What I Gave up for Lent: "Feeling Aggravated"

Kids pulling on both ends of an elephant

I gave up “feeling aggravated” for Lent.

I had not made up my mind what I was going to do until after we had been to church on Ash Wednesday. Giving up a physical thing seemed to be meaningless. Giving of one’s time/material goods are things that should be done year-round. A true sacrifice that also meant acquiring a virtue seemed to be what I needed to do.

Some days I seem to breeze on through, feeling grateful for my beautiful family, nature, and all else God has given me. Other days I feel besieged by children who refuse to cooperate, incompetent clerks, people who have problems communicating clearly, and people who bounce checks.

Normally my blood pressure runs about 110/70, a very healthy number, but when I start to get aggravated I can literally feel my blood boil. I actually registered at 130/80 (“prehypertensive”) one morning when I was feeling like this. I know this is not a healthy state either physically or spiritually. I also wonder how I could allow external circumstances to alter my internal state of peace.

St. Therese of Liseaux wrote in “The Story of a Soul” of her frustrations dealing with the sisters she lived with. They would torture her in all the little ways they could, taking away what little comforts she could possibly have in her monastic lifestyle. She would respond by praying for them, and by trying to learn how to love them better. She actually had to avoid one sister for a while, for fear of saying or doing the wrong thing; but she eventually got so good at loving the good in her that the sister thought she was one of Therese’s favored ones.

Did Therese actually feel aggravated? Probably – she also wrote that it wasn’t wrong to feel a certain way except for how it makes you respond. Some days I think that if I didn’t have to deal with any people I would never get aggravated. That wouldn’t be too practical though.

One day I went ice skating alone with my three-year-old; another day we fell asleep on an early spring day in the sun. “Isn’t life wonderful,” I would think, and vow to hold onto that feeling when times got tough. Playing ball with my kids I also forget all that is bothering me – there is no sound but the cracking of the bat in my brain. Running also clears my mind, and leaves me with a sense of well-being for much of the day. “Maybe I should just stick to these activities that make me feel peaceful,” I think. Or I could live in the real world.

One morning I was doing fairly well. My kids came home from a half day and I had to lean on them to get them to finish their education fair projects. Within a half hour I was yelling, feeling at the end of my rope with one of them. I thought of my resolution. “Does EXASPERATED count?” I thought. I lost it about ten times that day.

In casual conversation, I have been mentioning my resolution with other moms. They usually think I’m joking. “Good luck with that,” they say.

One of my Facebook friends,Br. Cassian Sama, commented:
"Don't worry my friend! Struggling with impatience is God's way of telling you that he wants to bless you in that virtue. If you don't give up and continue to strive for it, then you can easily attain the rest of the virtues that will make you the holy wife, mother, and woman God has destined you to be. For Patience is the engine and force that gives life to all virtues."

Today I received a rejection letter for my book proposal. It was a “good” letter because it said some nice things about the merits of my book – but it still is kind of like winning the silver medal in the Olympic hockey game. Close, but no cigar. This scripture speaks to me on my handling of both “aggravation” and disappointment.

Romans
Chapter 5
1 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
2 through whom we have gained access (by faith) to this grace in which we stand, and we boast in hope of the glory of God.
3 Not only that, but we even boast of our afflictions, knowing that affliction produces endurance,
4 and endurance, proven character, and proven character, hope,
5 and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.

The World is too Slow for Me

Girls in a garden

Being involved in a sports organization is so exciting when I can contribute my ideas to help make it run better for my children. However, being just one wheel on the train I have to wait for all those other wheels to turn along with me! For me to do my job I have to wait for people to return my calls or emails and get me the information I need.

Patience is not a virtue I was born with. Like I teach my girls in Little Flowers, the virtues must be perfected by practicing them. If you don’t feel cheerful, start with an outward smile, and you are on your way to perfecting the virtue of Cheerfulness. So every day I pray for the patience I need for dealing with all the challenges of motherhood. Even when I feel impatient, I try to act patient; at the very least I give the outward appearance of calm, which is contagious to those around me.

