It was a practice to send an obituary notice to other Carmels when any Carmelite nun dies. A month before St Therese died one of the nuns said, “I really wonder sometimes what mother prioress (superior) will be able to say about Sr. Therese. It won’t be easy, for though the little sister is very good…
St Therese became one of the most popular saints of the twentieth century. Pope Pius XI made her the “star of his pontificate”. She was beatified in 1923, and canonized in 1925. Therese was declared co-patron of the missions with Francis Xavier in 1927, and named co-patron of France with Joan of Arc in 1944. On October 19, 1997 Pope John Paul II declared her the…
Love of God The year before Therese died, her sister Marie told her: “You are possessed by God, literally possessed, exactly s the wicked are by the devil.” Therese herself told Celine, her sister, I don’d believe I’ve ever been more than three minutes at a time without thinking of God.” Celine appeared to…
Our Lady was never far from Therese’s thoughts. She spoke of her frequently in her letters. To a missionary priest she wrote: “What a joy to remember that the Immaculate Virgin is our Mother! Since she loves us and knows our weakness, what have we to fear.” She always presented her petitions through Our Lady…
Through what she did and wrote she showed how, in the daily business of life, we can make sure that we are advancing along the path of perfection. She called it “the little ways of spiritual childhood”. Benedict XV said that it holds “the secret of sanctity” and Pius XI declared that “human society would…
An implication of the first principle is that every person, from the moment of conception to natural death has an inherent dignity and a right to life consistent with the dignity that is ours as human beings. A just and good society is an impossibility if the sacredness of human life is not seen as…
Every person is created in the image of God and redeemed by Jesus Christ. Consequently, every person is worthy of respect simply by virtue of being a human being. Pope Francis’ criticism of the new economic culture is an intense wish for human dignity and love for humanity. He expresses concern for the poor and…
Consecrated persons’ call to be bearers of God’s love is expressed in effective family ministry. Anyone who has met the Lord and follows him faithfully is a messenger of the joy of the Spirit. The fruitfulness of one’s pastoral ministry proceeds from the realization that joy is not a useless ornament. It is a necessity, the foundation of human life. In their daily struggles, every man and woman tries to attain joy and abide in it with the totality of their being.
“The joy of love experienced by families is also the joy of the Church,” says Pope Francis as he begins the post-synodal apostolic exhortation Amoris Laetitia. The family is the basic cell of society and the fundamental ecclesial community, the Church that is the home. As the Church is a ‘family of families’ the joy experienced among the members of a family reaches out also to the wider community of church as a whole.
One of the most inspiring homilies that I heard recently was preached by Rev. Fr George Maliekal, provincial of the Salesian province of Shillong. Listening to him enabled me to gain an insight into the essence of priesthood. It was this homily that led me into a conversation with him. I had a few questions.…
Vox Divini 