Saint Therese of Lisieux
We’ve spent quite some time journeying with the saints over the past ten days, and for some of you this may have been quite new. I hope you’ve enjoyed learning about some of these great men and women of the faith and have felt a greater sense of the universal church, both past and present.
A Brief Background
The final saint that I wanted to write about is Saint Therese of Lisieux. She was born in 1873 in France to a devout Christian family and experienced a strong desire for heaven from a very young age, often saying to her mother, “I wish you would die, dear little Mother…because I want you to go to heaven!” (Not sure if that made her mom feel good.)
Perhaps a bit ominous, because her mother did in fact die when Therese was just four years old. This loss deeply affected her and she writes about it in her autobiography, The Story of a Soul. Therese joined a convent at age fifteen and died of tuberculosis at the very young age of twenty-four.1
Childlike Wonder
Therese’s short life is a beautiful example of the childlike wonder we are called to have in our faith. This isn’t the same as being gullible like a child, but instead means that we can experience the goodness of God’s gifts with fresh eyes. (If you’ve ever seen a kid experience something that we adults see as common, then you’ll know what this childlike wonder is referring to.)
Therese wrote about the wonder she felt while on walks with her parents and four sisters through the beautiful countryside as a child,
When I saw all these beauties very profound thoughts came to life in my soul. I seemed to understand already the grandeur of God and the marvels of heaven.2
She again speaks of God’s grandeur when remembering her first visit to the ocean:
I couldn’t take my eyes off it since its majesty, the roaring of its waves, everything spoke to my soul of God’s grandeur and power.3…Ah! what poetry flooded my soul at the sight of all these things! It was without regret I saw them disappear, for my heart longed for other marvels. It had contemplated earthly beauties long enough; those of heaven were the object of its desires.4
When I read Therese’s writing, I can’t help but smile—she seems so enthralled by God and his creation and I love that. It lifts up my heart and I can hear the simple joy and excitement for life and beauty in her writings and I want to appreciate life in that same way.
If she were living today she’d probably be using dozens of emojis. . .although somehow I find it hard to imagine a saint using an emoji. 🏔🌻😍
Preparing Our Hearts
Therese’s joy and excitement helps me pause to think about what sort of things reflect God’s grandeur around me. What do we see around us at this very moment that speaks to God’s majesty and power, or the marvel of heaven?