The Suffering Path of Sanctification
Senior Theology Thesis – Melissa Kuhn – May 1998
Saint Therese of Lisieux, or better known as the "Little Flower", is one of the most popular saints of the Roman Catholic Church. This cloistered Carmelite nun lived only twenty-four years on earth but was called by Saint Pius X, "the greatest saint of modern times."1 She was canonized just twenty-eight years after her death and is one of only three women to be named Doctor of the Church.2 Why is Saint Therese admired by so many people? How is she different from the other canonized saints? After studying Holy Scripture and only a couple of spiritual writers, Therese concluded that suffering is a gift from God. She acknowledged Christ's Passion and wanted to imitate Him in her own sufferings. Therese desired to participate in the redemption of man not only by means of physical penance but by mortification of the heart as well. In her humility she admitted the help of divine intervention is the only way we can suffer as Christ did. Saint Therese's theology of suffering calls everyone to personal sanctification by uniting one's daily sufferings with those of Christ's in a disposition of love.
In order to understand more fully Therese's teaching concerning suffering, we must understand a little something of her life. Some biographical information will make it easier to comprehend her doctrine and will illustrate how she truly lived her spirituality. Marie-Francoise Therese was born in Alencon, France, January 2, 1873, to Zelie Guerin and Louis Martin.3 Therese was the youngest of nine Martin children, but two boys and two girls did not survive childhood. The five remaining girls eventually all became Brides of Christ, four of them at the Carmel of Lisieux, the other at the Visitation Convent located in Caen.4 Therese resolved at age two to become a nun and was making sacrifices directed towards the Holy Eucharist at three years of age.5 In the meantime, Her mother died on August 28, 1877, which became the catalyst for a life of much suffering.6 Pauline, Therese's eldest sister, became her surrogate mother. This was a sad stage of Therese's life.7 The Martins moved to Lisieux and their new home called Les Buissonets.8 Louis Martin took Therese with him on visits to the Blessed Sacrament. Her soul became lost in prayer, dreaming of heaven.9 She gave alms to the poor and offered her heart to God in everything she did.10 At age five and a half Therese was first moved interiorly by a homily. During the procession of the Blessed Sacrament she threw rose petals at the monstrance as well as making decorative altars.11 At her first confession, Therese wanted to tell the priest (Jesus) how she loved him with all her heart.12 At age seven she prepared for her First Holy Communion, an event of mystical character. She now had God in her heart, because Jesus had kissed her.13
Again in 1882 Therese suffered as Pauline joined the Carmelites. Severe headaches were frequent as well as loss of control of things she said and did. This trial was endured from March 25 to May 13, 1883.14 She became seriously ill, wavering in and out of a coma. While bed ridden, Therese weaved crowns of flowers for the family's statue of the Blessed Mother. This statue of Our Lady of Victories "came to life" in the garden and "smiled," curing Therese.15 Was it a foreshadowing that her catechist called Therese his "little doctor" because of her extensive knowledge of the faith?16 Once more in May 1884 Therese suffered, this time from scruples. These made her so ill she left school at age thirteen and finished her education with a governess. She did not win the battle with scruples until August 1885.17 Therese remained extremely sensitive and was thus provoked when her sister Marie left for the Carmel on October 15, 1886.18 The Christmas of 1886 was a time of "conversion" for Therese in which she regained strength of mind and lost her childishness. Charity took possession of her heart, and she forgot herself.19 She now had a great desire to save souls; the infamous criminal Pranzini became her first victory when the newspaper reported he kissed the crucifix before his execution.20
Certain of her call to enter the "desert of Carmel," Therese asked her father's permission to enter on May 29, 1887.21 He gave his consent, but the Superior of the Carmel refused her entrance until she turned twenty-one.22 Determined to fulfill God's will, she petitioned the Bishop and, eventually, Pope Leo XIII who answered, "Do what the superiors decide. You will enter if it is God's will."23 Finally, on January 1, 1888, Therese received a letter from the Mother Superior stating that the bishop had authorized her entry into the Carmel but not until after Lent.24 Therese found inexpressible peace and a calm happiness when she entered the Carmel April 9, 1888. The Reverend Mother treated her with severity, but Therese lovingly embraced this suffering, a silent suffering.25 She found it difficult to explain her soul to the spiritual director. On January 10, 1889, she took the habit. She was to wait one year and eight months before her Profession.26 The retreat before her Profession was spiritually dry for Therese. The day before her Profession she had doubts as to whether this was truly her vocation. Speaking with the Novice Mistress and Mother Prioress calmed her fears, and she possessed a profound peace the day of Profession, September 8, 1890. She took the veil September 24, 1890.27
