Therese of Lisieux, June 29, 2017 Daily Reflection

Yesterday, I read about Therese of Lisieux. What an amazing young woman and saint. She was aware from a very young age how important it was to forget herself for the sake of others. At age 14 she wanted to enter the Carmelite monastery in Lisieux. They told her to wait until she was 21, she went on a pilgrimage to Rome and personally asked Pope Leo XIII to help. He said, “If it is God’s will, you will enter,” and she did at the age of 15. For the next ten years she dealt with Tubercular death and died at age 24. In that very short life she was able to give her life to God. She wrote, “No doubt, these three privileges sum up my true vocation: Carmelite, Spouse, Mother, and yet I feel within me other vocations. If the vocation of the WARRIOR, THE PRIEST, THE APOSTLE, THE DOCTOR, THE MARTYR. I understood that LOVE COMPRISED ALL VOCATIONS, THAT LOVE WAS EVERYTHING, THAT IT EMBRACED ALL TIMES AND PLACES…IN A WORD, THAT IT WAS ETERNAL!” Then in the excess of my delirious joy, I cried out: O Jesus, my Love…My vocation, at last I have found it…MY VOCATION IS LOVE!”

This young woman was so precious. She only wanted to love God and others. She wanted to do all that she could for Jesus Christ. She wanted to love Jesus Christ in his sufferings. She believed that everything you do in small ways can be done for Jesus. I relate to her because I feel that vocation is love, no matter which one you are called to. I believe God calls us to many different vocations in our lives. I am a wife, a mother, a writer, a teacher, a leader, a lector, a service coordinator, and a Eucharistic minister. Like her I want to be so many vocations, a spiritual director, an apostle, a martyr and a deaconess. Like her I understand that all vocations come from love and bring love back into the world. What a precious child of God who loved with a pure, compassionate heart. She is someone I will pray to for intercession. She is a wonderful example of the Christian life.