"I feel that my mission is about to begin, my mission to make God loved as I love Him, to teach souls my little way."
Carmelite Homiles would like to honor St. Therese of Lisieux in its first posting on Carmelite spirituality. St. Therese was a Carmelite nun of France at the end of the 19th century. Her short life on earth, though seemingly insignificant by some of her contemporaries, has proved to be a powerful catalyst in spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ throughout the world. The reason why we would like to honor her in our first post on Carmelite spirituality is twofold.
Firstly, her sprituality is a "little way," one in which any person can find the means to spiritual satisfaction (cf. the Gospel of Mark 8:8). Therese's Little Way is, according to the saint herself, "the way of spiritual childhood, the way of trust and absolute surrender," (Story of a Soul, translated by John Clark, OCD, Third Edition, page xi). To learn more about this little way, please obtain a copy of her autobiography, A Story of a Soul, which can be purchased at www.icspublications.org.
Secondly, besides being the patroness of vocations, she is officially recognized by the Holy Catholic Church as the patroness of the missions. As she once said, "I would like to travel over the whole earth to preach Your Name and to plant Your glorious Cross on infidel soil. But O my Beloved, one mission alone would not be sufficient for me, I would want to preach the Gospel on all the five continents simultaneously and even to the most remote isles. I would be a missionary, not for a few years only but from the beginning of creation until the cunsummation of the ages. But above all, O my Beloved Savior, I would shed my blood for You to the very last drop." (Ibid, pages 192-193). Carmelite Homilies needs St. Therese to pray for the success of this website, that it may be used by the Lord Jesus Christ to spread his Gospel throughout the world.
May St. Therese's mission to make our Lord Jesus Christ loved as she loves Him become realized in each one of our hearts! How can we help her do this?
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