On June 9, 1895, Therese made her Act of Oblation in which she received the grace of understanding how Christ desires to be loved. She offered herself to Merciful Love and recalled the chief objectives of her life: to love God, to cause Him to be loved by others, to glorify the Church, and save souls.28 At this time, Therese expressed her gratefulness to God for the gift of suffering and made an oblation to live in one great act of perfect love.29 On June 14, 1895, her heart felt as though wounded by a dart of fire, and she thought she would die. This only increased her love for Christ. Oceans of grace came for the next ten months, flooding her soul, until April 5, 1896.30 Holy Thursday of 1896 Therese coughed up blood. A second hemorrhage occurred Good Friday. Tuberculosis invaded her intestines and painful remedies failed. She was moved to the infirmary July 8, 1897. Cold sweats, coughing spasms, gangrene, and a burning thirst were just some of the symptoms from which she suffered.31 At five o'clock in the evening on September 30, 1897, Therese's death agony began with a terrible cough, discoloration, and a sweat.32 "Oh! I love Him! My God, I love you!" were her last words. After her death she had a heavenly smile and was ravishingly beautiful, holding her crucifix so tightly that it had to be forced from her hands. Her limbs were supple right up until burial on October 4, 1897.33 Her case for canonization opened in 1910. Pope Benedict XV declared a decree on Therese's heroicity of virtues August 14, 1921. She was beatified by Pope Pius XI April 29, 1923. Therese was canonized a saint of the Roman Catholic Church May 17, 1925.34
Saint Therese is referred to as a master in matters of spiritual teaching by Pope Pius XI.35 Popes have canonized her "little way" of spirituality while Pope Benedict XV said Therese was, "an example all the world can and should follow."36 From where did her spirituality originate? Therese had great devotion to the Holy Face and the Suffering Servant of Isaiah 53. In fact, on January 10, 1889, she added "of the Holy Face" to her religious name.37 The Suffering Servant of Isaiah 53 gave Therese supreme consolation and a model of imitation, the foundation of her piety. "The music of our suffering united to His passion, ravishes His heart. Fix your eyes upon His countenance and there you will see how He loves us."38 Therese saw the beauty of Jesus' soul even though He was despised. She also wanted the hidden face and the hidden life of the Suffering Servant. The disfigured face of Christ inspired her with a love for suffering and zeal for souls. Thus, she discovered the Christological significance of Isaiah 53. We must acknowledge our powerlessness and abandon ourselves with full confidence to the embrace of Jesus.39 Isaiah 53 reveals Christ's abandonment and salvific love. She found the means of suffering in hidden union with Christ in His passion for others.40 The Suffering Servant bore our transgressions because it was the will of God to bruise him in order to make many be accounted righteous. Thus suffering, according to Therese, is a gift to those whom God loves as a means of sanctification. We do not offer ourselves to suffering but to love.41 The Holy Face was a beacon which gave her courage during darkness and aridity in her spiritual life. She unfolded in the shadow of the Cross and was warmed by the radiant sun of His face.42 "To live by love, it is to wipe Thy face. It is for sinners pardon to obtain."43
Therese also attempted to imitate the Suffering Servant of Isaiah in her silence, opening not her mouth. She too suffered without complaint, without anyone knowing. During her illness she never complained, she kept her sufferings and sorrows to herself.44 Soon after entering the Carmel she longed to speak to her sister Pauline in order to gain consolation but denied herself this. "The more intimate the suffering, the less it appears to the eyes of others, the more it gladdens God," believed Therese.45 The other nuns were unaware of her struggles and sufferings. In fact, many believed she did not know what it was to suffer.46 One of the fifty-four poems she composed expressed the idea of not verbally expressing her suffering in order to console Jesus. Therese said, "We should endure as much as we can before we make any complaint." 47 We should not complain during the moment of trial but instead contemplate with faith God's hand who, for our own good, momentarily mortifies us. Therese saw the hidden treasure of Jesus could only be obtained when our lives are hidden in a mystery. It requires more spiritual courage to say nothing about your sufferings than to attract other people's admiration and pity. "How can we complain when He himself was looked upon as a man stricken by God and afflicted?" asked Therese.48 God's extreme love is shown in the Holy Face; the eternal light seems to be extinguished and yet is most transparent just as Therese's face appeared in a supernatural way during her illness.49
Even without possessing a complete Bible, Therese drew from the New Testament as well as the Old Testament in synthesizing her spirituality. Pope Pius XII claimed she rediscovered the Gospel and gave a clearer articulation of it.50 By age eighteen, Scripture, and in particular the Gospels, became her one source of meditation and contemplation. Therese found in the life and teachings of Christ the need for us to imitate Him in our lives and reproduce in our souls the model set by Christ. Her way is the continuation of the Gospel. She looked to the Gospels for love as we must keep our eyes fixed on Christ in order to become more like Him. This is what Therese taught and lived. As she stood at the foot of the Cross, she heard the plea of Christ, "I thirst." She wanted to quench His thirst with her sufferings. We must cling to the Gospel whatever darkness we encounter. Therese not only saw Christ's example in Scripture but Mary's as well. Christ gave His mother sorrow and darkness, thus we must also accept these. Mary is a model and guide for all souls seeking God. Therese asked the Blessed Mother to teach her how to benefit most from suffering and often asked for Mary's intercession during suffering, because the closer our union with Mary, the closer we are to Christ.51
The Imitation of Christ, written by Thomas a Kempis, also exerted a great amount of influence on Therese. She practically knew the book by memory.52 From these pages, she recognized the royal way of the Cross. She learned and implemented into her life the idea of conformity to Christ in everything, even His death. Only through the Cross is true sanctity and eternal life obtained.53 We must follow Christ by taking up our cross, so that in dying with Him we may also rise with Christ. Therese used this source, in addition to Scripture, as the foundation of her understanding of suffering.
