Opening:
Brothers and sisters, today we remember St Thérèse of Lisieux, the Little Flower of Jesus.
When she died at age 24, she had developed a “little way” of holiness, by bringing love of God and love of neighbor into the simple things she did in her everyday life – in her assignments:
caring for the altar as sacristan; serving in the refectory; working in the laundry,
but especially by living her community life – she tried to show a love for all the nuns in the community, to play no favorites, to give of herself even to the difficult members. Her convent life sounds so routine and ordinary, yet it was steeped in a loving commitment that knew no breakdown. It is called ‘the little way’ because it was so simple and direct, yet it called for amazing fortitude and commitment.
As we begin this Mass in her memory, let us be sorry for the times we have chosen a prideful road and yielded to love of self. I confess, etc.
After the Gospel:
St Therese of Lisieux was a special saint for our fourth Abbot, Don Edmond Obrecht, as the 1800’s rolled into the 1900’s, when Gethsemani was about 50 years old.
During his 37 years as Abbot, Dom Edmond insisted that his monks shed the old-world image and speak English,
Dom Edmond traveled the world in the service of the Order: Ireland, China, Korea, Japan, Hawaii, Africa, and of course, France, site of many General Chapters. The autobiography of Therese of Lisieux, titled “Story of a Soul,” had been published the same year he became Abbot, so Dom Edmond rarely missed a chance to visit the Carmelites at Lisieux, with whom he corresponded regularly and exchanged gifts.
The whole Catholic world seemed caught up in the canonization process of Therese of Lisieux, the little Carmelite nun who actually preferred to be the least, not the greatest. In homes everywhere, there were pictures and statues of “The Little Flower” in her Carmelite habit, holding a crucifix and a bundle of roses in her arms.
Therese loved roses.
As a child, she had thrown rose petals in processions before the Blessed Sacrament.
As she lay dying in the convent infirmary, she could look out and see rose bushes blossoming.
Even though her quiet, hidden, gentle life was ending, she believed that God still had great things in store for her. As she prepared to enter the fullness of life with God, she believed that her mission was only beginning, so she could say: “After my death, I will let fall a shower of roses. I will spend my heaven doing good upon earth. I will raise up a mighty host of little saints. My mission is to make God loved…”
Perhaps that’s what caught Dom Edmond’s attention: He developed a personal love of The Little Flower and, and with great faith, put the Novitiate of Gethsemani under her protection, that it might be blessed with a special shower of roses.
In 1933, Dom Edmond was injured in an automobile accident not far from the monastery.
The injury to his leg seemed minor at first, but it became complicated, then critical because of his history of heart attacks and diabetes… so critical that his doctors considered amputating his leg. Whereupon, Dom Edmond prayed to St Therese of Lisieux, and received what they called a sudden, complete, unexplainable recovery, perhaps it was a “shower of roses.”
There’s no telling how many monks have read her “Story of a Soul,”
how many have tried to live her Little Way,
we’ll never know how many showers of roses there have been,
or how many new postulants.
What we do know is that, even though today is an ordinary day for us, it’s God’s gift to us,
a day in our life which can make a difference simply by the way we choose to live it.
If we believe St Therese, all we have to do is allow love to be the statement we make.