As the week progressed, I was feeling rather dubious about presenting the virtue of Piety to my Little Flowers group. With all my pent-up feelings of impatience, I felt like I was the last person to be representing this virtue.

On Friday morning I brought a softball flyer down to Staples to be copied. It sounds like a simple task but I was surprised at all the complications: (1) getting approval from the school district to distribute it in the classrooms; (2) finding out how to pay for the copies through the treasury; (3) about 20 minute questions from the photocopying manager before she could get me a quote on the cost. I brought the flyer down and thought I was done. Then she asked me if I want plain white or the league color (green)?

I had to agree that my flyer looked lovely in green. But I didn’t know what the rules were for handing out flyers in the school; would a colored background be acceptable? My cell phone had lost its charge. So I told her to hold the order until I could get confirmation from my supervisor. I went home and emailed him the question.

An hour went by and I became increasingly impatient. Staples had enough collators that morning to get the job done before a big snowstorm came in; and I was planning on taking my kids ice skating when they got home from their half day at school. “He’s probably busy at work and doesn’t want to be pestered with this stupid question about green or white”, I thought. So I put in a call to the school district and found out that background color is fine.

I emailed him again saying, “School district says color is fine. I’m going with green unless you tell me otherwise”, waited five minutes, and called the lady to say we had decided on green. “That’s great,” she said, and I hung up.

Then I got the reply to my first email, “White”.

So I called her again. “I’m really sorry, but I just got the reply from my supervisor. We will have to go with white.”

“Don’t worry about it – I didn’t start yet,” she said.

Then I got a reply to my second email, “Green is great.”

We finally confirmed the decision through a telephone conversation. “Green would be nice, but if you don’t want to call her again I understand,” he said.

But I really liked the idea of the green flyer, so I called the lady one more time. “I promise you I’m not crazy,” I pleaded, “But I just got permission from the district that I can use green. I promise you I won’t change my mind again.”

“Well, we’ll see about that,” she replied, but with a good-natured tone.

With an hour to go before the kids got home, I sat down to go over my lesson plans for Little Flowers. I opened up the book and was pleasantly surprised…

I started my lesson by asking all the girls what they thought piety was, or how a pious person should act. The picture they all seemed to have was of a really serious, straight-faced person who prays and talks about religion all the time. Then I told them that that was what I thought too, and that I had thought I was the last person who should be presenting this lesson. I shared with them the green-or-white story. Then I told them what piety really is.

From “The Catholic Girl’s Guide”, edited by Fr. Francis X. Lasance:

“The genuine flower of piety is no mere sentimentalism and does not consist in a multitude of pious practices. If you would be truly pious, do everything you have to do as a service done to God. We see true piety to be an interior frame of mind or disposition, a love which comes from within and gives life to everything which is without. Or it is the active love of God which makes men eschew evil, do good, and endure suffering. An unmistakable mark of true piety is that it makes its possessor cheerful and merry. How indeed could it be otherwise? Who has more reason to be cheerful than a truly pious young girl? Who can look up to heaven with more confidence?”

I said that because I was acting out of devotion to my children, which springs from the love of God, my actions of the week could be seen as actions of piety. Whatever they are called to do on a given day, if they do it out of the sincerity of their hearts and through love of God and neighbor, they are practicing the virtue of piety.

I got home to an email from Staples. She had gotten the order done in half the time she had estimated – either she was nervous about the snowstorm or she didn’t want to give me a chance to change my mind again!

“Those Whom You Have Given Me: 1896-1897”: Chapter Eleven of “The Story of a Soul”*

I have been reading “The Story of a Soul”, by St. Therese of Lisieux. See below for links to my previous posts on this book.

In this final chapter, Saint Therese awes me with her very high sense of charity. It is not enough for her not to be attached to the material things of this earth. If one of her sisters claims one of Therese’s ideas for her own, she forces herself not to be possessive of the products of her mind. “That thought belongs to the Holy Spirit and not to me,” she writes.

