Pope Francis offered a beautiful new reflection on St. Thérèse of Lisieux in a letter which was published on Oct. 15. The letter, an apostolic exhortation, explores some of the mighty themes of the spirituality of St. Thérèse, highlighting above all the Carmelite nun’s confidence in the merciful love of God.
Pope Francis describes St. Thérèse’s life, both in her family and in Carmel as “completely ordinary.” He explains that “the extraordinary burst of light and love” for which she is widely revered came to be known after her death, through her writings and the many graces obtained through her intercession.
The title of the letter, C’est la confiance, is taken from a quote of St. Thérèse (in French) which opens the document: “It is confidence and nothing but confidence that must lead us to Love.”
C’est la confiance was written as the Church celebrates 150 years since the birth of St. Thérèse and 100 years since her beatification. But in the letter Pope Francis explains that he chose Oct. 15 to release it because it is the feast day of another great Teresa, St. Teresa of Avila. Pope Francis calls Thérèse of Lisieux’s spirituality “the mature fruit of the reform of the Carmel.”
Here are five great quotes from the new letter worth thinking about.
1. St. Thérèse’s missionary spirit
We might consider it supremely ironic that the greatest patron of missionaries in the modern age was a cloistered contemplative nun. And yet, her desire was so great that every soul should come to know and love Jesus, that her prayers have inspired much zealous apostolic work for the Church. After all, she entered Carmel “to love Jesus and to make him loved.” Pope Francis writes:
“She shared the merciful love of the Father for his sinful son and the love of the Good Shepherd for the sheep who were lost, astray and wounded. For this reason, Therese is the Patroness of the missions and a model of evangelization.” (§9)
2. The ‘little way’
St. Thérèse’s full religious name — St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face — signals something of the genius of her spirituality. In seeking to be like one of the “little ones” who will inherit the kingdom, St. Thérèse offers a way of renunciation any Christian can follow. The pope teaches:
“This is the ‘sweet way of love’ that Jesus sets before the little and the poor, before everyone. It is the way of true happiness. In place of a Pelagian notion of holiness, individualistic and elitist, more ascetic than mystical, that primarily emphasizes human effort, Thérèse always stresses the primacy of God’s work, his gift of grace.” (§17)
3. Her gaze rests on Christ
St. Thérèse realized that God’s agency — not ours — is primary. Her writing underscores this key conviction, even in subtle ways, like when she discusses the Eucharist. The Holy Father says:
“This insistence of Thérèse on God’s initiative leads her, when speaking of the Eucharist, to put first not her desire to receive Jesus in Holy Communion, but rather the desire of Jesus to unite himself to us and to dwell in our hearts. In her Act of Oblation to Merciful Love, saddened by her inability to receive communion each day, she tells Jesus: ‘Remain in me as in a tabernacle.’ Her gaze remained fixed not on herself and her own needs, but on Christ, who loves, seeks, desires and dwells within.” (§22)
4. Light in the darkness
St. Thérèse famously suffered a great struggle with faith, through which she found herself in a special relationship with those who did not have faith. Through her own trials, she was a “sister” to those who doubted and did not believe. Pope Francis writes:
“The last years of the nineteenth century were the ‘golden age’ of modern atheism as a philosophical and ideological system. When she wrote that Jesus allowed her soul ‘to be invaded by the thickest darkness,’ she was evoking the darkness of atheism and the rejection of the Christian faith. In union with Jesus, who took upon himself all the darkness of the sin of the world when he willed to drink from the cup of the Passion, Thérèse came to appreciate its underlying sense of despair and sheer emptiness.” (§25)
5. Discovery of the heart of the Church
St. Thérèse found her place in the Church by meditation on St. Paul’s understanding of the Church as the body in which the members are different parts with different gifts (in 1 Cor 12-13). She came to understand her vocation was to love: “my vocation, at last I have found it … my vocation is Love!” Pope Francis emphasizes that this is a powerful way to understand the Church:
“It preserves us from being scandalized by the limitations and weaknesses of the ecclesiastical institution with its shadows and sins, and enables us to enter into the Church’s ‘heart burning with love,’ which burst into flame at Pentecost thanks to the gift of the Holy Spirit. It is that heart whose fire is rekindled with each of our acts of charity. ‘I shall be love.’ This was the radical option of Thérèse, her definitive synthesis and her deepest spiritual identity.” (§41)
Read the full letter here.
