New - St. Therese of Lisieux 2012 calendars in English published by the Shrine at Lisieux now available through www.thereseoflisieux.org

I am delighted to announce that the Shrine at Lisieux has produced its first calendar in English for 2012 and invited me to distribute it online.  It is a beautiful 8" x 22" wall calendar which includes several articles about St. Therese and information about activities and publications sponsored by the Shrine at Lisieux.  The pages for each month display photographs of Therese and her family, with a quotation from her writings, above a complete liturgical calendar in grid form.  Each month also notes the "Theresian anniversaries," the dates of significant events in the life of Therese and her family and in the history of her sainthood.  34 oages, full color, glossy paper.  $10.  To see the cover and sample pages, please click on the image below.  To order,  call the telephone number listed below.

December 24th:  The good news is the calendar is very popular; the bad news is that we can't send out any more till we get more from Lisieux.  Demand for the calendars has been so intense that our first order from France was exhausted in two days.  Lisieux is sending more, but it will be a couple of weeks before you receive them.  We are still taking orders from our customers, so please feel free to order now, and we will give you priority in shipping as soon as the next batch of calendars arrives.  By ordering now, you will also help us know how soon we need to place another order and how many to bring in.  We regret that we could not make them available earlier, but, in this first year of the English calendar, they arrived in the U.S. only this week.  We are assured that the 2013 calendar will be here in the summer of 2012.  Thank you very much for your generous orders.

    order by phone at 610 914 9470 

"Therese and Prayer," by Brother Joseph Schmidt, FSC

In his second "guest column," Brother Joseph Schmidt, FSC reflects on the response of the young religious with whom he works in Kenya to the prayer of St. Thérèse of Lisieux:

The educational system of Kenya has been greatly influenced, as one might expect, by the experience of colonization. Many of the details of the current system are remnants of the late 19th-century British educational approach and are based on the lecture method. Children in elementary and secondary classes are asked to respond by rote memorization, and there is little emphasis on experiential learning, personal responses, or creative, exploratory thinking.

The same is true with religious education. The result is that young religious and seminarians who are in the process of spiritual formation at the college level think of spiritual development as linked to rote memorization. An experiential, exploratory approach or creative, reflective thinking have been given little emphasis as part of spiritual growth.

When I suggest that one of the characteristics of Thérèse’s spirituality is that she learned from her own experience, students are surprised and fascinated  I try to point this out especially with regard to her understanding of prayer.

 Thérèse described her private, personal prayer as including a cry of recognition (gratitude) and of love, embracing both trial and joy.  The students are surprised when I mention that some of the time Thérèse prayed by simply noticing and welcoming as God’s will the time of suffering as well as the time of enjoyment in her life. 

 The students have usually thought of praying as reciting memorized prayers or prayers from a book. They regard praying not as exploring and welcoming the experiences of their life but mostly as petitioning. They have not considered that prayer can simply be the prayer of being willing to discover the truth of what God is saying to us in our daily experiences of pain and joy.

 Thérèse learned this form of prayer mostly from her own experience.  She knew it was true prayer because she trusted that accepting and appreciating her life, as she was held in the arms of God, was all that was asked of her.  She remarked once that Jesus does not demand great actions from us, but simply surrender and gratitude. That was her fundamental spirit as she prayed. She knew also that from the position of being embraced by God, she could best respond with whatever action, great or small, was required of her to fulfill God’s will at each moment.

 Thérèse’s teaching on prayer has been a great help to young religious and seminarians in Kenya and can be a help to our prayer as well.

--

Brother Joseph F. Schmidt, FSC
Nairobi, KENYA

Joseph F. Schmidt, FSC is a lecturer, spiritual director, and pastoral counselor.  For many years he was on the staff of the international sabbatical center, Sangre de Cristo, Santa Fe, NM, USA.  During the last years he has focused his interest on St. Thérèse of Lisieux. He has written three books about St. Therese and her spirituality.

"Contemplative Life as Charismatic Presence" by Sister Constance FitzGerald, O.C.D.

Thanks to the splendid new Web site of the Baltimore Carmel, you can read online Sister Constance FitzGerald's article "Contemplative Life as Charismatic Presence" (Spiritual Life, Vol. 29, No. 1, 1983) in which she explores the question of how contemplatives can be present to the body of Christ and and speaks to how Therese answered that question with her life.  An excerpt:

Where in the charismatic picture do contemplatives fit? And how are we to be
present today to the Body of Christ and to the overwhelming needs of
God's people which invade and plague our consciousness and seem to
shake our very souls? We rattle the bars of our human finitude as the
pressures for participation and immediate efficaciousness bombard us
from every corner of the world. And we ask if our mortality is not a
source of despair pointing to an unreachable dream.

No genuine contemplative can escape this struggle, this search for
meaning in the contemplative role. Furthermore, no one can pretend
that the achievement of personal identity is accomplished once and for
all by anyone generation or any person. Basically. we grow through a
series of integrations and identifications achieved within the con~
creteness of contemporary history.

