On the feast of the ever wonderful St Therese

A most blessed feast day to all of you! Through her intercession may you all be provided the graces you need to get through whatever you need.

"How sweet is the way of Love! True, one may fall, one may not be always faithful, but Love, knowing how to draw profit from all, very quickly consumes whatsoever may displease Jesus, leaving naught but humble and profound peace in the innermost soul."


It's certainly not easy to be faithful, with so much discouragement coming from the top. For someone like myself I have to try and avoid being too cynical and pessimistic towards everything that goes on. Whether it's towards people, or towards matters in the Church. I think collectively we need to realize (in particular for me) people let us down and sometimes we're our own obstacle to doing great things. 


But really our love for God will get us through, if we allow it to be so. To open our hearts to His love can sometimes be a rather difficult thing due to various reasons. I know for myself it's quite, quite difficult given the various crosses that I've had (and to some degree continue) to have in my life. I do my best, but so often I am weak and still fail.


I'm ever thankful to St Therese who has gotten me through virtually everything, points at my lowest, and points at my highest. She's a friend who I can always count on to put up with my perpetual complaining. Her stubbornness (just like mine), her sometimes cynicalness all I can relate to...If it isn't obvious, I love St Therese everything she stood for and everything she did...and I pray that once again she'll come to my aid for the various intentions that I have....Sorry for the rather semi-personal love letter to St Therese, but this glorious saint brings my soft side out...speaking of which.
I'd much appreciate it if you'd pray for a very special intention. It's been quite a while since I've allowed what I may allow to happen, to happen, I can't be specific about it now, but please do pray for this intention.


I leave with another quote from my dear Therese





"Love attracts love, mine rushes forth unto Thee, it would fain fill up the abyss which attracts it; but alas! it is not even as one drop of dew lost in the Ocean. To love Thee as Thou lovest me I must borrow Thy very Love - then only, can I find rest."

Again, a blessed feast day to all of you!

Pax Vobis

St Therese Novena Day 9

O Heavenly Father, Who hast prepared for us a glorious reward after the labors of this life, and hast promised to crown with honor and glory those who are faithful to the end in Thy love, we beseech Thee to grant us through the intercession of St Therese of the Child Jesus the grace to be faithful to Thy commandments, to those of the Holy Church, and to Thy holy inspirations until the hour of our death.

Father, grant that, after the example of St Therese of the Child Jesus, we may not recoil from labors, that temptations may not keep us from Thee, that trials may not cause us to lose courage. May neither the world, nor the devil, nor our own inclinations separate us from Thee to Whom we desire to belong forever, as we promised Thee on the day of our Baptism and on the day of our First communion.

Perseverance in grace is a grace, we beseech Thee to grant it to us, and in Thy merciful love not to refuse us the grace of graces, that of final perseverance which will unite us to Thee forevermore and will give us to contemplate during all Eternity Thine adorable Fae.

Father, uphold us in the midst of our combats until the day when we shall gain the victory, when Thou Thyself wilt triumph in us.

St Therese of the Child JEsus who persevered throughout your life in exact fidelity o God's grace, you who saw perseverance crowned on the glorious day of your death, obtain for us to be fully faithful to God's law and never to separate ourselves from His holy love. Obtain for us the favors we crave and implore through your powerful intercession Amen.

St Therese Novena day 8

O Heavenly Father, Who hast created all the good things of earth for the use of man and dost measure them out to him with marvelous bounty, we beg Thee through the intercession of St Therese of the Child Jesus to give us all those things of which we have need for the perseveration of our life here below.

Teach us to use these things with the moderation befitting Christians, let us not attach our heart to them; may they serve not to keep us from Tee, the Only True Good to be desired and the Giver of all that is good in this world. Give us, as Thou gavest to Thy faithful handmaiden St These of the Child Jesus, to make a holy use of earthly things and to make them serve on for Thy Glory.

Father, Who doest feed the birds of the air and clothe the lilies of the valley, forsake not the souls of those who trust in Thee.

