Quote of the day, 26 January: St. Thérèse
Martyrdom was the dream of my youth and this dream has grown with me within Carmel’s cloisters. But here again, I feel that my dream is a folly, for I cannot confine myself to desiring one kind of martyrdom. To satisfy me I need all….
O my Jesus! what is your answer to all my follies? Is there a soul more little, more powerless than mine? Nevertheless even because of my weakness, it has pleased You, O Lord, to grant my little childish desires and You desire, today, to grant other desires that are greater than the universe.
During my meditation, my desires caused me a veritable martyrdom, and I opened the Epistles of St. Paul to find some kind of answer. Chapters 12 and 13 of the First Epistle to the Corinthians fell under my eyes. I read there, in the first of these chapters, that all cannot be apostles, prophets, doctors, etc., that the Church is composed of different members, and that the eye cannot be the hand at one and the same time [1 Cor 12:29, 21].
The answer was clear, but it did not fulfill my desires and gave me no peace. But just as Mary Magdalene found what she was seeking by always stooping down and looking into the empty tomb, so I, abasing myself to the very depths of my nothingness, raised myself so high that I was able to attain my end [cf. St. John of the Cross, Poetry 6]. Without becoming discouraged, I continued my reading, and this sentence consoled me: “Yet strive after THE BETTER GIFTS, and I point out to you a yet more excellent way” [1 Cor 12:31, 13:1]. And the Apostle explains how all the most PERFECT gifts are nothing without LOVE. That Charity is the EXCELLENT WAY that leads most surely to God.
Saint Thérèse of Lisieux
Manuscript B, 3r–3v
Thérèse & Foley, M 2005, Story of a Soul: The autobiography of St. Thérèse of Lisieux, Study edn, translated from the French by Clarke, J, ICS Publications, Washington DC.
Featured image: Photographer Thomas Hawk captured this graffiti mural on concrete in San Francisco on 17 December 2008. Featuring a well-known quote by the Servant of God Dorothy Day—“Love is the only solution”—this mural illustrates the life-changing discovery of St. Thérèse: Charity is the excellent way that leads most surely to God. Image credit: Thomas Hawk / Flickr (Some rights reserved)
#charity #gifts #humility #little #love #MysticalBody #StMaryMagdalene #StThérèseOfLisieux
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