Sister M. Milada of the Savior of the World OCD
Following Mary
In the last years of her life, Therese grows into the fundamental attitudes of the Virgin Mary, truly becoming "a child who resembles her mother".
Mary – Model of Love
Above all, she learns to live with love; contemplating her, she writes one of the most perfect definitions of love:
"Mary, you love us as Jesus loved us
and for our sake you accept separation from him.
To love means to give everything and to give oneself"
(TB 54, 22).
“To love means to give everything and to give oneself” – When Therese understands this, she completely offers herself to God in an act of sacrifice, which she makes through Mary's hands: “Finally, I offer you, blessed Trinity, the love and merits of the Holy Virgin, my beloved Mother. I entrust my act of sacrifice to her and ask her to present it to you” (TM 6).28 At this time, she definitively accepts her poverty and insignificance, the inability to save herself. She realizes that, like Mary, she is "the insignificant servant" (cf. Lk 1,48). However, this feeling of poverty becomes wealth for Therese because she understands that her ability to embrace God depends on it. Only in perfect poverty does the transforming union occur, only then, when we are "nothing", can God give His "everything". Therese is full of trust – the Lord Himself must save her and transform her into Himself, burning her as a holocaust in His love. And God delights in being able to give Himself freely; it arises from His nature. Mary, too, accepted the gift of the Immaculate Conception completely freely; she did nothing to receive it. This leads her to humility, which attracts the Lord:
“I understand, Immaculate One, that your soul
is more precious to the Lord than paradise,
and that your heart, which is a quiet and humble valley,
can embrace Jesus, the Ocean of Love.
I love you, Mary, when you call yourself the servant
of God, whom you have gained through your humility.
Through this precious virtue, you become almighty
and draw the Trinity to your heart”
(TB 54, 3–4).
Similarly, when Therese, with the same dispositions, dedicates herself to Jesus, she recognizes what oceans of love have flooded her. Like Mary, she proclaims that God "has done great things for her" (Lk 1,49). “My beloved mother, you allowed me to offer myself to the Lord, you know what rivers, or rather oceans of grace have flooded my soul...” (Rk A 84r/AS 172). This fullness of love is offered by God to the person who completely surrenders to Him.
Participation in the Mystery of the Incarnation
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Thanks to Mary, we receive the Eucharist: Mary's humility attracts humble Jesus, who at his birth becomes entirely dependent on his creation. This great humiliation of the Word of God is praised by Therese already in her first poem. Together with the church tradition, she marvels that the newly born Savior of the world needed Mary's milk for life. Therese follows the "path" of this milk, and reaches the Eucharist, which she herself needs to live Jesus' life. The newborn Jesus is like a “fresh bud” and a “barely opened flower” refreshed by the dew, which is Mary's virgin milk (“your dew is her virgin milk”). This virgin milk Therese then sees in His spilled blood (“your divine blood is virgin milk”) and in the Eucharist (“the angelic bread is virgin milk”). Thus, she recognizes that thanks to Mary, she can receive Jesus (“the Host is white, it is virgin milk”) (TB 1).29
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Mary enables us to receive the Eucharist: Mary not only gives us the Eucharist, but she also teaches us how to receive it properly. Her union with Jesus serves as an example for us to achieve the same union. Therefore, Therese asks her before Holy Communion: “I envision my soul as a free land and I ask the Holy Virgin to remove the clutter that might obstruct it from being free. Then I ask her to set up a wide tent, worthy of heaven, to decorate it with her own jewels, and then I invite all the saints and angels to come and arrange a magnificent concert. When Jesus descends into my heart, it seems to me that He is satisfied with such a good reception, and I am satisfied too...” (Rk A 79v–80r/AS 164).
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Like Mary, we can become bearers of Christ: Both Mother and daughter receive Jesus – the Lamb with identical dispositions:
“Beloved Mother, I also, in my smallness,
possess in my heart the Almighty, like you.
Even when I am weak, I am not afraid:
the treasures of the mother pass to the children
and I am your daughter, beloved Mother.
Your virtues are mine, your love is mine!
And when the white Host descends into my heart,
then Jesus, the Lamb, believes that he rests with you!”
