The "New Centenary Edition" in eight volumes (Editions du Cerf, 1992), yielded a mass of documents that permit a refinement of our knowledge of the everyday life of St. Therese of Lisieux.  Nearly twenty years later, one has tried to write a biography of the Carmelite for a vast public, identifying much more closely the family, Carmelite, and ecclesial context of her life that permits us to understand the texts of the youngest doctor of the Church.  At the end of her "giant's course" [Manuscript A, 44v], we can see that the sanctity of Therese ignored the illusions of a "disembodied spirituality," but was rooted in "the truth of life [Ms A, 31 v°].

Monseigneur Guy Gaucher, Carmelite, is auxiliary bishop emeritus of Bayeux and Lisieux after having been bishop of Meaux.  First a specialist in Bernanos, he has consecrated his work to the figure and the writings of Saint Therese of the Child Jesus of the Holy Face.  Among his many , il a consacré son œuvre à la figure et aux écrits de sainte Thérèse de l'Enfant-Jésus.  Among his many literary works about St. Therese, he participated in the New Centenary Edition of the Works of Saint Therese.  [translated from the Web site of Editions du Cerf].

A meditation for the anniversary of his death from his niece, Marie Guerin, later Sister Marie of the Eucharist in the Carmel of Lisieux: 

In May 1895, when Marie returned to Chateau La Musse for the first time after her uncle's death, she wrote to her cousin, Louis's daughter Celine:  "I made my little pilgrimage as soon as I had alighted from the carriage.  I have been in my uncle's room, and there all the memories came back to me.  I saw it all again . . . I was overwhelmed with the impression that there, in that chamber, something so great had taken place; that there my uncle had seen God and had been so well received.  It seemed to me that I was also going to see something of Heaven, and my uncle has given me this thought, when thinking of the particular judgement:  "Judge not, and you will not be judged!"

On July 28, 1895, the vigil of the first anniversary of his death, Marie Guerin wrote again:  "I cannot pass by that room without being seized, in spite of myself, with a solemn, calm feeling that speaks to me of the other world and fills my soul.  That happens to me very often and without any preparation on my part.  I am "seized"--it is the correct word to use.  I do not now why but this anniversary, sad in itself, has not at all that effect upon me.  I feel so sure that my uncle entered Heaven that day, that I have rather a feeling of happiness when I think of his deliverance.  How happy he is now, but he has well deserved it . . . !  Tomorrow, I mean to ask many graces from him, and I am sure I shall obtain them on that day.  When one recalls, and has imprinted on one's mind his beautiful expression, calm and full of such happy peace, it is impossible not to be led to love God."  (Story of a Family, by Stephane-Joseph Piat, O.F.M.  New YorK: P. J. Kenedy & Sons, 1947, pp. 417-418).

St. Therese loved God very much in her humanity.  Pray that God sends a rain of graces to South Africa as it receives what remains of that humanity. 

First, on October 12 the reliquary will visit the Wormwood Scrubs prison in London.  The Catholic Herald  reports that inspectors recently found that the prison had deteriorated and that gang activity had increased.  Will you please join in prayer with and for the prisoners and ask God to permit the visit of the reliquary of St. Therese to open a new era of nonviolence for everyone associated with the prison?  I invite you  all to join in "days of solidarity" between Therese's feast and October 12, and to pray fervently before and during the visit that it will be a turning point in the spiritual history of the prison.

Second, I ask your prayers for a personal intention: the healing of my sister, who is seriously ill. 

May we celebrate St. Therese not only by admiring her but also by casting ourselves, as she did, into "the abysses of love and mercy of the Heart of Jesus."