THE SERVANT OF GOD
THÉRÈSE OF THE CHILD JESUS
(The Little Flower of Jesus)
One evening as they were telling her something which had been said at recreation, touching the responsibility of those who have the charge of souls, Sœur Thérèse de l’Enfant Jésus spoke these beautiful words: “‘To him that is little, mercy is granted.’[64] It is possible to remain little, even in the most important offices; and is it not written that at the end the Lord will arise to save the meek and humble of the earth?[65] It says not to judge but to save.”
HIST. D’UNE AME, CH. XII
A novice questioning as to whether our Lord were not dissatisfied with her on account of her many miseries, Sœur Thérèse made answer:
“Set your mind at rest: He whom you have chosen as your Spouse possesses certainly every perfection that can be desired; but, if I may dare to say it, He has at the same time one great infirmity: He is blind! And there is a science which He knows not, that of calculation. These two points which would be most lamentable deficiencies in an earthly spouse, render ours infinitely lovable. Were He to consider our sins and reckon with them, do you not think that in the face of all these sins He would cast us back into nothingness? But no, His love for us makes Him absolutely blind!
“See for yourself: if the greatest sinner on earth, at the hour of death repent of his transgressions and expire in an act of love, immediately, without calculating on the one hand the numerous graces abused by this unhappy man, nor on the other, all his crimes, Jesus sees nothing, counts nothing, but the penitent’s last prayer, and delays not to receive him into the arms of His Mercy.
“But to render Him thus blind, to hinder Him from doing the least little bit of reckoning, we must know how to lay siege to His Heart; at that point He is defenceless....”
COUNSELS AND REMINISCENCES
To another, who bitterly repented of a fault just committed, Sœur Thérèse said: