Message of Thérèse of Lisieux
Circular letter of the General Superiors of O.Carm. and OCD
on the occasion of the hundredth anniversary of the death of Saint Thérèse of Lisieux
(final part)
3. God calls us to proclaim the Good News
Missionary dimension: to love Jesus and to make Him loved
49. The effort to pass on the Gospel is an expression of universal love. Witnessing to and proclaiming to others the new life in Christ and His message of hope means to love them. Thérèse, as a contemplative nun, never ceased to live the missionary and apostolic dynamism of the Christian vocation. Through her particular calling – to Carmel – she wanted to cooperate with Christ for the salvation of the world, not only until the end of her life but until the end of the world.38
In her correspondence with her missionary brothers, she often refers to the apostolic and missionary dimension of the life of a contemplative Carmelite. Among other things, she states: “You well know that a Carmelite who would not be an apostle would have strayed from the goal of her vocation and would cease to be a daughter of the Seraphic Saint Thérèse, who wanted to offer her life a thousand times to save a single soul”."39 Therefore, Thérèse of Lisieux desired to live all vocations.40 According to her, the effectiveness of evangelization depends on love. And she asks the saints to grant her double their love.41
50. By our vocation to Carmel, we are dedicated to the mission. We have a "prophetic task to remind of God's purpose for people and to fulfill it, in accordance with how it is proclaimed in Sacred Scripture and how it is evident in a careful examination of the signs of God's foresight in all human history. It is a purpose to save and reconcile the human race." 42
From our sister Thérèse, we must learn to direct our Christian love apostolically; to adopt the conviction of the evangelizing power of prayer and the need for spirituality embodied in everyday reality. Evangelization is not mere information.
It is a manifestation that God has accepted us as His children and gives us growth in love and solidarity. It requires us to share in the experience of suffering and fear of our brothers and sisters and from that perspective to accept it as our own. Thérèse did this when she took upon herself the trial of doubt to obtain for nonbelievers the grace to overcome doubt. She sat at the table with sinners and those who reject faith, and with them, she suffered emptiness and darkness: your child "asks you for forgiveness for her brothers, is willing to eat the bread of pain as long as you wish, and does not wish to leave this table, full of bitterness, at which miserable sinners eat, until the day you have appointed.”43 This is also one way to offer a response to the search for the sacred and the longing for God that continues to live in the hearts of people.44
51. This love has a social dimension that binds us – while recognizing the special differences of each vocation in Carmel – to serve the overall progress for the benefit of justice and peace in the world through genuine human development for all people. For love of neighbor to be effective, it must manifest in accordance with the demands of the contemporary world. This requires that our love also has a social impact, for the means of individual love are increasingly limited. Our neighbor in need is not an isolated individual, but masses oppressed by unjust and dehumanizing structures.
It is urgently necessary that Christian love be manifested in efforts to change and transform structures. Love is stronger than all kinds of divisions and helps in the struggle for a more just world to overcome hatred, so that the oppressed do not themselves become oppressors. Only love for Jesus and the testimony of His life and His teachings allow for true fraternal reconciliation. The doctrine of the little way of spiritual childhood is an incredible force for social change in the face of the abuse of power in society.
Close to Mary of Nazareth
52. The Virgin Mary is for us an example of consecration and following (discipleship); she reminds us of the primacy of God's initiative and teaches us to accept His grace. She is "the teacher of absolute following and zealous service." 45 In accordance with the purest tradition of Carmel, Thérèse of Lisieux lived in the intimate presence of Jesus’ mother. She anticipated the Second Vatican Council and discovered in her a simple woman from Nazareth, a pilgrim of faith and hope, Mother and model. It can be said that she lived her life in close proximity to Mary (literally: side by side with Mary).
53. Thérèse rejects if Mary is presented in a way that elevates her greatness without taking into account her earthly life: “For any words about the Virgin Mary to please me and benefit me, I must see her real life, not a presumed life; and I am sure that her real life must have been very simple. They show her to us as inaccessible; however, it should be shown that it is possible to imitate her, to emphasize her virtues, to say that she lived by faith like us... She is more Mother than Queen.”46 Thérèse's last poem dedicated to the Virgin Mary is titled: "Why I Love You, Oh Mary." In this, Thérèse moves through the pages of the Gospel and discovers Mary's love for God and for neighbors, her poverty, her contemplative silence, her simplicity, her faith, her hope, her willingness and obedience in accepting God’s will. The Gospel reveals to us who Mary was, and Thérèse’s sensitive heart reveals – in her experience of everyday communion with Mary – Mary's true uniqueness.47
54. In the teaching of Thérèse of Lisieux, we find a path to deepening and renewing our Marian life – in the light of the Gospel and in intimacy with Mary. When we newly discover Mary in the mystery of Christ and the Church, it will provide a firmer foundation for our devotion, our witness, and our preaching. The entire history of our order, from the first days on Mount Carmel, is permeated by Mary’s presence.
