Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
by Gianni Valente
Rome (Fides News Agency) - "It is confidence and nothing but confidence that must lead us to Love." The phrase taken from a letter of Saint Teresa of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face, quoted in the original French language, opens Pope Francis' new Apostolic Exhortation dedicated to the Saint of Lisieux. With the masterful new text, the Bishop of Rome re-proposes to the Church and the world the spiritual treasure of a saint dear to his heart, on the 150th anniversary of her birth (Teresa was born in Alençon on Jan. 2, 1873). The commemorative occasion also gives the Pope an opportunity to highlight the relevance of the Carmelite saint for the Church's apostolic work in the present. The entire Apostolic Exhortation recalls the "missionary soul" of Teresa, who was proclaimed Co-Patroness of the Missions after living her entire life as a religious within the walls of a monastery. The words and events of the Saint brought up again by the Pope serve to evoke her passion to proclaim Christ's salvation to all.
The attractiveness of Jesus
Teresa, Pope Francis recalls, "had also written these words in her cell: 'Jesus is my only love'" (§8). And "As with every authentic encounter with Christ, this experience of faith summoned her to mission" (§9). She herself wrote that "she had entered Carmel to save souls," and "she was able to define her mission with these words: “I shall desire in heaven the same thing as I do now on earth: to love Jesus and to make him loved" (§9).
Pope Francis writes that the last pages of Story of a Soul are a "missionary testament." In those pages, reflecting on a verse from the Song of Songs, Teresa recognizes that one can profess the name of Christ and draw other hearts to Christ not by efforts of mobilization and discourses of human wisdom, but only if one is drawn to Christ himself. This is why - as Benedict XVI said - faith is communicated by attraction, not by pressure or proselytism. For this reason - as Pope Francis repeats - the protagonist of mission is the Holy Spirit. Teresa writes, in the passage quoted by the Pope, "This simple statement, 'Draw me,' suffices. I understand, Lord, that when a soul allows herself to be captivated by the odour of your ointments, she cannot run alone; all the souls whom she loves follow in her train; this is done without constraint, without effort, it is a natural consequence of her attraction for you (§10).
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The beloved ones and the "Little Way"
The papal Exhortation emphasizes the missionary significance of Teresa's "Little Way," the experience at the heart of the spiritual journey that led to her being proclaimed a Doctor of the Church by John Paul II "I can, then, in spite of my littleness, aspire to holiness. It is impossible for me to grow up, and so I must bear with myself such as I am, with all my imperfections. But I want to seek out a means of going to heaven by a little way, a way that is very straight, very short, and totally new" (§15).Teresa's favorite "little Way," Pope Francis points out, "Everyone can follow this way, whatever their age or state in life. It is the way that the heavenly Father reveals to the little ones" (§14). With her Little Way, Teresa recognizes and reaffirms that the path of salvation announced by the apostolic work of the Church is not reserved for the "competent" in ecclesiastical matters and the bold climbers of spiritual peaks. In it, the privileged are the little ones and the humble, according to Christ's predilection. Teresa "prefers to emphasize the primacy of divine action and to invite full confidence by looking at Christ's love given to us to the end." And her intuition moves in the wake of the Church's great Tradition, "since we can have no certainty by looking at ourselves, nor can we be certain of possessing merits of our own," Pope Francis emphasizes, making valuable references to the Decree on Justification of the Council of Trent and the Catechism of the Catholic Church (§19). This is why it is fitting to "that we should place heartfelt trust not in ourselves. " (§20). An attitude in which "those who feel frai, limited and sinful" can be favored. For "Jesus," Teresa writes, "does not demand great actions from us, but simply surrender and gratitude" (§21).
Modern apostasy and infinite mercy
Pope Francis notes, "The Christian adventure of Therese of Lisieux uniquely intersects with the loss of vital ties to the Gospel that connotes modernity in many areas of ancient Christian tradition. She in fact "lived at the end of the 19th century, that is, in the 'golden age' of modern atheism" (§25), understood as a structured and militant system of denial of the Christian faith. The response to this situation witnessed by the saint of the "Little Way" does not seek refuge in cultural strategies and battles of resistance or containment. She "feels herself a sister of the atheists and seated, like Jesus, at the table with sinners." Her witness of love for her brothers and sisters who reject the love of Christ takes the form of intercessory prayer, of supplication to the infinite mercy of the Father: "She intercedes for them, while continually renewing her act of faith, in constant loving communion with the Lord" (§26).
