Catechism St. Thérèse

Saint Thérèse

	Back		CATECHISM AND ARTICLE by J. Linus Ryan, O. Carm., Director, St. Thérèse National Office, Carmelite Community, Terenure College, Dublin 6W, Ireland. Lisieux, France ? Centenary Day 30^th September, 1998 I begin my end of year reflection, as always, by sending you greetings for a blessed Christmas and Grace filled New Year from this holy place where the greatest saint of modern times lived out her short life of heroic holiness. It is marvellous to be here for the very special occasion of the celebration of the Centenary of St. Thérèse?s Writings. It is through her Writings that the world has come to know the beauty of soul of St. Thérèse. In *Story of a Soul* she has left us, outside of the Bible itself, the greatest spiritual classic of all time. This year has seen the last of the great Centenaries associated with the life of St. Thérèse, the first of which was celebrated on her birthday anniversary, 2^nd January, 1973. The Bishop of Lisieux has mounted a beautiful Exhibition on the Life and Writings of St. Thérèse in the new International Pilgrim Centre. It has been a special privilege to see the original Manuscripts of St. Thérèse, plus copies of the more than sixty translations of her *Story of a Soul. I am most grateful to St. Thérèse?s own Carmelite Sisters for having gone to the trouble of colour-photocopying everything they have in their archives related to Story of a Soul. With these, the Thérèsian Trust and St. Thérèse Missionary League have been able to mount a similarly beautiful Exhibition in the former Carmelite Convent, Blackrock, Co. Dublin. The Exhibition is due to continue to October 18. It opened four days ago and so far has had a rapturous welcome. Courtesy of St. Thérèse?s own Carmelite Sisters and His Eminence, Cardinal Daly, I have been able to offer Mass in the little infirmary in the inner convent cloister where St. Thérèse suffered so much, loved so much and died. All of you are remembered in my prayers. In many respects St. Thérèse?s offering of herself as a victim to the Merciful Love of God* was a high point in her life. Small wonder then that the original manuscript of the Act has an honoured place in a magnificent reliquary in the infirmary ? a deeply moving sight for us celebrants. I have wanted very much to celebrate St. Thérèse?s Writings by penning something special myself in her honour ? something that would help people to focus on the beautiful and encouraging teaching of St. Thérèse. From all that I have written on the saint over the years, I have been pleasantly surprised and grateful to see that my catechism of St. Thérèse *Act of Oblation to the Merciful Love of God* has been the most popular read. In fact, it is now entirely out of print. Reprinting then, as my Centenary gift to St. Thérèse, seems to me to be the most logical thing to do. Also, His Holiness, Pope John Paul II, as recently as August 23, when preaching about St. Thérèse, made a special plea to all Catholics ?I invite you all constantly to make the Act of Oblation to Merciful Love, like Thérèse ? desiring, despite human weakness, to love God and to make Him loved by humbly putting yourselves into His hands like small children ? to do His will daily?. The saint herself was most anxious that many souls would follow in her footsteps in making the Act of Oblation. On this point I quote directly from Thérèse ?Jesus, I beg You to cast Your Divine Glance upon a great number of little souls. I beg You to choose a legion of little Victims worthy of Your Love?. (Story of a Soul, Chapter 9) This *Act of Oblation, new in the annals of the Church and which I print in full, was followed, as St. Thérèse herself said, ?by oceans of graces, which inundated my soul immediately after this donation of myself on June 9, 1895?. St. Thérèse?s special desire was to procure the same benefit for all people of goodwill sincerely wishing to love and please God. ?A few days after my Oblation to God?s Merciful Love, I had commenced in the choir the Way of the Cross, when I felt myself suddenly wounded by a dart of fire* so ardent that I thought I should die. I know not how to describe that transport; there is no comparison which would make the vehemence of that flame understood. It seemed as though an invisible force plunged me wholly into fire. Oh, that fire! What sweetness! One minute, one second more, and my soul must have been set free . . .? ST. THÉRÈSE OF THE CHILD JESUS. ?Few are the souls to receive this divine wound: those chiefly whose spirit and power is to be transmitted to their spiritual children: God bestows on the Founder such gifts and graces as shall be proportionate to the succession of the Order as the first-fruits of the Spirit.? ST. JOHN OF THE CROSS, The Living Flame of Love. Because this *Act of Oblation, I emphasise, as St. Thérèse would, is not confined to the mystics, I think I can do nothing better, by way of encouragement, than make some analysis of it. St. Thérèse made the Act to compensate the good God for the refusal which we oppose to the Love that He desires to shower upon us. ST. THÉRÈSE AND THE NEW CATECHISM* OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH To encourage you to read on about the *Act of Oblation* it is important to remember that every Pope since she died has emphasised her special role as teacher. That emphasis is now sealed for all time with the proclamation of Thérèse as Doctor of the Church by His Holiness Pope John Paul II in Rome on Mission Sunday 19^th October, 1997. The New Catechism of the Catholic Church was commissioned by the bishops of the world under the patronage of the Holy Father. What is astonishing in this great work is the place occupied by the saints, especially the women saints. In his presentation of the New Catechism to the bishops of France, Bishop Christoph Schomborn, O.P., Secretary of the Pope?s International Commission for the New Catechism, stressed this point: ?The saints have a privileged function in this Catechism. Above all it is the women saints who have the last word at the end of each article: in these words, doctrine becomes life, the word of instruction becomes a word of fire. Thus we find St. Radagonde, St. Joan of Arc, Catherine of Siena and Teresa of Avila (Doctors of the Church), Rose of Lima and Elizabeth of the Trinity and obviously St. Thérèse of Lisieux. Indeed, Thérèse of Lisieux has the lion?s share with her six quotations, more than all her saint-sisters. These quotations are well balanced; one from each of the three Manuscripts of the Autobiography, one from the *Act of Offering to Merciful Love, one from the Letters* and one from The Last Conversations.? Let me explain in more detail. In the first section of the Catechism entitled ?I believe, We believe? (the importance of Scripture), this passage from Manuscript A of the Autobiography is recalled: ?It is above all the Gospel which occupies my mind when I?m at prayer. My poor soul has so many needs and yet this is the one thing needful. I?m always finding fresh lights there, hidden meanings which have meant nothing to me hitherto.? In the chapter on The Church there is a long quotation from Manuscript B of the Autobiography: ?If the Church is a body composed of different members, it cannot lack the noblest of all. It must have a heart and a heart burning with love, and I realise that this love alone was the true motive force which enabled the other members of the Church to act. If it ceased to function the Apostles would forget to preach the Gospel, the Martyrs would refuse to shed their blood. Love, in fact, is the vocation which included all others. It is a universe of its own comprising all time and space, it?s eternal.? It is evident that we have here a summary of the Communion of Saints, so dear to Vatican II. Prayer Thérèse has the honour of opening the fourth part of the Catechism ?Christian Prayer? by her celebrated definition: ?For me, prayer is a lifting up of the heart, a simple look turned towards heaven, it is a cry of gratitude and love, from the crest of joy or the depth of despair?. The Communion of Saints Concerning the intercession of the Saints, in the chapter ?The Communion of Saints? there is her famous promise from The Last Conversations: ?I will spend my heaven in doing good on earth?. Christian Death Finally, on the subject of death, there is cited her memorable phrase: ?I am not dying, I am entering into life?. Thérèse the Theologian A person telephoned me to ask ?Why does St. Thérèse have such a prominent place in the Universal Catechism?? It was not difficult to answer this question. I replied ?It is because she is a great theologian and a great mistress of the spiritual life?. Many more quotations from Thérèse could have been cited. It was not without reason that many of the bishops of the world asked the Pope for Thérèse to be declared a Doctor of the Church. He did so on October 19, 1997. The Act of Oblation to Merciful Love In the chapter of Merit, the *Act of Oblation to Merciful Love* is cited as an example of human merits which are pure grace. ?After my exile on earth, I look forward to happiness with You in heaven, but I do not wish to amass merits for heaven, I wish to work for Your Love alone ? In the evening of this life, I will appear before You with empty hands, for I do not ask You, Lord, to count my works. All our good deeds are blemished in Your sight. I wish, therefore, to clothe myself with Your own justice and to receive from Your love the eternal possession of Yourself.? (Page 436 ? No. 2006 ? T 2011). This Catechism is a sign of the importance of Thérèse, who is quoted more often than her sister-saints, Teresa of Avila and Catherine of Siena (both also Doctors of the Church). Finally, it is an act signifying the specific place of women in theology. It is scarcely necessary to add that given the generous quotation from the *Act of Oblation to the Merciful Love of God* that we should really try to understand it, so that we can joyfully live it out. May I say here that many devotees of St. Thérèse tend not to take her invitation seriously to make this Act, because, generally, initially they fail to understand it. I offer a help to meet this situation in the form of a number of vital questions and answers. Retain these as a reference point as you strive to respond to St. Thérèse?s invitation. I have no doubt they will be a help. They need to be read and re-read over a period. 