The Feast of St. Therese of Lisieux

What would Therese say?

I was wondering what Little Therese would say to her novices if she was alive today, especially as it concerns the crisis in the Church and the more or less open rebellion against the Holy Father.  To be sure she would reprimand those under her charge if they lost their peace and recollection - abandoning prayer - over the controversies swirling in media.  Of course, the novices wouldn't be permitted to be online or any of that.  However, I was thinking of Therese and how she would act, and even wondered if the Holy Father, who is very devoted to her, may be following her direction in these difficult times.

Everyone knows that St. Therese and the Carmel of Lisieux had been deceived by the conversion story of Diana Vaughan, an impostor whose true persona was the anti-Catholic con-artist Leo Taxil... The realization of which led to Therese writing in her memoirs, "I was unable to believe there were really impious people who had no faith... [but] Jesus made me feel that there were really souls who have no faith, and who, through the abuse of grace, lost this precious treasure, the source of the only real and pure joy.".

Leo Taxil of course was a contemporary of St. Therese of Lisieux, who for a time had been taken in by his scam. Taxil had stunned European society with his conversion from Free-Masonry to Catholicism, and subsequent pamphlets detailing the evil Satanic sect within Masonry. (Read more.) Later he invented a persona named Dianah Vaughan, whom he claimed also converted, with startling details of the diabolic cult. Taxil, an anti-clerical free-thinker from the start, delighted in deceiving and mocking the Catholic Church; the Lisieux Carmel and as I mentioned, St. Therese just happened to be amongst those initially duped. Yet it did not disturb her peace, rather it lead her to an even deeper understanding of her vocation.  

As the stories continued, Therese discerned that the whole thing was a hoax.  Her only reason for rejecting the stories was the fact that Diana Vaughan once spoke against episcopal authority. 'That kind of thing cannot come from God, ' she said."  One can be certain she would reject every attack against the Pope, recognizing that kind of thing cannot come from God.

Having said that, even St. Pope John Paul II and others were deceived by Fr. Maciel, just as St. Therese was for a time deceived by Leo Taxil.  Nevertheless, she prayed, prayed for Taxil's conversion.  She prayed for sinners, seated at the table of sinners, as she described her trial of faith.  She prayed for fallen away priests.  She prayed for criminals condemned to death.  I suspect she would pray very much for former Cardinal McCarrick as well.  

That realization is what helped me in all the questions and concerns which have contributed to this crisis in the Church, fueled by speculation and gossip and demands that we know all of the details as to how and why this happened.   

So what would Therese do, or say?

I'm not sure, but the following story works for me.

"The thought that there were some religious communities who were submitting to unjust laws against the Church promulgated by the anti-Catholic secular power, filled me (Celine) with indignation. One day in Therese's presence I exclaimed, 'My entire being rises up in in rebellion when I witness such a spirit of cowardice. I would be cut into a thousand pieces rather than belong to any of these communities or to assist them in any way.'

The Saint answered: 'We should not be concerned about such matters at all. It is true that I would be of your opinion and act perhaps in the same way had I any responsibility in the matter. But I have no obligation whatsoever. Moreover, our only duty is to become united to God. Even if we were members of those communities which are being publicly criticized for their defections, we would be greatly at fault in becoming disquieted on that account.'" - "My Sister, St. Therese" - Sr. Genevieve of the Holy Face

The Holy Father recommends penance and prayer, not to become disquieted, and especially now, in Our Lady's month, to pray the rosary every day, for the protection of the Church from the evil one.  This strikes me as very Theresian. This strikes me as coming from God - God's will on how to conduct ourselves in this dark night.   I think Therese would direct her novices in the same way.

I'm hearing of people leaving the Church because of the scandals, so we need to pray very much.  Some leave because they disagree with Catholic teaching, others because of the scandals and the failure of clergy.  What is necessary is patience, even with ourselves, and confidence and love - and perseverance.  Perseverance in prayer, real prayer. 

Happy feast day to all my friends.  Let's be like Therese and surrender ourselves to merciful love.

"Little Therese never failed to help the most simple souls, the little ones, the poor and the suffering who prayed to her, but she also illuminated all the Church with her profound spiritual doctrine."
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Speaking to her witness of heroic faith amidst suffering, the Holy Father said: 'The faith she showed through this great suffering was "faith at its most heroic, as the light in the shadows that invade the soul," observed the Pope. "In this context of suffering, living the greatest love in the littlest things of daily life, the saint realized her vocation of becoming the love at the heart of the Church."' - Pope Benedict XVI