Feast of St. Thérèse of Lisieux, Grotto of Lourdes, 2025
The Lord led her and taught her,
and kept her as the apple of his eye.
Like an eagle spreading its wings
he took her up and bore her on his shoulders.
The Lord alone was her guide.
The opening antiphon for Mass today, as we celebrate and commemorate St. Thérèse of Lisieux.
My first encounter with St. Thérèse was when I was a student for the priesthood. During a Summer holiday I had a job working in the bookshop in Our Lady’s Shrine at Knock. In between serving the customers – there was an opportunity to read some of the many great spiritual books on display. One of the books I read was the much acclaimed autobiography of the great Saint. I must confess it didn’t hugely appeal to me at that time. I felt it a big saccharine if I could say so and felt it had little to appeal to a male spirituality of someone in his early 20’s. It was only some years later I felt drawn to revisit the classic work as I found out she was the favourite saint of an uncle I looked up to very much. The man in question, also a Fintan Monahan, a Garda Sergeant by vocation was a man of great kindness, talents and interests, an outstanding athlete, a well-rounded sportsman, always at the heart of family and community in an understated way. He was also a man of deep faith and with particular devotion to St. Thérèse. Being influenced by that I took a second read and to my delight with those extra years of maturity was certainly drawn in and revised my opinion.
Thérèse Martin
Thérèse Martin was born in France in 1873, the last of nine children. Her mother died of cancer when she was four and she was raised by her father Louis Martin. In 1887 her father gave his permission for her to become a cloistered Carmelite nun at Lisieux, joining two of her sisters, Pauline and Marie. She was just 15 years and three months old. Thérèse spent the remaining nine years of her life in the convent and it is here that she composed her spiritual autobiography ‘The Story of a Soul’.
The Little Flower
The reason she’s known as the Little Flower is because she saw herself as like the simple wildflowers in forests and fields. They’re often unnoticed by others, yet they grow and give glory to God. She saw herself as simple and hidden, but blooming where God had planted her. Living a hidden, simple life she demonstrated a powerful energy and positive spirit, and a great desire to help others through her prayers, through what she called her “little way”.
Little Way Association – Killaloe Connection
Just down the street here in Lourdes for many years there was a branch of the Little Way Association on the Rue de la Grotte. The Little Way Association was founded by a woman from the diocese of Killaloe, a great lady called Mary Doohan who came from The Hand in Coore, West Clare. Mary was born in 1917 and because of her renowned charitable work received a number of papal awards before she died not too many years ago. The association she founded, based on the inspiration of St. Thérèse continues to provide for the world’s poorest in so many ways, supporting projects to make people’s lives in the developing world a little better. Inspired by the spirituality of St. Thérèse, the “little way” involves finding the spiritual in the little things of ordinary life.
Suffering of St. Therese
The time of St. Thérèse in the convent was often difficult. She writes of experiencing great suffering through sickness as well as great dryness in her prayer life, and some personality clashes with others in the convent. Yet despite all this she remained faithful to God realising that her vocation was simply one of love. The Little Flower rejoiced in her imperfections, embracing them as a means by which she could draw closer to God. For this, she used the image of an elevator. In her imperfections, she was too small to climb the stairway of perfection and so she needed an elevator – Jesus’ arms – to raise her up.
Redemptive value of the Cross
Despite her advancing tuberculosis, St. Thérèse maintained unaffected cheerfulness, using puns, tricks, and jokes about herself and the doctor’s inability to help her as a way of bringing cheer to others. Her concern was for the pain of others rather than her own. After a painful 18 month struggle she died on 30 September 1897 at the age of 24. Her last words were “My God, I love you”.
In 1898 ‘The Story of a Soul was published and by 1907 Pope Pius X stated that Thérèse was “the greatest saint of modern times”. She is regarded as patroness of the Missions … despite the fact that she never had the opportunity to travel. In 1925 she was canonised by Pope Pius XI. In 1997 Pope John Paul II declared St. Therese a Doctor of the Church – in recognition of the powerful influence her life and spirituality had on the modern world. In her childlike, joyful love, St. Thérèse truly became the “Little Flower”. She left her “Little Way” as a testimony and also as an example for us to follow as we make our own little way to the arms of Jesus.