1. What is the object of this Act of Oblation? It is to compensate the good God for the refusal which His creatures oppose to the Love that He desires to shower upon them. 2. How may we make this compensation to God? By offering our hearts, so that ?He may let the floodtide of His infinite tenderness flow over them.? *3. Does not this Act* aim at other intentions?** Many others are mentioned it is true, but they are all included in the essential object which we have just stated. St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus says on this point: ?I will work for Thy Love alone, O my God, my sole aim being ?to give Thee pleasure, to console Thy Sacred Heart, and to save souls who will love Thee for ever.? 4. What is the origin of this Act? St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus tells us in her Autobiography: *Story of a Soul* ?In the year 1895, I received,? she writes, ?the grace to understand better than ever how much Jesus desires to be loved.? ?Thinking one day of those who offer themselves as Victims to the Justice of God in order to turn aside the punishment reserved for sinners by taking it upon themselves, I felt this offering to be noble and generous, but I was far from feeling drawn myself to make it.? ?O my Divine Master, I cried in the depths of my heart, shall Your Justice alone receive victims of holocaust? Has not Your *Merciful Love* also need of them? On all sides it is ignored, rejected ? the hearts on which You would out-pour it turn to creatures, seeking happiness in miserable and fleeting affections instead of casting themselves into Your arms, into the ineffable furnace of Your Infinite Love.? ?O my God, must Your Love remain disdained within Your Heart? It seems to me that if You should find souls offering themselves as Victims of Holocaust to Your Love, You would quickly consume them, that You would be glad not to repress the flames of infinite tenderness pent up within You ?? ?If Your Justice ? the Justice which You exercise on earth be satisfied to discharge itself on voluntary victims, how much the more must Your *Merciful Love* desire to enkindle souls, since Your mercy reaches even to the heavens.? ?O Jesus, that I may be that happy Victim, consume Your holocaust in the fire of Divine Love.? 5. Why the expression Merciful Love? Mercy, according to St. Augustine: ?Miseriscordare,? means: ?to give one?s heart to the wretched.? The soul then that offers herself to the *Merciful Love* of God appeals by her very miseries to that inexplicable tendency of the Divine Heart, which inclines irresistibly to outpour its mercy without measure on the abject and the lowly. 6. In what dispositions should the soul be found who desires to draw down to herself this Merciful Love? In a disposition of trustful humility. The soul should offer herself to the good God as an empty vessel so that He may let the flood-tide of His Love flow into it, or as a fire ready set, waiting for His kindling, that His torrent of flames may consume her as she desires. 7. Should the soul not first try to correct her faults, or at least to improve herself in some way? No, it is not necessary. She gives herself just as she is, without preparation. It is useless to want to begin by having a perfect fruit ? by removing its defects beforehand. Love, in co-operation with her goodwill, will do this work. 8. Why the word Victim? By the word Victim, St. Thérèse meant to denote a complete oblation of herself to the Divine Love; she desired that all personal life should disappear, as though it were absorbed by this Love. Again, she used the expression *Victim of Love* in opposition to Victim of Justice in a spontaneous outburst from her sensitive heart; she did not wish the most beautiful attribute of God to be less favoured than the other, which has long had its Victims. 