Thérèse of Lisieux

"Our Father, St. John of the Cross, says with great truth: "All good things have come unto me, since I no longer sought them for myself.

Since the age of three I have refused God nothing.

Time is thy barque, and not thy dwelling-place.

It seems to me that if a little flower could speak, it would tell simply what God has done for it without trying to hide its blessings. It would not say, under the pretext of a false humility, it is not beautiful and without perfume, that the sun has taken away its splendor and the storm has broken its stem when it knows that all this is untrue. The flower about to tell her story rejoices at having to publish the totally gratuitous gifts of Jesus. She knows that nothing in herself was capable of attracting the divine glances, and His mercy alone brought about everything that is good in her.

"Este insignificante episodio de mi infancia es el resumen de toda mi vida. Más tarde, cuando se ofreció ante mis ojos el horizonte de la perfección, comprendí que para ser santa había que sufrir mucho, buscar siempre lo más perfecto y olvidarse de sí misma. Comprendí que en la perfección había muchos grados, y que cada alma era libre de responder a las invitaciones del Señor y de hacer poco o mucho por él, en una palabra, de escoger entre los sacrificios que él nos pide. Entonces, como en los días de mi niñez, exclamé: «Dios mío, yo lo escojo todo. No quiero ser santa a medias, no me asusta sufrir por ti, sólo me asusta una cosa: conservar mi voluntad. Tómala, ¡pues "yo escojo todo" lo que tú quieres...!"

To this dearly loved sister I confided my most intimate thoughts; she cleared up all my doubts. One day I expressed surprise that God does not give an equal amount of glory to all the elect in Heaven — I was afraid that they would not all be quite happy. She sent me to fetch Papa's big tumbler, and put it beside my tiny thimble, then, filling both with water, she asked me which seemed the fuller. I replied that one was as full as the other — it was impossible to pour more water into either of them, for they could not hold it. In this way Pauline made it clear to me that in Heaven the least of the Blessed does not envy the happiness of the greatest.

Love lives only by sacrifice

"Then she showed them to me and I understood better than ever, in what true glory consists. He whose “Kingdom is not of this world"[2] taught me that the only royalty to be coveted lies in being “unknown and esteemed as naught,"[3] and in the joy of self-abasement. And I wished that my face, like the Face of Jesus, “should be, as it were, hidden and despised,"[4] so that no one on earth should esteem me. I thirsted to suffer and to be forgotten. Most merciful has been the way by which the Divine Master has ever led me.

If a little flower could speak, it seems to me that it would tell us quite simply all that God has done for it, without hiding any of its gifts. It would not, under the pretext of humility, say that it was not pretty, or that it had not a sweet scent, that the sun had withered its petals,or the storm bruised its stem, if it knew that such were not the case.

"May today there be peace within. May you trust that you are exactly where you are meant to be. May you not forget the infinite possibilities that are born of faith in yourself and others. May you use the gifts that you have received, and pass on the love that has been given to you. May you be content with yourself just the way you are. Let this knowledge settle into your bones, and allow your soul the freedom to sing, dance, praise and love. It is there for each and every one of us." ...

Al comienzo de mi vida espiritual, hacia los trece o catorce años, me preguntaba qué más podría adquirir en lo sucesivo, pues creía que me era imposible comprender mejor la perfección. Pronto reconocí que cuanto más se adelanta en este camino, tanto más lejos del término se cree uno, y por eso ahora me resigno a verme siempre imperfecta y en eso encuentro mi alegría.

One day she was playing on the swing when her father passed and called to her, "Come and give me a kiss, my little queen." Dérange-toi, Papa! Thérèse replied pertly — an untranslatable compound of "Come for it yourself" and "If you want it, you'll have to go the trouble of getting it", with perhaps even, "Don't be so lazy." Her father went by with a grave expression, but without a word, while Marie said: "You naughty little thing, how can you be so rude to your father?" I got off the swing at once; I had really learned my lesson, and the whole house echoed with my cries of contrition.

Without the interior light of grace I would have undoubtedly pitied myself, but in the midst of darkness I found myself divinely illumined.

is more profitable to leave everyone to his way of thinking than to give way to contentious discourses.

We are not as yet in our true country, and as gold is tired in the fire so must our souls be purified by temptation.