As a weathered wooden writing desk tours the U.S., its drawers stained
black with century-old ink, its presence helps bring the faithful closer
to the saint who used it to pen “Story of a Soul” – Thérèse of
Lisieux.
The relics, which also include a wooden pen and a small glass ink well,
are a “very human and very intimate remembrance of the Little Flower,”
said Father Andrew Small, OMI, director of the Pontifical Mission
Societies in the United States.
The tour of the writing instruments that the saint used in the last
years of her life have served both as a means of teaching the faithful
about St. Thérèse and as a way for the faithful to share their stories
of the impact she has made in their lives.
People “just identify with her,” Fr. Small told CNA Oct. 3, adding that
many coming to see the relics spoke about the comfort and friendship St.
Thérèse provides “when people are most distraught.”
“This is a way we get closer to Thérèse, whom we know is close to God,” the priest said of the artifacts.
St. Thérèse of Lisieux, whom Pope Pius X in the early 20th century
called “the greatest saint of modern times,” lived a quiet life,
speaking in her spiritual autobiography of her desire “to be unknown.”
She died of tuberculosis at the age of 24 on Sept. 30, 1897 in the
Carmelite convent of Lisieux, France, which she had never left after
entering at the age of 15.
However, through her writings to missionaries and the distribution of
her spiritual autobiography “Story of a Soul,” St. Thérèse’s “Little
Way” of doing small things with great love has been an inspiration to
Catholics around the world and made her the patron saint of
missionaries.
The pen, ink well and lap desk that St. Thérèse used for the last three
years of her life to write letters, prayers, poems, and her memoirs,
including parts of her spiritual autobiography, were last used Sept. 8,
1897.
They are currently on loan to the Pontifical Mission Societies in the
United States, visiting over 20 dioceses in the U.S. and leaving the
Carmelite convent in France for the first time since the convent was
founded. They will next be in St. Louis, Mo., Oct. 5-6.
St. Thérèse “knew that the way to purify herself and her faith was
uniting herself with Christ in every moment of every day,” Fr. Small
explained.
“Her ‘Little Way’ is to see every second of every minute of every hour
as a moment when we can encounter Christ, most especially during the
times of triumph and suffering and seeming despair,” he continued.
“It’s not easy to see the world this way – it’s the narrow gate that we
hear about in the Gospel, or the Little Way that we read about in the
Story of a Soul.”
This approach has drawn many close to the saint, Fr. Small said, adding
that while touring the country with the relics, he has heard countless
stories of the example St. Thérèse has shown people in some of the most
difficult times of their lives, that “nothing could separate us from the
love of Christ.”
“It’s almost overwhelming how Thérèse is accredited with accompanying
people in the most terrible and awful moments of their lives.”
The artifacts have “very much personalized her in everyday life,”
serving as a link to her life, Fr. Small continued, adding that they are
“this incredible way of uniting people to the cell where she lived and
died.”
“They feel already so very close with Thérèse, and this brings them even closer.”
“It’s very personal,” Fr. Small stated, and “it’s that proximity that makes people feel very loved.”
Fr. Small said that those who wish to leave intentions for St. Thérèse
are given cards with her shield on one side. They can write their
intentions on the cards, which are then placed next to the desk, and
will be placed on the saint’s grave when St. Thérèse’s artifacts return
to Lisieux.
Despite the saint’s “too-good-to-be-true” story, and her focus on love,
meekness and childlike dependence upon God, Thérèse’s life and approach
to spirituality can be an inspiration in difficult times, especially for
youth of today’s world, Fr. Small explained.
“She had no sense, even in the darkness of her later years, that she was
alone,” he stated, and her life demonstrated that “faith is not a
fruitless or useless human exercise.”
“There’s nothing unreal or surreal about the Story of a Soul: it’s the story of every soul.”