Deepertruth: Stand In The Gap With Us And Saint Thérèse of Lisieux

Stand In The Gap With Us And Saint Thérèse of Lisieux 10/01/2023

She is a patron saint of missions and of florists. Thérèse was the youngest of nine children, five of whom survived childhood. After her mother died of breast cancer in 1877, Thérèse moved with her family to Lisieux. In the deeply religious atmosphere of her home, her piety developed early and intensively.

She loved flowers and saw herself as the "little flower of Jesus," who gave glory to God by just being her beautiful little self among all the other flowers in God's garden. Because of this beautiful analogy, the title "little flower" remained with St. Therese.

We can find joy and God in even the smallest actions if we remember why we take them on. “Remember that nothing is small in the eyes of God,” St. Therese says. “Do all that you do with love.”

"I understood that love comprises all vocations – that love is everything, and because it is eternal, embraces all times and places." God is love. We all know this, but we seldom live this way on a daily basis – as if love should be our goal, our focal point, our reason for breathing and being.

“I prefer the monotony of obscure sacrifice to all ecstasies. To pick up a pin for love can convert a soul.”

These are the words of Thérèse of Lisieux, a Carmelite nun called the “Little Flower,” who lived a cloistered life of obscurity in the convent of Lisieux, France. And her preference for hidden sacrifice did indeed convert souls. Few saints of God are more popular than this young nun. Her autobiography, The Story of a Soul, is read and loved throughout the world. Thérèse Martin entered the convent at the age of 15 and died in 1897 at the age of 24.