Happy Feast of St. Therese!

By my kitchen window since as long as I can remember, in every house we have lived in, I have had this picture of St. Therese.  My memory fails me as to its origin, but I do believe I picked it up in Lisieux during my World Youth Day pilgrimage in high school.  It is a postcard, in a simple black frame that I have replaced throughout the years.  I love to have her close, and as I am in the kitchen a lot in this vocation of motherhood, it has always made sense to have her there.  She reminds me of her “little way” – doing little things with great love; loving God greatly by doing the everyday little things, like washing dishes.  🙂   Maybe I should put another picture of her by the diapers and in the car…. because I do a lot of diaper changing and driving these days. 🙂

If you’ve never read her autobiography, Story of a Soul, I can’t recommend it enough.  And if you have, please consider reading it again.  I can’t tell you how many times something new sticks out to me.  But one Oct. 1st, many years ago, we were at Mass.  And the good priest gave his homily on the Little Flower, as St. Therese is fondly called.  He said something that struck me.  He said that one didn’t truly know Therese well until one read her book “Last Conversations.” And so, I did.  In there was a treasury of her last words amidst the great suffering she endured before her death.  It is a beautiful book and I am so grateful to that priest for having said that in his homily.

And so, today, I will leave you with an excerpt from Last Conversations that I happened upon today and touched my heart.  Know that the saints are ever present.  And how much they desire for us to be saints one day too.  They are our hidden friends, always praying for us, always encouraging us along this journey Home.  You are loved, my friend.

“I feel that I’m about to enter into my rest.  But I feel especially that my mission is about to begin, my mission of making God loved as I love Him, of giving my little way to souls.  If God answers my desires, my heaven will be spent on earth until the end of the world.  Yes, I want to spend my heaven doing good on earth…. I can’t make heaven a feast of rejoicing; I can’t rest as long as there are souls to be saved.  But when the angel will have said, “Time is no more!” then I will take my rest; I’ll be able to rejoice…because all will have entered into joy and repose.” My heart beats with joy at this thought.”

~ St. Therese (Last Conversations page 102)