She compares herself to a little paintbrush that is used by Christ to add the small details needed to a painting that is another soul. The first time she was used in this way was at the age of fifteen, when she felt called upon to speak to an older sister in a loving way about how some of her behavior was less than desirable. Their human affection then became a truly spiritual bond.

Although she dislikes correcting others, she does not shy from this as she considers it her duty. In this way she is teaching others to be more holy. She shares with them her own faults so that they are more likely to confide in her; and yet she is strict and firm. All teachers and mothers can take her example to heart in learning to truly make a difference in their students’ lives.

I love what she has to say about prayer. She says there are many beautiful prayers in books but that is not how she prefers to pray. “I very simply tell God what I want to tell Him, without making beautiful phrases, and He always understands me…For me, prayer is an upward rising of the heart, it’s a simple glance toward heaven, it’s a cry of gratitude and love in the midst of trials as much as in the midst of joys. In short, it’s something big, something great, something supernatural, that expands my heart and unites me to Jesus.”

She writes that she does feel right when saying prayers together with the others sisters, but this is how she prays alone. I have always felt this way about prayer, and feel this is the way to follow the instructions of St. Paul to “pray without ceasing”. Sometimes a prayer has no words; it is simply an open communication with God, like when you sit with a friend without speaking, just enjoying her company.

Yet when I say the “Our Father” or Nicene Creed in Church, or recite the Rosary in the company of my Pro-Life group, I feel the joy of the prayer of a community. I have often felt like I was lacking in devotion by not often saying the Rosary at home, as many of my devout Catholic friends do. Or, like St. Therese, I will only recite one decade, very slowly so that I can focus on the meaning and the meditation.

St. Therese makes me feel that my way of prayer is right. Indeed, there is no one right way of prayer. It is the product of one’s unique relationship with God, and so everyone will have his or her own unique way of praying. And yet we must not forget that united prayer in the Christian community is important as well.

She talks about how Christ covers her imperfections, both interior and exterior, with a veil. We all wear veils in public, don’t we? We wear makeup to cover our exterior imperfections; only with family do we bare our flawed skin. We don’t let all our interior flaws hang out either. But when we become comfortable with a trusted friend, we are able to let our guards down. When we show them we are not perfect, they are better able to confide in us their own challenges and anxieties. Therese found that to be true with her sisters, too.

I really had to laugh when I read about the little challenges she faced in trying to be charitable to all of her sister, especially the most annoying ones. Her descriptions brought me back to times when I sat in the pew in the church trying not to listen to someone pick their nails, click a pen, scratch their skin, or tap their heels, repeatedly. (Then I remember my own habit of twiddling my thumbs, which my husband is quick to remind me of, and sit on them to keep myself from doing it.) She would offer this up as a prayer, and when the annoyance disappeared she would actually miss it!

Therese’s little brothers were taken up to heaven, and it was a great prayer answered when she was given two priest brothers to hold up in prayer. She sets a great example for us in showing how important prayer is for other people, even at a great distance and with little personal contact. I think my ten-year-old daughter has it right when she says at Grace every night at dinner, “And please bless everyone in the whole world.”

“A soul aflame with love can’t remain inactive,” she writes in her closing pages. The prayers of the saints, ignited by love, will lift up the whole world. The perfume of this flame will attract more and more souls. And we will always know “in which direction to run” because of this holy fragrance.

*The chapter divisions differ from translation to translation. The one I am reading is translated and edited by Robert J. Edmonson, Paraclete Press, 2006. The writings that have come down as “Manuscript C” comprise chapters 10-11 of this book.

