Life Is in the Collective
With the story of Thérèse, and only with her story, we see a fully realized mystic and saint portrayed as someone living at the center of a web of intense relationships: embedded, that is, in…
Tag: Saint Thérèse of Lisieux
Today’s One-Liner (#226)
This little incident of my childhood is a summary of my whole life; later on when perfection was set before me, I understood that to become a saint one had to suffer much, seek out…
Today’s One-Liner (#204)
I felt charity enter into my soul, and the need to forget myself and to please others; since then I’ve been happy! –Saint Therese of Lisieux, Story of a Soul: Autobiography
Small Things
It is this attitude—this unblinking alertness to the meaning of each moment— that probably accounts for the intense compression of Thérèse’s spiritual development. She just didn’t miss a beat. As a novice, she was exerting…
Today’s One-Liner (#166)
We earnestly desire that all the faithful should study her in order to copy her, becoming children themselves; since otherwise they cannot, according to the words of the Master, arrive at the kingdom of heaven….
Aspiring to Holiness
You know, Mother, I have always wanted to be a saint. Alas! I have always noticed that when I compared myself to the saints, there is between them and me the same difference that exists…
A Simple Alternative to Perfectionism
My dear Mother, you can see that I am a very little soul and that I can offer God only very little things. It often happens that I allow these little sacrifices which give such…
Today’s One-Liner (#120)
“[God] has always given me what I desired, or rather He has made me desire what He wishes to give.” –Saint Thérèse of Lisieux, The Story of a Soul
Recent Reading
Sohrab Ahmari, The Unbroken Thread: Discovering the Wisdom of Tradition in an Age of Chaos Thomas à Kempis, The Imitation of Christ Wendell Berry, Blessed are the Peacemakers: Christ’s Teachings of Love, Compassion, and Forgiveness…
Today’s One-Liner (#104)
I will take pains to humble my arrogance. –Saint Thérèse of Lisieux, quoted in Carol Lee Flinders, Enduring Grace: Living Portraits of Seven Women Mystics