Story of A Soul

Story of a Soul is the autobiography of St. Therese of Lisieux.  It was actually my Lenten reading.  I failed.  It is over my head, mystically.  I couldn't stay focused on it.  I really skimmed across it and read just what interested, which was very little.  Sorry.  I know it's a classic.

I tried.  It's been quoted so often that most parts were familiar to me.  I just couldn't identify with her.  She's too "holy moly," or I'm too worldly.  We just don't mesh.  Near the end, a certain bishop didn't want to promote her autobiography because he thought it teenage imaginings.  My opinion, too.  But after he read it, he changed his mind. 

Sorry, not me.

Smile while you are Being bullied?

St. Therese of Lisieux

This morning in the sacristy, I was talking to the altar server who was relating a story about bullying.  As usual, I couldn't think of anything useful to say.  However, upon reflection, I recall a story St. Therese tells in her Story of A Soul.  There was one grouchy, angry nun, who used to really annoy Therese.  So as a penance, Therese decided to be nice to the curmudgeon.  She made a point of greeting her with a smile.  Therese did this for the rest of her short life.

After Therese's death, that same annoying nun talked about being Therese's best friend.  Every time Therese saw her she broke out in a big smile.

Go figure.

Do you think that story would have helped the altar server?

My Lenten Reads

I'm looking forward to Lent this year because I have some good books I want to read.

(1)  The Word in the Wilderness, A Poem A Day for Lent and Easter by Malcolm Guite.  I discovered Malcolm Guite at the end of Advent.  I like his poetry.  He's an Anglican priest and writes so much that I can relate to and understand. 

(2) Lift Up Your Heart by Fulton J. Sheen, is a recommendation from a friend.

It's advice on how to live a spiritually complete life.

(3)  This one I never wanted to read, The Story of a Soul by St. Therese of Lisieux.  It was written a long time, ago.  Who wants to read stuff that old?  Not I.
     But St. Therese kept being mentioned in the teaching materials I'm using to teach Lectio Divina.  She was everywhere.  Since I wasn't paying attention, the Holy Spirit woke me up one night.  I couldn't get back to sleep, so I got up and turned on the television.  It was an hour-long show promoting Therese's The Story of a Soul.  Some of the program was about Therese, but what touched me were the individual stories of different people, from different walks of life, who had their lives altered after reading The Story of a Soul.
     "OK, Lord, I can take a hint."
    I thought I already had a copy somewhere on my bookshelves.  When I quickly perused the book- shelf, it practically leaped out at me.  A brand new book, St. Therese of Lisieux Story of a Soul, translation by John Clarke, O.C.D., prepared by Marc Foley, O.C.D.

More Married Saints

Image via Wikipedia

Zelie Guerin Martin

Image via Wikipedia

St. Therese of Lisieux

Image via Wikipedia

Louis Martin

Talk about fairy tale lives.  But it's not a fairy tale.  This couple did live and they're both saints.  Louis Martin and Zelie Guerin lived in the 19th century.  They weren't necessarily looking to get married.  They had both tried the religious life, and for one reason or another, that didn't work out.  He had a steady job as a watchmaker.  She had a cottage industry, employing others, with her embroidery.  When they met Louis was 34 and Zelie was 26. They married after a 3 month courtship.

At first, they dedicated themselves to each others sanctification and did not engage in sexual relations, thinking that this would please God.    But after some spiritual direction, their thinking reversed.  They looked at marital relations as a gift from God and children as blessings.  They went on to have nine children!

And they set out to make them all religious.  The boys would be priests and the girls, nuns. Unfortunately, the two boys in the family died, and two of the daughters.

Someone once said to Zelie, "It would have been much better if you had not given birth to those whom you lost so soon after their coming."  But Zelie knew better.  Zelie thought "I do not find that the pains and sufferings can at all compare with the eternal happiness of my little ones, eternal happiness which, of course, would never have been theirs, had they never been born.  Moreover, I have not lost them for always.  Life is short.  Soon I shall find my little ones in Heaven."

See why she's a saint.

Both Louis and Zelie attended daily Mass.  And this was a time when one couldn't receive daily Communion. They gathered the family together for daily prays.  Most of all, they gave all their children a respect for religious piety, devotions, and love of God.

It's no wonder that one of their daughters was to become a saint, and a doctor of the church--St. Therese of Lisieux.

h/t Fr. Thomas Kevin Kraft, O.P. research on married saints

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• St. Thérèse of Lisieux (catechesisofthepopes.wordpress.com)