Along with Scripture and The Imitation of Christ, Saint John of the Cross was also essential in Therese's spiritual formation. She began reading his works at the age of sixteen.54 Saint John is considered her spiritual father. She fully believed his proclamation of, "love alone can repay love."55 Saint John also taught, "faith is a light that makes us know God."56 Therese wanted to walk solely in the darkness of faith, because faith is sufficient to draw us to God. Suffering was welcomed by Therese because Saint John believed that God enables a soul to suffer so it may merit more and become inflamed with love.57 She also learned from the Carmelite reformer growth in perfection by the constant exercise of love. He believed this exercise normally leads to the speedy attainment of the beatific vision. The soul must make numberless acts of love so it may be consumed by God's love and see Him face to face, according to Saint John. Love prematurely breaks the bonds of a perfect life and this breaking is a sudden disruption, not a gradual erosion.58 Therese followed Saint John in his passive purification because she did not seek suffering but merely encountered what was given to her daily with the courage and hope of a believer. His basic doctrine was the perfect union of the soul with God.59 Therese concluded suffering was the means of this union. Even her death fulfilled perfectly Saint John's description of a "death of love."60 From these sources Therese composed her spirituality, but the heart of it lies in her theology of suffering. Suffering? Who wants to suffer? Why do we have to suffer? Christ the Son of God suffered. The Father gave us His only Son and allowed Him to suffer the most cruel torments. In His excessive love, Christ clothed Himself with human misery. He sacrificed Himself unto death for us sinners. The Cross is a manifestation of God's unconditional love. Christ died a victim of love and yet He suffered much. Therese points out the fact that, "Christ died upon the Cross in bitter anguish and yet His death was the most beautiful death through love the world has ever seen. Our Lord died as a victim of love, but see how fearful was His agony!"61 Christ came upon the earth for the express purpose of possessing suffering. The King of martyrs suffered with sorrow.
Christ Himself trembled in the face of suffering. Mark 14:34 states, "My soul is very sorrowful even to death." And again in verse thirty-six, "Abba, Father, all things are possible to thee; remove this cup from me." Therese found it consoling that, "Jesus, the God of might, knew our weakness, that he shuddered at the sight of the bitter cup, the cup that earlier He had so ardently desired to drink."62 Christ experienced a dark agony. Let us remember that Christ enjoyed all the delights of the Blessed Trinity while in the Garden of Olives, and still His suffering was nonetheless cruel.
Therese, just as Christ, does not call for us to endure anything she herself did not experience. Her most obvious form of suffering was her encounter with physical sickness. The first sign of illness came in June 1894 with the coughing up of blood. It was then that Therese realized she would die young.63 Tuberculosis began to invade her intestines and excruciatingly painful treatments such as having her skin punctured repeatedly with red hot needles failed.64 Therese accepted this suffering and took delight in pleasing God by courageously accepting it. She did not want to draw attention to herself or burden the other nuns during her last eighteen months of life. Her room or cell remained her place of refuge until July 8, 1897, when she was moved to the infirmary. This was a great sacrifice for her. Therese literally became a skeleton; her bones protruded through her flesh and she often felt as though she were suffocating.65 Frequent burning fever, open wounds, vomiting, and over five hundred spots of cauterization (performed in an attempt to control the effects of the tuberculosis sores) took their toll on the weakened Therese. At each breath she suffered violently. The doctor who attended Therese testified, "Her suffering is truly horrible."66 She herself admitted, "People do not know what it means to suffer like this...I never thought I could suffer so much."67
As a result of suffering, sleepless nights were common, so Therese prayed. As sick as she was she continued to find ways of mortification. Therese implored the nurse to exclaim "all the better" when she proclaimed, "I suffer," because Therese did not have the strength to do so.68 She did not want to suffer less and explained that she never suffered unbearably but much, just what she could endure. Even through this pain Therese did not omit her daily walk through the courtyard. "I am still able to walk. I must be at my task."69 As her stomach became distended and hard she was not given morphine to relieve the pain. She asked God that the prayers offered for her were not to lessen the sufferings but to help sinners. Enough pain was experienced by Therese to cause her to lose her reason. She admitted if she did not have faith she would not have hesitated in taking her own life.70
How could Therese endure such suffering? Why did she suffer? Why do any of us suffer? Therese answered these questions in her theology of suffering. In order to evaluate the enigma of suffering we will look at it in several different catagories: suffering as gratuitous, imitative, salvific, evidential, and assisted. We will also make the distinction between mortification of the body and of the soul and articulate how Therese's understanding of suffering affects our lives as Christians in the world today.
Therese reminds us that God did not create pain; it is the result of sin and only by God's mercy can it be a preservative from sin. In fact, suffering has the power of expiation; it sets us free. Only the love of creation is our obstacle to God's love. Thus, we are our own enemy. "I find that thorns help greatly in detaching us from earth; they make us look upwards beyond the earth," explains Therese.71 Our sufferings do not make God happy, but suffering is necessary for us because it is the surest way of strengthening our union with Christ. Romans 8:17 explains, "If we suffer with Him, we shall also be glorified with Him."
We must always remember our end is eternal life, and Christ is the path. It was on the Cross that Christ was annihilated. The Cross is the point of confrontation between the liberty of man and the freedom of God. Man's freedom is a reflection of divine freedom and consequently is not merely a license to do as we please. Freedom is possessing the capability of choosing the good. Due to concupiscence, we do not always tend towards the good, but in accepting the Cross we are choosing the good. Christ's merciful love was characterized by His self-emptying or kenosis. In the same manner we must empty ourselves of all that is not of God in order to be filled only with what is of God. It is then that we are truly free. Suffering has this emptying effect. Adversity enables a weary soul to be steadied.