The classic example of this struggle is Therese of Lisieux. And her
description of the anguish is no mere sentimental devotion characteristic
of nineteenth century French piety. but the "groaning" or
travail of creation seeking its redemption or liberation in her person.
Somehow the existential powerlessness of the human condition, augumented
by the inhibitions of cloistered structures. makes more urgent
the discovery of an answer to the question of presence to need. Therese
was not at all satisfied with her contemplative presence as she experienced
it: "Carmelite, Spouse, Mother of Souls ... But I feel the
vocation of the fighter, the priest. the apostle. the doctor, the martyr."
she exclaims. I want to carry the gospel everywhere and die every kind
of martyrdom. "To satisfy me I need all."  The sorrow of finitude
speaks here. How much latent humanity before us!

A pilgrimage (in Italian) in the footsteps of the Martin family with St. Therese of the Child Jesus, January 1-6, 2012

For those fluent in Italian, here is news of a pilgrimage in the footsteps of the Martin family from Italy to France, guided by Father Antonio Sangalli, OCD, the vice-postulator of the cause of Blessed Louis and Zelie Martin, to celebrate the birth of St. Therese.  The pilgrimage leaves from Ferrara on January 1, 2012 and returns to Ferrara on January 6 after visiting Alencon, Lisieux, and some nearby areas.  For details in Italian, click here. 

Introducing Brother Joseph Schmidt, FSC, author of "Everything is Grace: The Life and Way of Therese of Lisieux" as a guest columnist, November 7, 2011

"Saint Therese of Lisieux: A Gateway" has the honor to introduce, as its first "guest columnist," Brother Joseph Schmidt, FSC.  You can read about Brother Joe's life and about his books about St. Therese below, but I want to say how happy I am to introduce him to you and how grateful I am to him for writing a series of guest columns for us.  Although, like me, Brother Joe is a native of Philadelphia, he is now working in Kenya, and I look forward to reading about how Therese is received in Kenya, where he is now working.  Please use the "comments" feature to share your comments and questions.  Welcome, Brother Joe!

Joseph F. Schmidt, FSC is a lecturer, spiritual director, and pastoral counselor.  For many years he was on the staff of the international sabbatical center, Sangre de Cristo, Santa Fe, NM, USA.  During the last years he has focused his interest on St. Thérèse of Lisieux. He has written three books, all focused on Thérèse and her spirituality, published by Word Among Us Press.

Everything is Grace: the Life and Way of Thérèse of Lisieux prompts readers to walk with Thérèse through her life as she understands her spirituality unfolding in her experiences over the course of her life. It is a more systematic biography of the saint, bringing together in one book for the first time many details from various sources. This book was published in 2007 and is in its sixth printing.  It has received very favorable reviews.  It is also available in electronic format.

Praying Our Experiences explores an approach to prayer based on Thérèse's way of personal prayer in which she reflected on her own experiences in a prayerful way. Although the text of the book does not contain many direct references to Thérèse's writings, it is filled with her spirit.  This book is also available in electronic format.

Praying With Thérèse of Lisieux follows Thérèse’s life and spirituality as that developed over her life.  This book includes large sections of quotations from the writings of Thérèse. Each chapter focuses on a theme from the life of Therese. Reflective questions are provided at the end of each chapter that invite readers to reminisce about their own experiences, using their memories as the content of their prayer, just as Thérèse did.

Brother Joe's column:

In the course of giving retreats in various cities of the U.S. over the last several years.  I have often searched out chapels, churches and prayer rooms of retreat houses looking for images of Thérèse.  It would surprise me to find her image in the most unlikely places of devotion. Usually I would notice a stained glass window or a picture or a statue of Thérèse.  Sometimes these were in areas that were hidden and out of the way.

When I came to Kenya three years ago, I also continued the practice of looking for images of Thérèse in churches and shrines.  The image of Thérèse is not present in many of the churches or chapels of religious communities that I have had the opportunity to visit in  this African Country. But there is a statue of Thérèse in the Cathedral in Nairobi, the capital city.  It is a very simple plastic statue on the side altar, relatively hidden away and opposite the more elaborate side altar given over to the images of Saints Teresa of Avila and John of the Cross.

What has struck me is that Thérèse is present in the Cathedral, but inconspicuously present, as she was during her life in her Carmelite community.  And what has also struck me is that the need to know Thérèse and her spirituality is more widespread and just as important in Kenya as in the U.S. 

In future blog entries I will talk more about what aspects of Thérèse's spirituality seem to be especially needed in the spiritual development of Kenya. I will also be sharing with you some of my own experiences of ministry in teaching and spiritual formation ministry here in Karen, a suburb of Nairobi.   

In future blog entries I will also be guided by comments and questions that you might have as you share your interest in Thérèse in her role in the spiritual growth of the Church in Kenya and in the universal Church as well.

Brother Joseph F. Schmidt, FSC
Nairobi, KENYA