The Pope notes that Thérèse is “one of the best known and most loved saints in our world. Like Saint Francis of Assisi, she is loved by non-Christians and nonbelievers as well” (CC, n. 4). The youngest of five daughters, Thérèse was born to a middle-class family; her father was a watchmaker and a man of authentic piety; her mother died when she was only four. It appears that Thérèse was her father’s favorite child.
Thérèse has interacted with several popes. Leo XIII allowed her at age 15 to enter the Carmelite convent, where two of her sisters had already preceded her. She died of tuberculosis on September 30, 1897 at the age of 24. Only 28 years later, in 1925, Pius XI canonized her and then two years later made her the patron saint of missions. In 1997, John Paul II declared her Doctor of the Church, the youngest person to receive this title. Pope Francis canonized her parents, Louis and Zélie Martin, during the Synod on the Family in 2015. Her feast day is October 1.
These remarkable developments were sparked by the posthumous publication of her autobiography, The Story of a Soul, which describes her experience and unique insights into the spiritual life. Pope Francis desires that Thérèse’s message may “be taken up as part of the spiritual treasury of the Church” (CC, n. 4). He also quotes Pope John Paul II, who referred to Thérèse as “an expert in the scientia amoris” (science of love).
JESUS FOR OTHERS
This first section reveals several of Thérèse’s pivotal insights, beginning with the choice of her religious name. She is known as “Thérèse of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face.” “Child” manifests the mystery of Christ’s incarnation; “Holy Face” reveals the one who surrendered Himself completely on the cross. Jesus’ name was constantly on her lips; she wrote in her monastery cell: “Jesus is my one love” (CC, n. 8).
Thérèse had an authentic faith encounter with Christ, which sparked a profound summons to the mission. She described her mission in these words: “I shall desire in heaven the same things as I do now on earth: to love Jesus and to make him loved” (CC, n. 9). She had written that she entered Carmel to save souls.
Pope Francis notes that “the final pages of her Story of a Soul are a missionary testament. They express her appreciation of the fact that evangelization takes place by attraction, not by pressure or proselytism” (CC, n. 10). Thérèse speaks to Christ, requesting that He “draw me”; she is begging Christ to attract her and all the souls she loves to Himself. She believed that when the soul is drawn to Jesus, it “plunges into the shoreless ocean of your love” (CC, n. 10).
Thérèse also speaks of the workings of the Holy Spirit: “That is my prayer. I ask Jesus to draw me to the flame of his love, to unite me so closely to him that he lives and acts in me. I feel that the more the fire of love burns within my heart, the more I shall say ‘draw me’” (CC, n. 12). Francis asserts that “this is what happened, especially after her death. It was her promised ‘shower of roses’” (CC, n. 13).
THE LITTLE WAY OF TRUST AND LOVE
Saint Thérèse did not found a religious order; she never performed great works and never went to the missions. However, she understood that what is important in the Christian life is great love, not great deeds. Thérèse, the saint of the “little way,” “the way of spiritual childhood” (CC, n. 14), developed a spirituality of ordinariness, in which one offers each moment and every deed simply and lovingly to God.
Her famous title, “The Little Flower,” derives from her self-image as only one among millions of ordinary little flowers on the hillside, each giving its all in joy and praise to God. Thérèse is a source of deep hope to millions who desire to serve God, their loving Father, through their littleness, simplicity, and love. They find in Thérèse their own vocation and spirituality, their “doable” and “livable” pathway of daily sanctification.
Thérèse used the image of an elevator in her Story of a Soul to describe her “little way.” “The elevator which must raise me to heaven is your arms, O Jesus! And for this, I had no need to grow up, but rather I had to remain little and become this more and more” (CC, n. 16). Francis affirms: “Little, incapable of being confident in herself, and yet firmly secure in the loving power of the Lord’s arms” (CC, n. 16).
Thérèse always emphasized God’s initiative. When speaking of the Eucharist, she tells Jesus: “Remain in me as in a tabernacle” (CC, n. 22). Indeed, “her gaze remained fixed not on herself and her own needs, but on Christ, who loves, seeks, desires and dwells within” (CC, n. 22).