Gratuitous
The root of Therese's spiritual strength is her belief in the idea of the more one suffers, the dearer one is to God. She sees suffering as coming from a gracious God. Though the world may perceive those of us who accept suffering as a gift coming from God as fools, "we shall never be able to commit the follies for Him that He has committed for us."72 Suffering is the highest potentiality of human nature. In fact, the heavenly creatures are jealous because only man possesses this privilege of suffering and thus being united with Christ and His wisdom in this most special way. Through Christ, suffering has been transformed into a means of sanctification, a proof of love, and an instrument of salvation of souls.73 Suffering is thus an admirable provision of divine mercy. God bestowed the gift of suffering on Jesus and bestows this grace on those whom He loves. "Suffering is, of all things God can give us, the best gift. He gives it only to His chosen friends," explained Therese.74 Suffering is the most precious treasure we can possess on our journey to heaven. Sorrow is a divine gift and trial a saving power. Suffering is always a mark of God's special love. The more opportunities for suffering, the more we can become like Christ on the Cross, and His was the ultimate expression of love.
How do we imitate Christ in our sufferings? Christ requires our love of Him in suffering so He may transform us and thus share in His divinity. Therese taught, "the weaker one is the more fit for the operation of that consuming and transforming love."75
In our baptism we are called to participate in Christ's death as well as His resurrection. We must bear witness to Christ who died for love of us. Trial is intended to develop purity and generosity of love, just as Christ possessed. Therese encouraged her sisters, "But I know also that the fire of love is more purifying than the fire of purgatory; I know that Jesus cannot wish us to suffer uselessly."76 Suffering is felt because it is an imitation of Christ. Our suffering does not make God happy, "He sends it to us and, as it were, turns away His head while so doing, but suffering is a thing that is necessary for us."77 It is by way of suffering that we become detached and purified, which disposes us for union with Christ. "Suffering is necessary to detach us from earth and make us look up higher than this world from all that is not Jesus."78 Suffering conforms us to Christ because it makes us indulgent towards others. We should see suffering as a liberation rather than an amputation.
If we only knew what we gain by renouncing ourselves as Christ did in all things. By sharing with Christ His cup of bitterness we will also share in His glory. "We must suffer much if we want Him to possess us completely...it is suffering which makes us resemble Him," said Therese.79 Imitation is the highest form of flattery. Everyone is called to resemble Christ, and He is covered with blood, crowned with thorns, and nailed to a cross!
God allows us to suffer because He already holds us in the state of glory; suffering is the only means to prepare us so that we may truly know Him. A soul matures and perfects itself through suffering. "I had to pass through the crucible of trials and suffer from my childhood, so that I could be offered very early to Jesus," declared Therese.80 We suffer as we enter the mystical way of Christ and are transformed in order to attain complete union with the Paschal Lamb. Was not the life of Jesus one continuous suffering? We must reproduce in ourselves His conduct and virtues. We cannot know ourselves nor Christ until we suffer. Therese explained, "It costs Him much to give us the bread of affliction, but He knows that it is the only means of preparing us to know Him as He knows Himself and to become ourselves gods."81
We must be reminded of the fact that suffering is not merely pain but a transformation of the soul. Christ provides us with the stream of suffering from which to drink. As suffering gnaws deeper and deeper into our souls we are cleansed and reach a certain degree of perfection. Christ was annihilated just as we must be annihilated.
Salvific
According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, suffering is a participation in the saving work of Christ. By His suffering and death the world was redeemed, and so by offering our sufferings to God in the spirit of Christ, we also can participate in the economy of salvation.82 Therese believed there was only one thing to do while on earth: cast at Jesus the flowers of sacrifices and offer up pain and suffering to obtain the light of faith for poor unbelievers. Often she offered her fatigue to God for missionaries and was happy to find the opportunity of lacking what was necessary in order to resemble Christ and save souls.83 We must feel pain and suffering in order to gain their merits for ourselves and for others. In very intense suffering we can offer it to God and find great peace. God is merciful, but He requires our cooperation in the atonement of sins. We all should strive to reach the degree of glory which God has destined for us since the beginning of time. The eternal reward of seeing God face to face has no proportion to our small sacrifices in this life.
The salvation of souls depends on our sacrifices! In our suffering we become identified with our Divine Savior and realize God's will to save souls through suffering. Suffering is an instrument of salvation for souls. Without it we cannot reach heaven, because it was only by way of the Cross that Christ rose from the dead and eventually ascended to heaven to be with His Father. Therese claimed, "How much better to have a beautiful crown at the expense of a little pain than to have an ordinary one without pain."84 It was Therese's understanding that we suffer in this life only to be glorified in the next.
Our suffering causes Christ's merits and satisfactions to be applied to souls, thus only through suffering are we capable of acquiring souls for Christ. Therese herself could not explain why she suffered such horrible tortures except for the fact that she had such an ardent desire to save souls. She knew she had been called by Christ to cooperate in His work of redemption which is realized especially through suffering. Her belief was that suffering and all trials were willed by God and part of a plan for her soul. "He alone disposes the events of our exile."85 Therese explained, "Jesus made me understand that it is by the Cross that He would give me souls."86
Suffering sanctifies and increases our capacity for happiness and our measure for glory; we become co-workers in the plan of redemption. God makes all suffering subservient to His gracious purposes. The ultimate reason for Our Lord's suffering is that He lacks those who bring Him consolation by their active cooperation with Him in the economy of salvation.87
Therese's purpose in life should be ours as well, to cooperate in redemption. She poured upon souls "the divine dew of salvation," that is, the blood and tears which fell from the Cross during Christ's suffering.88 The blood of purification flowed from the Cross. Prayer and penance are the spiritual weapons used to save souls. The believer's sword in this world is the Cross. If we turn our backs on suffering, we refuse Love and renounce our own sanctification. We are required to lose everything in order to gain everything. Our Lord has such an incomprehensible love for us that He wishes us to share in the salvation of souls; He wishes to do nothing without us.89
We should not be frightened or lose hope when faced with suffering in this life. Therese reminds us, "On the way to Calvary Jesus fell three times...prove him your love by rising again."90 He is with us during our sufferings to help us pick ourselves up after we stumble. In our suffering we quench Jesus' thirst for souls. Suffering allows us to bring to completion the Passion of Christ. We need to show compassion and be willing to suffer with Christ, because His Passion is efficacious but does not become perfect, producing its full effect, until we participate in the Divine Passion through suffering.91 The longer we hang on the cross of suffering, the more intimate is the presence of heaven within us.