9. What is meant by the word Holocaust? Holocaust, to the Saint?s mind, means that the soul ?plunged in the rapturous fire of God?s Infinite Love? aspires, ardently desires, to be wholly consumed, and to be so transformed as to become fire herself at the permanent contact of the Divine Fire. 10. Doubtless this is what she calls a martyrdom? According to the expression of St. Thérèse the martyrdom of her life is the state of soul created by the infinite tenderness of God overflowing without measure into a human heart necessarily limited. ?I implore You,? she says, ?to let the floodtide of infinite tenderness pent up in You overflow into my soul, so that I may become a martyr of Your Love, O my God!? She completes the expression of her thought. ?May this martyrdom, after having prepared me to appear before You, break life?s web at last.? This disproportion, between the infinite tenderness of God and the finite heart of the poor little creature, will one day break the frail web: it is the death of love. 11. But may we not think in our humility: I am not called to those heights, that Act is not for me? Listen to St. Thérèse: ?It is my very weakness which emboldens me to offer myself as a Victim to Your Love, O Jesus,? And again: ?The weaker and more miserable we are, the better are we fitted for the operations of this consuming and transforming Love.? And it may be said that Thérèse ? like Jesus ? came to win God?s Merciful Love ?not the just, but sinners.? ?In the days of old,? exclaims our Saint, ?victims pure and without blemish were alone acceptable to the great and all-powerful God; to satisfy Divine Justice perfect victims must be offered. But the law of fear has been succeeded by the law of Love, and Love has chosen me for a holocaust, chosen me a weak and imperfect creature! And is this choice not worthy of Love? Yes, that Love may be fully satisfied, it must come down to nothingness and transform this nothingness into Fire. Let us remember that ?what Thérèse did, all little souls may do.? Did she not say: ?O Jesus, I feel that were it possible to find a weaker soul than mine You wouldst take delight in showering upon her still greater favours.? 12. Has not the soul who makes the Act of Oblation a secret hope of reward? Our Saint replies in the formula itself of the Act: ?I have no wish to amass merits for Heaven. At the close of this life I shall appear before You with empty hands, for I ask not, Lord, that You wouldst count my works.? Again she says in The Story of a Soul: ?It is not the riches and glory, even the glory of Heaven, that my heart seeks; what I ask for is Love.? It is not to seek her own beauty that she begs our Lord to consume at once all her imperfections in the fire of His Love. It is solely that she may retain the privilege of being able to give Him joy, of making some compensation to His Divine Heart: - AA. ?I long to console You for the ingratitude of the wicked, and to pray You take from me the power to displease You. If, through frailty, sometimes, I fall, may Your Divine glance purify my soul immediately, consuming every imperfection ? like the fire that transforms all things into itself.? 13. Does not this Act nevertheless obtain for the soul some personal advantages? Yes, although our Saint did not seek them directly, her motives being far removed from all personal interest. These are, in her own thought, the principal advantages: (a) A continual purification of the soul, whose imperfections are constantly consumed by Love: ?Ah, since that happy day of my oblation,? writes St. Thérèse, ?love penetrates and surrounds me; at each moment this Merciful Love renews and purifies me, leaving in my heart no trace of sin.? (b) A higher perfection stamped on all the details of life: ?When a soul is wholly consecrated to Love, all her actions, even the most indifferent, are marked by this Divine seal.? (c) A constant and ever more enlightning effusion of Truth ? i.e. of humility ? for this Love is light as well as heat. ?My soul is all shining and gilded,? declared St. Thérèse, ?because it is exposed to the rays of Love. If this Divine Sun withheld from me His rays, my soul would immediately become obscured and enveloped in darkness.? This light preserves in the soul the sense ever more relished of her littleness, her nothingness, and at the same time, of the Divine Mercy. The soul feels with our Saint: ?what pleases God ? better than the most generous aspirations ? is to see me love my littleness and my poverty; my blind trust in His Mercy. This is my only treasure. (d) After having lived her life of Love ?the soul will take her flight, unhindered, to the eternal embrace of God?s Merciful Love ? therefore, without passing through Purgatory.? St. Thérèse promises that for ?Victims of Love there will be no judgment, but rather the good God will hasten to reward with eternal delights the love for Him which He will see burning in their hearts. The fire of Love is more sanctifying than the fire of Purgatory.? 