Saint Thérèse, the Little Flower, pray for us...

Today we celebrate the feast day of Saint Thérèse of Lisieux, the Little Flower. She is the Patroness of the John 10:10 Prayer Ministry.

Saint Thérèse had devotion to Mary and turned to her in prayer as her mother. Her own mother died when she was four years old. During a devastating illness when she was ten years old, she experienced a cure through Mary's intercession. Saint Thérèse saw that the statue of Mary in her bedroom smiled at her. From that moment, she no longer experienced the troubles caused by anxiety and perhaps depression. She understood that the road to Jesus was through abandonment to His Will, like a little child who sleeps without fear in the Father's arms.

At the age of fifteen, she entered the religious life in a Carmelite cloister. Her vocation was love. She is the patron of the missions and she loved to pray for priests. She loved the Scriptures and found that the Word of God was a lamp for her feet. She would love to retain favorite passages or lines from Scripture so that they came back to her during the day and energized her commitment to Jesus Christ. In fact, Saint Thérèse wrote that often enough a word from God, an insight, a sense of direction, a response to a situation came to her not during the hour of prayer but when she was about her daily work. Her spirituality is known as the "little way" doing small things with great love, doing great things for God by remaining little like a child.

Prayer, for Saint Thérèse, was a way of walking with God in her daily dities. Whether it was a period of meditative prayers with the other nuns in the community or lifting her heart to God in short prayers of intercession or praise, she realized that God was with her. Her deep trust in God and in God's love for her paved a way of joy and happiness. She is now known as the "little flower" and what brought her to Heaven was love. Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus was declared a Doctor of the Church in 1997.

"Draw me, we will run..."
To ask to be drawn is to will intimate union with the object which holds the heart captive. If fire and iron were gifted with reason, and that the latter said to the fire: "Draw me," would not this prove that it desired to become identified with the fire even so far as to share its substance? Well, that is exactly my prayer. I beg of Jesus to draw me into the flames of His Love, to unite me so closely to Himself that He may live and act in me. I feel that the more the fire of love inflames my heart, the more I shall say: "Draw me," the more also will the souls who draw near to mine run swiftly in the fragrant odors of the Well-Beloved. Words of Saint Thérèse, Story of A Soul, Chapter XI

Through the intercession of Saint Thérèse, the lives of many people have been permanently changed. Her love for souls is immeasurable. With gratitude, we pray: Through your intercession, Saint Thérèse, teach us to be willing to become like little children. We ask you to "shower your roses" upon us and those we pray for.