Online novena
Enter into Hope with Saint Thérèse of Lisieux
Day 2
The Salvation of Sinners
Listen to this novena
Word of God
A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke (23:39-43)
Now one of the criminals hanging there reviled Jesus, saying, “Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us.” The other, however, rebuking him, said in reply, “Have you no fear of God, for you are subject to the same condemnation? And indeed, we have been condemned justly, for the sentence we received corresponds to our crimes, but this man has done nothing criminal.” Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” He replied to him, “Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”
Listening to Saint Thérèse
The day after his execution I found the newspaper La Croix. I opened it quickly and what did I see? Ah! my tears betrayed my emotion and I was obliged to hide. Pranzini had not gone to confession. He had mounted the scaffold and was preparing to place his head in the formidable opening, when suddenly, seized by an inspiration, he turned, took hold of the crucifix the priest was holding out to him and kissed the sacred wounds three times! Then his soul went to receive the merciful sentence of Him who declares that in heaven there will be more joy over one sinner who does penance than over ninety-nine just who have no need of repentance!
I had obtained the “sign” I requested, and this sign was a perfect replica of the grace Jesus had given me when He attracted me to pray for sinners. Wasn’t it before the wounds of Jesus, when seeing His divine blood flowing, that the thirst for souls had entered my heart? I wished to give them this immaculate blood to drink, this blood which was to purify them from their stains, and the lips of my “first child” were pressed to the sacred wounds!
What an unspeakably sweet response! After this unique grace my desire to save souls grows each day, and I seemed to hear Jesus say to me what he said to the Samaritan woman: Give me to drink! It was a true interchange of love: to souls I was giving the blood of Jesus, to Jesus I was offering these same souls refreshed by the divine dew. I slaked His thirst and the more I gave Him to drink, the more the thirst of my poor little soul increased, and it was this ardent thirst He was giving me as the most delightful drink of His love.
Manuscript A, 46
Excerpts from Saint Thérèse’s autobiography: Story of a Soul, translated by John Clarke, O.C.D.
Published by ICS Publications. Copyright © The Discalced Carmelite Friars, Washington Province.
Used with permission. www.icspublications.org
Reflection
On Christmas night 1886, Thérèse discovered God’s love to the point of wanting to respond to it by giving herself over to love, and she understood the perfect correspondence between the love she wanted to have for God and the love of her brothers and sisters. Thus she notes that “The cry of Jesus on the Cross sounded continually in my heart: ‘I thirst!’ These words ignited within me an unknown and very living fire. I wanted to give my Beloved to drink and I felt myself consumed with a thirst for souls. As yet, it was not the souls of priests that attracted me, but those of great sinners; I burned with the desire to snatch them from the eternal flames…” Christian hope is hope for all, not just for oneself. For the love that believes all things, hopes all things (1 Cor 13:7), has no meaning outside the whole body.
Yet in the weeks that followed, as her Carmelite vocation was taking shape, she found herself praying for a sinner who resolutely rejected the Lord’s merciful love. Sentenced to death for an abominable triple murder (the victims being a high-class prostitute, her maid, and the maid’s twelve-year-old daughter), Henri Pranzini was found spending the fruits of his rapine in a brothel. Showing no sign of regret, he fiercely refused even a brief visit from the prison chaplain, as he awaited the day of his execution. But Thérèse was overcome with love for this sinner, who must be brought back to the tenderness of the heavenly Father if he is to live forever. The fervor with which she prayed for Pranzini shows both her faith in the efficacy of prayer and her hope that the Lord, right to the end, can welcome any child who returns to him. For Thérèse, the parables of the prodigal son and the good thief are not ancient tales that we read without really believing them: Jesus is able to reveal his love to Pranzini, and Pranzini is able to respond, to enter paradise where his Creator and Savior has prepared a place for him. Thérèse’s prayer was crowned with glory, as Pranzini converted on the scaffold, seizing the crucifix and kissing it. For Thérèse, there was no mistake: Henri Pranzini, whom she would call her “first child,” had entered straight into the Father’s house.
By Jean de Saint-Cheron
Prayers
Psalm
Psalm 34:12-23
Come, children, listen to me;
I will teach you fear of the Lord.
Who is the man who delights in life,
who loves to see the good days?
Keep your tongue from evil,
your lips from speaking lies.
Turn from evil and do good;
seek peace and pursue it.
The eyes of the Lord are directed toward the righteous
and his ears toward their cry.
The Lord’s face is against evildoers
to wipe out their memory from the earth.
The righteous cry out, the Lord hears
and he rescues them from all their afflictions.
The Lord is close to the brokenhearted,
saves those whose spirit is crushed.
Many are the troubles of the righteous,
but the Lord delivers him from them all.
He watches over all his bones;
not one of them shall be broken.
Evil will slay the wicked;
those who hate the righteous are condemned.
The Lord is the redeemer of the souls of his servants;
and none are condemned who take refuge in him.
Hail Mary
Our Father
Intercessions
You who desire to save all your children and do not wish that any of them be lost, we implore you through the intercession of Saint Thérèse:
R/ Give your children, Lord, a new heart.
For criminals who have lost all hope in you: R/
For parents who work to raise their families in faith: R/
For priests who grant your forgiveness: R/
For all sinners who do not always dare to return to you: R/
You who kindled in Thérèse’s heart a burning desire for the salvation of souls, grant that, through our prayers and actions, we may be instruments of conversion. Through Jesus Christ, your Son.
Painting: Paul Buffet (1864–1941), Saint Thérèse of Lisieux at the Foot of the Cross, Saint Joseph des Carmes Church, Paris. © City of Paris, COARC / Jean-Marc Moser.
Photo of Saint Thérèse: © Office central de Lisieux.
Flower paintings: © Alamy.
