Saint Therese of Lisieux: A Gateway

October 13, 2009:  In honor of the visit of the relics of St. Therese to Great Britain and of "Little Way Week" (October 18-24 in Great Britain), I am posting an audio in two parts of my conference "A Map of St. Therese's Way of Confidence and Love" for personal use until October 24, 2009.  The conference is copyright 2009 by Maureen O'Riordan and all rights are reserved; please do not download it or reproduce it, but feel free to listen to it here.  I invite visitors from around the world to join in solidarity with the Church in Great Britain in observing "Little Way Week" by listening to this reflection on Therese's spirituality and practicing the "way of confidence and love" as you understand it.

In a few hours the relics of St. Therese will visit the Wormwood Scrubs prison in London.  See the BBC News story.  About three hundred of the prisoners are Catholic.  After Mass in the prison's chapel, the prisoners will have the opportunity to venerate the relics before returning to their cells. 

This visit reminds me of Therese's reported words:  "If I had not been accepted into Carmel, I would have entered a Refuge and lived out my life there among the poor penitents, telling them of God's mercy.  My happiness would have been to pass for one of them." 

She ended her memoir with these words:  "Even if I had on my conscience all the crimes one could commit, I would go, my heart broken with sorrow, and throw myself into Jesus' arms.  I know how much He loves the prodigal child who returns to Him.  It is not because God, in His anticipating mercy, has preserved my soul from mortal sin that I go to Him with confidence and love . . . "

Therese lived in full solidarity with the poorest and most unfortunate of God's children.  Please join in praying that, through St. Therese, God will accomplish the spiritual renewal of the whole community of Wormwood Scrubs, and that an era of nonviolence will begin there now. 

On the feast of St. Therese I rejoice with the people of Great Britain in all the graces they are receiving during the "reverse pilgrimage" of the relics of St. Therese.  May I ask two feast-day favors of my readers?

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."

Book of the Day:  This book, prepared by the British Province of Carmelites to celebrate the first visit of the relics of St. Therese to Great Britain, sets forth how St. Therese read the gospel and the difference it made in her life, and can make in ours. 

The relics of St. Therese arrived in England on September 16.  Thousands have venerated them at Portsmouth, Plymouth, Taunton, Birmingham, Cardiff, Bristol, Liverpool, Manchester, and Salford.  On Monday, September 28, they will arrive in Lancaster.  Click for many news stories about the reception of the relics and for the blog set up by the bishops so you can follow the relics from one church to the next.  Please join all the friends of St. Therese in praying that God will bless the people of Great Britain with healing and peace and will plant the gospel in many hearts during this visit, fulfilling Therese's desire "to love Jesus and to make Him loved."