Minute Meditations

You love St. Augustine, St. Magdalene, these souls to whom “many sins were forgiven because they loved much.” I love them too, I love their repentance, and especially…their loving audacity! When I see Magdalene walking up before the many guests, washing with her tears the feet of her adored Master, whom she is touching for the first time, I feel that her heart has understood the abysses of love and mercy of the Heart of Jesus, and, sinner though she is, this Heart of love was not only disposed to pardon her but to lavish on her the blessings of His divine intimacy, to lift her to the highest summits of contemplation. — From a letter to Abbé Maurice Bellière (member, Missionaries of Africa) | June 1897

—from the book The Way of Simple Love: Inspiring Words from Therese of Lisieux by Father Gary Caster

When I shall have arrived at port, I will teach you how to travel, dear little brother of my soul, on the stormy sea of the world: with the surrender and the love of a child who knows his Father loves him and cannot leave him alone in the hour of danger… The way of simple love and confidence is really made for you. — Autobiography of a Soul | Epilogue

—from the book The Way of Simple Love: Inspiring Words from Therese of Lisieux by Father Gary Caster

This, Brother, is what I think of God’s justice; my way is all confidence and love. I do not understand souls who fear a Friend so tender. At times, when I am reading certain spiritual treatises in which perfection is shown through a thousand obstacles, surrounded by a crowd of illusions, my poor little mind quickly tires; I close the learned book that is breaking my head and drying up my heart, and I take up Holy Scripture. Then all seems luminous to me; a single word uncovers for my soul infinite horizons, perfection seems simple to me, I see it is sufficient to recognize one’s nothingness and to abandon oneself as a child into God’s arms. Leaving to great souls, to great minds the beautiful books I cannot understand, much less put into practice, I rejoice at being little since children alone and those who resemble them will be admitted to the heavenly banquet. — From a letter to Père Adolphe Roulland (member, Foreign Missions of Paris) | May 1897

—from the book The Way of Simple Love: Inspiring Words from Therese of Lisieux by Father Gary Caster

I considered that I was born for glory, and when I searched out the means of attaining it, God inspired in me the sentiments I have just described. He made me understand my own glory would not be evident to the eyes of mortals, that it would consist in becoming a great saint! This desire could certainly appear daring if one were to consider how weak and imperfect I was, and how, after seven years in religious life, I am still weak and imperfect. I always feel, however, the same bold confidence of becoming a great saint because I don’t count on my merits since I have none, but I trust in Him who is Virtue and Holiness. God alone, content with my weak efforts, will raise me to Himself and make me a saint, clothing me in His infinite merits.  —The Story of a Soul, chapter four

—from the book The Way of Simple Love: Inspiring Words from Therese of Lisieux by Father Gary Caster

Oh! How I would like to be able to make you understand what I feel! It is confidence and nothing but confidence that must lead us to Love…Does not fear lead to justice? Since we see the way, let us run together. Yes, I feel it, Jesus gives to us the same graces, He wills to give us His heaven gratuitously…I am sure that God would not give you the desire to be POSSESSED by Him, by His Merciful Love if He were not reserving that favor for you…or rather He has already given it to you, since you have given yourself to Him, since you desire to be consumed by Him, and since God never gives desires that He cannot realize. —From a letter to Sister Marie of the Sacred Heart (one of Thérèse’s novices) | September 1896

—from the book The Way of Simple Love: Inspiring Words from Therese of Lisieux by Father Gary Caster

St. Thérèse helped people understand that sanctity was not for a limited few, but for all the baptized. Her childlike confidence and abandonment to Jesus led her to offer up to the Lord the simple duties and obligations of her religious life. She believed that nothing was too little to give Jesus, and nothing done out of love for him was insignificant. St. Thérèse was confident that Christ longed to lift everyone up to the height and depth and breadth of holiness.

—from the book The Way of Simple Love: Inspiring Words from Therese of Lisieux by Father Gary Caster

The “Little Flower” from Lisieux continues to captivate women and men today. St. John Paul II, St. Teresa of Calcutta, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, Dorothy Day, and many other well-known Catholic figures have had a deep devotion to St. Thérèse. St. John Paul II was so taken with the profundity of her thought that he her declared her a Doctor of the Church, giving her a place alongside such notable women as St. Teresa of Avila, St. Catherine of Siena, and St. Hildegard of Bingen. This is quite an accomplishment for a young woman who regarded herself as a little toy ball tossed aside and forgotten by Jesus. Each of our lives matter to Jesus. Perhaps this is why so many lives still resonate with hers. It is easy to feel insignificant and unimportant. Yet, the clear and compelling language of her story and her letters remains the perfect antidote to such feelings.

—from the book The Way of Simple Love: Inspiring Words from Therese of Lisieux by Father Gary Caster