Betrothed to Christ
Saint Thérèse of Lisieux
July 1, 1997
St. Therese of Lisieux
Virginity has been described, in the words of St. Methodius (826-885), as the "most brilliant and glorious star of all Christ's charisms." This charism is not without its own unique passion, as The Autobiography of St. Therese of Lisieux reveals. Writing at the end of the nineteenth century, Therese, a cloistered Carmelite nun who was recently declared a Doctor of the Church by John Paul II, reflects on her own role in the Mystical Body of Christ:
To be betrothed to you, Jesus, to be a Carmelite, to become, through my union with you, a mother of souls—surely that ought to be enough for anybody? But, somehow, not for me; those privileges I've mentioned are the stuff of my vocation, but I seem to have so many other vocations as well! I feel as if I were called to be a fighter, a priest, an apostle, a doctor, a martyr; as if I could never satisfy the needs of my nature without performing, for your sake, every kind of heroic action at once. I feel as if I'd got the courage to be a Crusader, a Pontifical Zouave, dying on the battlefield in defense of the Church. …
Dear Jesus, how am I to reconcile these conflicting ambitions, how am I to give substance to the dreams of one insignificant soul? Insignificant as I am, I long to enlighten men's minds as the prophets and doctors did; I feel the call of an Apostle.
I'd like to travel all over the world, making your name known and planting your cross on heathen soil; only I shouldn't be content with one particular mission, I should want to be preaching the gospel on all five continents and in the most distant lands, all at once. . . .
But above all I long to shed my blood for you, my Saviour, to the last drop. Martyrdom was the dream of my youth, has been ...
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