Young Carmelite’s witness ‘carries fragrance of Christ to ends of earth’

By Wendy Shaw

The life of St Thérèse of the Child Jesus and of the Holy Face is “like a bouquet offered to the Church: roses of trust, petals of confidence, and the fragrance of merciful love”.

Archbishop Tony Ireland explained this during a sung Mass on 1 October, St Thérèse’s feast day, at the Carmelite Monastery in Launceston.

The day was an opportunity to “rejoice in the radiant light of one of the Church’s great treasures”, Archbishop Tony said.

“This young Carmelite, cloistered in Lisieux, lived only 24 short years, yet her witness has carried the fragrance of Christ to the ends of the earth,” he added.

“Missionaries, priests, the sick, those who fly high in the skies, those who kneel in hidden chapels — all have found in her a sister and intercessor.”

The Archbishop explained that Thérèse, a Doctor of the Church, understood the heart of the Gospel.

Quoting St Thérèse’s assertion that ‘It is trust and nothing but trust that must lead us to Love’, Archbishop Tony explained went on to explain that: “She invites us to cast aside fear, to drop the illusion that we must earn God’s favour, and instead to rest in His merciful embrace.”

“How fitting that she is patroness of florists, for she knew that the simplest flower given with love delights God more than the grandest achievement done for self.

“She is also the patron of missionaries, even though she never left her monastery.

“Why? Because her ‘little way’ has carried the fire of the Gospel across oceans, inspiring countless priests, religious, lay women and men, to trust in God’s merciful love.

“And here, in Carmel, her witness rings with special clarity. Hidden life, daily prayer, small sacrifices, silent offerings: nothing is wasted.

“They are seeds scattered to the winds of the Spirit, carried far beyond what we see.

“Each act of love, each whispered prayer, each hidden renunciation—these become roses that fall upon the world.”

Carmelite Monastery Prioress Mother Teresa Benedicta, OCD said the feast day was particularly significant for the community.

“It is always very special for us to celebrate any of our fellow Carmelites who have been raised to the altars by the Church because this is a validation for us of this particular way of following Christ,” she explained.

“St Thérèse is a particularly poignant example of this, I think, as she has inspired so many of us to consider a Carmelite vocation, as she has done for the last 100 years.

“Her influence on nuns, friars and secular Carmelites continues to be very powerful as she inspires us as our own sister to open ourselves generously to the merciful love of God who longs to draw us into intimacy with Himself so that we can do His will with our whole heart and soul, which is the essence of holiness.”

Mother Teresa Benedicta said St Thérèse had made Carmelite spirituality accessible to the wider Church and had a great gift for articulating in simple yet profound language the riches of the Carmelite tradition, which is ‘inspiring for all Catholics’.

“St Thérèse teaches us all that nothing is too small to offer to God with love, and that it is love and surrender and gratitude to God rather than our achievements that help us grow closer to the Lord,” the Prioress said.

“She speaks so powerfully to us precisely where we feel most weak, vulnerable and perhaps even unworthy of God’s love and shows us that the Lord meets us there with His mercy, in the ordinariness of our daily lives, and calls us to a new relationship with Him grounded in child-like trust and simplicity that gives us wings in our journey to God.”

St Thérèse promised to ‘spend her heaven doing good upon earth’ and her feast was a chance for renewed confidence in the power of her intercession, Mother added.

“Rose petals blessed in her honour are distributed at her feast day Mass as a reminder of her intercession and the graces she has obtained for so many, like a shower of roses,” Mother Teresa Benedicta said.

“Like all the Saints, St Thérèse is very close to us and wants to help us grow closer to Jesus, reminding us by her Little Way of the confidence we must have in our heavenly Father, whose heart is overflowing with tenderness and merciful love.”