The Greatest Saint of Modern Times
Therese was born in Alencon, France on January 2, 1873 into a profoundly Christian family. At a young age, she desired to enter the Carmelite order to follow "Jesus alone." She desired fervently to leave everything behind so to "love him as he has never been loved before." Her greatest pain came from the inner doubts she experienced in the last months of her life. Despite everything, she asserted passionately her confidence in the merciful love of God, seeing herself before Him as a little child. Far from living an extraordinary life, Therese lived this abandonment in the little things of daily life and in the simplicity of love. She died September 30, 1897.
Her little way is a message that is universal. For her, saintliness consisted in being simple with God and with oneself. "Jesus doesn't look so much at the greatness of our actions not at their level of difficulty but more so at the love that we have to carry out these actions." It is a way that everyone can follow. It consists of the disposition of a heart that makes us humble and little in the arms of God, conscious of our weakness and confident in the bounty of the Father. The little way is why Pope Pius X one day called her "the greatest saint of modern times."