Evidential
Suffering shows the love we have for Christ. Therese demands not only that we suffer with Christ, but as Christ did, we act with charity towards those who make us suffer. We love God in the measure in which we practice charity. It is through pain and suffering that we learn to love God more perfectly for all eternity. "Let us embrace suffering, otherwise Jesus will not be able to say 'now it is my turn to give you something.'"92
We need to keep in mind there is both an earthly phase and a heavenly phase of human life, and in order for us to obtain heaven we are obliged to multiply our acts of fidelity to God, to bear our sacrifices to a certain degree. Suffering is our means of preparation for our eternal reward. The question is, will we accept it? Therese warned, "He begs from us our sorrow, our anguish He needs it for souls, for our souls. He can't say 'It is my turn!' if our turn has not first come; if we have given nothing to Him."93 Many people are only willing to serve the King of Glory. We must also serve the Suffering Servant, the Lamb of God. In laying down our lives and enduring whatever is given to us, we prove the love we possess for our Creator. To become a saint we must suffer much while pursuing holiness. Just as we cannot imagine the torments of hell, so we cannot comprehend the immense joys of heaven.
The theology of suffering taught by Therese imitated Christ in that it was pain endured not only by the body but by the heart and soul as well. She desired to become a martyr of love. This martyrdom of the heart is no less fruitful than the shedding of blood. Therese desired to die of love. True love is nourished upon sacrifice and becomes more pure and strong the more our natural satisfaction is denied. Sacrifice becomes the spiritual feast of joyful love. When we suffer we are brought in and attracted to the flames of Divine Love. Therese asked, "Why fear to offer yourself as a victim to the merciful love of God?"94 She offered herself as a victim during her Act of Oblation to Merciful Love on June 9, 1895. It was on this day that she understood, due to an insight of grace, how Christ desires to be loved.95
Merciful love is proportionate to the degree of a soul's self-abasement. Therese desired to live in one great act of perfect love. This love consumed her and caused her to suffer a martyrdom of love. She pointed out that we will be consumed by love to the extent that we surrender ourselves to love. It is normal for a soul offered to love to undergo suffering. This suffering often entails spiritual pains. Therese accepted everything out of love for God. Her belief was that God knows best what to do with the sufferings of our lives, so we must give them to Him. She always thought of Christ's sufferings in order to offer Him the sacrifice in right spirit. Therese said, "A little victim of love cannot find frightful what her Spouse sends her through love."96 God is the Lover of our souls, and we should receive suffering with love and confidence in Him. Therese worked for God; she was happy to bear the greatest sufferings only to know that a smile would rise to His lips.97 When God sees us bearing our sufferings in union with Christ and because of our love for Him, it is then that we are using our freedom as God intended. We are choosing to love God and this pleases Him.
Therese showed her love for Jesus by casting Him the flowers of little sacrifices. It is a sadness for us not to give God as much as we possibly can. "My desire is to be unpetalled forever in order to give joy to God," proclaimed Therese.98 She saw God in all circumstances and offered Him each little thorn wounding her heart as an act of perfect love. We prove how much we appreciate God's loving kindness by accepting the crosses He sends us out of love. The greatest suffering, according to Therese, is to see people we love suffer and not be able to do anything about it.99 Love involves suffering. We gain a filial trust only through a fervent union with Christ's sufferings. Love which does not reproduce the sentiments of Jesus is not worthy of Him; He was nailed to the Cross for us. True love embraces all.
A complete trust in God's mercy is necessary so we may become His victims of Love. Confidence will lead us to love. The desire to love God above all things and to do His will should forever be before us. Even if God shows us no special favors or seems to have withdrawn completely from our lives our souls must remain trustful. A lack of confidence offends Christ and wounds His heart.100 Sanctity consists in a disposition of the heart. Only through love are we able to make ourselves pleasing to Christ. Our hearts were made to love God. This is the only way we will be fulfilled and complete, as well as attain true happiness. Therese desired to love Jesus more than He had ever been loved before. These loving desires were the greatest of martyrdoms.101 Therese had an exclusive love for Christ, she lived only for Him. We all should have this mentality, no matter what our state in life. Our love for Christ is truly great when we do not feel its sweetness. Love is proved by deeds and nourished by sacrifice.
God, judging a soul to be capable of showing Him greater love, sends her trials which give her an opportunity for such love. The greatest honor God can show a soul is not to give her much, but to ask much from her.102 To push love to its extreme consequences is to love truly and fully. "I am not afraid to suffer for Your sake," proclaimed Therese.103 Love means to forget ourselves for the One whom we love. Suffering is the supreme proof of love. It is love unto folly! We have to be willing to be "fools for Christ." Therese explained, "the only happiness here below consists in always finding joy in whatever Jesus gives us."104 We need to allow ourselves to be attracted by the flames of His love. Contrary to many other canonized saints Therese did not experience a great number of ecstasies in which God revealed Himself to her, but she preferred the monotony of an obscure sacrifice in order to encounter His love.
