Les Réflexions et les Leçons d'un Voyageur de Pèlerin: Sainte Thérèse de Lisieux and Her Little Way

“Even now I know it: Yes, all my hopes will be fulfilled... Yes... The Lord will work wonders for me which will surpass infinitely my immeasurable desires”, Saint Therese de l'Enfant-Jesus once said.

I keep this in mind whenever I feel extremely exhausted and overwhelmed with temporal concerns. When the world makes me feel so small and unworthy, I remember that it is not in grand things that we can bring joy to the heart of God, but in doing the smallest things with great love.

And when I long for a much needed repose and solitude, I remember Saint Therese' words: "The world's thy ship and not thy home." It reminds me to always keep my focus on Jesus Christ, and that one day I shall be welcomed lovingly in my eternal home by my Eternal Father.

Pictures on display at the museum and inside the

Basilique Sainte-Thérèse de Lisieux

Adorably precocious blue-eyed and blond Marie-Francoise-Therese Martin, my dear Saint Therese, was born on January 2, 1873, in Rue Saint-Blaise, Alencos, a quaint town in Normany, France. She was baptized two days later on January 4th.

A painting of Saint Thérèse done by her sister, Céline
(displayed in one of the rooms of Les Buissonets)

Saint Marie-Azelie Guerin, a lace maker, and Saint Louis Martin, a jeweller and watchmaker, were the devout parents of La Petite Fleur (The Little Flower). They had nine children, but lost three infants and 5-and-a-half year old Helene. All five of their surviving daughters became nuns: Marie (Sister Marie of the Sacred Heart, of Lisieux, Carmel), Pauline (Mother Agnes of Jesus, Lisieux, Carmel), Leonie (Sister Francoise-Therese of the Visitandine at Caen), Celine (also a Carmelite in Lisieux, and was known as Sister Genevieve of the Holy Face), and finally, Saint Therese (Therese de l'Enfant et de la Sainte Face ~Therese of the Child Jesus and of the Holy Face).

A family of Saints: Blessed Zélie, Blessed Louis,
Saint Thérèse and her sisters

Saint Zelie died of cancer at the age of 45, on August 28, 1877. Saint Therese wrote "Every detail of my mother's illness is still with me, specially her last weeks on earth." Three months after, Saint Louis moved his family from Alencon to Lisieux. They lived in Les Buissonets, a lovely spacious country house with a beautiful garden on the slope of a hill overlooking Lisieux.

22 Chemin des Buissonnets, 14100 Lisieux, France

Saint Therese was ofren sick and began to suffer from nervous tremors. She recovered after gazing at the statue of the Virgin Mary, Notre-Dame du Sourire; she reported that she saw the Blessed Virgin smile at her on May 13, 1883. "Mary's face radiated in kindness and love", she wrote in her autobiography, The Story of A Soul. "Our Blessed Lady has come to me, she has smiled upon me. How happy I am."

It was on Christmas Eve of 1886 that Saint Therese said she had her complete conversion. In her words, she said, "I felt, in a word, charity enter my heart, the need to forget myself to make others happy ~ Since this blessed night I was not defeated in any battle, but instead I went from victory to victory and began, so to speak, to run a giant's course."

A replica of Notre-Dame de Sourire (Our Lady of the Smile)
found in Saint Thérèse's room in Les Buissonnets

She started to read The Imitation of Christ at fourteen years old. For her, it was as if Thomas A Kempis wrote each sentence for her: "The Kingdom of God is within you... Turn thee with thy whole heart unto the Lord; and forsake this wretched world, and thy soul shall find rest."

One Sunday afternoon in May 1887, Saint Louis sat in their garden and was approached by his youngest daughter, Saint Therese, who asked permission that she be allowed to enter the Carmel monastery in Lisieux. Louis and Therese both broke down and cried, but Louis got up, gently picked a little white flower, root intact, and gave it to her, explaining the care with which God brought it into being and preserved it until that day. Saint Therese later wrote: "while I listened I believed I was hearing my own story." To Therese, the flower seemed a symbol of herself, destined to live in another soil."

The statue portrays Sainte Thérèse
asking her father to allow her to enter Carmel

To Therese, the flower seemed a symbol of herself, destined to live Saint Therese was welcomed into Carmel, Lisieux on the Solemnity of the Annunciation, on April 09, 1888. She received the Carmelite habit on January 10, 1889, and had her perpetual vows on September 08, 1890. Therese' names in religion were two ~ of he Child Jesus and of the Holy Face. The former was given to her at her entry into the convent; veneration of the Child Jesus was a Carmelite heritage of the seventeenth century. The latter was given to her when she received the veil, as she loved to contemplate on the disfigured face of Jesus during His Passion. In her reflections, she wrote, "I, too, wanted to be without comeliness and beauty... unknown to all creatures."