14. Does not this Act also arouse a zeal for souls? Yes, it procures for the soul surrendered unreservedly to Divine Love, an immense apostolic influence: and this by virtue of the privileged place that the Act rightly wins for her in the bosom of the Church. ?In the heart of the Church, my Mother, I shall be Love,? may the soul repeat with St. Thérèse. Thanks to it ?she will be all? contributing everywhere and in all times to all the advances and victories on the Mission-field. ?Love comprises all vocations.? Love alone is the motive-power for all the members of the Church. It embraces all times and all places, because it is eternal. The efficacy of its hidden influence cannot be surpassed by any other activity. Our Saint likes to assure us with St. John of the Cross that: ?The smallest act of pure love is of greater value to the Church than all other works united together.? (Spiritual Canticle). 15. Will all the Victims of Love share in the same privileges? All victim-souls are consumed, transformed by Love, and irradiate it, but only in the proportion in which they surrender themselves, i.e. according as they allow to Divine Love full freedom, and all its intensity of action. St. Thérèse forewarns her disciples: ?The soul is consumed by Love only in so far as she surrenders herself to Love.? But just as ?in the Father?s house there are many mansions,? so may there also be many degrees in the donation of oneself. If all souls, Victims of Love, have a place in Love?s furnace, it is possible, nevertheless, that some do not fully expose themselves to its flames. Yet they have more graces than those who never entered it; God surrounds them with a special tenderness up to the last moment of their exile. For those who put no limit to the effusion of Divine Love, the good God will also ? as for St. Thérèse ? work ?wonders which will infinitely surpass their immense desires.? 16. Will these perfect Victims of Love be very many? They may be Legion, since St. Thérèse ? and with her the Vicar of Jesus Christ Himself, His Holiness Pius XI in the course of the solemn function of her Canonisation ? implored the Lord to ?choose out a legion of little Victims worthy of His Love.? Our Saint has besides assured us that ?all my hopes will be realised.? AFTER THE OBLATION TO THE MERCIFUL LOVE OF GOD THE DUTIES OF THE VICTIM OF LOVE, HER HOPES, HER ATTITUDE TOWARDS SUFFERING, HER DEATH OF LOVE 17. What is the interior disposition essential in order to live as a fervent Victim of Love? St. Thérèse replies: ?The desire alone to be a victim will suffice,? a sincere and persevering desire, sustained by the firm hope of obtaining from the good God, together with a full effusion of His Love, all the graces necessary to return Him love for love. It is in this sense that the Victim of Love repeats with St. Thérèse in her Act of Oblation: ?I am certain that You will hearken to my desires. My God, I know it; the more You will to give, the more You make us desire. 18. But what is the soul?s part of the work - her active co-operation with the Merciful Love? The soul-victim of Love has a double task to fulfil: one very active, the other apparently passive, but not less generous. Her first duty is to aim at an ever-increasing humility, to strive unceasingly to clear her heart of encumbrances, to maintain it absolutely empty of confidence in self, and all vain seeking after creatures. ?We must consent to remain always poor and without strength ? there lies the difficulty, for where shall be found the truly poor in spirit? He must be sought afar off, that is to say in lowliness, in nothingness. ?In order to enjoy the treasures of Merciful Love,? she says elsewhere, ?we must humble ourselves, must acknowledge our nothingness, and that is what many souls are not willing to do.? The second duty for the soul-victim is to tend ever more and more to ?the self-abandonment of the little child who sleeps without fear in her Father?s arms.? This attitude of spiritual childhood rightly deserves the name of Victim, for ?nothing so completely immolates self in man as to become sincerely little.? St. Thérèse is not afraid to affirm that ?this abandonment alone really surrenders the soul into the arms of Jesus? and thus allows His Love to act freely and according to the full extent of its force. That is why in her challenge to the soul weaker than her own she confidently asserts that it will receive ?favours still greater than those showered on herself, provided that the soul abandon herself with full confidence to the Infinite Mercy of the good God. 19. What are the most serious obstacles to this fervent life of Love? The Author of the Imitation replies with St. Thérèse: ?So soon as a man seeketh himself, doth he fall away from love.? That is so because we re-furnish our hearts, they are no longer empty, and the place offered to Love is thereby diminished ? The Imitation also adds: ?Whosoever is not ready to suffer all things and to stand resigned to the Will of his Beloved, is not worthy to be called a lover.? 