# Theresian Anniversaires 2025 - Text 3 Abandonment Is the Delicious Fruit of Love (Poem 52) Abandonment is the delicious fruit of love (Poem 52) Suggestion for the community meeting: 1. Read the text together 2. One of those present, having prepared a contribution in advance, discusses the text using the commentary (and other aids, if necessary). 3. Community dialogue on the text. It would be helpful to have made individual readings and reflections on Therese’s text before the community meeting. ## Abandonment Is the Delicious Fruit of Love (Poem 52) Abandonment is the delicious fruit of love (Poem 52) | | | |---|---| |1. There is on this earth|7. Only Surrender Delivers Me| |A marvelous tree|In your arms, oh Jesus| |Its root, O mystery!|It is he who makes me live| |Is in Heaven....|Of the lives of the elect.| |2. Never under its shade|8. To you I surrender myself| |Can anything hurt,|O my Divine Spouse| |There without fear of the storm|And I am not ambitious| |We can rest.|But for your gaze so sweet.| |3. Of this Ineffable Tree|9. I want to smile at you| |Love is the name,|falling asleep on your heart| |And its delectable fruit|I want to say it again| |Is called Abandonment.|How I love you, Lord!| |4. This fruit from this life|10. Like the daisy| |gives me happiness|With the vermilion chalice| |My soul is happy|Me little flower| |By its divine smell.|I open myself to the sun.| |5. This fruit when I touch it|11. My Sweet Sun of Life| |Seems like a treasure to me|O my Loving King| |Bringing it to my mouth|It is your Divine Host| |It is even sweeter to me.|Little like me...| |6. It gives me in this world|12. Of his Celestial Flame| |An ocean of peace|The bright ray| |In this deep peace|Gives birth in my soul| |I rest forever...|To the perfect Surrender.| Abandonment is the delicious fruit of love J M. J T. 31st May 189713. All Creatures can leave me I will know without complaint Near you I can do without. 14. What If You Leave Me O my divine treasure Deprived of your caresses I want to smile still. 15. In Peace I Will await Sweet Jesus, your return And never suspend My songs of love. 16. No, nothing worries me Nothing can trouble me Higher than the lark My soul knows how to fly. 17. Above the Clouds The sky is always blue We touch the shores Where the Good Lord reigns. 18. I Await in Peace the glory of that heavenly abode Because I find in the Ciborium The sweet Fruit of Love! ## Introduction to the Text This poem dates from May 31st, 1897, and unlike the preceding one (Text 2 – Poem 17), was requested explicitly by Sister Ther-ese of Saint Augustine. It was she who had forced Therese’s hand to her first composition in 1893 (Poem 1: The Divine Dew or The Virginal Milk of Mary). As virtuous as she was rigid, this sister had made the vow of abandonment to God’s good pleasure. In the first three stanzas, we find the symbol of the tree, which is rare for Therese. For her, it never evokes the cross of Je-sus, as is usual in Christian literature. Here it is both the Paradise of Genesis and Song of Songs. In Stanzas 4, 5 and 6, the delectable fruit is the antithesis of that in Genesis. One can touch it without fear and eat of it, it will not bring the disorder of sin and death, but rather an ‘ocean of peace’ and ‘from this life gives me happiness’. Abandonment is the delicious fruit of love (Poem 52) 5Stanzas 7, 8 and 9 bring us into the abandonment of love. Abandonment here is delicious, its force and authenticity come from the fact that it is combined with passive abandonment and relinquishment. Stanzas 10, 11 and 12 show us the Eucharist as the source of abandonment. Stanzas 13, 14 and 15 connect abandonment and relinquishmeant, a theme begun a few stanzas earlier. Therese discreetly al-ludes to her spiritual trial. The poem concludes with stanzas 16, 17 and 18, with the vic-torious liberty of love. The same day, Mother Agnes cites stanza 17 and speaks of a ‘more powerful attraction to Heaven’ (Letter of correspondents of Therese, LC 182). ## For Community Discussion 1. What is the text saying? Understanding the content and initial meaning of Therese’s text. 2. What does the text say to us today? Discern the present-day relevance (social, ecclesial, spiritual...) of the text. 3. What does the text say to me/us? Consider the personal and com-munity relevance of the text. The purpose of this process is to allow Therese to speak to us herself, to question and encourage us, and to open us up to her clarifying and confirming our own personal and community path. The questions suggested are only indicative, and could perhaps be used in individual meditation and community sharing. ## Questions 1. This poem, one of Therese’s last, has 18 stanzas. One way to structure this poem is to divide it into 6 parts, each with 3 stanzas: what title could I give to each part? 2. 3. 4. What are the principal effects of Abandonment for Therese? This poem evokes in many ways the Mystery of the Eucharist: how does Therese understand this Mystery? What essential fruit does it produce in her life? What is our own relationship to the Eucharist, could we join with Therese in this? This poem by Therese could be seen as a spiritual testament, where she deepens the meaning of true abandonment. See Letters 226, 258 and 263 from the same period. ‘Perfect abandonment, that’s my only law’ (Poem 32). How do we experience this abandonment? How can we describe it? Does this impulse occupy a central place in our spiritual life and our apostolic activities? Abandonment is the delicious fruit of love (Poem 52) 7General Curia of the Teresian Carmel www.discalcedcarmelite.com 8 Abandonment is the delicious fruit of love (Poem 52) Design by Lorenzo Barone OCDSReading the writings of Therese of the Child Jesus Teresian Anniversaries 2023-2025 2025: Prayers and other writings --- **Source:** OCD General Curia, *Theresian Anniversaries 2025: Prayers and Other Writings* (Rome: OCD General Curia, 2025).