We do not offer ourselves to suffering but to Love. Therese suffered a veritable martyrdom of love. She rejoiced while suffering because she was full of love. Suffering is God's proof of love as well as our response to that love. We have to love God enough to suffer for Him whatever He may wish, even the sufferings of the soul. Therese asked, "Is there any greater joy than to suffer out of love for God?"105 She exclaimed, "What a joy to be able to suffer for Him whom we love!"106 Suffering with love was the only thing she wanted in this life. She defended herself in saying, "I am not sorry because I have surrendered myself to Love. Oh no! I am not sorry for having delivered myself to Love; quite the contrary!"107
A death of love is one in which the Flame consumes the soul, a divine assault of Divine Love.108 Love for suffering does not void the painfulness or our desire for it, nor does it lighten the weight of the crosses we are called to carry. Love alone has the power to enable us to generously endure sacrifice and suffering in life. Along with abandonment, suffering is the best gift and proof of love for God. Therese went so far as to be willing to be plunged into hell if God could be loved eternally by means of it.109 This would be the most extreme proof of love for God since we were created to be with Him for eternity. Only someone of Therese's holiness could claim to want to do this.
Suffering is the inseparable companion of love. It allows us to grow spiritually. Therese's analogy was, "Each new suffering, each anguish of the heart, is like a light breeze of Spring which carries to Jesus the perfume of His lily. The more the lily grows in love, the more she must grow in suffering."110 Asceticism grows with the growth of love. Again Therese explained, "True love feeds upon sacrifice, and the more the soul denies itself the satisfactions of nature, the more its affections become strong and disinterested."111 Our lives are required to be a martyrdom of love so we can console Christ. Love becomes the invisible altar of sacrifice and we become an alter christus. The Cross needs to be our heart's sole treasure, while suffering becomes the most precious jewel we can possess on the way to heaven. The pain of suffering does not destroy us but instead removes the obstacles which have cluttered the path toward the free action of God's merciful love. We learn to yield ourselves to God. The soul, in making numberless acts of love, is quickly consumed instead of being detained long here below, nor hopefully in purgatory. God is suffering love, we must, moment by moment, purposefully open our hearts to His action within us.112 We do not record the intensity of suffering but the intensity of love. Therese wondered, "I'm suffering very much, but am I suffering very well?"113 All lovers love freely and take on the command of the beloved. "The death of love I long for is that of Jesus on the Cross," explained Therese.114 It is God's love rather than His justice which calls for our response.
Mortification
This is not to say that extraordinary penance is necessary in order to prove our love for God. Therese wore a hairshirt, iron bracelet, and cross with sharp points which lacerated her flesh from the year 1892 until 1896.115 But she was not a masochist. Therese had a voluntary and steadfast abandonment to Love. "I take the discipline so that it will cause me pain and hurt me as much as possible," Therese admitted.116 She smiled during the blows so Christ would see how happy she was to suffer for Him. Physical pain is not suffered for pleasure or because the material world is evil as Gnostics believe. Also, we do not stoically accept suffering as our "duty." We are called to suffer in a disposition of love for Love in order to one day fully secure Love. Again, it is not necessary to engage in manifold practices or perform rigorous penance in order to obtain grace. We are able to obtain grace by approaching God with love and confidence. For us to see ourselves as we truly are we must know Love. God always grants the graces necessary to overcome obstacles when we have recourse to Him. Our faults strengthen our love for God. The more we advance on the road to perfection, the further we seem from its end.117
Therese believed the mortification of mind and heart are more crucifying than the austerities of the saints. A distinction has to be made between mortification and punishment; mortification is motivated purely by love; there is no pessimism, no disdain for the materiality of creation and the burdensome conditions in which life binds us. God is "reborn" in us through our mortification.118 Suffering includes moral sufferings and temptations which purify the soul. Caution should be taken in placing too much emphasis on created things. We operate in the spiritual as well as the physical realm. Whatever we accomplish without love means nothing, because Jesus told us the two most important commandments are to love God and one another.
During physical penances often nature rather than virtue enters in. There seems to be a certain superiority of spiritual combat over mortification of the flesh. Christ is the ultimate example of this. It was not His physical sufferings which He spoke of while on the Cross but the pain endured by His heart. He proclaimed His thirst for souls. Luke 13:3 states, "If you do not do penance you will all perish." The gospel writer is most likely not referring only to physical mortification, because it has been proven that mortification of the heart and mind trains the will. When Saint Paul exhorts us by the mercy of God to present "our bodies," he did not mean only our senses and carnal appetites, but all of ourselves, body and soul, especially our minds and wills. In fact, he continues by warning in Romans 12:2, "Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewal of your mind."
