Online novena

Thérèse was freed from the fears of her childhood: fear of not being loved, of doing the wrong thing, of not being a saint, and above all of being damned, which had led her to dreadful scruples, inherited from a catechism that presented morals without mercy. Her own psychology, which it’s probably no exaggeration to describe as neurotic, didn’t help matters either. But the discovery of Jesus’ love, that free and infinite love which wants nothing more than the eternal happiness of all his children, whatever their sins, enabled her to see salvation in a completely different light. In this way, she became convinced that she had the divine weapons to wage spiritual warfare and “fly towards Eternity”: “It is very true that the Lord chooses the small to shame the great of this world… I do not rely on my own strength but on the strength of Him who on the Cross defeated the powers of hell.”

While several passages from the Gospels revealed to her that divine mercy knew no bounds, there was one figure whose conversion particularly moved her: Mary Magdalene. She is par excellence the saint of love, a tender, loving woman, excessive in the eyes of men, and—like Thérèse—a sinner lifted up in her very abasement. Yet a chasm separates them: that of grave sin, which Thérèse did not commit. Thérèse fears that her loving relationship with Jesus will be weaker, since it is written that it is she to whom much is given who shows much love! This is where Thérèse’s humility teaches us the new ways of hope, which is linked to the diversity of the treasures of God’s love. The Lord, she understands, reserved a very special care for her, which she considers to be linked to her weakness: Thérèse had to be protected in advance from a heavy fall, because unlike Mary Magdalene, she would not have had the strength to get up again. Thus, much was given to Thérèse in her weakness: “I have no merit at all, then, in not having given myself up to the love of creatures. I was preserved from it only through God’s mercy! I know that without Him, I could have fallen as low as Saint Mary Magdalene… Jesus has forgiven me more than Saint Mary Magdalene since He forgave me in advance by preventing me from falling.” This is how Thérèse teaches us to trust in a God who knows each of his children and treats them according to the uniqueness of their souls.