Novena Rose Prayer to St Therese - starts today!

Novena Rose Prayer

O Little Therese of the Child Jesus, please pick for me a rose from the heavenly gardens and send it to me as a message of love.

O Little Flower of Jesus, ask God today to grant the favors I now place with confidence in your hands...(mention petitions)

St. Therese, help me to always believe as you did, in God's great love for me, so that I might imitate your "Little Way" each day. Amen.

credit to Carmelite Sisters of the Divine Heart of Jesus, Manchester, St Louis

Be fervent therefore in thy spiritual progress, for thou shortly receive the reward of thy labours; and then grief and fear shall no more come near thee....If thou continuest faithful and fervent in working, God will doubtless be faithful and liberal in rewarding. (Immitation, Book1))

She had unusual courage. From the time she entered Carmel at the age of fifteen she kept the Rule, apart from fasting, in all its rigour....But the Saint's maxim was not to give way or complain until she had reached the limit of her strength. Many a time she went to Matins feeling giddy, or with severe headache. "I am still able to walk," she would say, "so I ought to be at my duties." Her energy gave her the strength to perform these heroic acts quite simply. (Story of the soul)

Thou imparted on them much consolation, to support them in their many troubles; and Thou liftest them up from the depth of their own dejection, to the hope of Thy protection; and Thou dost re-create and enlighten them interiorly with a new grace. Thou art pleased to deal with Thy elect, to the end that they may truly acknowledged and plainly experience how great is their infirmity when left to themselves, and how much they receive from Thy bounty and grace. (Imitation B4)

I received the veil on September 24th, a day all veiled in tears. My father was too ill to come and bless his queen; at the last moment Mgr Hugonin was prevented from performing the ceremony, and several circumstances combined to make it a sad and depressing day. Yet there was peace in my cup of sorrow. Our Lord willed that i should not be able to keep my tears....and they were misunderstood. I had been through much greater trials before, dry-eyed, with the help of grace, but this time I was left to my own resources, and proved how weak they were. (Story of the Soul)

Grant that I may rest in Thee above all things desired, and that my heart may be at peace in Thee.Thou art the true peace of the heart, Thou art its only resr; outside of Thee all things are hard and uneasy (Imitation B3)

Oh! would that all this world doth hold

Might, as the ebbing tide,

Depart from me! I need it not,

For Thou art at my side.

If Thou shouldst leave me, Lord, and hide

Thy face from me awhile,

My song of love shall not be stilled,

Nor lips forbear to smile.  (Poems)

Son, thou must diligently make it thy aim that in every place, and in every action or outward employment, thou must be inwardly free and master of thyself; and that all things be under thee, and not thou under them. That thou mayest be lord and ruler of thy actions, not a slave or bondsman, but rather a freeman and a true Hebrew, transferred to the lot and to the liberty of the children of God. Who stand above the things of the children of God. Who stand above the things present and contemplate those that are eternal: who look upon passing things with the left eye, and with the right those of heaven. (Imitation B3)

We read that in the old days the Jews rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem holding a sword in one hand as they worked with the other (2 Esdras 4:17). That is a figure of what we should do: work hard with one hand and with other ward off dissipation of mind, which would hinder our union with God (Conseils et Souvenirs).

Let me be possessed by love, going above myself through excess of fervour and ecstasy. Let me sing the canticle of love and follow Thee, my Beloved, on high; let my soul lose herself in Thy praises, rejoicing exceedingly in Thy love (Imitation B3)

Made ready by this martyrdom to come before Thee, may it at length cause my death and suffer my soul to pass into the eternal embrace of Thy merciful love. I wish to renew this offering, O my Beloved, an infinite number of times at every heart-beat, until the shadows flee away and I may tell Thee of my love face to face for all eternity (Act of Oblation)

I do not regret having offered myself up as a victim of Love (Novissima Verba)


My God...I love Thee! (Her last words)