St. Thérèse of Lisieux
A couple of years ago, Pope Francis released an Apostolic Exhortation on St. Thérèse that he entitled, “On Confidence in the Merciful Love of God.” He opened the letter by stating, “It is confidence and nothing but confidence that must lead to love.” Confidence opens the heart of God.
St. Thérèse had extraordinary confidence in God’s goodness, his mercy, timing, and providential care. Let’s take a brief at each of these areas of St. Thérèse’s confidence.
Confidence in God’s goodness: St. Thérèse’s family quickly noticed that when she was a little girl, as soon as she did anything wrong, she would tell everyone about it. For example, there is a story where she accidentally tore off a small piece of wallpaper in the house. She wanted to tell her father immediately. St. Thérèse’s sister says that it was a pity to see her anxiety.
When Thérèse returned four hours later, and everyone had forgotten about it, she ran at once to her sister Marie saying, “Marie, hurry and tell Papa I tore the paper.” Little Thérèse had awaited her sentence as if she were a criminal. Her sister said that if Thérèse has an idea in her head that if she owns up to something, she will be more readily forgiven.
Regarding this little incident, notice how confident Thérèse was in her father’s goodness. She loved her papa and adored the ground that walked on. She knew that he was so good at the core of his heart. For Thérèse, her father was a reflection of God’s goodness.
Thérèse had extraordinary confidence in God’s goodness. She knew that if she was honest about her failures and sins, he would readily forgive her – 100% of the time. First and foremost, then, Thérèse is a model of confidence in God’s goodness – that He always wills the best for us, that He loves us, and is ready to forgive us when we are honest with him.
Confidence in God’s mercy: When St. Thérèse was 14 years old, she leaned of a story from the newspaper of a man named Pranzini who was on trial for triple homicide. Pranzini was tried, convicted, and sentenced to death by hanging in the public square. Pranzini showed no remorse for what he had done. Shortly before this, Thérèse had noticed a picture of the wounded and pierced hands of Jesus fall from her missal after Mass. She resolved to place herself at the foot of the cross, to pray for sinners, and to snatch them from the everlasting flames of hell.
Pranzini was her first spiritual child. She begged God to pardon the unhappy Pranzini. She asked that he confess his sins to a priest as a sign of sorrow. If he did not, she asked God to give her one sign of repentance to reassure her.
At the foot of the scaffold, Prainzini turned to the chaplain and asked for a crucifix, which he took at kissed three times – kissing the sacred wounds of Jesus. At the last minute, Pranzini turned to Jesus asked for mercy. Thérèse was overjoyed at the extreme of mercy of Jesus. As she had confidence in the goodness of God, we see her growth in confidence in Christ’s merciful love always ready forgive sinners.
Confidence in God’s Timing: As most of us are aware, Thérèse had a burning desire to enter the Carmelite convent at the age of 15. Helped by her father, she went to the local bishop and then to the pope. She was so bold that she asked for the Holy Father’s permission to enter. In response, Pope Leo XIII said slowly, stressing each syllable, “Go…go…You will enter if God wills it!” Thérèse’s little heart was crushed as things had no turned out as she expected. She would have to wait patiently for the local bishop to give his answer. Thérèse had tremendous confidence that not only was God good and merciful but His timing is impeccable. For Thérèse, God’s wisdom was far beyond what she could comprehend. She was patient and trusted that God would answer in his own time. The following year, the bishop gave his permission for her to enter the convent.
Confidence that God Provides: Once in the convent, Thérèse reflected on the great desires of her heart. She wanted to love Jesus as a great saint – to soar like an eagle.
However, when she reflected on her personal faults, limitations, weaknesses, and sins, she felt like a poor little weak bird with a broken wing that could barely get off the ground. There was a huge gap, then, between the desire to be a great saint and the reality of her weaknesses. Instead of becoming discouraged, she thought to herself, “God would never inspire me with desires which cannot be realized.” She realized that if God put a desire on her heart, then He wants to fill it.
At this point, Thérèse remembered being in an elevator for the first time in her life. She was amazed how it could lift you up without any effort – much easier than climbing the steps. She realized that Jesus and His arms would act as her “elevator” and lift her up where she wanted to be, to the very summit of love.
Thérèse realized that she didn’t need to become bigger – more self-reliant and try harder to do things herself but rather more little – more dependent, more trusting, more confident that God will provide for her. While she was far from perfect, if she lifted up her arms to Jesus, he would bend down to pick her up. He would always provide for her, not in spite of her weaknesses, but actually work in and through them. She had extraordinary confidence that the more dependent she became upon God, the more He would provide for her – as a parent who cares for and loves his or her child.
Thérèse is one of the great doctors of the Church. We could say that she is a doctor of confidence – confidence in God’s goodness; confidence in God’s mercy and readiness to forgive, confidence in God’s timing, and confidence that God always provides for us.
St. Thérèse is loved so much because her confidence inspires us to have confidence in God’s infinite love. She invites us, that like her, whatever you are going through to have confidence in God – His goodness and His merciful love. If you have done something wrong, be confident and approach God by going to confession and asking for forgiveness as He wants to forgive us. He delights in forgiving us.
She invites you to ask God for good things in prayer – the things you need – and to have confidence that God will answer them in His time and the way that He knows best.
And she invites you to have confidence in God that He will always provide for you – even when there doesn’t seem any way possible, no matter what you are going through. Like a little child, you can lift up your arms to God and He will bend down and pick you up – like an elevator – lifting you up to the very summit of love.
“It is confidence and nothing but confidence that must lead to love.” Our beloved patron saint reminds us: Be bold. Be confident. And in doing so, you will open the very heart of God and experience His merciful love!
~St. Thérèse, pray for us!