The Society of the Little Flower web page can be found here.
http://www.littleflower.org/




For my reflections on the first nine chapters, please see my previous posts:
Manuscript A
Chapters 1-4
Chapters 5-8
Manuscript B
Chapter 9
Manuscript C
Chapter 10

“The Test of Faith: 1896-1897”: Chapter Ten of “The Story of a Soul”*

I have been reading “The Story of a Soul”, by St. Therese of Lisieux. (See below for links to my previous posts on this book.) Chapters 10 and 11 contain the writings from what had been known as “Manuscript C”, which was written in the form of a letter to her prioress, Sister Marie de Gonzague.

I had a great deal of difficulty reading and relating to this section. At this time, Therese was very ill and near to death. Her writing becomes very lofty and general, and goes off in tangents, so that it is difficult to follow at times. Then she comes back with specific stories that are very relatable. Part of this is because of the way she was forced to write, with many interruptions throughout the day.

She writes of hoping to arrive at sainthood by staying “little”, or simple. She believes she is about to die, and is joyful at the idea, only to find that she has more time. Then she writes at great length about the trials she has with dealing with all of the sisters she lives with.

We can all relate to what she writes about loving our sisters, complete with all of their faults. We must look for their virtues so that we can love them better. We also must never judge. When we consider how our own actions have been misinterpreted by others, we must also see that we might possibly be misjudging others. The best thing is to assume the best intentions on their part.

I once had a good friendship go terribly awry due to misinterpretations on both sides. My very best girlfriend was going to move far away and told me that it really bothered her when people got all emotional about the news. So I pretended that her move didn’t make me sad. I carried on this charade for a whole month. It was one of the hardest things I ever did! On her part, she thought that I was glad to see her go; that I disliked her and was happy to get rid of her. And I was horrified that she would think I would think that. The move was postponed; but, sadly, our friendship was never quite the same after that.

It is very funny how Therese writes of a sister whose character seems to be “very displeasing”. Therese goes out of her way to smile at this sister, trying her best to see within the depths of her soul whatever it must be that God must find pleasing there. The sister thinks that Therese has favored her and Therese lets her believe it to be so.

I was able to use this idea in a conversation I had with my daughter about her upcoming birthday. She is turning twelve next week, and we were discussing ideas about how to celebrate with her friends. “How many friends are important to you?” I asked her.

“Ten,” she said.

“Is that all the girls that are in your class?”

“No, there is one that I don’t like.”

“So you would exclude her and invite everyone else?”

“No one else likes her either. She doesn’t get along with anyone.”

“So she has no friends in the class?”

“She’s really annoying.”

“Maybe if she had a friend she wouldn’t be so annoying. She is the one that is most need of being loved.”

“But what if nobody else comes because they don’t want to hang out with her?”

“Well, that would be really wrong.”

We agreed in the end that she would include the girl in the invitations, with some reservations on my daughter’s part.

Therese ends this chapter with a discussion of true charity. We are to give without expecting anything in return. But in that sort of giving we do receive the most joy. I hope that in giving this invitation (even reluctantly) my daughter receives a special grace that she will never forget.

*The chapter divisions differ from translation to translation. The one I am reading is translated and edited by Robert J. Edmonson, Paraclete Press, 2006. The writings that have come down as “Manuscript C” comprise chapters 10-11 of this book.

For my reflections on the first nine chapters, please see my previous posts:
Manuscript A
Chapters 1-4
Chapters 5-8
Manuscript B
Chapter 9

“My Vocation, Love: 1896”: Chapter 9 of “The Story of a Soul”*

I have been reading “The Story of a Soul”, by St. Therese of Lisieux. (See below for links to my previous posts on this book.) This chapter is comprised of what had been known as “Manuscript B”, and is written in the form of a letter to her older sister, Sister Marie of the Sacred Heart.

Therese narrates a dream she had in which the Venerable Mother Anne of Jesus told her that she did not have long on this earth, and that God was very happy with her.

She speaks of the great vocations she wishes she could fill. Her greatest dream is that of martyrdom. She writes: “When I think about all the torments that will be the lot of Christians at the time of the Antichrist, I feel my heart leap, and I would like for those torments to be reserved for me.”

