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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20241001
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SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St Therese of the Child Jesus
DESCRIPTION:THE MISSION OF ST THÉRÈSE \nBy Hans Urs von Balthasar1 \n◊◊◊ \nThere can be no doubt that Thérèse of Lisieux was directly entrusted by \nGod with a mission to the Church. Thérèse’s mission\, at the very first glance\, \ndisplays the marks of a clearly defined\, and quite exceptional character. This is \nmuch less due to the personal drama of the little saint than to the sacred form \ninto which the trickling grains of petty anecdotes are compressed\, into a hard\, \nunbreakable block\, by a firm invisible hand. It is contrary to all expectation that \nthe simple\, modest story of this little girl should eventually culminate\, as it \nirrefutably does\, in the enunciation of theological truths. \nOriginally\, she herself never dreamt that she might be chosen to bear \nsome fundamental message to the Church. She only became aware of it \ngradually; in fact\, it did not occur to her until her task was almost completed\, \nafter she had already lived out her teaching and was writing the last chapters of \nher book. Suddenly\, as she saw it all laid out before her\, she recognized its \nstrangeness\, that in her obedience she had unwillingly conceived something \nbeyond her own personality. And now that she saw it\, she also understood it\, \nand seized it with a kind of violence… \nAt that moment she realized she was to be set on a pedestal\, and that every \nbit of her life\, even its smallest details\, would be used as a pattern for many of \nthe “little ones”. She regards the publication of her manuscript as “an important \nwork”; she knows “that all the world will love me”\, and that her writings “will \ndo a great deal of good”. During her last months\, as if making her last will and \ntestament\, she repeats constantly: “One must tell souls.” Exactly the same \nexpressions recur in reference to the mission she is soon to begin in heaven: “I \nfeel that my mission will soon begin to teach souls to love God as I love Him\, to \ngive them my little way…” Similarly\, she recognizes the function within the \nChurch of her mission. She not only foresees the proclamation of her own \nsanctity but she also\, as it were\, foresaw the canonization of her doctrine. \nSo\, her life only contains exemplary value for the Church insofar as the \nHoly Spirit has possessed her and used her in order to demonstrate something \nfor the sake of the Church\, opening up new vistas onto the Gospels. That\, and \nthat alone\, should be the motive for the Church’s interest in Thérèse. That\, and \nthat alone\, should engage the attention of those who feel themselves put off my \nmany features of her cult\, or even of her character\, or who experience \nindefinable objections to them. In fact\, there are few other cases in which it is \nso prudent to distinguish between the mission of a saint and its essentials. \nIn the case of Thérèse of Lisieux the dramatic tension between her \nmission and her person needs specially to be borne in mind\, and to be \nappreciated primarily in theological terms; the essence of sanctity has to be \ngrasped as truly evangelical\, as belonging to the Church\, as a mission and not \nsimply as an individual ascetical\, mystical manifestation. Moreover\, it is not \njust because of contemporary “needs” but because of the depth of revealed truth \nthat portraits of the saints must in future be remodeled\, so that the saints can \nagain live amongst us\, and in us\, as the best protectors and inspirers of the \ncommunity of the saints\, which is the Church.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-therese-of-the-child-jesus/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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