20. Does that mean that the real Victims of Love will never grow weak at least on those two points? No; and St. Thérèse herself reassuringly tells us so. ?True,? she says, ?one may fall, one may not be always faithful; but Love, knowing how to draw profit from all, very quickly consumes whatever may displease Jesus, leaving nothing but profound and humble peace in the depths of the soul.? The soul then can find herself below her aspirations without ceasing to be very pleasing to the good God. If at each fall she has recourse to sincere humility, she progresses in fervour, for Love finds in her the empty vessel which it seeks. Our Saint confidently assures us: ?In an act of Love, even though not felt, all is repaired, and more than repaired.? 21. What then will be the means by which the Victim of Love may attain to sanctity? The soul-victim depends solely and in all circumstances on Love, hoping for all virtue from the infinite power and liberality of this Merciful Love, to which she has given herself without reserve. She knows her ?inability to ascend by her own efforts even the first steps of the ladder of sanctity,? but she ?knows whom she had believed? and she repeats to Our Lord according to the formula of her Act of Oblation: ?I long to be a Saint, but I know that I am powerless, and I implore You, O my God, to be Yourself my sanctity. All our good deeds are stained in Your sight. I desire, therefore, to be clothed with Your own Justice, and to receive from Your Love the eternal possession of Yourself.? 22. And from what source here below will this constant Life of Love be nourished? The Divine Source from which the soul-victim will draw life will be Holy Communion; this is the unrivalled invention of the Merciful Love of the good God, ever eager to intermingle with human misery. By her Act of Oblation, St. Thérèse desired to see this mysterious and incomparable ?fusion? prolonged and intensified during every moment of her life, saying to God with humble daring: ?With confidence I call upon You to come and take possession of my soul. I cannot receive You in Holy Communion as often as I would like; but, Lord, are You not Almighty? Remain in me as in the Tabernacle; never leave Your little victim.? 23. By what external sign will the sincerity of this Life of Love be revealed? By a constant increase of real fraternal charity; this is the inevitable effect of a sincere love of God. St. Thérèse confides to us that it was after her Oblation to the Merciful Love she received the grace ?to understand in its full extent the great precept of charity.? I made it my study above all else to love God,? she explains, ?and it is in loving Him that I gradually discovered the secrets of His new Commandment ? that we love one another as Jesus Himself loved us.? And she verified it in practice day by day. ?The more united I am to Jesus, the more also do I love all my Sisters.? After her, the true Victim of Holocaust delivered up to the consuming fire of Divine Love may repeat: ?Since this sweet flame consumes my heart, I run with delight, O my God, in the way of Your new Commandment.? 24. Does the Victim of Love devote herself by virtue of her Act to exceptional sufferings? She aims only at Love, ?the more excellent gift.? She abandons herself to the Merciful Love of the good God ? that is to say, love, tender and compassionate ? without other desire than to love Him and make others love Him, without thinking of herself or of what may happen to her. ?It is the child who surrenders herself to the will of her Father, to suffer or enjoy according to the good pleasure of His Love.? 25. Had St. Thérèse then in view a disposition more perfect than the desire of suffering? Yes, and from the first lines of the Act of Oblation she specifies it: ?I desire, O my God, to accomplish Your Will perfectly.? At the end of her life, our Saint confirms her opinion on this point: ?I know not now how to ask anything eagerly, save the perfect accomplishment of God?s designs upon my soul ? no longer thirst for either suffering or death ? Long did I call upon them as the harbingers of joy ? Now it is the spirit of self-abandonment alone that guides me, no other compass have I.? And on her death-bed she repeats: ?I do not like one thing more than the other. Whatever God prefers and chooses for me that is what I like best. It is what He does that I love.? 26. Is it on that account that our Saint calls the Victim of Love ?happy Victim?? Yes, it is just because this self-abandonment, ?delicious fruit of Love,? is sweetness even in suffering. Love, indeed, ?makes sweet that which is most bitter.? Doubtless ?it has its times of trial as well as its times of enjoyment,? but it always possesses the singular privilege of being able to transform sorrow into joy, a non-sensitive joy perhaps as this Love itself, but ?superior to all joy.? This is what St. Thérèse had experienced when she used to sing? ?Yes, suffering borne with love is happiness most pure ? My joy is to love suffering.? It is this perfect joy ? exquisite flower of Love, that she foresees as the lot of the happy Victims of her Legion. This she wishes to bequeath to her sisters as a last pledge of her fraternal tenderness: ?I do not promise you that you will be spared trials,? did she not tell them before departing for heaven, ?but I shall make you love them, and you will come to say with me: You have given me, O Lord, delight in Your doings.? 