Thursday 1 October
Today we celebrate
Carmelite Nun and Doctor of the Church (1873-1897) Saint of the Little WaySaint Thérèse of Lisieux
Her life:
+ Thérèse Martin was born into a devout Catholic family and entered the Carmel (the name of a Carmelite monastery for women) in Lisieux, France, when she was 15 years old. She received the name “Thérèse of the Child Jesus;” she herself would later request that “and of the Holy Face” be added to her religious name.
+ After making her vows three years later, she served her community as sacristan and novice-mistress.
+ The first sign of the tuberculosis that would claim her life appeared in 1894.
+ Taking as her personal motto “Love is repaid by love alone” (Saint John of the Cross), Thérèse found the courage to endure hours and days of spiritual darkness that few saints have suffered. Love for the Father, expressed in childlike simplicity and trust—combined with a deep understanding of the mystery of the Cross—formed the basis of her “Little Way.”
+ Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus and of the Holy Face died in her monastery on September 30, 1897, at the age of 24. She was canonized in 1925 and declared a Doctor of the Church in 1997.
+ The parents of Saint Thérèse, Louis and Zelie Martin, were canonized in 2015. She is honored (with Saint Francis Xavier) as the patron saint of foreign missions.
For reflection:
“I saw and realized that love sets off the bounds of all vocations, that love is everything, that this same love embraces every time and every place. In one word, that love is everlasting ... O Jesus, my love, at last I have found my calling: my call is love,” she writes. “In the heart of the Church, my mother, I will be love, and thus I will be all things, as my desire finds its direction.”—Saint Thérèse of Lisieux
Spiritual bonus:
On October 1 we also remember the deacon and hymnwriter Saint Romanus “the Melodist.” Many of his liturgical hymns are still used in the Eastern Church, most especially his great “Akathist Hymn” in honor of the Mother of God. Saint Romanos died in 556 and is honored as a patron of church singers.
Prayer
O God, who open your Kingdom
to those who are humble and to little ones,
lead us to follow trustingly in the little way of Saint Thérèse,
so that through her intercession
we may see your eternal glory revealed.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever. Amen.
(from The Roman Missal)
Saint profiles prepared by Fr. Silas Henderson, S.D.S.
Meditation of the Day
Ask the Master of the Harvest
One day when I was thinking of what I could do to save souls, a word of the Gospel gave me a real light ... "When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, 'The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.'” (Matthew 9:36-38)
Ah! it is because Jesus has so incomprehensible a love for us that he wills that we have a share with him in the salvation of souls ... The Creator of the universe awaits the prayer of a poor little soul to save other souls redeemed like it at the price of all his Blood. Jesus does not say to us: “Open your eyes, look at the fields and go harvest them.” Our mission is still more sublime. These are the words of our Jesus: “See how in my heaven there are empty places; it is up to you to fill them, you are my Moses praying on the mountain, ask me for workers and I shall send them, I await only a prayer, a sigh from your heart!”
Prayers of the day
Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus
Prayer for the Morning
How great is our God through all the earth!
Glory to the Father, and to the Son,
and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning,
is now, and will be for ever. Amen. Alleluia!
HymnMeter: LM
This hymn can be sung to the tune used for
The Glory of These Forty Days
Let all who lovingly avow
Those gifts the Christ Child came to share
Acclaim Thérèse’s virtues now
And praise her name in song and prayer.
Inspired by Jesus to convey
Amazing secrets of his grace,
She taught the world the simple way
Of childhood that the Gospels trace.
More like an angel than a child
She gathered virtue’s flowers at will
By whose sweet scent was God beguiled,
Whose tender fragrance charms us still.
Yet joy itself could not portray
The surge of her immense desire
Nor cloister walls have strength to stay
A love that swept the world like fire.
Psalm 82-7, 10
How great is your name, O Lord our God,
through all the earth!
Your majesty is praised above the heavens;
on the lips of children and of babes
you have found praise to foil your enemy,
to silence the foe and the rebel.
When I see the heavens, the work of your hands,
the moon and the stars which you arranged,
what is man that you should keep him in mind,
mortal man that you care for him?
Yet you have made him little less than a god;
with glory and honor you crowned him,
gave him power over the works of your hand,
put all things under his feet.
How great is your name, O Lord our God,
through all the earth!
Glory to the Father….
Word of GodIsaiah 49:15, 26b
Can a mother forget her infant,/ be without tenderness for the child of her womb?/ Even should she forget,/ I will never forget you.
All mankind shall know that I, the Lord, am your savior, your redeemer, the mighty one of Jacob.
So you are no longer a slave but a child,
and if a child then also an heir, through God.
Canticle of Zechariah(Text, back cover B)
Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel;
he has come to his people and set them free.
He has raised up for us a mighty savior,
born of the house of his servant David.
Through his holy prophets he promised of old
that he would save us from our enemies,
from the hands of all who hate us.
