The Words of St. Therese
I feel within me the vocation of the warrior, the priest, the apostle, the doctor, the martyr. I feel the need and desire of carrying out the most heroic deeds for you, Jesus…My desires caused me a real martyrdom, until I found Ch. 12-13 of 1st Corinthians, that we cannot all be apostles, doctors, etc….Charity gave me the key to my vocation. I understood that love comprises all vocations – that love is everything, and because it is eternal, embraces all times and places. My vocation is love…Love will descend into my nothingness and transform this nothingness into living fire.
Our Novena Prayer
Therese you wanted everything as you searched for meaning in your life. You had to learn your limits and your emptiness so that God could make everything of you. Give me your simplicity and humility, gentle Little Flower. Teach me again that God is love , and that the more I love, the more I am like God in whose image we are created. Inspire me to believe that loving in the most simple and profound ways is the most heroic of vocations.
Reintroduce me to my own truth, tender Therese, so that I may be authentic and honest before God and others – and be God’s living flame of love in this world. Transform me in your “Little Way” of love and confidence. Make me as open to the mysterious movement of God’s grace as you are, and I will be more than I ever imagined!