“ Do you realise that Jesus is there in the tabernacle expressly for you – for you alone? He burns with the desire to come into your heart.”
– St Thérèse of Lisieux
St Thérèse of Lisieux – Feast: 1st October
Today’s saint is written by Fr Michel Remery in Online With Saints.
Thérèse Martin was born in Alençon, France, of loving and holy parents who feared for her life, as her health at birth was not good. One by one her sisters entered monastic life. Thérèse wanted to do the same, but aged 14 she was considered too young. This is when she showed her iron will. On a pilgrimage to Rome she begged the pope to let her enter the convent. When she finally was accepted in the Carmelite convent, she discovered that it was far from the romantic life she had expected. While Thérèse realised that she was imperfect herself, she also had to suffer a lot from jealousy and pettiness of her sisters in the convent. What made her a saint is the way in which she dealt with this. Thérèse died aged 24, after having been a Carmelite nun for almost ten years.
Collect
O God, who open your Kingdom
to those who are humble and to little ones,
lead us to follow trustingly in the little way of Saint Thérèse,
so that through her intercession
we may see your eternal glory revealed.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.
Collecta (Latin)
Deus, qui regnum tuum humilibus parvulisque disponis,
fac nos beatæ Teresiæ tramitem prosequi confidenter,
ut, eius intercessione, gloria tua nobis reveletur æterna.
Per Dominum nostrum Iesum Christum Filium tuum,
qui tecum vivit et regnat in unitate Spiritus Sancti,
Deus, per omnia sæcula sæculorum.
Litany of St Thérèse of Lisieux
Lord, have mercy on us.
Christ, have mercy on us.
Lord, have mercy on us.
Christ, hear us.
Christ, graciously hear us.
God the Father of Heaven, have mercy on us.
God the Son, Redeemer of the world, have mercy on us.
God the Holy Spirit, have mercy on us.
Holy Trinity, One God, have mercy on us.
Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us.
Our Lady of Victory, pray for us.
Our Lady of Mount Carmel, pray for us.
St Thérèse of the Child Jesus, pray for us.
St Thérèse of the Holy Face,
St Thérèse, spouse of Jesus,
St Thérèse, child of Mary,
St Thérèse, devoted to St Joseph,
St Thérèse, angel of innocence,
St Thérèse, model child,
St Thérèse, pattern of religious,
St Thérèse, flower of Carmel,
St Thérèse, zealous to save souls,
St Thérèse, converter of hardened hearts,
St Thérèse, healer of the diseased,
St Thérèse, filled with love for the Blessed Sacrament,
St Thérèse, filled with angelic fervour,
St Thérèse, filled with loyalty to the Holy Father,
St Thérèse, filled with a tender love for the Church,
St Thérèse, filled with extraordinary love for God and neighbour,
St Thérèse, wounded with a heavenly flame,
St Thérèse, victim of divine love,
St Thérèse, patient in sufferings,
St Thérèse, eager for humiliations,
St Thérèse, consumed with love of God,
St Thérèse, rapt in ecstasy,
St Thérèse, dedicated to pray for priests,
St Thérèse, who refused God nothing,
St Thérèse, who desired always to be as a little child,
St Thérèse, who taught the way of spiritual childhood,
St Thérèse, who gave perfect example of trust in God,
St Thérèse, whom Jesus filled with a desire for suffering,
St Thérèse, who found perfection in little things,
St Thérèse, who sought bitterness in this life,
St Thérèse, who told us to call you “little Thérèse”,
St Thérèse, who gained countless souls for Christ,
St Thérèse, who promised after your death a shower of roses,
St Thérèse, who foretold: “I will spend my Heaven doing good upon earth”,
St Thérèse, Patroness of the Missions,
Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world,
spare us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world,
graciously hear us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world,
have mercy on us.
V. Pray for us, St Thérèse,
R. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.
Let us pray
Hear our prayer, O Lord, we beseech you, as we venerate St Thérèse, your virgin and martyr of love longing to make you loved, and grant us, through her intercession, the gift of childlike simplicity and the spirit of complete dedication to your divine service. Amen.
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