+St. Therese of the Child Jesus+

October, Month of the Queen of the Holy Rosary

Prayer Society Intention: “Queen of the most Holy Rosary, in times of such brazen impiety, manifest thy power with the signs of of thine ancient victories… and hasten the hour of mercy.” — Raccolta

We live in those days foretold by St. Paul when great disorders shall befall mankind and charity will grow cold. Even among Catholics, and one might say especially among Catholics today, this virtue has been misapplied, misunderstood and has all but disappeared. 

Over 100 years ago, St. Therese of Liseux wrote: “Love alone imparts life to all the members of [the Mystical Body], so that should love ever fail, apostles would no longer preach the Gospel and martyrs would refuse to shed their blood…Souls that are on fire never can remain inactive.”” With these words and in her professed longing to be a missionary, the Little Flower displayed a crystal clear understanding of the order of love, then; for as the Catechism teaches, one must first know God in order to love and serve Him. Her desire to engage in Catholic Action at the very outset of its existence is ample evidence of the zeal that energized the Little Flower’s every waking moment. It was a zeal that had its first beginnings in the bosom of the Martin family, whose religious fervor led to four of the five surviving Martin sisters entering the Carmelite order. St. Therese’s “science of love,” found in her “little way” is the most admirable shortcut to piety and charity for Catholics faced with the heroic sacrifices required in these times. In order that love exist, all must be apostles, and martyrs in spirit at least, and each according to God’s will for them. For as the Little Flower said herself: “the eye [of the Mystical Body] cannot be the hand.” All have different tasks as members of this Body, but all must love.

St. Therese the Rosebud of Heaven, intercede for us on this your feast day, that Divine Truth might excite among men and women love of the Divine King and the establishment of His kingdom on earth.

 

EVERYTHING

Everything is a grace.

Everything is the direct effect of our Father’s love;

  difficulties, contradictions, humiliations,

     all the soul’s miseries;

   her burdens, her needs – everything.

Because through them she learns humility,

realizes her weakness.

Everything is a grace because

everything is God’s gift.

Whatever be the character of life or its unexpected events,

to the heart that loves, all is well.

St. Therese of the Child Jesus