Nothing is Little in Thérèse of Lisieux Andrew Combes
<http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_SC_870azdTU/ShJBIyiBFJI/AAAAAAAAQzo/NIYmAZR3CBY/s1600-h/therese-carmelite.jpg> [] Her spirit was nourished on Holy Scripture, on the Imitation of Christ, on the writings of Arminjon, on St. John of the Cross; her soul, above all, was nourished by absolute fidelity to all the initiatives of grace. By instinct, she always chose what was more elevated, more generous, more perfect. From her first Communion, which resulted in a transforming fusion, she wished to share in the divine strength. Very soon thereafter, for her to live was Christ. The divine reward waited for her in heaven; here below she made herself the contemporary of the crucified Christ. To console Him, she did not wish for any other thought but that of saving souls. It was for this that she entered Carmel; having become a contemplative, she was to be the bride of Jesus. By suffering and loving, she was to empty purgatory and fill heaven with the elect for Him. Her everyday weapons were to be prayer and sacrifice. In every sorrow that presented itself to her she recognized her Beloved. On the arms of Jesus she arrived at the summit of holiness. Her interior life was so to speak, despoiled; but she loved and within this love she held the adorable Trinity prisoner. She knew all this. She sang about it. She lived it. In order to love this God as He deserves to be loved, and to permit Him to spread the full torrent of His love over the world, she offered herself as a victim of holocaust to merciful Love. Living then in an act of perfect love, she shared, in the heart of the Church, her mother, in the eternal Love from which all apostolates proceed. Hence she was a missionary in full measure. From this supreme height she finally discovered the perfection of brotherly love. And although devastated in her [<http://stephenhand2.blogspot.com/2007/09/st.html>Dark Night of the Soul, see below Labels] and in her hope by the paradoxical trial that seemed to want to throw her into despair, still she died witnessing firmly that God, Who seemed to want to persuade her that He is Justice, is Love. It is for this reason that, passing beyond and transcending the mystery, she did not leave the earth without first having declared that heavenly happiness was to include two stages for <http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_SC_870azdTU/ShJBeXPbpxI/AAAAAAAAQzw/w6LpCkpXnqo/s1600-h/therese-carmelite.jpg> [] her, namely: before being absorbed in God, she was to share in His mercy by spreading graces in our midst. And she was to keep her promise! There is nothing more coherent, more grandiose, more significant! Essentially evangelical, theological, Christocentric, Thérèse's doctrine constitutes one of the most complete and most convincing syntheses because it was integrally lived of Christian truth in its purest and most profound elements. Going immediately to the heart of the matter, she gazed at the very nature of God, which is merciful Love, at the reality of the Incarnation, at the dramatic character of the Redemption, at the urgency of the cooperation of man in his own salvation, at the primacy of eternity, at the omnipotence of grace, at the inhabitation of the Trinity, at the apostolic efficacy of contemplation, at the divinization of the elect; and from this complexus she drew an «absolutely new way.» For she did not fear to offer for the triple problem of personal sanctification, of supernatural action and of the missionary apostolate a solution which was wholly mystical, and which coincided with the very nature of the Church in whose heart this divinely active contemplative was placed! Moreover, what is of greater value is that once she had reached the highest degree of her spiritual ascent, in that communion with merciful Love, Thérèse received the gift of understanding perfectly «what charity is.» Precisely because she succeeded in understanding the very nature of God, her radical theocentricism was changed into anthropocentrism. A triumph of the Gospel! <http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_SC_870azdTU/ShJDnQWWzSI/AAAAAAAAQz4/MYqTG2gIyQQ/s1600-h/childtherse.jpg> [] «Because it is a property of love to lower itself,” Thérèse observed, God lowered Himself to man, but with the aim of transforming man into Himself... By imitating this example and being inspired by this doctrine, a person veritably lives in the heart of the Church; he shares most efficaciously in its missionary activity. The more we scrutinize the life and the message of St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus and of the Holy Face with rigorous objectivity, the more do we admire the exactness of the prophetic judgment that St.Pius X formulated about her long before the opening of the apostolic process: 'She is the greatest saint of modern times". [<http://carmelnet.org/>Source] "My grace is sufficient for you," Jesus said to St. Paul, "for my power is made perfect in weakness." ---2 Corinthians 12:9 The poor pimps in business suits who consider themselves 'successful,' men and womyn of influence, have no idea they are pimps of the soul who war every day of their lives against goodness. May the nominal Catholics among them come to their senses and choose rather to be a beggar in the House of the Lord and even in the streets than a defiler of human decency and goodness. It matters nothing if we gain the whole world but lose our very souls. <http://stephenhand2.blogspot.com/2009/05/nothing-is-little-in-therese-of-lisieux.html>http://stephenhand2.blogspot.com/2009/05/nothing-is-little-in-therese-of-lisieux.html Yes, it's real postage! <http://www.holypostage.com/catalog/index.php> Holy Postage - yes, it's real postage! + <*}}}>< <http://www.holypostage.com/>Custom Faith-based U.S. Postage <*}}}>< + --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Please note that I do not send or open attachments sent to this list. You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Catholics on Fire" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/Catholics-on-Fire May the blessing of Jesus and our Blessed Mother be with you -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