27. In a word, may we not conclude that the Act of Oblation To God?s Merciful Love obtains true happiness for the soul-victim? Yes, the soul-victim, calling down upon herself the ?infinite tenderness of the good God? has everything to gain in interior peace and joy; for Divine Love invading a human heart cannot but bring to it all the germs of happiness. Moreover, the Act of Oblation in surrendering the soul to the mercy of God?s Merciful Love guarantees that this Love ?will have compassion on her weakness, will treat her ? at every turn throughout all the vicissitudes of her exile ? with tenderness, with Mercy? and a sovereign liberality. St. Thérèse proclaimed it in that last trial, which on her own avowal took from her ?all feeling of enjoyment. Never did I so feel that the Lord is sweet and merciful.? And already gone down into the anguish and shadow of death, she still repeated like a song of victory: ?No, I am not sorry for having surrendered myself to Divine Love, on the contrary ?? 28. To die of Love, would that mean then to die in transports of joy? If a death of love implies for the soul-victim a fundamental disposition of peace and loving confidence, yet it does not suppose the suppression of the sufferings which are in death the tribute of sin. St. Thérèse calls our attention to this ? she who received a very large share of redemptive sufferings: ?Our Lord died in anguish on the Cross, and yet His was the most glorious death of love ever known. To die of love is not to die in transports of joy. ?She made a point of warning her sisters of this at the beginning of her illness: ?Do not be troubled,? she told them, ?if I suffer much, and if you see in me no sign of happiness at the moment of my death. Our Lord died indeed a Victim of Love, and see the agony He endured!? The sufferings of the last moments are dispensed to each soul differently according to the designs of Divine Wisdom. But they are, nevertheless, made lighter for the Victim of Love by the certainty that He in whom she has blindly trusted ?will grant her courage in proportion to her sufferings.? ?I have no fear? ? she has a right to repeat with St. Thérèse ? ?if my sufferings increase He will at the same time increase my patience.? 29. What then is the meaning of the expression to die of Love? According to the mind of St. Thérèse, and without presuming to explain what must remain the secret of Divine Mercy, the expression ?to die of Love? means that at the final hour God will let the ocean of His infinite tenderness flow in torrents on the Victim of Holocaust; thus will He ?prepare her in an instant to appear before Him, and will suddenly break the slender web of her life? under the pressure of His Love. Because it is the hour of extremest misery for all the children of Adam, this hour of distress will appeal to the Merciful Love of the Heavenly Father and cause an outpouring of His infinite tenderness beyond all measure, on the little Victim, to the point of transforming he into itself in an eternal embrace. This death wholly of Love, magnificent conclusion to an earthly existence, is not necessarily felt nor externally manifested; there may be no outward signs of joy, nor even of full consciousness or devotion. But how may we not infallibly believe it to take place, when the faithful Victim shall have hoped for it from the Mercy of the good God; for He is magnificent in His rewards ? ?able to do all things more abundantly than we desire or understand,? and to ?hope for great things from Him is to glorify Him.? 30. To be a true Victim of Love, is it necessary to recite frequently the Act of Oblation composed by St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus? No. St. Thérèse assures us that ?prayer is an outburst from the heart; a simple glance darted upwards to Heaven;? she also says in the formula itself of the Act: ?I desire, O my Beloved, at every heart-beat to renew this Oblation an infinite number of times,? which does not suppose the recitation of any words. The full donation of the Victim of Love is, therefore, above all ?a disposition of the heart.? This does not depend on a more or less frequent use of any set form of prayer. Nevertheless, Holy Church invites the faithful not alone to realise this Act of Oblation, but also to assimilate the thoughts