ARTICLES
ANOTHER MAGNIFICENT ROSE
J.Linus Ryan, O.Carm.
The reception and journey of the Relics of St. Thérèse across the United States of America has been a magnificent triumph with crowds more than five times greater than any expectations. It has been a pilgrimage of intense devotion and prayer. Small wonder then when we heard that St. Thérèse’s intercession had instantaneously cured a dying woman with a malignant tumour as she prayed before the Reliquary during its visit on the 4th November 1999 to the Carmelite Monastery, Allendale, Terre Haute, Indiana. As is her wont on the occasion of such a spectacular intervention, our dear St. Thérèse accompanied it with a strong heavenly fragrance of roses, which remained with the fortunate woman even as she joyfully returned home in her car. To us here in Ireland who are preparing to welcome the Relics of St. Thérèse in May and June 2001, it is a reminder of how powerfully she has worked for souls during this entire twentieth century.
Relics are one way in which God helps us in our bodily humanity to rise to spiritual realities. Through her Relics we can feel close to St. Thérèse . We have a deeper awareness of her life and mission, of her presence in the Communion of Saints. Religion can never be purely intellectual. It must rather touch us at different levels of our being. Relics are clearly not as important as the sacraments. And like the sacraments, Relics can be abused. We cannot stop at the holy Relics of St. Thérèse, but we must reach further into God’s plans.
The correct veneration of her Relics looks beyond what is visible and material to God’s love at work in St. Thérèse, to the inspiration of her life and to God’s good pleasure in confirming her virtue by signs and cures. People will go to those Churches that are to welcome the Thérèsian Reliquary. But it must not be magical. True veneration of St. Thérèse will involve people turning to God and allowing His love to enter their lives through her intercession.
Ireland will be indeed privileged to receive the Relics of St. Thérèse . We must ensure that it is not an isolated occasion of the day or evening in which her Relics visit a town. It can only make sense if we focus on the message of St. Thérèse so that her Relics coming to Ireland will indeed be part of her own missionary desire to make God known and loved. It is important to recall that on the day he proclaimed St. Thérèse a Doctor of the Church Pope John Paul II said, "The spiritual doctrine of Thérèse of Lisieux has helped extend the kingdom of God. By her example of holiness, of perfect fidelity to Mother Church, of full communion with the See of Peter, as well as by the special graces obtained by her for many missionary brothers and sisters, she has rendered a particular service to the renewed proclamation and experience of Christ’s Gospel and to the extension of the Catholic faith in every nation on earth". (Science of Divine Love.)
We are privileged to have the Great Jubilee Year 2000 as a year of preparation for the Relics visit. Our hopes fit fully into the Jubilee theme as outlined by our Holy Father, Pope John Paul II, especially ‘Tertio millennio adveniente’ and the Papal Bull of indiction of the Great Jubilee 2000 ‘Incarnationis mysterium’. The Pope wants us to learn Christ, not just learn about Him, but to make our own all His words, attitudes, values, outlooks etc. … to become more and more one with Him. This opens up the whole area of the Bible, especially the New Testament. The Pope gave a programme of preparation for the Jubilee lasting three years --- one year to each of the Persons of the Blessed Trinity. In a general way, he saw the last one hundred years as a preparation. In that century he picked out the Second Vatican Council as a providential event whereby the Church began the more immediate preparation of the Jubilee Year 2000. He asks for a renewed commitment to apply as faithfully as possible the teachings of Vatican II to the life of every individual and of the whole Church. These are some of the major concerns to which the Pope directs our attention when asking us, as part of our Jubilee, to reflect on the great Papal Encyclical Letters of the last hundred years. Most of these were about social matters, areas concerning human life, personal and social in the raw and including marriage and the family. The Unity of all Christians is the most urgent of the Pope’s desires for the Jubilee. St. Thérèse’s teaching has so much to offer us in the vital area of Christian relationships. Our efforts there, of their very nature, bring us into contact with the living Christ and bring Him into society as it is …. bringing the Incarnation, following the example of St. Thérèse, into the inside of human life and the world in the 2000s.
As for St. Thérèse, so also for us, pursuing our renewal theme the Mass brings about the reconciling sacrifice of Christ. This is the essential work of Christ for us. The Sacrament of Reconciliation (Confession) ties in intimately with the Mass. These are the two great places where Thérèse and we come face to face with Christ, to surrender our sinfulness and allow His life of freedom flow into us and take us over with His newness. Needless to say, both need to be celebrated meaningfully. They express the conversion that may have been coming to life in us over a long time.
