When I was asked to do a talk on a Saint or a women in the Bible I was very excited to do so. In my mind I kept going over who I could write about. There were a few women that I had in mind. And after thinking about it for a while I just felt that I needed to write about St. Therese. But before I begin I want to share how I came to know her. During my conversion from the protestant church I felt God leading me to read about her. So I would like to give a little background on how I got to know her. And this is how God led me.......
It all started when my Dad remarried in 1999 after my parents divorced when I was 26. And he remarried a Catholic. My Step Mom would be the first Catholic that I would met in my life. I had never been around any Catholic until then. Little did I know that this was one of the first ways God was leading me to the Catholic church. But I did not know it at the time.
In December of 2008 I was talking to my Step-Mom and told about some of bible studies I was taking at the Catholic Church. She told me she wanted to give me something. She left the room and came back with this little red bag with a red rosary in it. I took it out and looked at it. I thought it was very pretty. She really did not explain to me what a rosary was other than she said that she wanted me to have it. I put it back in the little red bag and took it home with me. When I got home with it I just kind of put it away. Because I not thinking at the time God was leading me to be Catholic.
In September of 2009 my friend invited me to come here to watch the movie about St. Theresa. And I became very intrigued with her. After I got home something told me to get that rosary out that my step-mom had given me. When I took out the rosary I realized that it was a St. Therese rosary. So I thought that was kind of odd. I was so intrigued with her I wanted to know more about her. I took out a book that I had on women saints and looked up her saint day which was October 1st.
While I was reading about her I was questioning whether or not there were saints in heaven who pray for us. I am not sure if I believed it was real. Coming from a protestant background I was never taught this. This was uncharted territory for me. When I got to the middle of the page while reading about her there was a scripture. Matthew 5:8 "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." I thought to myself that was interesting. That was a scripture God had been giving me over and over. While reading on it said that she was also send you Roses as a sign of intercession in heaven. So I was not quite sure I believed that. Could she really send me roses from heaven? So I prayed the prayer of intercession that was written in the book. Then I asked God if it was true that she would send Roses as a sign of her intercession.
Immediately after I prayed that I picked up the Word Among Us to read that I had also bought that day. But I did not pay attention to the front cover of the book when I bought it. On the front cover it had a story of a women who received roses when she asked St. Therese to intercede for her. I read the story and thought maybe just a coincidence.
The next day while I was checking my email I noticed I had and email from eBay about an item that I had looked at. It had now been re listed. I had been looking at a Jesus and Mary enamel medallions on eBay a couple weeks prior. But did not by them then. So I thought about it and decided to buy them because they were very pretty. For some reason I had not paid attention to the name of the store I was buying them from. When I placed the order the confirmation came back "A little bit of heaven is coming your way from raining roses" The name of the store was raining roses. I just did not know quite what to think. I just kept getting messages about roses in words. Then on October 1st a few days later I went to go see my chiropractor. And he always has some kind of quote on the board when you go in. Well when I went in the quote was "You can complain that roses have thorns or you can rejoice that thorns have roses." I knew then it was not a coincidence because it was her Saint day. So I felt in my heart that she was indeed letting me know she does send roses and this is all very real. And when I was confirmed Catholic of course I chose her to be my saint name. I have felt close to her ever since.
When reading about her I just love the little way she loved people. Sometimes the littlest things make the biggest difference. I think her strength was knowing that she was weak. I found an article on her about her autobiography. At the beginning of the article it said "Quite often, when pondering the lives of the saints we hear of great miracles (ecstasies, healings, levitations, etc) It is rare that we hear of a saint's faults and weaknesses. Sometimes we need to hear about these in order to be able to relate to them; to realize that they were "earthen vessels" like the rest of us. One of Saint Therese's weakness was distraction at prayer. However, this did not keep her from trudging along her "little way". In her autobiography and letters, Saint Therese faithfully acknowledged her weakness to God, trusting His infinite Mercy to forgive.
We all have strengths and weakness. And sometimes it is hard to look past our faults and weaknesses. But be reassured that even the most saintly people had their weaknesses. St. Therese had many struggles. One of her biggest struggles was being diagnosed with tuberculosis. But I really felt while praying for this talk I was to focus my attention on her weakness in prayer. And it is something I know we all struggle within our busy, hectic lives.
In her autobiography "The Story of a Soul" she admits to having difficulty reciting the rosary. In her own words she writes "When I am alone (I am ashamed to admit it) the recitation of the rosary is more difficult for me than wearing of an instrument of penance. I force myself in vain to meditate on the mysteries of the rosary. For a long time I was desolate about this lack of devotion which astonished me, for I love the Blessed Virgin so much that it should be easy for me to recite in her honor prayers which are so pleasing to her. Now I am less desolate; I think that the Queen of heaven, since she is my MOTHER, must see my good will and she is satisfied with it. Sometimes when my mind is in such aridity that it is impossible to draw forth one single thought to unite me with God, I very slowly recite an "Our Father" and then the angelic salutation "Hail Mary, full of grace" then these prayers give me great delight; they nourish my soul much more than if I had recited them in a hurry a hundred times."
She also says in her book "I do not have the courage to force myself to search out beautiful prayers in books. There are so many of them it really gives me a headache! And each prayer is more beautiful than the others. I cannot recite them all and not knowing which one to choose, I do like children who do not know how to read, I say very simply to God what I wish to say, without composing beautiful sentences, and He always understands me. For me Prayer is an aspiration of the heart, it is a simple glance directed to heaven, it is a cry of gratitude and love in the midst of trial as well as joy; finally, it is something great, supernatural, which expands my soul and unites me to Jesus."
