Lisieux

We just need little acts of love, little acts of compassion, of forgiveness.

As St. Eurydice of Lisieux was saying, our Lord doesn't need anything from us.

And he's simply delighted when we follow him and we do our best regarding others.

When we see Christ in others, that's when he rejoices in us.

She was a contemporary of the Little Flower, St. Therese, also a Discalced Carmelite, also living in sort of northwestern France, and She was in Dijon, France.

The little flower, as you know, was in Lisieux.

And so these two different Discalced Carmelite monasteries produced these beautiful saints.

And so St. Elizabeth the Trinity, lesser known, of course, but through this prayer and through its inclusion in the Catechism, she has become better known.

Rose of Lima had vowed her chastity to God while only five.

In our own days, Sir Therese, the little flower, was scarcely 15 when she entered the Carmelite monastery at Lisieux.

The spirit breatheth where he will.

There is no rule for vocations, no age limit for the call.

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Today we continue our series on the Doctors of the Church with our second episode on St. Therese of Lisieux, the Little Flower, and the youngest Doctor of the Church.

Bishop Patrick Ahern who championed the cause of St. Therese of Lisieux to be named a Doctor of the Church, said of her that, So, even though we don't have any 20th century Doctors of the Church, yet, we have St. Therese of Lisieux, who passed into what she called her real mission, that is, as an intercessor in heaven, just a few years before the turn of the 20th century, and who continues to be a saint for our confusing and distracting times.

Even though she lived in a convent, she was not sheltered from suffering.

And even though she didn't have a lot of major temptations, she did struggle with great doubts right up to the end of her life.

Maybe she didn't even seem like an obvious choice at first to many people.

The whole thing began with the grassroots of the laity and theologians, especially those who were disciples of St. Therese through her writings.

After St. Therese died and people started reading the story of a soul, letters started coming in to the convent in Lisieux.

The priest reported that he saw among them many who were highly esteemed and who, in human estimation, were now associated with the saints in heaven.

He recognized in their number Hugh, Bishop of Lisieux, and those eminent abbots, Manier of Evreux and Gerbert of Fontenelle, with many others whose names I either forget or have no desire to publish.

In the realms of eternal bliss the clear light of an endless day is shed on all around, and the children of the kingdom triumph in the joys which attend perfect holiness.

Nothing that is unrighteous is done there.

With these words, the knight hastened away.

The priest was seriously ill for a whole week.

As soon as he began to recover his strength, he went to Lisieux and related all that had happened to Bishop Gilbert in regular order and obtained on his petition the salutary remedies he needed.

He afterwards lived in good health almost 15 years.

Something else happened in that same month of Baldwin's death, that is, June of 1119.

See, Henry and Falk met in the French city of Lisieux, where they finally sealed the marriage between their two houses, between longtime rivals Normandy and Anjou.

Remember, six years earlier, in 1113, they penciled in a peace alliance with each other by betrothing their children.

Falk then sided with Clito and King Louis in the intervening years, causing no shortage of headaches for Henry, as well as the loss of Alençon to the Angevin, but they met again in Le Suez in June of 1119 to see this peace alliance solidified in marriage.

We can, however, practice sacrificial love in the duties before us, caring for someone who is suffering, forgiving an injury, or giving our time when it would be easier to turn away.

Through Kolb's intercession, we can ask for the courage to see Christ in the person who needs us, St. Therese of Lisieux and the Little Way.

St. Teres of Lisieux lived a hidden life as a Carmelite nun, yet her witness reached far beyond the convent.

Her little way teaches that holiness is found not only in extraordinary deeds, but also in ordinary acts performed with great love.

A patient response, a quiet sacrifice.

So he was one of the first to translate that into English.

Go to Lisieux, find her grave, which was practically unknown at the time, visit her sisters in the Lisieux Carmel.

When he came to Scotland, he took back devotion to St. Therese, to Scotland, spreading her book, spreading prayer cards, using her relics to bless people and heal people.

During the war, Karen Taylor's appointed to Carthyn, and there's a lot of poverty.

Trust in Providence.

Bad weather and snow.

John described how the relic of St Therese of Lisieux was placed at this really difficult time during those early works, and the fortunes seemed to change then.

That trust was sought from St Therese, the area grew, and was ready to open on St Therese's feast day, the 1st of October 1922.