(TB 54, 5).Because of this, Jesus can also remain in Therese just as in Mary when she carried him in her womb. Both accepted the “unspeakable treasure of virginity” (TB 54, 3), which is “the homeland of Jesus” (cf. DT 122);30 therefore both can possess in themselves the “Son equal to the Father” (TB 54, 4), one through the mystery of the Incarnation, the other through trinitarian indwelling and especially through receiving the Eucharist. This was one of the deepest desires of Therese, which she asks for in the act of surrendering to merciful love: “Stay in me like in a tabernacle...” (TM 6). She understands that she can become a mother like Mary, thanks to Jesus, whom she can welcome in the Host.
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Priests must learn from Mary: The tenderness and sensitivity that were between the Virgin and her newborn Son must be especially learned by priests according to Therese: 31 “Oh Mary, sweet Queen of Carmel, it is you to whom I entrust the soul of the future priest, of whom I am an unworthy little sister. Show him how lovingly you touched the Divine Child Jesus and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, so that one day he may ascend to the holy altar and hold the King of heaven in his hands. I also beg you to always protect him in the shadow of your virgin cloak until the happy moment when he leaves this valley of tears and can behold your beauty and rejoice for all eternity in the fruits of his glorious apostolate!” (TM 8).32 She wrote similarly to her sister: “Celina, come, this year we must gain many priests who know how to love Jesus... and who touch him as tenderly as Mary did when she caressed him in the cradle...!” (DT 101).33
With Mary at the Foot of the Cross
As a Mother, Mary participates incomparably in the suffering of her only Son on the cross. She agrees to his sacrifice:
“Mary, at the summit of Calvary, I see you
next to the cross like a priest at the altar”
(TB 54/23).
There, a sword pierces her soul; there she painfully gives birth to her other children.
Therese deeply penetrates this mystery; she participates in Mary's motherhood at the cross because this Virgin does not jealously keep the title of mother to herself, she accepts its removal:
“When sinners listen to the teaching
of the one who wants to welcome them to heaven:
with them you are, Mary, on the hill.
Someone informs Jesus that you want to see him;
and your Divine Son, before the whole crowd,
shows infinite love that He has for us:
‘Who is my brother, sister, and mother,’ He says,
‘but he who does my will?’
Immaculate Virgin, sweetest Mother,
it’s not sorrow for you to not hear Jesus,
for it gives you joy that you understand
that here below, His family are our souls.
Yes, you rejoice that life gives
and divinity immense treasures.
Is it possible not to love you, my dear Mother,
for so much love and so much humility?”
(TB 54, 20–21).
She could experience this for the first time even before entering Carmel. When she sees the image of the Crucified Jesus, she contemplates His spilled blood and receives one of the great graces: “I resolved to dwell in spirit under the cross and catch the divine dew that is dripping from it. I understood that I must then pour it out on souls...” (Rk A 45v/AS 96–97). This incident marks the beginning of her spiritual motherhood, the fruit of which is the first child – the sinner Pranzini. She draws her fruitfulness from her union with the crucified Jesus. In the trial of faith, her motherhood expands, like that of Mary, to all people.
Trial of Faith Experienced with Mary
Therese realizes that although the relationship between Mary and her Child was an intimate one, it was nevertheless experienced in faith. She places great emphasis on this. Jesus was both her Child and her God, the fruit of her life, but also her Creator and Redeemer. Thus, the relationship between Mary and Jesus is also a relationship between the believer and his God. At a time when preachers supported by apocrypha filled Mary's life with extraordinary graces, Therese, on the other hand, highlights Mary's spiritual poverty based on the gospel when she states that “she lived by faith like we do” (ŽS 21.8.3/VŽ 117). She is convinced that faith for her was dark and painful, exposed to trials by Jesus Himself. She illustrates this with the Gospel episode of finding Jesus in the temple when Mary and Joseph searched for him for three days:
“Oh Mother, your Son makes you a model
for those who seek Him by night with faith”
(TB 54, 15).
The true exile is not for the Virgin fleeing to Egypt, where she possessed Jesus (which is the true homeland):
“I believe, Mary, that in the land of Egypt,
your heart will remain joyfully in poverty.
Isn’t Jesus the most beautiful homeland?
What does exile mean when you own heaven?