Thérèse experienced “a deep and boundless trust in God’s infinite mercy” (CC, n. 27). She witnessed this mercy when the criminal murderer Henri Pranzini, for whom she had ceaselessly prayed, repented before his death. She stated: “After this unique grace, my desire to save souls grows each day” (CC, n. 28).
Our Teresian journey now moves to the third section of Pope Francis’ apostolic exhortation; it is focused on charity, “the supreme gift of the Holy Spirit” and “the mother and root of all the virtues” (CC, n. 30). In her Story of a Soul Thérèse offers us a reflection on Jesus’ new commandment: “that you love one another as I have loved you” (Jn 15:12). Francis observes: “Thérèse wished to respond to the love of Jesus, to offer him love in return for love” (CC, n. 31).
Inspired by the Song of Songs (2:16), Thérèse writes: “I think that the Heart of my Spouse is mine alone, just as mine is his alone, and I speak to him in the solitude of this delightful heart to heart, while waiting to contemplate him one day face to face. Although the Lord loves us together as a people, at the same time charity works in a most personal way: heart to heart” (CC, n. 32). Incidentally, one is reminded of the episcopal motto of Saint John Henry Cardinal Newman: Cor ad cor loquitur (Heart speaks to heart).
Francis writes: “Thérèse possessed complete certainty that Jesus loved her and knew her personally at the time of his Passion: He loved me and gave himself for me (Gal 2:20)” (CC, n. 33). “Repeating the words, ‘Jesus, I love you’ which became as natural to Thérèse as breathing, is the key to her understanding of the Gospel…. She penetrated the depths of the love of the Heart of Jesus” (CC, n. 34).
Thérèse was delirious with joy when she found her special vocation. “My vocation is Love. Yes, I have found my place in the Church…. In the heart of the Church, my Mother, I shall be Love. Thus, I shall be everything, and thus my dream will be realized” (CC, n. 39). “This was the radical option of Thérèse, her definite synthesis and her deepest spiritual identity” (CC, n. 41).
AT THE HEART OF THE GOSPEL
In his final section, Pope Francis recalls a pivotal point of his 2013 apostolic exhortation. “In Evangelii Gaudium, I urged a return to the freshness of the source, to emphasize what is essential and indispensable. I now consider it fitting to take up that invitation and propose it anew” (CC, n. 46).
“This exhortation on Saint Thérèse allows me to observe that, in a missionary Church, ‘the message has to concentrate on the essentials, on what is most beautiful, most grand, most appealing and at the same time most essential. The message is simplified, while losing none of its depth and truth, and thus becomes all the more forceful and convincing.’ The luminous core of that message is ‘the beauty of the saving love of God made manifest in Jesus Christ who died and rose from the dead’” (CC, n. 47).
Francis continues: “The center of Christian morality is charity, as our response to the unconditional love of the Trinity. Consequently, works of love directed toward one’s neighbor are the most perfect manifestation of the interior grace of the Spirit. In the end, only love counts” (CC, n. 48).
Emphasizing the “timely witness” of Saint Thérèse, Francis notes seven areas where her insights are relevant today. Two examples suffice. “In an age that urges us to focus on ourselves and our interests, Thérèse shows us the beauty of making our lives a gift.” “In an age of indifference and self-absorption, Thérèse inspires us to be missionary disciples, captivate by the attractiveness of Jesus and the Gospel” (CC, n. 52).
“Dear Saint Thérèse, the Church needs to radiate the brightness, fragrance, and joy of the Gospel. Send us your roses! Help us to be, like yourself, ever confident in God’s immense love for us, so that we may imitate each day your ‘little way’ of holiness. Amen” (CC, n. 3).
James H. Kroeger, MM, has served missions in Asia (Philippines and Bangladesh) for over five decades. He recently completed Walking with Pope Francis: The Official Documents in Everyday Language, a synthesis-popularization of ten of Pope Francis’ pivotal documents from 2013-2022; it is available from Orbis Books and the Pauline Sisters.
