Mystic Monday #2

I thought I'd like to begin with Therese de Lisieux, also known as Therese de l'Enfant - Jesus, or Therese, the Little Flower of Jesus.

I first read her autobiography about 4 years ago, nearly to the month.  Despite growing up in the Roman Catholic Church, I have no recollection of hearing her story before that.  But the innocence and sincerity that permeated her own reflection on her life impressed me, as well as, the measure of devotion her parents passed on to her and all her siblings.

She was born on the second of January 1873 in Normandy, the ninth child of Louis and Zelie Martin.  At this point her mother was 41 years old with failing health, considering she had 4 older siblings who died very young, as her health began to deteriorate she was sent to live with a wet-nurse until she was weaned.  At the age of three, Therese declared her intention to become a nun much to the delight of her parents who although they desired to enter religious life were unable to.  In fact, when Zelie was advised against entering the convent she asked that the Lord would make her the mother of many children, all dedicated to him.

Sadly, Zelie died in the summer of 1877.  Therese felt the loss deeply and attached herself to her older sister Pauline, her 'petite mere'.  Coming through the mourning the household continued in the pattern of a lifestyle that was devoted to both religion and piety...daily attendance at Mass, regular fasting, family prayer, religious reading, offerings and charity.

By all accounts Therese grew up doted on, even spoiled, when she entered the convent at 15 she did not know how to perform even very basic housekeeping tasks.  After the death of her mother she was mothered by her sisters and indulged by her father, particularly as he saw and encouraged his 'Little Queen's religious inclinations.  As she recalls her years growing up, it's easy to see how her personal piety made her socially awkward among her peers...she studied only for a short time in a day school, the years before and after she studied with a private tutor.  Often she was concerned about being good and acceptable, fearing hell and longing for heaven, when her two oldest sisters entered the Carmelite convent in Lisieux it's easy to understand why Therese would long to enter along with them.

For a year after her 'petite mere' entered the convent Therese suffered with an illness that kept her in bed, with severe headaches and sometimes hallucinations.  Her illness ended suddenly with a vision where a statue of Mary smiled down at Therese.  From this point Therese is increasingly convinced of her call.  Unfortunately, her father did not weather this illness well and suffered mini-strokes and bouts of depression.  However, in the end he supported Therese's desire to enter the convent, which she did at age of 15 after receiving permission by appeal all the way up the ranks of the Church hierarchy to the Pope.

Interestingly, the Carmelite Order is quite strict.  Their focus is on contemplating God and this is done by a strict schedule of prayer, fasting, silence.  Their quarters, food and clothing is simple, austere.  Rules for life are set forth and abided by.  In 1888 from a life that was religious but indulgent, Therese entered a life of austerity and toil.  And there she lived, cloistered until her death in September of 1897.

I think there are two things I want to reflect on.  One was the evident delight that Therese found in devoting herself, yielding herself completely to what she felt was the call God had on her life.  In a time when all that was expected of a woman was to marry well, bear many children and raise them, she longed for a deeper fulfillment in a profoundly spiritual experience of life.  From the start there were many trials to life in the convent, they were strictly cloistered and only spoke to those outside the convent through a grate.  And it was readily apparent that she was ill-equipped to perform the tasks assigned her; many thought her spoiled and useless and did not hesitate to inform her.  It was in the midst of this that she received a wedding invitation from a cousin and as she had just 'taken the veil' (made the life vows) she responded with characteristic delight and wrote her own wedding invitation:

God Almighty, Creator of Heaven and Earth, Sovereign Ruler of the Universe, 

and the Glorious Virgin Mary, Queen of the Heavenly Court,

announce to you the Spiritual Espousals of their August Son, Jesus, King of Kings and Lord of Lords, 

with little Therese Martin, now Princess and Lady of His Kingdoms of the Holy Childhood and the Passion, assigned to her as a dowry by, her Divine Spouse, from which Kingdoms she holds her titles of nobility -- 

of the Child Jesus and of the Holy Face.

It was not possible to invite you to the Wedding Feast which took place on the Mountain of Carmel, September 8, 1890 -- the Heavenly Court was alone admitted --

but you are requested to be present at the wedding feast which will take place tomorrow, the day of Eternity, when Jesus, the Son of God, will come in the clouds of Heaven, in the splendor of His Majesty, to judge the living and the dead.

The hour being still uncertain, you are asked to hold yourselves in readiness and watch.

(This letter is modeled after a letter that the French at the time would have sent to inform friends of the marriage of their children)

As I read this again I feel the sheer joy I assume Therese had at recognizing her Saviour as her husband.  It is not unlike the passage in Isaiah 54:5:

For your Maker is your husband-

     the LORD Almightly is his name-

     the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer;

     he is called the God of all the earth. 

For a young woman who sees that she will not pass through the rites of passage to womanhood that her culture dictates I find it fascinating that she fashioned them to fit her own situation.  As she took her life vows she would be as a bride dressed in white wearing a traditional bridal crown of flowers...so she extended the marriage metaphor and completed the celebration with it's announcement.

I recently finished a biography of Therese that coloured much of what I had originally seen.  The biographer seemed convinced that Therese suffered from repressed emotions and was not entirely truthful about how she really felt about certain events and interactions.  She also waxed at length about the repressed rage, depression and mental illness of Therese's father.  I do not believe that Therese and her family were without normal humanity, but I hesitate to call illness, 'hysterical' and a melancholy personality, 'clinically depressed'.  It is of course important to remember that Therese wrote her autobiography in her early 20's, she died at 24; so we should expect a certain amount of naivety, simplicity and innocence.  We should take it for what it is, a picture of a young woman who desperately wanted to please her Maker, and sought Him in every way she knew and in every way she was taught.

There is a lovely teaching she called the little way.  This is some of what she said about her 'little way':

I feel that my mission is soon to begin-- my mission to make others love God as I love Him... ...it is the way of Spiritual Childhood, the way of trust and absolute self-surrender.  ...We can never have too much confidence in the Good God, He is so mighty, so merciful. 

Her little way is a way of confidence and abandonment.  Confidence is a God of great love, mercy and forgiveness, and abandonment of one's self into His care.  If I think of her as one who was coddled as a child, met God in that time and place and held onto relationship with God that looked like that of a child with a trusted parent.  Keeping this in mind, she writes reflects that perspective and makes sense... and yet it is more foreign to what I, or we, experience in this day and time.

Could any of us walk in that kind of freedom, with that kind of security... ...?

How does a child relate to a parent?  Well, if the child is sure of the parent's love and care then the child trusts and obeys...without question of the character of motivation of the parent... reckless abandonment!