So what does Therese's theology of suffering mean for contemporary society? She foreshadows the Second Vatican Council's call for personal sanctification for all the members of the Church.119 Holiness is tied to the ordinary duties in each of our states of life and to the love with which we approach the most humble daily tasks. She taught holiness is for everyone, lived in the daily ups and downs rather than in extraordinary measures. People in the world are capable of imitating her sanctity. She offered everything from her fatigue to the coldness of Carmel to God so that she could be close to Him. Therese begged her sisters to make known her sufferings, because she was convinced her mission would only be understood in the light of her sufferings.120 Therese reminds us not to think of sufferings which may take place in the future; that shows a lack of confidence. We should look only at the present moment, forget the past, and take good care not to visualize the future.121 It is the small crosses which constitute our joy and prepare us for great crosses. We must perform perfectly the most insignificant actions and not neglect an opportunity to make sacrifices. Therese taught that when a soul is truly delivered to love, all its actions, even the most insignificant are marked with the divine seal. We all have a vocation to sanctity.122 When she spoke of mortification she did not mean the type of penance some saints have undertaken. Instead her mortification consisted in checking self-will, keeping back an impatient word, and doing things for those around her without them knowing it. 123
Just as Saint Therese became a martyr of love without traveling to foreign lands, we also can achieve this. Perseverance is the key, even if our efforts cause us suffering. No day passes without an opportunity for suffering. God is pleased when small souls offer very small things to Him. Often it is more difficult to succeed in the little things rather than the great projects. God sends, through love, the trial of small sufferings. We should give without being concerned with the results. We can make a profit of the very smallest actions when we do them all for Love.124 The Church must have a heart on fire with love, and souls on fire with love cannot remain inactive.125 The Church was born during the Passion of Christ's body, and His Passion must continue in His body the Church. Pope Benedict XV declared the Theresian way as, "the secret of sanctity for the faithful throughout the world."126 It is an active and direct way, a spontaneous reaching out in everyday events of life.127 Therese was well aware of the fact that self-sacrificing would play a redemptive role in human society. The new mission "inward" into Christianity and "outward" into the pagan world consists in the Christian selflessly offering himself for his unbelieving brother.128
Assisted
If it is normal for man to feel repugnance for suffering, even though we love God, how do we endure it? Of course, only with divine assistance are we able to conform ourselves to Christ. Grace allows us to penetrate more deeply into the mystery of suffering. The Cross should be desired for its intrinsic value, despite the pain which accompanies it. God does "stoop" in coming to our hearts. As soon as He sees us convinced of our own nothingness, He stretches out His hands to us. Therese said, "We receive from Him just as much as we hope from Him."129 She exhorted,
"Believe that God is always near you and within you,
longing to enrich you with the abundance of His graces,
for your poverty is a special claim upon His generosity.
All that He asks of you is that you should allow yourselves
to be raised up by His power, that you should not
refuse the demands of His mercy which has such great
things in store for you."130
Therese realized the great heights of holiness and was willing to admit that we need a "divine elevator" to take us to heaven.131 We cannot reach this goal on our own. The arms of Jesus on the cross became her elevator and they continue to be our elevator today. It is imperative that God helps us when we are suffering so we may use the opportunity as taking a step closer to sanctification. In renouncing ourselves we draw upon us light and assistance from God. We cannot accomplish any good while we indulge in self-seeking.
Suffering did not bother Therese because God gave her the strength she needed. He gave her so much strength she admitted she could no longer suffer because it was only sweetness to her.132 Of course what better way to retain stamina and receive courage from Our Lord than by receiving His Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity. Therese did not believe she could suffer enough in order to gain one communion.133 The very day after her First Holy Communion she felt in her heart a great desire for suffering and a certainty that Jesus had a great number of crosses prepared for her. Suffering became like a magnet attracting her.134 It was also on this day that only Jesus remained. Therese revealed, "Jesus alone IS, all the rest IS NOT." 135
When we receive the Eucharist we may also receive great consolation. He can accomplish in us what we cannot. We must believe in His love, especially a love that would cause God to give Himself to us in the form of a piece of unleavened bread. In His love he immolates Himself entirely. Therese's "self-annihilation" through suffering imitates Christ's annihilation in the Eucharist. The strength to meet her suffering came from Jesus' presence in her soul. She could find no other consolation but Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.136 Therese became the "little tabernacle of God". Not only did she receive the Eucharist, she wanted to become like the Eucharist. She also wanted to be ground down through suffering in order to become the wheat of God.137 She declared her readiness to eat the bread of suffering until it should please God to bring her into the Kingdom of His glory. We are only capable of doing good to souls with God's help.
Today over eleven hundred churches and chapels are dedicated to Saint Therese of the Child Jesus and of the Holy Face, and her autobiography has been printed in thirty different languages. This small maiden of Lisieux, France, has wrought a revolution in the Church.138 She discovered the door to eternal life and pointed it out to others by living her theology of suffering. Her mission is as universal as the Church. The doctrine she taught is supported by the Vicars of Christ and Christ Himself. Love is the soul of her spirituality; everyday life is its field of application. She knows the way to the goal of our labors because she experienced it and tested it herself. Suffering is a hidden blessing, precious beyond purchase. It makes us strangers to the world but gives us the intimacy of Christ. Through suffering we become assimilated to Christ's Passion as well as connected to His agape love and thus imitate Christ in the Holy Eucharist. In suffering we resemble Christ, and with His assistance we gain graces for the sanctification of souls. Suffering of both the body and the soul enables us to prove our love for God.
Therese's theology of suffering is for everyone, but not everyone will accept it because it is so very contrary to the attitudes and "values" of secular society. Her sanctity does not consist in this or that practice but in a disposition of the heart, a spirit of love. If we give ourselves while on earth, Christ will give us Himself in eternity. We cannot afford to wait until tomorrow to begin becoming saints!
Foot Notes
1. James Likoudis. St. Therese of Lisieux:Doctor of the Church? (New
Rochelle:Catholics United for the Faith, Inc.,l992) ,58.