and even the words of St. Thérèse. ACT OF OBLATION OF ST. THÉRÈSE OF THE CHILD JESUS OF THE HOLY FACE TO THE MERCIFUL LOVE OF GOD J.M.J.T. Offering of myself as a Victim of Holocaustto God?s Merciful Love. 9^th June 1895 O My God! Most Blessed Trinity, I desire to Love You and make You Loved, to work for the glory of Holy Church by saving souls on earth and liberating those suffering in purgatory. I desire to accomplish Your will perfectly and to reach the degree of glory You have prepared for me in Your Kingdom. I desire, in a word, to be a saint but I feel my helplessness and I beg You, O my God! To be Yourself my Sanctity! Since You loved me so much as to give me Your only Son as my Saviour and my Spouse, the infinite treasures of His merits are mine. I offer them to You with gladness, begging You to look upon me only in the Face of Jesus and in His heart burning with Love. I offer You, too, all the merits of the saints (in heaven and on earth), their acts of Love, and those of the holy angels. Finally, I offer You, O Blessed Trinity! The love and merits of the Blessed Virgin, my dear Mother. It is to her I abandon my offering, begging her to present it to You. Her Divine Son, my Beloved Spouse, told us in the days of His mortal life: ?Whatsoever you ask the Father in my name He will give it to you!? I am certain, then, that You will grant my desires; I know, O my God! That the more You want to give, the more You make us desire. I feel in my heart immense desires and it is with confidence I ask You to come and take possession of my soul. Ah! I cannot receive Holy Communion as often as I desire, but, Lord, are You not all-powerful? Remain in me as in a tabernacle and never separate Yourself from Your little victim. I want to console You for the ingratitude of the wicked, and I beg of You to take away my freedom to displease You. If through weakness I sometimes fall, may Your Divine Glance cleanse my soul immediately, consuming all my imperfections like the fire that transforms everything into itself. I thank You, O my God! For all the graces You have granted me, especially the grace of making me pass through the crucible of suffering. It is with joy I shall contemplate You on the Last Day carrying the scepter of Your Cross. Since You deigned to give me a share in this very precious Cross, I hope in heaven to resemble You and to see shining in my glorified body the sacred stigmata of Your Passion. After earth?s Exile, I hope to go and enjoy You in the Fatherland, but I do not want to lay up merits for heaven. I want to work for Your Love alone with the one purpose of pleasing You, consoling Your Sacred Heart, and saving souls who will love You eternally. In the evening of this life, I shall appear before You with empty hands, for I do not ask You, Lord, to count my works. All our justice is stained in Your eyes. I wish, then, to be clothed in Your own Justice and to receive from Your Love the eternal possession of Yourself. I want no other Throne, no other Crown but You, my Beloved! Time is nothing in Your eyes, and a single day is like a thousand years. You can, then, in one instant prepare me to appear before You. In order to live in one single act of perfect Love, I Offer Myself as a Victim of Holocaust to Your Merciful Love, asking You to consume me incessantly, allowing the waves of infinite tenderness shut up within You to overflow into my soul, and that thus I may become a martyr of Your Love, O my God! May this martyrdom, after having prepared me to appear before You, finally cause me to die and may my soul take its flight without any delay into the eternal embrace of Your Merciful Love. I want O my Beloved, at each beat of my heart to renew this offering to You an infinite number of times, until the shadows having disappeared I may be able to tell You of my Love in an Eternal Face to Face! *Marie, Francoise, Thérèse of the Child Jesus* *and the Holy Face, unworthy Carmelite religious.* *This 9^th day of June,* *Feast of the Most Holy Trinity,* *in the year of grace, 1895.* In any event, let us look forward to getting closer to Christ, our essential goal in life, through the prayers and example of St. Thérèse. ?To love, to be Loved and to make Love Loved?. A fact that cannot be overemphasised is that Thérèse received special light concerning Our Lord?s Love immediately before composing her Act of Oblation of Merciful Love on Trinity Sunday, 9^th June, 1895 ? that He longs to be loved purely for Himself. With the offering to Merciful Love, Thérèse is blazing a new trail of Christian Spirituality. In the Act we find both an unparalleled understanding of God?s mercy towards mankind and the height of humble confidence. Can we live at such a height? The answer is we must try to, for one of Thérèse?s most ardent desires is that all of us should have the generosity to stand there by her side.