How many times have I feared having to raise my children in the end times? Yet we are not to be afraid. That she would welcome suffering for Christ is so mysterious to me. Yet aren’t we told, “Blessed are those who are persecuted for My sake?”

Then she describes how she came to the slow realization that she could fill all these vocations by embracing the vocation of Love.

“…I understood that Love contains all the Vocations, that Love is all, that it embraces all times and all places…in a word, that it is Everlasting! Yes, I have found my place in the Church, and that place, my God, You have given me…In the Heart of the Church, my Mother, I will be Love…That way I will be everything…that way my dream will become a reality!!!”

How many times have I heard other educated stay-at-home moms say things like, “I got a Masters’ Degree for THIS?” Our parents gave us a good education and encouraged us to pursue our dreams. Then we decided not to use it in the work force. Sometimes we wonder what we could have done if we had stayed on the career path. I know I still have lofty dreams of vocations I would like to fill in the future, while also continuing my writing: missionary tops the list. I once thought I might want to be a nun; I guess it’s too late for that. But Love is the Vocation of all mothers. In that we can accomplish all things.

Yes, I have found my place in the World, and that place, my God, You have given me…In the Heart of my Home, I will be Love…That way I will be everything…that way my dream will become a reality!!!

*The chapter divisions differ from translation to translation. The one I am reading is translated and edited by Robert J. Edmonson, Paraclete Press, 2006. The writings that have come down as “Manuscript B” comprise the ninth chapter of this book.

For my reflections on the first eight chapters, please see my previous posts:
Chapters 1-4
Chapters 5-8

More Reflections on the Little Flower: “The Story of a Soul” Chapters 5-8*

I have been reading “The Story of a Soul”, by St. Therese of Lisieux. For my reflections on the first four chapters, please see my previous post.

The first four chapters dwelt on Therese’s early childhood. The next four chapters detail her desire to entire Carmel and the trials she had to endure in order to be allowed entry into it at the early age of 15. After her beloved “second mother”, her sister Pauline, entered Carmel, her next oldest sister Marie became her confidant. Marie soon followed into Carmel, and she and her sister Celine kept each other company.

When all the powers-that-be said “no” to her early entry into Carmel, she had the gumption to ask Holy Father for permission. Her doting father and sister Celine accompanied her to Rome, where her suffering was enhanced by a not-so-clear answer. But finally the answer came, and she was permitted to enter Carmel after her fifteenth birthday, and after Lent. Having to wait those three extra months was horrible for her. Rather than fill it with delightful activities that she would be unable to partake of once she was behind the walls of the convent, she used that time to mortify herself by breaking her will as much as possible.

Her first months at Carmel were stringent, allowing none of the comforts she was used to having. Mother Marie de Gonzague was a strict abbess, and she took that as a blessing. She thought it would have bode ill for her if she had been spoiled as the little one. Certain mysterious occurrences such as the replacing of her favorite water pitcher with an old, cracked one, and of her nice vase with an ugly one, were also accounted for as blessings. You might read between the lines to think that some of the sisters were persecuting her by taking away even these small luxuries. But she never speaks bitterly of the treatment she receives during this time, saying any suffering she received was embraced as good for her soul.

The day of the taking of the veil was one of great preparation, being the wedding of the young soul to Christ. Therese was a great lover of simplicity, and the fuss that went into the making of her garments for that day was special in that it was so unusual for her. But at the last moment she was suddenly filled with doubt, which she confessed to Mother Genevieve. This earthly angel soothed her fears, saying that she too had gone through the same thing, and Therese’s faith in her calling was renewed.

But her father was sick, and she was quite alone that day, having no family to witness the ceremony. Celine stayed with her father until he died. She too soon followed into Carmel.