"Whoever is a little one, let him come to me." (Proverbs 9:4)

Saint Therese spent a discreet life as a Carmelite nun from September 1890 until her death. In her very short life of only 24 years, she realized and understood that it was only through littleness, simplicity, and humility, that she may approach God and ask for His help.

Inside the crypt of the Basilica of Saint Thérèse.
It is decorated with mosaics representing scenes of the saint's life.

"Without love, deeds, even the most brilliant, count as nothing."

In the Little Way, Saint Therese reveals the simple truth of the message of Love. It is a way that seeks holiness of life in the everyday ordinariness of our existence. She reminds us that God, as our Father, always shows us mercy and forgiveness; and that we can never attain perfection alone without His grace. She teaches us that we express our Love to God when we humbly serve others ~ especially the least, the last, and the lost. "True charity consists in bearing with all the defects of our neighbor, in not being surprised at his failings, and in being edified by his least virtues; Charity must not remain shut up in the depths of the heart, for no man lighteth a candle and putteth it under a bushel, but upon a candlestick, that it may shine to all that are in the house. (Cf. St. Matthew 5:15). It seems to me that his candle represents the Charity which ought to enlighten and make joyful, not only those who are dearest to me, but all who are in the house."

(At the crypt) Sarah and Tobias : A lesson on prayer, fasting, filial piety, purity of marriage and the powerful intercession of angels!

Saint Therese inspires me: "On each fresh occasion of combat, when the enemy desires to challenge me, I conduct myself valiantly: knowing that to fight a duel is an unworthy act, I turn my back upon the adversary without ever looking him in the face; then I run to my Jesus, and tell Him I am ready to shed every drop of blood in testimony of my belief that there is a Heaven; I tell Him I am glad to be unable to contemplate, while on earth, with the eyes of the soul, the beautiful heaven that awaits me so he will deign to open it for eternity to poor unbelievers.

I make a conscious effort to pray that i may not commit grave sins. I choose to obey God's precepts even when convenience is often the easiest way to go. But I cannot do it alone. I rely on the strength of Christ, who conquered sin, and even death, for love of me.

Monastère du Carmel de Lisieux

"Time is but a shadow, a dream: already God sees us in glory and takes joy in our eternal beatitude. How this thought helps my soul! I understand then why he lets us suffer..."

This I remember when at the brink of despair and helplessness. If my dear Saint Therese was not spared from sufferings, she who lived a holy life, how much more for a sinner like myself still in the vale of tears. In Jesus my hope is found. And Saint Therese has been constantly present in my life ~ journeying with me, consoling me, reassuring me with roses, and this fulfilling her promise: "After my death, I will let a fall of roses. I will spend heaven doing good upon earth. I will raise up a mighty host of little saints. My mission is to make God loved..."

By the example of the Little Flower, I have been drawn to a deeper love of God through the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Interior of the Basilica in Lisiuex

Whenever I feel like I am not doing much to spread the Joy of the Gospels, I remember Saint Therese' mission while here on earth: "My vocation is Love", she declared.

I have embraced that vocation, too. It is not without trials and sufferings. I am imperfect and thus commit sin. I get easily irked; my patience always being tried. In my weakness I sometimes judge swiftly, even though only in my head.

"Miss no single opportunity of making some small sacrifice, here by a smiling look, there by a kindly word; always doing the smallest right and doing it all for love." True love is expressed in the simplest yet purest ways.

"When one loves,one does not calculate." I have yet to reach that perfection in Love, but all is possible through Jesus Christ.

The wax statue of Sainte Thérese was fashioned after the saint at the moment of her death. Engraved along the top of the case are her words: Je veux passer mon ciel faire du bien sur la terre;
“I want to spend my Heaven doing good on earth.”

Rev. John F. Russell, O.Carm. of Seton Hall University, when speaking about the life of the Little Flower said, "In living out her life of faith she sensed that everything that she was able to accomplish came from a generous love of God in her life. She was convinced that at the end of her life she would go to God with empty hands. Why? Because all was accomplished in union with God.

Catholics and other Christians have been attracted to Saint Therese' style. Her little way seems to put holiness of life within the reach of ordinary people. Live out your days with confidence in God's love for you. Recognize that each day is a gift in which your life can make a difference by the way you choose to live it. Put hope in a future in which God will be all, and love will consume your spirit. Choose life, not the darkness of pettiness and greed. Saint Therese knew the difference love makes by allowing love to be the statement she made each day of her life."