Above all, Mary is an example of following Jesus (discipleship) in faith and contemplation. As Thérèse experienced, Mary teaches us primarily the attitudes of prayer: discernment, willingness (proclamation); praise and gratitude for what God has shown to the poor and the simple (Magnificat); trust (the wedding at Cana); patient and contemplative waiting, keeping everything in the heart without the need to understand it until the light arises (finding Jesus in the temple); faithfulness in times of trial (under the cross); communion and sense of the Church (praying with the disciples).
Prophetic witness in the face of great challenges
55. Christians, especially those who live a consecrated life, are called to bear prophetic witness by proclaiming the values of the Gospel and renouncing all that opposes these values. When John Paul II emphasized the prophetic character of the consecrated life "as a unique way of participating in Christ’s prophetic mission, which the Holy Spirit grants to the whole people of God,” he cited as an authentic prophet the figure of Elijah, “the bold prophet and friend of God”. He describes him as follows: Elijah lived in the presence of God “and contemplated God's 'passing by' in silence, interceding for the people and boldly proclaiming God's will; … he arose to protect the poor against the powerful of this world.”48
56. From this perspective, Thérèse of Lisieux can be called a prophetess of the new era. She rightfully received the titles: "prophetess of youth," "sign of hope," "prophetess of holiness as a universal calling in the Church," "prophetess of the relevance of redemption" emphasizing the invisible power of love.49 As a woman whose life of Easter pilgrimage (pascha – passing) was characterized by great longings, Thérèse has much to say to a searching and unsatisfied humanity.
In accordance with the tradition of Carmel, Thérèse sees in the prophet Elijah a model for her life. She is attracted not only by his experience of God in the “gentle breeze,”50 but also by his struggle against the prophets of Baal: “After showing the splendid beginnings of our holy order and likening us to the prophet Elijah, who fought against the prophets of Baal, he declared that ‘similar times as in the persecution of Achab will come again.' It seemed to us that we were hurrying towards martyrdom...”.51
57. In fidelity to our Carmelite vocation, our task is to bear prophetic witness, and to do so by living in which we emphasize the primacy of God and experience His presence in the heart of the world. We are called to an openness that allows us to discover God’s presence in ever new and surprising ways – just as Elijah discovered it in the gentle breeze; to an openness that inspires us to dedicate ourselves to the service of our brothers and sisters and to help them in their struggle for total liberation. Fraternal life itself is already a prophetic act in a society that, although it is often unaware of this, longs very much for a brotherhood without borders.” Moreover, “the particular persuasive power of prophecy stems from the harmony between proclamation and life.”52
A living and guiding presence
58. The evangelical character of the experience and teaching of Thérèse of Lisieux gives them lasting significance. Simplicity, trust, and surrender to God, as Thérèse of Lisieux lived and proclaimed, encourage the commitment to justice and peace.53
59. Thérèse's influence on today's Church and world is undeniable. She sensed this when shortly before her death she stated: “Especially, I feel that my mission is about to begin, my mission to teach to love God as I love Him, to give my little way to souls. If dear God listens to my wish, my heaven will be on earth until the end of the world. Yes, I want to live my heaven by doing good on earth.”54
Conclusion
With our sister Thérèse, renew our contemplative and apostolic life
60. One hundred years after the death of our sister Thérèse is God’s invitation for us to be renewed in the light of her experience and her teaching. As John Paul II said to all religious men and women, we must not only “remember our glorious past and tell stories about it, but also to create new glorious histories!” We must look to the future, “where the Holy Spirit sends you to do wonderful things through you.”55
Our sister Thérèse shows us the way we must take – the way back to the Gospel as the only path to a life of true creative fidelity to our charism.
61. Thérèse teaches us: love is of central importance. It leads to simplicity and gives true freedom and liberation; it leads us to mature Christian, religious, and Carmelite identity. In a world full of anxiety and fear, it brings us to trust and surrender to the Lord, who triumphs over all difficulties. Against our idealism detached from reality, it sets spiritual and evangelical realism, so that we may be credible prophets of God, who is present, near, and liberating.
As we have already shown, Thérèse's message is a challenge for the spirituality of the Church today and does not concern only those who are dedicated to contemplation, but also those who work in the field of evangelization by committing themselves to human progress, development, and liberation.56 Spiritual childhood is an evangelical concept that encompasses both the awareness that we have all received the gift of being God’s sons and daughters, as well as the response: this gift leads us to community.
62. Brothers and sisters in Carmel: let us thank the Lord for giving the Church, the world, and Carmel our sister Thérèse of Lisieux. May we experience her presence and closeness as we celebrate the hundredth anniversary of her death and as we continue in our life of prayer, brotherhood, apostolic effort, and witnessing to our Lord Jesus Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit!
In Rome, July 16, 1996, on the feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel.
P. Joseph Chalmers, O.Carm., P. Camilo Maccise, OCD