St Therese of the Child Jesus who ever used the things of this world according to the order willed by God, you made earthly gifts serve to merit those that are heavenly, we ask you to obtain for us all that is necessary for us during our life upon earth. Obtain for us the favors we crave and implore thorugh your powerful intercession. Amen.

St Therese Novena Day 7

O Heavenly Father, Who has bestowed upon us so many benefits through the intercession of St Therese of the Child Jesus, and willest that we should honour this lovable saint with a special devotion, we earnestly implore Thee of Thy fatherly loving-kindness the grace o be ever faithful in veneration of her, invoking and imitating her virtues.

It is good for us to pay honor to the Saints. Thou has placed these blessed Saints as powerful mediators between ourselves and Thee, that so Thou mayest bestow upon us more ready and more abundant aids. That which our prayer cannot obtain, theirs will obtain for us.

Thou has willed that the Saints should be our models. They once were what we are; we can with Thy grace become what they are, what they have done, we can do in our turn, Father, give us a true and lasting devotion towards St Therese of the Child Jesus, a devotion well ordered, constant, a devotion that will sanctify us an lead us to Thee o Whom all he homage we pay o the Saints returns.

St Therese of the Child Jesus, placed by the Church upon our altars to be our protectress with God and model in Christian life, obtain for us, we ask of you, ever to have you in honor, to venerate you, to invoke you, to imitate you for the greater glory of God and the greater good of our souls. Obtain for us the favors we crave and implore through your powerful intercession Amen.

St Therese Novena Day 6

O Heavenly Father, Who bestowed upon the Blessed Virgin Mary the greatest and most precious graces and privileges and called her to become the Mother of Thy Son Jesus also giving her to be our Mother, we beseech thee through the intercession of St Therese of the Child Jesus ever so faithful to honor this beloved Virgin, whose radiant countenance and gracious smile she one day beheld to grant us too the inestimable favor of being the very loving children of this Holy Mother.

We need her maternal mediation, for this good Mother is the way that leads to Jesus, and she is the treasurer of all the graces that our Saviour acquired for us by the shedding of His Precious Blood
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We thank Thee, O Father, for having given us the Blessed Virgin to be our Mother; and our guide along our life's path, and we beseech Thee that, like St Therese of the Child Jesus, we may be true imitators of her virtues of her perfect humanity, her immaculate purity, and her ardent love. We look to her for he greatest succor now and at the hour of hour death.

St Therese of the Child Jesus who ever manifested a great love for the One you named the Immaculate Virgin, and from whom you received so many benefits, we ask you to obtain for us the grace to imitate your tender devotion towards her and help us to reproduce her beautiful and admirable virtues even as you yourself did. Obtain for us the favors we crave and implore through your powerful intercession. Amen.

St Therese Novena Day 5

O Heavenly Father, Who so loved men that Thou didst give them Thine Only begotten Son to be their Redeemer upon the Cross and Food in the Divine Sacrament of the Altar, we beseech Thee to grant us through the prayers of S therese of the Child Jesus so inflamed with love of this Adorable Sacrament and so eager to receive It, the grace for our part to draw near very often to the Holy Table.

Following the example of St Therese of he Child Jesus, may we bring it to the best dispositions, a right intention, hearts filled with lively faith, a sincere humility, deep confidence, ardent charity.

Father, make us truly understand that this Divine Bread is no less needful to our soul than material bread is to our body and ha we cannot abstain from It without hurt to our soul.

St Therese of the Child Jesus who so much loved the Divine Sacrament of the Alar and so greatly longed to unite yourself to It through Holy Communion, obtain for us from God a love, like to yours for this Adorable Sacrament and a fervent longing often to receive It in our hearts. Obtain for us the favors we crave and implore through your powerful intercession Amen.