In her own famous words St. Thérèse was essentially a woman of the Church. She wanted to be everyone at work at everything for God. Her frustration led her to her eternal role in the heart of the Church. She will help us to give our all to this life giving work of Christ – Jubilee 2000. "A special grace of the Lord for the Church and for the whole of humanity" (John Paul II)
Preparation for this timely visit will involve a deepened understanding of St. Thérèse’s doctrine, in particular her teaching on God’s Merciful Love, on the Little Way of spiritual childhood which is a way of unending love. We could do no better than to read and reread her autobiography, ‘Story of a Soul’, the principal means by which millions during the twentieth century came to know and love her and be led to love God. Also, if at all possible, to read and reread His Holiness, Pope John Paul II’s Apostolic Letter, so aptly named, Divini Amoris Scientia (the Science of Divine Love) written for the occasion of his proclamation of St. Thérèse as a Doctor of the Universal Church (Mission Sunday 1997). This wonderful Letter of the Pope confirms the heavenly nature of St. Thérèse’s writings, particularly her ‘Story of a Soul’. It is full of references to the divinely inspired nature of her mission and her writings and I quote:
"One can say with conviction about Thérèse of Lisieux that the Spirit of God allowed her heart to reveal directly to the people of our time the fundamental mystery, the reality of the Gospel. What truth of the Gospel message is more basic and more universal than this: God is our Father and we are his children."
"Under the guidance of the Divine Teacher."
"These pages reveal the authors supernatural wisdom."
"Makes the light of the Gospel shine brightly."
"Her infused wisdom."
"Enlightened by the revealed Word Thérèse wrote brilliant pages on the unity between love of God and love of neighbour."
Incidentally, the Carmelite Sisters at Cordoba in Spain testify to a spectacular cure through the intercession of St. Thérèse of a Senor Perez on that very special "Doctorate" day, leading us to conclude that the good God was so pleased with the signal honour conferred on His faithful and loving Thérèse. If the Irish Church is to avail fully of this special visit, priests and teachers will have to explain the teaching of this newest and youngest Doctor of the Church, whose doctrine is at once simple and profound. Pope John Paul on the same "Doctorate" day refers to
"How timely is the saint of Lisieux’s doctrine and of the particular impact her message has had on the men and women of our century. Moreover, some circumstances contribute to making her designation as a Teacher for the Church of our time even more significant."
"First of all Thérèse is a woman who in approaching the Gospel knew how to grasp its hidden wealth with that practicality and deep resonance of life and wisdom which belong to the feminine genius. Because of her universality she stands out among the multitude of holy women who are resplendent for their Gospel wisdom."
"Thérèse is also a contemplative. By her life Thérèse offers a witness and theological illustration of the beauty of the contemplative life as the total dedication to Christ, Spouse of the Church, and as an affirmation of God’s primacy over all things."
"Lastly, Thérèse of Lisieux is a young person. She reached the maturity of holiness in the prime of youth. As such, she appears as a Teacher of evangelical life, particularly effective in illumining the paths of young people, who must be the leaders and witnesses of the Gospel to the new generations."
It will only be if we allow Thérèse to lead us to Jesus and to Mary that the visit of her Relics will be of any value to ourselves. I believe this has been the particular success of the United States visit. If we can use the occasion in Ireland to embrace her spiritual doctrine, then, indeed, we can expect great miracles of grace and healing as her sacred Reliquary travels around our country. The Relics of St. Thérèse in the end must point beyond themselves to God, and any veneration or honour given to them is honour to God who has crowned St. Thérèse with glory, and who wishes to bless us through our love for, and appreciation of, the very special Thérèse.
Pére Raymond Zambelli, Rector of the Lisieux Basilica, loves to quote the words of the great French mystic, Blaise Pascal "It is true the Holy Spirit resides invisibly in the Relics of those who have died in the grace of God, until His presence shall become visible in them in the resurrection, and that is what makes the Saints’ Relics so worthy of veneration. For God never abandons His own, not even in the grave where their bodies, however dead they may be in the eyes of men, are more alive in the eyes of God …."
I have comprehensively written elsewhere on the Relics of St. Thérèse from the time she was buried in the Carmelite plot in the public cemetery in Lisieux, 4th October 1897, to the moment of the triumphal return of her blessed remains twenty-six years later, on the 26th March, 1923, to her Lisieux Carmel, shortly before her Beatification on April 29.
Many of the known – and we emphasise the word known – graces and favours received through St. Thérèse are recorded in seven large volumes in the Lisieux archives under the title ‘A Shower of Roses’. I believe there are many other favours known only to God, St. Thérèse, and the recipients. I believe that yet another very special cure through St. Thérèse at the Carmel, Terre Haute, Indiana, on the 4th November 1999, is a beautiful and graceful reminder to us, once again, as we enter the third millennium, of the importance of St. Thérèse’s teaching to the lives of all people. It is a fact that in the presence of and in contact with her mortal remains, her poor remains which are like the remains of an unpetalled rose, God who had received so many signs of love from St. Thérèse through her humanity, was pleased in turn to manifest His love through the remains of her humanity. TE DEUM LAUDAMUS.
J.LINUS RYAN, O.CARM.
BACK TO ARTICLE MENU