2. Michael Novak, "St. Therese Doctor of the Church," Crisis
December (1997) :12—15.
3. Saint Therese. The Story of a Soul (Rockford:Tan Books,195l) ,16.
4. Ibid., 20.
5. Ibid., 9.
6. Rev. Francois Jamart, O.C.D. Complete Spiritual Doctrine of St.
Therese Lisieux (New York:Alba House, 1961)1173.
7. Therese, 18.
8. Ibid., 19.
9. Ibid., 21.
10. Ibid., 22.
11. Ibid., 25.
12. Ibid., 23.
13. L'Abbe Andre Combes, St. Therese and Suffering (New York:P.J.
Kenedy and Sons, 1951),42.
14. Jamart, 173.
15. Therese, 44.
16. Ibid., 55.
17. Ibid., 61.
18. Jamart, 177.
19. Therese, 66.
20. Ibid., 67.
21. Jamart, 183.
22. Therese, 77.
23. Ibid., 96.
24. Ibid., 103.
25. Ibid., 105.
26. Ibid., 115.
27. Ibid., 122.
28. Jamart, 151.
29. Ibid., 152.
30. Ibid., 153.
31. Ibid., 187.
32. Ibid., 192.
33. John Clarke, O.C.D. St. Therese of Lisieux:Her Last Conversations
(Washington,D.C. :Institute of Carmelite Studies, 1977), 207.
34. Jamart, 192.
35. Likoudis, 26.
36. Jamart, 23.
37. Combes, 85.
38. Ibid., 86.
39. Likoudis, 46.
40. Ibid., 49.
41. Jamart, 157.
42. Ibid., 268.
43. Combes, 88.
44. Jamart, 118.
45. Ibid., 214.
46. Combes, 40.
47. James A. Wiseman, "The Spirituality of St. Therese as Seen in Her
Poetry," Communio 24(1997):529—40.
48. Clarke, 198.
49. Guy Gaucher, The Story of a Life St. Therese of Lisieux (San Francisco:
Harper and Row, 1987), 108.
50. Likoudis, 33.
51. Ibid., 284.
52. Therese, 54.
53. Thomas a Kempis, The Imitation of Christ (Brooklyn:Confraternity of
the Precious Blood, 1982),145.
54. Therese, 134.
55. Jamart, 73.
56. Ibid., 138.
57. Ibid., 251.
58. Combes, 119.
59. Fr. Raymond de Thomas de Saint—Laurent, "St. Therese of the Child
Jesus", Crusade September-October (1997) :6—20.
60. Clarke, 246.
61. Combes, 122.
62. Hans Urs von Balthasar, Two Sisters in the Spirit (San F'rancisco:
Ignatius, 1970), 275. 63. Jamart, 185.
64. Clarke, 52.
65. Jamart, 187.
66. Ibid., 189.
67. Ibid., 189.
68. Ibid., 189.
69. Ibid., 195.
70. Therese, 205.
71. Auguste Pierre Laveille, St. Therese de l'Enfant Jesus (Dublin:Clonmore
and Reynolds Ltd., 1951), 241.
72. Von Balthasar, 331.
73. Jamart, 167.
74. Ibid., 168.
75. Gaucher, 173.
76. Combes, 59.
77. Jamart, 168.
78. Ibid., 169.
79. Ibid., 169.
80. Ibid., 223.
81. Combes, 66.
82. Libreria Editrice Vaticana, Catechism of the Catholic Church (St. Paul:
The Wanderer Press, 1994), 139.
83. Clarke, 258.
84. Jamart, 171.
85. Ibid., 215.
86. Ibid., 220.
87. Combes, 62.
88. Ibid., 63.
89. Von Baithasar, 195.
90. Ibid., 278.
91. Laveille, 251.
92. Jamart, 171.
93. Combes, 66.
94. Therese, 207.
95. Jamart, 149.
96. Clarke, 200.
97. Ibid., 239.
98. Clarke, 264.
99. Likoudis, 9.
100. Jamart, 61.
101. Ibid., 77.
102. Ibid., 86.
103. Ibid., 113.
104. Ibid., 129.
105. Jamart, 170.
106. Ibid., 170.
107. Ibid., 191.
108. Ibid., 191.
109. Ibid., 231.
110. Combes, 82.
111. Ibid., 82.
112. Novak, 13.
113. Jamart, 152.
114. Von Baithasar, 308.
115. Jamart, 116.
116. Ibid., 116.
117. Ibid., 42.
118. Peter Casarella, "Sisters in Doing the Truth:Dorothy Day and St.
Therese of Lisieux," Communio 24 (1997) :468—98.
119. Clarke, 144.
120. Likoudis, 15.
121. Clarke, 247.
122. Jamart, 131.
123. Casarella, 494.
124. Ibid., 494.
125. Therese, 202.
126. Ibid., 189.
127. Jamart, 23.
128. Colette Ackerman and Joseph Healey, "Reinterpreting Therese
of Lisieux for Today's World," Spiritual Life 35 (1989) :83—96. 29.
von Balthasar, 330.
130. L'Abbe Andre Combes, The Spirituality of St. Therese (New York:P.J.
Kenedy and Sons, 1950), 163.
131. Jamart, 141.
132. Clarke, 264.
133. Ibid., 255.
134. Jamart, 226.
135. Ibid., 262.
136. von Balthasar, 167.
137. Combes, 48.
138. Friedrich Heer, "The Saint of a New Era," Cross Currents 5 (1955)
:311—22.