her as serious, suffering and sad person. But reading the “Story of a Soul,” would show us a flowery language with utmost realness of life. She makes sisters happy in her convent by her enormous sense of humour. In her “Story of a Soul,” she writes to her sister after her famous meeting with Pope Leo XIII, whom she begged to let her become a nun ages 15, she described “The good Pope is so old, one would think he is dead”, although he outlived her, so may be he got the last laugh.

Don’t let your sense of humour be hidden: If you are a humours person, show it and make others happy. Church is not only for serious and traditional prayers with grim faces but a place to be happy.

Bring family together: St. Therese is the perfect intercessor and model for our families. Her large family knew the pains of illness and death. She lost her mother and also her older sister, these deaths would have brought enormous sadness to her father St. Louis Martin and to her entire household. But, they never gave up on prayer and family meal. This kept the family together.

In our families too, let us appreciate each other and learn from the family of St. Therese to be faithful to prayer and to each other. Ultimately, we need our family to help us keep up with life.

Crisis management: St. Therese managed her crisis in life so well. She was an easily offended child while she was growing up. Her schoolmates bullied her and this made her to be sensitive and even depressed as a young teenager. St Therese knew and learnt in her life that no matter what shock happened or how much change she had to endure; the foundation of her life is the unchanging love of Christ.

Hence, when you are in crisis, a prayer to her will help us to hold fast and carry on.

St. Therese in depression: St. Therese was not free of scruples. She feared that her sins had offended God or that she had committed a mortal sin plagued her at different times in her life. Her childhood brought sorrow to her family with the death of her mother and loss of her sister, her ‘second mother’ Pauline. Harsh bullying at school and extremely sensitive nature made her scrupulous and depressed at the young age. Her extreme physical suffering

of tuberculosis at the end of her life also caused her to be extremely vulnerable to depression. But she constantly turned back to Christ, and kept firmly in the right way.

We know people who go into depression and mental illness; we can reach out to them reminding them of the need to turn back to Christ who is our refuge and comforter. St. Therese, through her own life has taught us to depend on God at all times, especially in times depression and illness. 

Conclusion: St. Therese has left a legacy for all of us through her own life experience, which are real and honest. Let us learn from the saint to be honest in our lives because honesty will generate truth and truth will generate love. I would like to refer to St. Therese as a saint for everything that we experience in life. Her simplicity and littleness must inspire us to be courageous when life does not give us what we longed. St. Therese pray for us.