Therese regained some freedom when she became one of the only ones who did not succumb to an outbreak of influenza. Mother Marie was often ill and for a time, her oldest sister Pauline, who had for so long acted as Therese’s “second mother”, replaced Mother Marie as the abbess, becoming known as Mother Agnes. This seemed to be the fulfillment of Therese’s calling to have Pauline as her mother in more than one way. She also had her three living sisters with her in the same convent. Altogether the siblings made eight, which at one point is described symbolically as the eight petals of a flower. In the present-day Little Flowers group, eight petals (badges for the virtues gained) and a center are sewn together to make a “wreath” of virtues.

It is remarkable to me how Therese embraced suffering. Rather than ask “why” when her father goes through a lengthy illness that included mental instability, with only her sister Celine by his side, she counts it all as one of the crosses she must bear. This part really touched me, as I have a father who suffers from multiple sclerosis, and he lives too far away for me to be with him for any great length of time. I also must accept that this may be the cross that he must bear, and that one day I will come to understand it. All of us have our own crosses, and we must ask for God’s grace to help us to bear them if that is His will, rather than to take them away.

*The chapter divisions differ from translation to translation. The one I am reading is translated and edited by Robert J. Edmonson, Paraclete Press, 2006. The writings that have come down as “Manuscript A” comprise the first eight chapters of this book.

How to Pray

As I continue in my reading of “The Story of the Soul”, I realize that I have been supplicating the wrong way. St. Therese talks about the crosses people must bear and how suffering can be good for the soul. In fact, she is quite unusual in that she embraces suffering for the blessings it will bring. I realized I've been praying for God to relieve people of their crosses when really I should be asking Him to shower them with graces so they can better bear their crosses. So that will be my new prayer for my friends and family. If it be His will to remove their crosses as part of their graces, so be it. Really this is a much easier and simpler way of praying, instead of intercepting my own thoughts into what should happen for other people, when I clearly do not know God’s plan for them. When someone pops into my head, I pray, “Lord, please shower so-and-so with some graces today.”

Reflections on the Little Flower: “The Story of a Soul” Chapters 1-4*

I have been reading “The Story of a Soul”, by St. Therese of Lisieux, which I borrowed from my friend Loren Christie (who has been posting her own thoughts on the book on her blog). It is well that I finally get around to reading the story of my own patron saint.

You see, when I received confirmation through RCIA at the age of 15, I had a very cursory introduction to the Catechism and no education in the lives of the saints. I am reluctant to admit that I picked my confirmation name Therese only because I thought it was pretty.

Therese would understand, I think. She too was constantly confessing to crimes of vanity, and was thankful to have been saved from her own weaknesses by being sheltered by the convent. Her virtues she never takes credit for, believing them to be either part of her soul or ingrained in her by her parents (who were canonized last year) and sisters.

After reading the first few chapters, I now understand thoroughly the concepts behind the formation of the Little Flower group, of which I was a teacher for two years. I used to research for a whole week in preparation for teaching about one of the saints and their respective virtue. I was afraid to admit my own ignorance, for fear the other mothers would not think me fit to teach their daughters. I should have known their hearts were much softer than this. I learned so much in this process. The fact that I am doing everything backwards I think is part of God’s plan for my own formation. The lessons in humility as I am shown my own ignorance just keep coming.

The first chapter talks much of people as flowers, a symbol to be used repeatedly and in many contexts throughout the book, and she offers herself as Jesus’ “little flower”.

“…I understood that if all the little flowers wanted to be roses, nature would lose its springtime adornment, and the fields would no longer be sprinkled with little flowers…”

Therese’s older sister Pauline, who became her second mother when their earthly mother passed away, and later would become her Mother at the convent, made her a book to help in her preparation for First Communion. “…Each day I did a great number of practices that yielded as many flowers. I fulfilled a still greater number of objectives that you had written in my little book for each day, and these acts of love formed the flower buds…” In the modern Little Flowers group, young girls try to check off as many actions as they can toward forming one of the virtues. Humility, of course, was one of them.

I had another lesson in humility this past Sunday. While I was in church on Palm Sunday, I was conscious that I was thinking about how pretty we all looked. “Stop it!” I told myself, “How can you be thinking vain thoughts right now!” And then I started thinking about a good act that I was planning on performing that afternoon. “Pay attention!” again I reprimanded myself.