He promised to show mercy to our fathers
and to remember his holy covenant.
This was the oath he swore to our father Abraham:
to set us free from the hands of our enemies,
free to worship him without fear,
holy and righteous in his sight
all the days of our life.
You, my child, shall be called the prophet
of the Most High;
for you will go before the Lord to prepare his way,
to give his people knowledge of salvation
by the forgiveness of their sins.
In the tender compassion of our God
the dawn from on high shall break upon us,
to shine on those who dwell in darkness
and the shadow of death,
and to guide our feet into the way of peace.
Glory to the Father…
Intercessions
Saint Thérèse promised to spend her heaven doing good on earth. Through her intercession, let us pray for the good of all in need:
Father, hear your children’s prayer.
O Wisdom of God, through you all things were made:
– protect from exploitation all children, created in your image.
O Wisdom of God, you are the light by which we see:
– enlighten the hearts of those deceived by false images of maturity.
O Wisdom of God, you are the truth by which we live:
– grant courage to all missionaries who proclaim your truth.
O Wisdom of God, you speak through all the wise:
– open the ears of your people to the wisdom of Saint Thérèse for our day.
Personal intentions
Our Father….
God our Father, you inspired in Saint Thérèse the wisdom that overturns illusions by the Gospel of the cross. Through her intercession, lead all your children to follow the way of Christ your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Prayer for the Evening
Let us hope in the Lord now and for evermore!
Glory to the Father, and to the Son,
and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning,
is now, and will be for ever. Amen. Alleluia!
HymnMeter: 11 11 11 5
This hymn can be sung to the tune used for
Father, We Praise Thee (Now the Night Is Over)
From clear high mansions of the shining palace
Where you enjoy the light of God’s dear presence,
And plead our causes, mindful of your promise
Show’r down your roses.
Roses of faith to shed its light supernal,
Roses of hope when obstacles surround us,
And for our strengthening in daily living
Roses of pure love.
Through your own childlike confidence and candor
Send us the rose of quietly discerning
Love of a Father, shining in each happening
Both sweet and bitter.
Psalm 131
OLord, my heart is not proud
nor haughty my eyes.
I have not gone after things too great
nor marvels beyond me.
Truly I have set my soul
in silence and peace.
As a child has rest in its mother’s arms,
even so my soul.
O Israel, hope in the Lord
both now and for ever.
Glory to the Father….
Word of GodRomans 12:3, 16
For by the grace given to me I tell everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than one ought to think, but to think soberly, each according to the measure of faith that God has apportioned.
By this shall all know that you are my disciples,
says the Lord.
Canticle of Mary(Text, back cover A)
My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord,
my spirit rejoices in God my Savior
for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant.
From this day all generations will call me blessed:
the Almighty has done great things for me,
and holy is his Name.
He has mercy on those who fear him
in every generation.
He has shown the strength of his arm,
he has scattered the proud in their conceit.
He has cast down the mighty from their thrones,
and has lifted up the lowly.
He has filled the hungry with good things,
and the rich he has sent away empty.
He has come to the help of his servant Israel
for he has remembered his promise of mercy,
the promise he made to our fathers,
to Abraham and his children for ever.
Glory to the Father…
Intercessions
O Lord, you have guided your Church through the mind and heart of your holy Doctor Saint Thérèse. Through her intercession, we pray:
Make known your ways; teach me your paths.
O Lord, you filled Saint Thérèse with the spirit of wisdom and understanding:
– pour out your gift of wisdom on those you have called to spiritual leadership.
O Lord, you drew Saint Thérèse to ponder your hidden mysteries in her heart:
– deepen in all your people the desire to pray.
O Lord, you inspired Saint Thérèse to teach the wisdom she had learned through prayer and suffering:
– teach us by her writings and example.
O Lord, you brought Saint Thérèse at last to contemplate you in your glory at the right hand of the Father:
– gather into your presence all our dead.
Personal intentions
Our Father….
Marian Antiphon(page 10 or 11)
You are the glory of Jerusalem, you the joy of Israel;
Salve, Regina, mater misericordiae;
vita, dulcedo, et spes nostra, salve.
Ad te clamamus, exsules filii Evae.
Ad te suspiramus, gementes et flentes
in hac lacrimarum valle.
Eia ergo, advocata nostra,
illos tuos misericordes oculos
ad nos converte.
Et Iesum, benedictum fructum ventris tui,
nobis post hoc exsilium ostende.
O clemens, O pia, O dulcis Virgo Maria.
Hail, holy Queen, mother of mercy,
our life, our sweetness, and our hope.
To you do we cry,
poor banished children of Eve.
To you do we send up our sighs,
mourning and weeping in this valley of tears.
Turn then, O most gracious advocate,
your eyes of mercy toward us,
and after this our exile
show unto us the blessed fruit of your womb, Jesus.
O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary.
Pray for us, O holy Mother of God,
That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.
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