Saint Therese of Lisieux: A Gateway

 Thanks to the generosity of the Archives of the Lisieux Carmel, we celebrate the feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel by posting this photograph of the statue of Our Lady of Mount Carmel which, in the time of  St. Therese, stood at the entrance to the "heated room" (the room used for recreation). 

July 16 was also the birthday of Therese's companion in the novitiate, Sister Martha of Jesus. 

Sister Martha of Jesus

 On July 16, 1894, for Sister Martha's twenty-ninth birthday, Therese wrote for her the poem "Song of Gratitude to Our Lady of Mount Carmel."  The third stanza:

Close to you, O my loving Mother!
I've found rest for my heart;
I want nothing more on earth.
Jesus alone is all my happiness.
If sometimes I feel sadness
And fear coming to assail me,
Always, supporting me in my weakness,
Mother, you deign to bless me.

(The Poetry of Saint Therese of Lisieux, tr. Donald Kinney, O.C.D.  Washington, D.C.: ICS Publications, 1996, p. 57).