| Age | Sources and Pages | Code Number | Quotations | Relevant Key Words, Phrases and Their Code Numbers |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | SS 25. |
33-3-1 | …Having nothing but good example around me, I naturally wanted to follow it. This is what she wrote in 1876: "Even Therese wants to do little acts of penance at times…. |
2-3-1 (Sufferings, Sacrifices, Crosses, Trials) |
| 3? | SS 28 -29. |
33-3-2 | "The other day she was at the grocery store with Celine and Louise. She was talking about her practices. She was doing this rather loudly with Celine and the woman in the store said to Louise: ‘What does she mean by these little practices? When she's playing in the garden that's all she talks about.’ Mme. Gaucherin listens at the window trying to understand what this debate about practices means. |
2-3-2 (Sufferings, Sacrifices, Crosses, Trials) |
| 15 | SS 207. |
33-15-1 | …I made a resolution to give myself up more than ever to a serious and mortified life. When I say mortified, this is not to give the impression that I performed acts of penance. Alas, I never made any. Far from resembling beautiful souls who practiced every kind of mortification from their childhood, I had no attraction for this. Undoubtedly this stemmed from my cowardliness, for I could have, like Celine, found a thousand ways of making myself suffer. Instead of this I allowed myself to be wrapped in cotton wool and fattened up like a little bird that needs no penance. My mortifications consisted in breaking my will, always so ready to impose itself on others, in holding back a reply, in rendering little services without any recognition, in not leaning my back against a support when seated, etc., etc. It was through the practice of these nothings that I prepared myself to become the fiancee of Jesus, and I cannot express how much this waiting left me with sweet memories. Three months passed by very quickly, and then the moment so ardently desire finally arrived. |
7-15-4 (Renunciation, Forget Self) |
| 16 | SS 159 -160. |
33-16-1 |
…I was exerting much effort, too, at not
excusing myself, which was very
difficult for me, especially with our Novice Mistress from whom I didn't want
to hide anything. Here was my first victory, not too great but it cost me
a whole lot. A little vase set behind a window was broken, and our Mistress,
thinking it was my fault, showed it to me and told me to be more careful in the
future. Without a word, I kissed the floor, promising to be more careful in the
future. Because of my lack of virtue these little practices
cost me very much
and I had to console myself with the thought that at the Last Judgment everything
would be revealed. I noticed this: when one performs her duty, never excusing
herself, no one knows it; on the contrary, imperfections appear immediately.
I applied myself to practicing little virtues, not having the capability of practicing the great. For instance, I loved to fold up the mantles forgotten by the Sisters, and go render them all sorts of little services. Love for mortification was given me, and this love was all the greater because I was allowed nothing by way of satisfying it. The only little mortification I was doing while still in the world, which consisted in not leaning my back against any support while seated, was forbidden me because of my inclination to stoop. Alas! my ardor for penances would not have lasted long had the Superiors allowed them. The penances they did allow me consisted in mortifying my self-love, which did me much more good than corporal penances. The refectory, which I was given charge of immediately after I received the Habit, furnished me, on more than one occasion, with the chance of putting my Self-love in its proper place, i.e., under my feet…. |
1-16-1 (Self-love, Nature), 2-16-8 (Sufferings, Sacrifices, Crosses, Trials), 7-16-3 (Renunciation, Forget Self), 14-16-2 (The Little Way), 42-16-1 (Works, Actions, Great Actions) |
| 23 | GCII 956, June 23, 1896, LT 189: to P. Rou- lland. |
33-23-1 | I feel very unworthy to be associated in a special way with one of the missionaries of our adorable Jesus, but since obedience entrusts me with this sweet task, I am assured my heavenly Spouse will make up for my feeble merits (upon which I in no way rely), and that He will listen to the desires of my soul by rendering fruitful your apostolate. I shall be truly happy to work with you for the salvation of souls. It is for this purpose I became a Carmelite nun; being unable to be an active missionary, I wanted to be one through love and penance just like Saint Teresa, my seraphic Mother…. |
17-23-8 (Love Jesus, The Love of God, Charity), 22-23-2 (Salvation of Souls) |
| 24 | GCII 1134, June 21, 1897, LT 247: to l'abbe Bell- iere. |
33-24-1 | I know there are some saints who spent their life in the practice of astonishing mortifications to expiate their sins, but what of it; “there are many mansions in the house of heavenly Father,” (John 14:2.) Jesus has said, and it is because of this that I followed the way He is tracing out for me. I try to be no longer occupied with myself in anything, and I abandon myself to what Jesus sees fit to do in my soul, for I have not chosen an austere life to expiate my faults but those of others. |
4-24-5 (Trust, Confidence, Abandonment), 7-24-10 (Renunciation, Forget Self), 14-24-12 (The Little Way), 22-24-7 (Salvation of Souls), 27-24-5 (Sinners, Sins), |
| 24 | LC 130, Aug. 3. |
33-24-2 |
5. I was talking to her
about
mortifications under the form of
penitential instruments: “We must be very restrained on this point, for often nature is involved in this matter more than anything else.” (*) Novissima Verba (Note:See the explanation on this book on pp. 8-9 of the LC) adds: She had told me on another occasion: “A passage in the life of Blessed Henry Suso struck me with regard to corporal penances. He had performed frightful penances which had destroyed his health; an angel appeared to him, telling him to stop. Then he added: ‘You are no longer to fight as a simple soldier; from this moment I shall arm you as a knight.’ And he made the Saint understand the superiority of the spiritual combat over corporal mortifications. “Well, little Mother, God didn't want me to be a simple soldier; I was armed from the beginning as a knight, and I went out to war against self in the spiritual domain, through self-denial in hidden sacrifices. I discovered peace and humility in this obscure struggle in which nature finds nothing for self.” |
1-24-9 (Self-love, Nature), 3-24-7 (Silence, Hidden), 7-24-22 (Renunciation, Forget Self), 12-24-11 (Humility, Humbleness), 28-24-11 (Peace), |
| 24 | LC 178, Aug. 31. |
33-24-3 |
12. She told me that formerly in order to mortify herself she
would think of unpleasant things when she was eating: “But afterwards, I found it very simple to offer to God whatever appealed to my taste.” |
1-24-9 (Self-love, Nature), 3-24-7 (Silence, Hidden), 7-24-22 (Renunciation, Forget Self), 12-24-11 (Humility, Humbleness), 28-24-11 (Peace) |
| 24 | LC 180, Sep. 2. |
33-24-4 | 3. “It cost me very much to ask permission to perform acts of mortification in the refectory because I was timid and I blushed: but I was faithful to my two weekly mortifications. When this trial of timidity passed away, I paid less attention to them, and I must have forgotten my two mortifications more than once.” | 2-24-70 (Sufferings, Sacrifices, Crosses, Trials) |