St Therese Novena Day 4

O Heavenly Father, Who in Thine infinite wisdom dost permit the just to be tried upon earth, like gold in the furnace, hereafter to crown them gloriously in Heaven, we beseech Thee to grant us through the intercession of St Therese of the Child Jesus, all the graces of fortitude and consolation which we urgently need in he difficulties we encounter here below.

Thou dost order all things for the good of those who love Thee, nothing befalls without Thy permission, Thou knowest how to draw good out of evil. May these consoling truths be our support in the midst of our sorrows. Sweeten for us all that is bitter by the unction of Thy grace.

Permit not, O Father, that impatience shall possess our heart or murmurs rise to our lips. Make us understand the providential use of sorrow, as it was undertook by St Therese who owned to finding happiness in the midst of suffering.

St Therese of the Child Jesus who suffered much here below, and knew how to find joy in every bitterness, intercede for us with God that so He may help us to bear patiently all our crosses, and console our hearts saddened by the trials of earth's exile. Obtain for us the favors we crave and implore through your powerful intercession. Amen.

St Therese Novena Day 3

O Heavenly Father, Who did dispose the soul of St Theres of the Child Jesus to ascend by such wonderful steps and didst make this lovable saint to rise from virtue to virtue aiding her so admirably to practice humility, simplicity, patience, confidence, zeal and love, we beseech Thee to place in our hearts dispositions like to hers and to grant us to resemble her, that we may hence become conformable to Thy Son Jesus, our Model and the Divine Example of Thine adorable perfections.

These virtues are so needful for us, for without them we cannot be happy here below; without them we cannot gain for Thee the glory that Thou dost look for from us.

Vouchsafe, O Father, to help us make these virtues ours. May Thy numerous graces joined to our generous efforts, bring forth, as in St Therese. true and lasting virtue.

St Therese of the Child Jesus who to please God ever Wonderfully grew in virtue each day of your life, obtain for us to resemble you and generously to practice those virtues of which you have left us such a beautiful example. Obtain for us the favors we crave and implore through hyour powerful intercession. Amen.

St Therese Novena Day 2

O Heavenly Father, Who to assure our advancement in the right path dost never cease to multiply the supernatural means of help which we need, and which Thou has divinely poured out upon St Therese of the Child Jesus, we beg of Thee, through this Saint so dear to Thy Heart, all the graces of light and of fortitude necessary or helpful to fulfill Thine adorable will.

Thy grace ever went before St Therese and Thou didst uphold her at each moment for Thou didst give to her both to will and to do, and without Thee none can ever utter the name of Jesus whereby we may be saved.

Father, shed abroad in our minds and hearts those graces won by the merits of our Savior and which St Therese asks for us.

St Therese of the Child Jesus upon whom so many divine graces were showered, we pray to you to intercede with our Heavenly Father, so that through the merits of our Savior and your merits, He may vouchsafe to give to our souls all the graces needful for the perfect fulfillment of our duty. Obtain for us the favors we crave and implore through your powerful intercession. Amen.

St Therese Novena day 1

O Heavenly Father, Who in Thine ineffable goodness didst place in the soul of St Therese of the Child Jesus the precious treasure of sanctifying grace, and didst grant her ever to keep it in the midst of earthly dangers, we pray Thee to grant to us for our part the happiness of never losing this inestimable gift whereby we become Thine adopted children, the brothers and sisters of Thy Son Jesus, the temples of the Holy Spirit and the heirs of Heaven.

Enable us, to this end, carefully to avoid mortal sin which would rob us of this grace more to be desired than all the wealth of the world, to fly the occasions of sin, and to resist temptation.

We implore these graces through the intercession of the one who was ever Thy faithful child and whose memory we venerate St Therese of the Child Jesus who would have preferred to die than lose God's grace, vouchsafe to obtain for us all the help necessary to avoid the misfortune of committing mortal sin, incompatible with this divine grace. Obtain for us the favors we crave ad implore through your powerful intercession. Amen.

