St. Therese was about ten years old when she developed a serious illness. She was often delirious. She thought that only a miracle could cure her. Her father, one day, gave some gold coins to his other daughter and told her to write to the church of Our Lady of Victories in Paris to say Masses for her recovery. He looked very sad
There was a statue of Blessed Virgin on her bedside. One day she kept calling her sister, Marie."Marie, Marie" , despite the fact that she could clearly see her. Her three sisters, who were nursing her, were greatly distressed by her calling and failure to recognize.They knelt by her bed and prayed to the statue of the Blessed Virgin for her recovery. She, herself, also turned towards the statue and “ … and beseeched her to have pity on me.”
“ ….Suddenly the Blessed Virgin glowed with a beauty beyond anything I had ever seen. Her face was alive with a kindness and an infinite tenderness, but it was her enchanting smile which really moved me…..”
Years later, she had the chance to visit the church of Our Lady of Victories in Paris. She wrote;” I cannot describe what I experienced in that sanctuary of hers. I was filled with joy and peace. And there the Blessed Virgin , my Mother, told me clearly that it really was she who had smiled on me and healed me.”
When she was fourteen she had a vision. In her own words,” One Sunday when I was looking at the picture of Our Lord on the Cross, I saw the Blood coming from one of his hands….”
Perhaps a year before her death, in 1896, she had a dream, in which she saw three Carmalite nuns, wearing mantles and long veils. She knew they were from heaven. She thought to herself that how happy she would be if she could see the face of one of them. As if in answer to her wish, one of them lifted her veil. She instantly recognized her, as The Venerable Mother Anne of Jesus, the foundress of Carmel in France. Her face had a beauty not of this earth. ……..
She caressed her. Moved by her love, she ventured to say, “I implore you, Mother, to tell me if God is going to leave me on earth for long……….”
She gave me a tender smile: "Yes, soon…..soon. I promise you.”
And then she said these words, which are amongst the tenderest and humblest words that I have come across in all of spiritual literature:
“Tell me also, Mother, if God is pleased with me. Does He want anything from me beyond my poor little deeds and longings?”
As she spoke her face shown with a new splendour…..
She said “God asks nothing more from you. He is pleased, very pleased.”…..
It is not often that you are informed, while you are living, that God is pleased with you. Perhaps ,once in a year? , a century?….
1 comment:
yes, but what does it mean to you? Need your thoughts, your interpretations please.
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