She saw past this life and she saw past her feelings she saw the greater glory of God. Prior to her mother's death, Therese told her mother that she wished she would die in order to experience the beauty of heaven. Therese lost her mother at a young age, but what should have been the saddest moment of this young girl's life was a moment of sanctity.
What happens when we are faced with great suffering? When it feels like our world is falling apart? How do we approach that with joy? Once again, we can turn to St. We can make an effort to approach our daily sacrifices with joy. This conscious decision to choose joy does not seem to be a great feat. Is this not how we are called to act when we encounter our own daily discomforts?
Rather than be filled with anger, Therese begged God for the ability to act with grace and remain peaceful, offering all her suffering towards God. She would splash water in Therese’s face and speak badly about her. For example, in the convent, Therese was treated poorly by one of the sisters. True to her “little way,” her joy meant not complaining and sacrificing her own desires to cultivate peace and love. She offered up all her crosses for the greater glory of God. More than anything, she desired to serve God well, through every minor inconvenience, to joyfully lying on her deathbed.ĭuring the course of her life, Therese experienced common inconveniences, like eating something she despised or doing chores, as well as great suffering, like the death of her parents and severe illness. St Therese of Lisieux says it so perfectly in her autobiography, Story of a Soul: “I understood that to become a saint one had to suffer much, seek out always the most perfect thing to do, and forget self.” As a young woman who died at the age of twenty four, Therese was wise enough to understand that her earthly adversities had a divine purpose. We sinful beings often expect to avoid afflictions and still reach a level of sanctity, but all canonized saints know that they would not have reached heaven if they had escaped earthly suffering. Look at the foundation of our faith: an innocent man, being scourged and killed for love.
As Christians, we believe our trials lead us to sanctity. The secular world visualizes suffering as something that is bad and inhibits us.
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