Pax Vobis

Happy Feast day to the Patroness of the Blog...and Thought of the day

"What a comfort it is, this way of love! You may stumble on it, you may fail to correspond with grace given, but always love knows how to make the best of everything; whatever offends our Lord is burnt up in its fire, and nothing is left but a humble, absorbing peace deep down in the heart." --St Therese

St Therese, coffee, and what in the world.

As many of you know, St Therese is my personal patroness who has lead to my reversion in the Faith. Although I still have a long long way to go to catch up in holiness, it's always good to try. I'd like to take a deeper look at the following quote

"I understood that to become a saint one had to suffer much, seek out always the most perfect thing to do, and forget self. I understood, too, that there are many degrees of perfection and each soul was free to respond to the advances of the Our Lord, to do little or much for Him, in a word, to choose among the sacrifices He was asking. Then, as in the days of my childhood, I cried out: 'My God I choose all!' I do not want to be a saint by halves. I'm not afraid to suffer for You. I fear only one thing: to keep my own will; so take it, for I choose all that You will!"

St Therese here is talking about suffering, and I figured today is a good of day as any to look at that. To say that our lives are supposed to be easy, that has to be the biggest joke ever. All we need to do is look at the life of Christ to understand this....The way of the Cross is by far the most brutal that any person has ever undergone...

My own suffering is nothing in comparison to the Cross, really it's nothing. All the suffering that I undergo is purification, on the road to perfection. And since I suffer a ton, I must be really imperfect, or God wants to do something great with me....(I guess being a mathematician and physicist isn't enough)...

As I say often enough, if you're going to do something, do it well, do it fully, and do so to the best of your ability. I do not believe in half efforts, or half being something. There are many things which I struggle to deal with, but it'sn not about giving up and resigning. 

Suffering for Christ is better than drowning in misery and pointless work....St Therese and I have many things in common, probably the biggest one was that we have our moments of "you didn't just say that." or as some say, very good one liners. If I ever let students record me in lecture, I'm sure you'll get to hear some of the things I have to say. (My self recorded lectures are quite different in tone). She of course was also a perfectionist, just like yours truly....

Suffering is not pointless, we must unite it to Christ's Cross and use the merits of the Cross for the salvation of our souls, and indeed for the hope of the salvation of all.

In today's Gospel reading in the OF we hear the following: 

At that time, John said to Jesus,
"Teacher, we saw someone driving out demons in your name,
and we tried to prevent him because he does not follow us."
Jesus replied, "Do not prevent him.
There is no one who performs a mighty deed in my name
who can at the same time speak ill of me.
For whoever is not against us is for us.
Anyone who gives you a cup of water to drink
because you belong to Christ, 
amen, I say to you, will surely not lose his reward.

"Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin,
it would be better for him if a great millstone
were put around his neck
and he were thrown into the sea.
If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off.
It is better for you to enter into life maimed
than with two hands to go into Gehenna,
into the unquenchable fire.
And if your foot causes you to sin, cut if off.
It is better for you to enter into life crippled
than with two feet to be thrown into Gehenna.
And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out.
Better for you to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye
than with two eyes to be thrown into Gehenna,
where 'their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.'"

Suffering is a means of purification. This of course may take many forms. Good thing that we don't take the Bible literally, otherwise we'd have 100% of the population without hands, feet, or even eyes. The point of this passage obviously, is to say, if something that you're doing is NOT leading you to heaven, and to the Cross, you should change that behaviour or attitude. I know that I have many things to change about myself....(some of them I have no control over)...but those that I do have control over, are in the constant need of reformation. Living the life of the Cross is a daily life style, one that I'm sure all of us need a bit of help in living....

b. Coffee

Is apparently what I got myself into this evening. I hope that it goes well. I try to not make myself a nervous wreck, seems to manage to happen though. Good thing chocolate is a great bribery tool :p....

I wish all of you the most blessed solemnity of St Therese :)....and welcome to my favorite month of the year....(Ugh, and 15 days until my 27th birthday)