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St. Thérèse: Little Flower, Little Warrior
ncregister.com
There is an amazing photograph of St. Thérèse of Lisieux wearing armor, dressed as St. Joan of Arc. It was no more than a costume for a little drama in the convent, but it now stands as a portrait not only of Thérèse the Little Flower, but also of Thérèse the Little Warrior.
She might have been a little flower, but if so, she was a steel magnolia.
Too many read her Story of a Soul and come away only with the sweet sentimentality of mid-19th-century French spirituality. Despite the little flowers, the starry nights and the lisping tributes to her “heavenly Papa,” there is also a soul on fire, a chevalier of the Spirit and a knight of Christ the King. With the heart of a gladiator, Thérèse says on her cruel deathbed, “When I think I’m dying in bed, I would want to die in an arena!”
She longs to be a Christian soldier, marching on to war. She wrote that she wanted to “die in a battlefield, arms in hand. … I would not fear going to war. With what joy, for example, at the time of the Crusades, I would have gone to combat heretics. Yes! I would not have been afraid to be shot; I would not have feared the fire!”
She was so brave and resolute that those who knew her said, “Under a suave and gracious aspect, [she] revealed at every instant, in her actions, a strong character and a manly soul.” Pope Pius XI said she was “a manly soul.” Her battle was for holiness and against Satan. With great vigor she cried out, “Sanctity! It must be won at the point of a sword!”
Out of her love for Christ, Thérèse said, “In spite of my littleness, I would like to enlighten souls, as did the prophets and the doctors. I have the vocation of the apostles. I would like to travel over the whole earth to preach your Name and to plant your glorious cross on infidel soil. But … one mission alone would not be sufficient for me; I would want to preach the Gospel on all the five continents simultaneously and even to the most remote isles.”
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