In this episode, Walter and Amy reflect on St. Thérèse’s great faith and ardor for souls as she prepared to enter cloistered life at Carmel. What was it about Thérèse’s faith that allowed her to ask boldly for signs of God’s favor and receive them with such confidence? Whether praying for an unrepentant murderer or tending to the sick and dying, St. Thérèse shows us how to deal with unresolved tensions and illusions of life with unfailing strength and grace.
Reflective Questions
Have you ever prayed for a sign from God and received it? What meaning did it have for you?
Thérèse had no illusions about life in the convent, but what kind of illusions might we have about our lives?
Reading
This episode: Heather King’s Shirt of Flame, Chapters 5 and 6
Next episode: Heather King’s Shirt of Flame, Chapters 7 and 8
Prayer
Lord, relieve me of my illusions: that love is easy, that the spiritual path isn’t strewn with sharp rocks. Help me to see that maybe my anger is at myself: anger at a lifetime of doing things I think are going to make other people happy. Help me instead to figure out the things that make me happy, and to do them.
True freedom—from what people think, from failure, from the fear that I’m unworthy or incapable of love—is a long way off. So I will just continue to offer up my nothingness, along with St. Thérèse, and to seek your will.1
Resources
Discover Domrémy-la-Pucelle, St. Joan of Arc’s birthplace
Heather King’s Shirt of Flame: A Year with St. Thérèse of Lisieux
Hosts: Walter Emerson and Amy Chase
Contact: podcast@heroic-hearts.com
Follow us on Instagram! heroic2hearts
King, Heather. Shirt of Flame: A Year with St. Thérèse of Lisieux. Brewster, MA: Paraclete Press, 2011.
Seeking Signs, Shedding Illusions: St. Thérèse Enters the Convent