Father James Martin, S.J. speaks about St. Therese of Lisieux

Who Cares About the Saints? (Therese of Lisieux) from Loyola Productions on Vimeo.

In this ten-minute film, Father James Martin, S.J., a contributing editor of America magazine, shares about how he discovered St. Therese of Lisieux through Alain Cavalier's film "Therese" and about the difference she makes for us.  Father Martin is the author of many successful books, including My Life With the Saints (which includes a chapter about Saint Therese), Between Heaven and Mirth: Why Joy, Humor, and Laughter Are at the Heart of the Spiritual Life, and The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything: A Spirituality for Real Life.

Retrospective of the visit of the relics of St. Therese to the Philippines

In anticipation of the third visit of the reliquary of St. Therese to the Philippines, please see this film of the 2008 visit of her relics.  Here the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police pay tribute to St. Therese, who is their patron. 

"Experiencing Saint Therese Today" Has Been Reprinted

I am happy to announce that Experiencing Saint Therese Today has been reprinted by Christus Publishing and is available to readers again in hard copy and as an e-book. This collection of essays about Saint Therese's contemporary significance is based on conferences given at a symposium sponsored by the Carmelites of the Ancient Observance near Chicago in 1988, to mark the centenary of Therese's entrance into Carmel,

Since they were first published by ICS Publications in 1990. these articles have lost none of their freshness and vigor. Among other topics, Fr. Jim Geoghegan strikingly compares Therese with the photographer Edward Weston. Fr. John Russell examines, probably for the first time in English, the eight "pious recreations" (plays) Therese wrote for the Carmelite recreations. (These plays were later published by ICS Publications under the title The Religious Plays of Saint Therese of Lisieux).  Joann Wolski Conn's "A Feminist View of Therese" finds Therese a mature adult who authored her own life vision and created relationships of mutuality. Fr. Redemptus Valabek's "Therese's Approach to Gospel Living" explores Therese's spirituality and reveals the warrior saint beneath her image.  Sister Margaret Dorgan's "Therese and John of the Cross" explores one of the most intriguing aspects of Therese. Professor William Thompson's "Therese: Challenge for Doctrine and Theology" is a rich and provocative look at Therese's theological significance. Gracefully written and perceptive, this short essay plumbs the depths of Therese and suggests she is a forerunner to a "third Vatican Council," that Vatican II was insufficient to permit the Church to "catch up" with the young woman who has since become its newest Doctor.

Peter Mongeau of Christus Publishing is to be congratulated for reissuing this valuable book.  Christus has published many books in Carmelite spirituality and has recently reprinted most of the ICS Publications backlist.

Celebrate the feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel with St. Therese of Lisieux

 Thanks to the generosity of the Archives of the Lisieux Carmel, we celebrate the feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel by posting this photograph of the statue of Our Lady of Mount Carmel which, in the time of  St. Therese, stood at the entrance to the "heated room" (the room used for recreation). 

July 16 was also the birthday of Therese's companion in the novitiate, Sister Martha of Jesus. 

Sister Martha of Jesus

 On July 16, 1894, for Sister Martha's twenty-ninth birthday, Therese wrote for her the poem "Song of Gratitude to Our Lady of Mount Carmel."  The third stanza:

Close to you, O my loving Mother!
I've found rest for my heart;
I want nothing more on earth.
Jesus alone is all my happiness.
If sometimes I feel sadness
And fear coming to assail me,
Always, supporting me in my weakness,
Mother, you deign to bless me.

(The Poetry of Saint Therese of Lisieux, tr. Donald Kinney, O.C.D.  Washington, D.C.: ICS Publications, 1996, p. 57). 

Relics of St. Therese draw 3,000 people to a church in rural County Limerick in Ireland, the largest crowd ever seen in the church

photo courtesy of the Limerick Leader

On Sunday, July 8, 2012, the relics of St. Therese of Lisieux (relics that are displayed permanently in Dublin) visited the church in Dromin, together with the relics of her parents, Blessed Louis and Zelie Martin.  Three thousand people greeted them, a larger crowd than had ever assembled in the rural church.  Excerpts from the story reported by Aine Fitzgerald for the Limerick Leader:

“There was a throng of people out the road trying to park their cars. They were walking for a couple of miles to get to the church. We had never seen anything like it in Dromin,” said local woman Anne Mockler, a native of Ashford, Killeedy who has been living in Dromin for over 30 years.

“The people who were waiting didn’t mind waiting. They kept the rosaries going and the prayers. There was no talk – it was just a volume of prayers,” she explained.

“They came from far and near. They came on crutches, they came in wheelchairs, people helped them in. It was the most moving experience,” continued Anne whose own son, Fr John Mockler, arranged his visit home from Rome to coincide with the event.

Read the complete story in the Limerick Leader.