St Therese of Liseaux

Therese belonged to a very holy family.  Her mother and father loved Jesus so much and they taught Therese and her four sisters to love Jesus, too.  Therese was the youngest in the family and everyone loved her very much and took good care of her.  When Therese was only 4 years old, her mother got very sick and died.  Therese’s oldest sister, Pauline, became like a mother to Therese.  Since Therese was the youngest and people felt bad for her because she lost her mother, she was spoiled; everyone did everything for her.  When Pauline decided to leave home to join the convent, Therese was heartbroken because it felt like she was losing her mother all over again.  Therese became very sick and people were very worried about her.  During this time she would pray a lot and, one day, while she was looking at a statue of Mary near her bed, she saw Mary smile at her. Right away Therese was cured from her illness.  Soon after, two more of Therese’s sisters soon joined the convent and Therese was left at home with her sister Celine and her father.  Therese was only 11 years old, but she wanted to join the Carmelite convent, too. However, she had become a very sensitive little girl and her feelings were hurt very easily.  She knew that to join the convent, she had to get stronger and she would have to learn to do things for herself.  On Christmas Eve, when she was 14 years old, God gave her the gift of being stronger and not so sensitive and Therese knew that she was ready to join the convent.  This new gift of strength from God gave Therese the courage to ask to join the convent even though everyone thought she was too young.  When the leader of the convent said no, Therese went to the Bishop; when the Bishop said no, Therese went all the way to Rome to ask the Pope!  The Pope was so amazed by this young girl’s courage and strength that he allowed her to join the convent her sisters were living in, a Carmelite cloistered convent.  Cloistered meant that Therese lived the rest of her life in the convent without leaving and without seeing her father again.  In the convent Therese discovered living the “Little Way”, doing every little thing that she could with great love for Jesus.  Although she never did anything big and wonderful in the eyes of the world, she did every little thing for love of God and this made her Saint.