Yet in Jerusalem, you experience great pain,
that floods your heart like a wide sea:
Jesus escapes your tenderness
for three days, and that is true heavy exile!”
(TB 54, 13).
The true exile is the loss of Jesus, which is definitive at His death: “You remain in exile, Queen of Martyrs, / for us, you give all the blood of your heart!” (TB 54, 23). Therese's constant assurance, however, is that Jesus Himself prepares trials for those whom He loves most.
“The heavenly King wanted His Mother
to be in deep night with anxiety in her heart,
is it good, Mary, to suffer here on earth?
Suffering out of love is the purest joy!
Jesus can take back what he gave me:
I won’t regret it, just tell Him.
Even if He hides, I will know how to wait for Him,
until in heaven my faith wanes”
(TB 54, 16).
Suffering out of love is the purest joy in the last period of life even for Therese: “In one year, I have performed more acts of faith than in my whole life. (...) I tell Him that I am happy that I do not rejoice in this beautiful heaven on earth, so He can open it forever for poor unbelievers. (...) Is there any greater joy than suffering out of love for you? (...) The more internal suffering is, the less visible it is to the eyes of creatures, the more it pleases you, my God! But even if you – which is impossible – did not know of my anguish, I would still be happy to suffer if I could prevent or atone for just one single sin against faith...” (Rk C 7r/AS 207). She is also willing, when experiencing this Calvary, to shed the “last drop of her blood” (Rk C 7r/AS 207).
Mary – Model of Little Souls
Through all this, the Carmelite finds a great resonance between the life of the Virgin Mary and the path to holiness that she herself has discovered:
“You make me understand that it is possible for me
to walk in your footsteps, Queen of the Chosen,
you have made a visible narrow path to heaven,
by exercising the humblest virtues.
Close to you, Mary, I long to remain small:
I see that human greatness is so vain”
(TB 54, 6).
Mary remained humble and small even after the Annunciation; in poverty, she gave birth to Jesus in Bethlehem. In this, Therese contemplates the whole greatness of Mary, her greatness as the Mother of God:
“Later I see you, Joseph and Mary,
you were rejected by the inhabitants of Bethlehem.
No one would accept you, poor strangers,
in their inn: there is room for the great!
Room is for the great; and there in the stable
the heavenly Queen of God gives birth.
Oh dear Mother, how worthy you seem of love
and how great you are in a place of humility!
When I see how the Eternal is wrapped in swaddling clothes,
and hear how the Word of God cries,
oh beloved Mother, I no longer envy the angels:
my beloved brother has become their strong Lord.
How I love you, Mary, when you allowed your divine Flower
to bloom on our shore!...“
(TB 54, 9–10).
“I know that in Nazareth, gracious Mother,
you were poor and wanted nothing more:
neither miracles nor ecstasies nor raptures34
adorned your life, Queen of Saints!
On earth, there are many little ones,
who may look up to you without trembling.
An ordinary life, unique Mother,
you wanted to live and lead them to heaven
(TB 54, 17).
The Carmelite feels drawn to this simple life, longing to live like Jesus and the Virgin Mary. She understands that a person can be under complete divine influence without extraordinary manifestations – to live the highest mystical life, stripped of any mystical phenomenon.
Mary, therefore, according to Therese, already lived “the little way” before her, being the primordial model for all “little souls”. As a Mother, she is similar to her Son, who became small and poor in his humiliation, from the Incarnation to the Crucifixion. Therese contemplates Jesus as “God, who became so small for me” (DT 266).35 Therefore, when a year after discovering the little way, she writes Manuscript A, she comments on her profession on the feast of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary:36 “What a beautiful feast were Mary’s birth, when I became the spouse of Jesus! The little saintly Virgin, one day old, offered her little flower to the little Jesus. On that day, everything was little, except for the graces and peace which I received.” (Rk A 77r/AS 159). These words of Therese, with childlike simplicity, express the most certain aspect of her spirituality, that is, the evangelical littleness. She underlines the word “little” three times, thereby showing how her own littleness is connected with the littleness of Jesus and Mary.
Thus, Therese resembles the one of whom François-Marie Léthel, OCD, beautifully said: “Mary is the greatest because she is the smallest.”
