by Father John Welch, O.Carm.

She has been called a "Vatican II in miniature." Young Therese Martin as a Carmelite nun anticipated many of the contributions of that great pastoral council. The Fathers of the Council frequently invoked her name both in formal and informal sessions. And today her contributions are recognized in the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

Saint Therese of Lisieux, “the Little Flower,” died in 1897 at the age of 24. Her spirituality was rooted in the gospels, long before Catholics were turning to scripture for nourishment. She preferred to think of the Blessed Virgin not as a Queen but as a young peasant woman facing the daily tasks common to all. Therese reinvigorated our belief in the "communion of saints." She trusted that her deceased family members still cared and heard her prayers. She herself promised not to forget those of us who remained on earth after her death.

Best of all, Saint Therese of Lisieux restored our confidence in a God who is loving and merciful. In a time when religion focused on sin and God's punishment, Therese relied on a God whose justice would take into account our poverty, and whose love would never turn away. Her little way is not a lessening of desire nor a retreat from life. It is a way of proceeding with absolute trust in God's merciful love. Therese declared, "Everything is grace!"

When Therese, under instructions from her prioress, wrote her autobiography, Story of A Soul, she said she was "singing of the mercies of the Lord." Our ordinary lives are filled with daily miracles, the mercies of the Lord. And she quoted Saint Paul: "So then there is question not of him who wills nor of him who runs but of God showing mercy' (Rom 9,16). Her emphasis was not on what she had done in her lifetime, but on what God's presence and love had done in and through her.

Thomas Merton attributed his vocation to her inspiration. Dorothy Day wrote a biography of Saint Therese. Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta said she chose her name, not from the great Saint Teresa of Avila, but from little Therese. In 1997 Pope John Paul II declared her "Doctor of the Universal Church," one of only 33 individuals to receive that recognition, and the third woman, after Saint Teresa of Avila and Saint Catherine of Sienna. The Pope referred to Therese as one of the great masters of the spiritual life in our time."

Confidence and love

The Little Flower was convinced that God is not looking for people to punish. God is looking for people to love. Therese said, "How few there are who are willing to open their lives to that love." God's love is a transforming love. God wants to love people into life, into freedom, into a profound friendship.

When her sister Marie complained that she herself had none of the great desires to be holy that Therese had, Therese said it is not our virtues or our great desires God loves it is our "littleness." She wrote to Marie: The more one is weak, without desires and without virtues, the more one is suited for the operation of God's consuming and transforming love." We do not earn God's love; it is freely given. Therese is expressing a true, biblical faith when she said to Marie, It is confidence and nothing but confidence that must lead us to love."

Saint Therese's short life had its share of sorrows, including several final months of intense physical suffering, and challenges to her faith. Anticipating her death, Therese wrote to a missionary priest, When I shall have arrived at port, I will teach you how to travel...on the stormy sea of the world; with the surrender and love of a child who knows God loves us and cannot leave us alone in the hour of danger... it is the way of simple love and confidence."

Bishop Patrick Ahern, an ardent devotee of Saint Therese, described her spirituality: "The Little Way finds joy in the present moment. In being pleased to be the person you are, whoever you are. It is a school of self-acceptance, which goes beyond accepting who you are to wanting to be who you are. It is a way of coming to terms with life, not as it might be but as it is."

As she promised, the Little Flower went to God "With empty hands," knowing that would be enough. Her Feast is celebrated October 1.