Circumstance prevented my planned act of charity. It was so obvious to me then, that God was preventing my doing something good if I was going to do it out of vanity.

Therese recalls seeing the Blessed Virgin smile at her, and her sister convinces her to tell the Carmelite nuns about it. She knew in her heart she should keep her secret, and that the telling of it would take away the happiness of it. She suffered greatly from this and learned a valuable lesson from it. “Soon God let me feel that true glory is the one that will last forever, and that to obtain it, it isn’t necessary to do outstanding works, but to remain hidden and to practice virtue in such a way that the right hand doesn’t know what the left hand is doing [Mt. 6:3].”

Later I was thinking about my blog and of all the efforts a modern writer must go through to self-promote. Even good Catholics are not immune to these worldly necessities. It requires a constant self-reflection and prayer to be sure the motivation is a Godly one. For me, I want to utilize my God-given talent for his purpose. I also would like to be able to stay home forever, and be somewhat financially independent.

But in the past several years vanity has also played a part in how I define my role. Although I love being a stay-at-home mother, I am aware of the lowliness of my title in the eyes of many. I have often felt that I wanted to be seen as MORE than “just” a stay-at-home-mom. I wanted people to recognize me for all the other things I was doing.

All those things have been stripped away, as I have explained in past posts, with no book contract in sight, so I can’t even call myself a “writer” without explaining further. Now ALL I am doing is being “just” a stay-at-home-mom. St. Therese shows me that this is my calling at the moment, and what the world thinks of that is entirely beside the point. Thank you, St. Therese. As you wished, your being accepted into heaven has caused a continual shower of flowers to fall on those below.

*The chapter divisions differ from translation to translation. The one I am reading is translated and edited by Robert J. Edmonson, Paraclete Press, 2006. The writings that have come down as “Manuscript A” comprise the first eight chapters of this book.

Parents of Therese the Little Flower Beatified Today

Story from RTÉ News:

"St Thérèse's parents to be beatified
Sunday, 19 October 2008 12:34

The parents of St Thérèse of Lisieux are to be beatified today in the French basilica dedicated to her memory.

The move leaves Louis and Zélie Martin one step short of sainthood.

About 100 Irish pilgrims will occupy a place of honour at the Mass in Lisieux among an expected crowd of about 15,000 people.

The Rector of the basilica in Lisieux has said the Irish were at the forefront of promoting the couple's cause and they will feature prominently in the ceremony.

Last July, Pope Benedict formally approved the miracle cure of a young Milanese child, Pietro Schillero, through the couple's intercession.

His lungs were so deformed that he seemed destined to die. During the mid-19th Century the Martins had nine children, four of whom died as infants and the five others became nuns.

The best-known was St Thérèse - often called The Little Flower. She was canonized in 1925 and, in 1997, named a Doctor of the Church, an honour she shares with just two other women.

The ceremony is taking place on Mission Sunday, underlining that St Thérèse and St Francis Xavier are the patron saints of the missions.

The Potuguese Cardinal Saraiva Martins, former head of the Vatican's Congregation for the Causes of Saints, is to preside at the ceremony.

Last May, the couple's bodies were exhumed and examined to reveal that Zélie had died of cancer. Yesterday they were placed in a new reliquary which has been donated by an Irish family who have requested anonymity. It has formally been named the Irish reliquary.

Solicitor Noel Smith and his wife Ann Marie will help carry the remains of the Blesseds in a procession around Lisieux to the crypt where they will lie.

Among the readers during the Mass, Dubliner Celine Chisolm and Kildare-man Pat Sweeney.

At 4pm this afternoon in Dublin's Whitefriar Street Church, a Solemn Concelebrated Mass of Thanksgiving will be led by the retired Laois-born Papal Nuncio to New Zealand, Archbishop Thomas White."

Picture above of Theresa Martin at age eight.