St. Therese of Lisieux’s Extraordinary Faith

I first heard of St. Therese a few months ago while trying to draw inspiration for the blog. 

I read that she is one of the four female doctors of the Church. She was given that title by the one and only, St. John Paul II, who called her “the greatest saint of modern times.”

The story of why I ultimately chose St. Therese of Lisieux as the patron saint of my blog is surreal.

Learning About The Saints

But first, let me tell you that I am upset that it wasn’t until recently that I found out about the tremendously inspiring saints recognized by the Church. So many grand people have walked this Earth with inspirational stories.

There is St. Augustine of Hippo notorious for saying, “O Lord, help me to be pure, but not yet.” He was an atheist who later became an esteemed Church father.

Other saints lived out their faith at a young age like Maria Goretti, who died at the age of 14 because of wounds inflicted by someone attempting to rape her and forgave him as she took her last breaths. 

These people were just as tempted as any other human being, but their faith, love, and fear of God helped them persevere until they were finally met by the presence of God in Heaven.

It’s astonishing, and I wish I had learned about them sooner. Up until now, I thought praying to saints was a little weird. But I now realize that it’s because I knew NOTHING about them. I didn’t understand that they were praying for us while they’re in the presence of God Almighty. 

How wonderful is that? 

In the mean time, I’ve written about another inspiring faithful woman, Mother Angelica. I would not be surprised if she gets canonized in the coming years!

Meeting St. Therese

Just when I thought my mind could not be more blown away, I met St. Therese of Lisieux. 

She lost her mother at the age of 4 (fun fact, her parents were the first couple to be canonized), and then her sister, who took care of her, became a Descaled Carmelite nun soon after. 

She eventually became one of the youngest Carmelite nuns. 

My favorite thing about her is that she is known to have said,

miss no single opportunity of making some small sacrifice, here by a smiling look, there by a kindly word; always doing the smallest right and doing it all for love

An Eye-Opening Experience

That is so powerful. It reminds me that we don’t have to have a certain age, years of experience, lots of money, or anything that society often tells us is needed to be good. 

As long as it is done with love, any small action is worth more than any significant contribution done without it. 

I realized I don’t need to wait to be older to do good to others and myself. I CAN help people without having lots of money. The road to sainthood is marvelous, and it starts now; there is no point in doing wrong here on Earth and hoping to get to Heaven right after dying.

Don’t get me wrong; I know it is hard to be a saint. I willingly help out a friend with anything, but I am too quick to turn it down if the same necessity comes from my brothers.

It is a work in progress, and I thank God for giving me a lifetime of second chances to make things right before being judged.

In part, I have St. Thérèse to thank for opening my mind to this! She saw God in everyone and everything!!  

She is fantastic, like many other saints, but the reason why I ultimately chose her is because of what I am about to say next!

Who is St. Therese?

St. Therese was a sensitive, bratty child but eventually learned that God’s plan was always better than where her desires could take her- My stubborn self has had to learn that the hard way many times as well.

She, unfortunately, died at 24 years old of tuberculosis(TB). And here is the thing, I tested positive for TB a couple of years ago. Thanks are to God, it is dormant, and the likelihood of it developing to actual tuberculosis is low. 

But it gets crazier! 

Her death day is my birthday! But her feast day is Oct 1st, which is funny because I used to wish my birthday was that day because then my birthstone would be pink! 

Silly, I know. 

Furthermore, she was a Carmelite nun. She learned a lot about God there. My grandma’s name sounds a lot like Carmelite, and she is one of the people who inspire me to grow in my faith everyday! 

Celebrating Her Feast Day!

I wanted to make sure I wrote about this beautiful saint on her feast day, and I hope you can all be inspired by St. Therese as well!

Take a look at her powerful words,

God would never inspire me with desires which cannot be realized; so in spite of my littleness, I can hope to be a saint.

To learn more about her, I recommend checking out the following websites:

https://www.littleflower.org

https://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=105

Also, EWTN has a program for kids to learn about the saints. But do not let the animated aspect of it stop you, adults, from watching it. It is quite entertaining!

I’ll leave you with her last words: “My God, I love you!”

St. Therese of Lisieux, please pray for us!