St. Thérèse de Lisieux: The Paradox of Greatness-Part 1

Thérèse de Lisieux: The Greatest Saint of our Times

Imagine, a twelve-year-old son of a carpenter was grappling theological issues with the scriptural grandmasters in his time; they were all amazed by his genius, how he challenged them with questions, and answered their questions with depth and simplicity. 

Thérèse of Lisieux just did the same feat. A girl, a nobody, totally unknown to the world in her time but whose message ranked with the heavyweights of theological genius, like St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Jerome, St. Augustine or St. Theresa of Avila. She has even declared a doctor of the church.

Doctor of the Church

To become a doctor of the church is not easy. Out of thousands of saints, only thirty-six were given the title. To become a Doctor of the Church, one must have these three main qualities:

• Holiness. If we based our notion on holiness with miraculous powers or extraordinary mystical experience, I don’t think St. Thérèse would qualify. St. Thérèse’s formula for holiness lies solely in her childlike trust and total abandonment to God. 
• Depth of doctrinal insight. St. Thérèse was only twenty-four years old when she died. But Catholic theologians all over the world were surprised with such grasp of a young girl whose simplicity of insight provides the shortest route to the heart of the Gospel. Nobody in the history of the Church could articulate with such simplicity more than Therese of Lisieux!
• An extensive body of work. Several Church doctors died in middle age or in old age.  Aquinas died at 49 years old, Augustine died at 75, St. Jerome died at 73. St. Alphonsus de Liguori died at 90. The number of years in their ministerial duties enabled them, by God’s grace, to produce lots of monumental contributions.

Yet Thérèse had only nine years of ministry as a Carmelite nun. St. Alphonsus de Liguori produced 111 works on spirituality and theology.  St. Thomas Aquinas wrote numerous treatises that span from Metaphysics to Ontology, from Philosophy to Theology. St. Jerome wrote a lot of commentaries on scripture. St. Augustine wrote volumes of theological expositions to combat the heresies in his time. Most doctors of the church produced volumes of writings, some founded congregations, and a few had a series of mystical dialogue with God.

One common denominator: they all made a tidal wave of influence in their lifetime. However, St. Thérèse of Lisieux left only her teenage diary upon the request of her superior who also happened to be her elder sister of the five adult siblings. This was requested probably to gather some recollection of their childhood memories in the family. Her letters were gathered later on the process for her canonization and yet, she was declared a Doctor of the Church. 

By the way, only four are female out of the thirty-six Doctors of the Church – St. Teresa of Avila, St. Catherine of Siena, St. Hildegard of Bingen and St. Therese of Lisieux.

St. Catherine of Siena 

The world was shocked when St. Catherine of Siena was declared a doctor of the Church at her young age of thirty-three. She was considered the youngest doctor of the church before St. Thérèse of Lisieux was elevated with the same title in 1997 at the age of twenty-four.

 St. Catherine of Siena had a series of dialogue with God, she even had a mystical marriage with Christ. Jesus gave her a splendid ring, that was visible to her alone. St. Thérèse had none of these extraordinary mystical encounters. She could even sleep during prayer hours with other nuns. She wrote no volumes of books and founded no congregations. She died of tuberculosis as an unknown youth with no remarkable contribution to the world.

An Amateur 

St.Thérèse was like an amateur chess player, joining a world chess championship affiliated by world super grandmasters. She, an amateur who played, was lacking other pieces but only had pawns with Queen and King. How could she compete with them? Unbelievable but true. Although holiness is no competition, in comparison with other Church’ Doctors, Thérèse had none of their advantages – years in public ministry, strong personality, volumes of works produced, groups founded, etc. She was often treated as a little girl until she died at twenty-four, and totally unknown to the world.

Millions of Christians all over the world were affected by her message, people could relate to her very well in her utter simplicity, Pope Pius X called her “the greatest saint of modern times.”

Thérèse is a material that would show us the role of the family in one’s holiness. Both her parents were canonized saints, St. Louis Martin and St. Marie-Azelie Guerin Martin. They are the first married couple to be officially canonized as saints by the church. Her older sister, Léonie Martin was also on the way to be elevated to sainthood.

St. Thérèse had nothing to show anything typical of the giants of holiness like the ascetical rigors of St. Francis of Assissi, she had none of the combatant stamina of Joan of Arc, nor she had the tight spiritual regimen that most people characterized as a saint. She even expressed her difficulty in praying the rosary. She was typically a beginner in spiritual practices and considered herself always a rookie in her spiritual journey. The only stronghold she got was her absolute trust and total child-like abandonment to God.

