← [[f2-c-00-syllabus|About the Syllabus]] | [[formation-II-c-handbook-toc|Table of Contents]] | [[f2-c-02|Separation and Transition]] → # The Mercies of the Lord > [!NOTE] Reading > **Required Reading:** Prologue, pg. 1-9; Chronology, pg. 439-450; Story of a Soul, Chapters I and II (pg. 34-45 and 67-79 are not required) **Additional Reading:** Introduction pg. viii-xxiii; Story of a Soul interpretive notes pg. 34-45 and 67-79. Homily of Pope Pius XI at the Canonization of St. Thérèse on May 17, 1925 ([[#Appendix B Session 1, Homily at the Canonization of Saint Thérèse of Lisieux, by Pope Pius Xi, 17 May 1925|Appendix B]]); Bull of Canonization ([[#Appendix C Session 1, Bull of Canonization of St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face|Appendix C]]) # Explanatory Note Thérèse does not give a systematic presentation on prayer. Rather, she teaches by telling stories of her life. In sharing her life, she is writing a personal treatise on grace and the human heart’s longing for God. Hence, she moves chronologically from childhood to young womanhood, reflecting on the merciful love that shaped her ongoing years. In Story of a Soul, Thérèse identifies three separate periods of her life prior to her entrance to Carmel. **The first period** extends from the dawn of her reason until her mother’s passing when Thérèse was four (see pg. 17). **The second period of her life** — which she describes as the most painful of the three — covers separation from her sisters, her timid and sensitive personality, and her illness and eventual cure. **The third period of her life** begins with her “Christmas conversion” just after midnight Mass 1886. She describes this period as the “most beautiful and most filled with graces from heaven” (pg. 153). Thérèse chooses to look at her life through the lens of what God has done for her rather than what she has done or failed to do: “I am going to write about my thoughts on the graces God deigned to grant me” (pg. 15). Throughout Story of a Soul, Thérèse muses upon her life from the vantage point of how God has graced it. Hence, she chooses to do only one thing: “I shall begin to sing what I must sing eternally: The mercies of the Lord” (pg. 13). “The truth contained in Thérèse’s words is not that God sends more blessings when we are grateful but rather that we become more aware of the abundant blessings that we have” (pg. 37). (emphasis added) # Essential Points to Discuss • Thérèse’s concept of God is a God of Merciful Love, of Fatherly kindness. The French Catholic practice of offering oneself as a “victim soul” to God’s justice for the sake of holding back His wrath from sinners was very familiar to Thérèse. In the opening pages of Story of a Soul, God is symbolized as the sun who gazes down lovingly upon His people: “Just as the sun shines simultaneously on the tall cedars and on each little flower as though it were alone on the earth, so our Lord is occupied particularly with each soul as though there were no others like it” (pg. 15). • “To me the Lord has always been ‘merciful and good, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love’” (Ps. 102:8). Thérèse knows that nothing in herself is capable of attracting the divine glances, and His mercy alone brings about everything that is good in her (see pg. 16). • “Perfection consists in doing His will, in being what He wills us to be” (pg. 15). This concept of perfection is in no way related to “perfectionism” which is the state of being driven to achieve a standard of perfection for the sake of others’ approval or a fear of failure. “Perfectionism” is rooted in the ego, whereas the perfection God call souls to is rooted in love of Him and a desire to conform only to what pleases Him (see pg. 40-41). As Our Holy Father says, in his life Jesus had no other gratification, nor desired any other, than the fulfillment of his Father’s will, which he called his meat and food (Jn. 4:34) (Ascent, I, 13:4). One can come to peace when one accepts the unique person that God has called one to be. Thérèse conveys this truth in her analogy of the garden. “I understood how all the flowers He has created are beautiful, how the splendor of the rose and the whiteness of the Lily do not take away from the perfume of the little violet or the simplicity of the daisy. I understood that if all flowers wanted to be roses, nature would lose her springtime beauty. And the fields would no longer be decked out with little wildflowers. And so it is in the world of souls, Jesus’ garden. He wills to create great souls comparable to Lilies and roses, but he has created smaller ones and these must be content to be daisies or violets destined to give joy to God’s glances when He looks down at his feet. Perfection consists in doing His will, in being what He wills us to be” (pg. 14-15). Of the several incidents from her childhood that Thérèse recounts in chapter 1, the most significant is the time Thérèse took the whole basket that her elder sister Leonie put before her and Celine. “This little incident of my childhood is a summary of my whole life; later on when perfection was set before me, I understood that to become a saint one had to suffer much, seek out always the most perfect thing to do, and forget self. I understood, too, there were many degrees of perfection and each soul was free to respond to the advances of Our Lord, to do little or much for Him, in a word, to choose among the sacrifices He was asking. Then, as in the days of my childhood, I cried out: My God ‘I choose all!’ I don’t want to be a saint by halves. I am not afraid to suffer for You. I fear only one thing: to keep my own will; so take it, for ‘I choose all’ that you will” (pg. 30). Choose! Thérèse emphasizes this word several times in the above passage because choosing is a central reality of life. Describing the first period of her life: “Oh, everything truly smiled upon me on this earth: I found flowers under each of my steps and my happy disposition contributed much to making life pleasant, but a new period was about to commence for my soul. I had to pass through the crucible of trial and to suffer from my childhood in order to be offered earlier to Jesus. Just as the flowers of spring begin to grow under the snow and to expand in the first rays of the sun, so the little flower whose memories I am writing had to pass through the winter of trial” (pg. 33). Describing the second period of her life: “I must admit, Mother [Pauline], my happy disposition completely changed after Mama’s death. I, once so full of life, became timid and retiring, sensitive to an excessive degree. One look was enough to reduce me to tears, and the only way I was content was to be left alone completely. I could not bear the company of strangers and found my joy only within the intimacy of the family” (pg. 49). **Passages for meditation and points for personal reflection:** Thérèse puts John of the Cross’ teachings on meditation into practice: The following passage from the Ascent is closely related to Thérèse’s meditations below: In order to advance, spiritual persons should divest themselves from sensory satisfaction — for the pure spirit is bound to none of these objects but turns only to interior recollection and mental communion with God. Although they derive profit from images and oratories, this is very transitory, for their spirit is immediately elevated to God in forgetfulness of all sensory objects. (see Ascent III, 39:1) “They were beautiful days for me, those days when my ‘dear king’ [her father] took me fishing with him. I was very fond of my countryside, flowers, birds, etc. Sometimes I would try to fish with my little line, but I preferred to go alone and sit down on the grass bedecked with flowers, and then my thoughts became very profound indeed! Without knowing what it was to meditate, my soul was absorbed in real prayer. I listened to distant sounds, the murmuring of the wind, etc. At times, the indistinct notes of some military music reached me where I was, filling my heart with a sweet melancholy. Earth then seemed to be a place of exile and I could dream only of heaven” (pg. 52). (emphasis added) “When we were on the way home, I would gaze upon stars that were twinkling ever so peacefully in the skies and the sight carried me away. There was especially one cluster of golden pearls that attracted my attention and gave me great joy because they were in the form of a -T-. I pointed them out to Papa and told him my name was written in heaven. Then desiring to look no longer upon this dull earth, I asked him to guide my steps; and not looking where I placed my feet, I threw back my head, giving myself over completely to contemplation of the star-studded firmament!” (pg. 59). (emphasis added) “I was six or seven years old when Papa brought us to Trouville. Never will I forget the impression the sea made upon me; I couldn’t take my eyes off it since its majesty, the roaring of its waves, everything spoke to my soul of God’s grandeur and power…When the sun seems to bathe itself in the immensity of the waves, leaving a luminous trail behind… I contemplated this luminous trail for a long time. It was to me the image of God’s grace shedding its light across the path the little white-sailed vessel had to travel. … I made a resolution never to wander far away from the glance of Jesus in order to travel peacefully toward the eternal shore!” (pg. 65-66). (emphasis added) # Study Questions — for Use While Reading *From Elizabeth Korves, Apr 13, 2026 — recommended by the Formation Handbook (pg. 15–16) for fruitful exchange of ideas.* **Fr. Donald Kinney:** 1. What did I read that has something for me to learn? 2. What, if anything, is the Holy Spirit asking me to share? 3. What have I read that I can incorporate into my daily Carmelite life? **Fr. Bonaventure Sauer:** 1. What is the author trying to get across? 2. How does it apply to the Seculars? 3. What did I find especially helpful? --- # ** Private Reflection ** **private reflection**: Is there some unrealistic or unhealthy goal that you are pursuing that is depriving you of happiness and peace? (pg. 42) **private reflection:** Like Thérèse, every day we are confronted with choices either to love or not to love; we too are “free to respond to the advances of the Lord, to do little or much for Him.” Like Thérèse, the choices that are set before us in daily life summarize who we are, for each of us is a composite of the choices that we make. What made Thérèse a saint was that she chose to love the people whom God placed upon her path, those to whom she was attracted and those who repelled her. Who are the people in your life who are difficult to love? In what ways can you choose to love these people whom God has entrusted to your care? (pg. 43). **private reflection:** Like all of us, Thérèse was afraid of leaving the safe harbor of her life, but as we will see, she chose to do God’s will in spite of her fears [and losses]. When you look back upon your life, have you ever stood in amazement that you survived a devastating loss? Have you ever experienced God’s love in the midst of your deepest darkness? (pg. 77). 13 - --- **Source:** Secular Order of Discalced Carmelites, *Formation II Year C: Story of a Soul (The Autobiography of St. Thérèse of Lisieux)* (US National Formation Program, 2024).