So it makes me feel better knowing that she too struggled with prayer and she was a saint! I have quoted her a lot but I just found that I really wanted to convey her heart. That she too was human and weak at times. And yet God used all of her weakness for His Glory. In 2 Corinthians 12:10 the apostle Paul says "Therefore, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and constraints, for the sake of Christ; for when I am weak, then I am strong."
No matter what weakness you think you may have, no matter what inadequacies or setbacks you've encountered, God wants to give you his divine strength. He wants to make up the difference.
St. Therese also struggled with charity. One of the stories she writes in her book is about a Sister who had a strange habit. I found the story quite funny and inspiring. She says "The practice of charity, as I have said was not always so sweet for me, and to prove it to you I am going to recount certain little struggles which will certainly make you smile. For a long time at evening meditation, I was placed in front of a Sister who had a strange habit. This is what I noticed: as soon as this Sister arrived, she began making a strange little noise which resembled the noise one would make when rubbing two shells, one against the other. I was the only one to notice it because I had extremely sensitive hearing(too much at times). It would be impossible for me to tell you how much this little noise wearied me. I had a great desire to turn my head and stare at the culprit who was very certainly unaware of her "click". This would be the only way of enlightening her. However, in the bottom of my heart I felt it was much better to suffer this out of love for God and not to cause the Sister any pain. I remained calm, therefore, and tried to unite myself to God and to forget the little noise. Everything was useless. I felt the perspiration inundate me, and I was obliged simply to make a prayer of doing it without annoyance and with peace and joy, at least in the interior of my soul. I tried to love the little noise which was so displeasing; instead of trying not to hear it (impossible), I paid close attention so as to hear it well, as though it were a delightful concert, and my prayer (which was not the Prayer of the quiet) was spent in offering this concert to Jesus."
And I know at the retreat you will be dealing with people snoring and you may not get the sleep you need. So why not turn in the snores in to a concert to Jesus and offer as a prayer.
I thought it was absolutely amazing about her. To take something that bothered her so much to offer it as a concert to Jesus. Sometimes it is hard to love other people and their habits. But she shows us how she turned her weakness in charity into something so beautiful. And it ended up Glorifying our Lord.
Saints are so extraordinary because their struggles are so ordinary. It is their faithfulness that set them apart. A faithfulness that witnesses to the power of God. Her strength was in Jesus Christ. She knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that He loved her. He loved her till the very end. She had an unwavering faith. She trusted in the sacred heart of Jesus. She offered Jesus the storms, trials and the weakness of her life and God turned them into rainbows as a sign to all of us. She colored the sky with rays of hope for all of us. She left behind a legacy. A legacy to always trust Jesus as a child.
Matthew 18:3 "Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven."
I have often wondered why God lead me to St. Therese. Then while reading about her I came across this statement by Pere Jean-Baptiste Muard he said "It is not we who choose this saint or that saint to be our friend; it is, rather, the saints who choose those whom they wish to befriend. The saints choose us, and this, in light of God's wisdom and providence."
I thought this was an amazing statement because recently when Danielle Rose was here for her concert she had given us the name of a saint that wanted to be our friend for the year. Pieces of paper were just passed out randomly with a saint name on it and a little something about them. I was given St. Clare of Assisi. Father Bob had just blessed her statue that day at the mass prior to the concert. I felt this was no accident. I really feel she wants to be my friend. And I am excited to get to know her as well and as to why she wants to be my friend.
So maybe St. Therese really wants to be your friend today to help you with your weaknesses by letting us see her weaknesses. So do not be afraid of your weakness because God wants show you His strength through them and then God will be glorified. In reality your weakness is what God uses to become your strengths. God has done it in my own life. There are area's in my life that I struggle with. As a nurse I never wanted to work with children. Honestly they scared me. I do not have children yet. And I just did not know what to do with them when I was around them. So I never wanted to work in pediatrics. I avoided it at all cost. Well God has a sense of humor. Two years ago he directed me to go work with children at a place for abused children. And now I am in my second year working as a school nurse with elementary children. This was one of my greatest weaknesses. But now I love being around them. And I am no longer afraid of them. I feel he is turning on of my greatest weaknesses into my greatest strength. But I had to allow God to do this work in me. It was not easy. But when I felt God directing to work with children I did not have the heart to tell Him no. And I think he was wanting to teach me something through them. Well In the past two years I have learned a lot. Even though I have had times where I did not think I was going to make it through it. I have felt overwhelmed at times with all that God has done in my life. Converting to the Catholic Church was not at all easy for me. I have been completely overwhelmed at times. And when God directed me to work with children 3 years ago it was a bit overwhelming for me. But I knew God was calling me to work with children. I just kept coming to Him telling Him all my weaknesses. And even when I did give up at one point He helped me back up again. Psalm 145:14"The Lord upholds all those [of His own] who are falling and raises up all those who are bowed down." Yes, I did give up at one point. I told God it was just too hard and I am not the person for this. I told Him you got the wrong girl for this. Well He won’t let me give up so easily. "He gives power to the weak, and to those who have no might He increases strength." (Isaiah 40:29)
He wants us to come to Him with our weaknesses. He does not want us to be afraid to admit when we are weak. The Lord knows our weaknesses, He is mindful that we are but dust and ashes. Do you feel drained? Exhausted? Ask God for help. Depend on Him for the power to go on and the strength to make it through the valley. When circumstances overwhelm and seem to much to bear, Depend upon the Lord for strength and trust His tender care.
So don't be afraid if God is wanting you to do something that you feel you can't do. You may end up surprised that it will become your greatest strength.