Thérèse was very ordinary just like most of us, humans.  She was scared of spiders and other insects. She could easily be tickled with practical jokes. To top it all, she was also very sickly.

Thérèse’s  Influence

When Thérèse’s diary was published, it touched millions of people from all walks of life – celebrities, like Louise Brooks – American dancer and actress, athletes like Alain Mimoun – Olympic marathon champion who said: “St Thérèse of Lisieux is my patron saint.” Or Henri Bergson – Nobel prize philosopher. Even a condemned French murderer Jacques Fesch was inspired by Thérèse ’s life and turned to become her devotee while serving in prison.

Here are some words of prominent personalities about Thérèse : 

Pope Francis – “When I have a problem I ask the saint, not to solve it, but to take it in her hands and help me accept it.”[144]

Pope John Paul I – “Dear little Thérèse , I was seventeen when I read your autobiography. It struck me forcibly…Once you had chosen the path of complete dedication to God, nothing could stop you: not illness, nor opposition from outside, nor the mists or inner darkness.”

Mother Teresa of Calcutta, originally called Agnes, explained her choice of the name Teresa as follows: “I chose Thérèse as my namesake because she did ordinary things with extraordinary love”[145] She and St. Thérèse were both deeply drawn by the words of Christ on the Cross: “I thirst.”[146]

Maximilian Kolbe offered his first Mass for the intention of the beatification and canonization of then-Sister Thérèse. He also dedicated his Asian missions to St. Therese.[147]

Maria Candida of the Eucharist – Was inspired by reading The Story of a Soul.[148]

St. Padre Pio of Pietrelcina – the well – known stigmatist saint was also inspired by her life.

The life of St. Thérèse of Lisieux became one of the most widely read books in France, next to the Bible, with eighty-nine editions and translated into thirty-five languages (The Little Way by Bernard Bro, OP).

Her image – a girl in Carmelite habit, holding flowers – is in every church worldwide. If you were one of the nuns with Thérèse in her time, you could not imagine how she could gain that greatness in the eyes of the Christian world. Thérèse had nothing significant to show, she was totally concealed in the ordinary that one of her fellow nuns commented, “[she] has never done anything worth the telling.” While another nun said Thérèse had no personality.

Thérèse’s Ordinariness

Whenever I think of Thérèse’s ordinariness, I could also imagine how ordinary the life of that couple, in their humble home at Nazareth, must have been. The silent carpenter father. The simple virgin mother. The adorable child. The Holy Family – concealed in the ordinary.

Many well-intentioned Christians thought that serving God meant blazing your life with big projects – juggling up your time by serving countless ministries, going for outreach activities, etc. – as if worldly works are inferior to religious works. Though works have levels of social impact, its value lies within the context of discernment, when one’s sense of purpose is attuned to God’s pleasure. 

Thérèse’s life and message is a resounding voice that no one must underestimate the impact of the ordinary day to day routine. Our daily works, our tending to the family, how we relate with our colleagues and friends, our attitude towards tasks, our inconveniences, the pricks in relationships, etc. – all of these is a path towards holiness with only one basic thing we ought to have – love. 

If the world is a funfare and Thérèse has to pick one of the four options – becoming: a martyr, a founder, a miracle worker, or an ordinary – she would not hesitate to put her bet on becoming ordinary. This is where Thérèse put her whole heart.

There’s nothing wrong with any of the other choices. Yet Thérèse clearly saw it upon her reflection on the first letter of Paul to the Corinthians (chapter 13) – that her vocation is love. The rest are just different functions of the many parts of the Body of Christ. 

So it doesn’t matter whether you’re just washing dishes at home or carrying the weight of the world on your shoulder – what matters is not the size of the work you do but the size of the heart for God you put into your work.

A Revolution

However, the ordinariness is just the outcome of a rock bottom foundation – her childlike trust in God. This is the point of departure where Thérèse’s articulation deserves to be immortalized as one of the Christian Classics. Its effect is severe. A relentless invasion of Mercy that demolished the age-old image of God that has affected the Church for hundreds of years. 

Thérèse’s message has put the playing field of holiness competition in a level where sanctity is not just reserved for the few – but for everyone, even for the worst unqualified The uglier the credentials, the warmer the welcome. The deeper we acknowledge our unworthiness, the stronger God’s Mercy invades our hearts.

This revolution has just begun.  We can expect sporadic consequences in the future. Sister Faustina’s Diary up to Pope Francis’ message of mercy is to be counted. Thérèse knew this is the message that is much needed of our times. She said:

“After my death, I will let fall a shower of roses. I will spend my heaven doing good upon earth. I will raise up a mighty host of little saints. My mission is to make God loved…”