For Teresa," the Papal Exhortation recalls, "the one God is revealed above all else in his mercy, which is the key to understanding everything else that can be said of him: “To me he has granted his infinite mercy and through it I contemplate and adore the other divine perfections! All of these perfections appear to be resplendent with love,'" (§27). The Pope recalls the intensity with which Teresa prayed to save from eternal damnation of Henri Pranzini, sentenced to death for triple murder, who refused to repent in order to have at least sacramental absolution. She trusted that Jesus' infinite mercy at the final moment would forgive him "even if he did not confess and gave no sign of repentance." Teresa exulted when she learned that Pranzini, upon climbing the scaffold, had grabbed the crucifix the priest placed before him and had kissed it three times. After that event, Teresa confesses, "my desire to save souls grows each day!" (§28).
Mission, reflection of Charity
"Jesus, allow me to save very many souls; let no soul be lost today" (§29), Teresa writes. Her anxiety about the eternal damnation that threatens her contemporaries suggests that in her, and for the whole Church, the missionary impulse is all released not from the intent of wanting to affirm one's own just ideas, but from the very charity of Christ, "the love of Jesus for all humanity and for each individual, as if he or she were the only one in the world." (§33). "Teresa," writes Pope Francis, " practised charity in littleness, in the simplest things of daily life, and she did so in the company of the Virgin Mary, from whom she learned that “to love is to give everything. It’s to give oneself". While preachers in those days often celebrated Mary’s grandeur in ways that made her seem far removed from us, Therese showed, starting with the Gospel, that Mary is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven because she is the least, the one closest to Jesus in his abasement (§36). Teresa notes that while "tf the apocrypha are full of striking and amazing feats, the Gospels show us a lowly and poor life lived in the simplicity of faith. Jesus himself wants Mary to be the example of the soul that seeks him with a bare faith." Thus, Teresa recognizes that "Mary was the first to experience the 'little way' in pure faith and humility." (§38).
Pope Francis also quotes the well-known passage in which Teresa declares her uncertainties in identifying her mission with one or another of the individual charisms present in the Church, and the boldness of wanting to identify herself with charity, that is, with the very "heart" of the Church ("in the Heart of the Church, my Mother, I will be Love! "), after realizing that "only Love made the members of the Church act: understood it was love alone that made the Church’s members act, that if Love ever became extinct, apostles would not preach the Gospel and martyrs would not shed their blood. (§39). "Such a discovery of the heart of the Church," Pope Francis adds, "is a great source of light for us today, preserves us from being scandalized by the limitations and weaknesses of the ecclesiastical institution with its shadows and sins, and enables us to enter into the Church’s “heart burning with love which burst into flame at Pentecost thanks to the gift of the Holy Spirit. It is that heart whose fire is rekindled with each of our acts of charity." (§41).
"It will be like a shower of roses"
Teresa's apostolic passion found its most intense and moving manifestation in her stated desire to "continuing in heaven her mission of loving Jesus and making him loved". In one of her last letters she wrote, "I really count on not remaining inactive in heaven. My desire is to work still for the Church and for souls"." In the last days of her life, she repeated, "My heaven will be spent on earth until the end of the world. Yes, I want to spend my heaven in doing good on earth" and "It will be like a shower of roses" (§44).
The apostolic work of the Church," suggests St. Thérèse of Lisieux, "can find impetus and comfort not by virtue of mobilization programs and techniques to increase one's self-esteem, but by virtue of the communion of saints in Heaven. "This Exhortation on St. Theresa," writes Pope Francis, recalling the apostolic exhortation Evangelii gaudium, "the message has to concentrate on the essentials, on what is most beautiful, most grand, most appealing and at the same time most necessary. The message is simplified, while losing none of its depth and truth, and thus becomes all the more forceful and convincing."(§47). (Fides News Agency 15/10/2023)
