I am urged to tackle this subject not only because of my personal liking of this marvellous French Saint, but mainly because Therese is visiting the islands of Malta and Gozo during July and August. On 19 July 2003, the urn reliquary of the Saint arrives in Malta. Then it will go round the Islands amidst spiritual festivities and celebrations. The urn will leave our shores on 9 August for Lisieux and later to Spain.

A brief chronology

    Therese Martin was born on 2 January 1873 in Alecon, France, of the Venerable parents (now approaching Beatification) Louis and Zelie. She had a healthy and secure childhood. Her mother died of breast cancer when the child was only four years old. In1882 her sister and "second mother" Pauline entered the Carmelite cloister. Therese, still young, undergoes a serious nervous illness. "Miraculously" healed, she felt grown up enough to dream of becoming a cloistered nun herself like her sisters. In May 1887 se asked her father to allow her to enter the Carmel. In November 1887, on a trip to Rome with her father whom she adorned, she had the audacity to ask Pope Leo XIII in person to give her permission to be a cloistered Carmelite nun. She joined the Carmel of Lisieux on 9 April 1888 and in September 1890 she received the Veil. On obedience, she started writing her Manuscript A of Histoire d'une Ame (Story of a Soul) in December 1894. On Good Friday 1896 she coughed up blood, the first sign of her long tuberculosis illness. In the evening of Thursday 30 September 1897, Therese died. Se was young in years, only 24, but great and gigantic in holiness.

    Therese was canonized by Pope Pius XI on 17 May 1925. he called her the "Star of his pontificate", adding: "The Spirit of truth opened and made known to her what he usually hides from the wise and prudent and reveals to little ones; thus she enjoyed such knowledge of things above ... that she shows everyone else the sure way of salvation." Two years later on 14 December 1927, same Pope declared her Patron Saint of the Missions together with the Jesuit St Francis Xavier. Pope John Paul II solemnly declared St Therese of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face "Doctor of the Universal Church" on Mission Sunday, 19 October 1997, the year of the centenary of her death.

Preca and Therese

    George Preca was still a seminarian when Therese died, but he was a fully mature priest and "Founder" when she was proclaimed a Saint in 1925. Fr Preca was then already 45 years old. There is no doubt that he nurtured a special affinity to the Lisieux Saint. He loved her as well. apparently he used to mention her often during the 1930's. When in March 1960 a new statue of St Therese was brought from France to Malta for Sanctuary of St Therese in Birkirkara, the procession happened to pass close by the house of Fr Preca. The day after, on the 13 March, he addressed the female Elects and expressed his joy: "Yesterday, the bells pealed while the procession was passing in front of my house. I went to the front balcony to see her, and how happy I was to see her so well! As soon as I saw her I rejoiced and I thanked God who blessed her and who made her such a saint! ... "(from a transcript of a cassette recording).

    The main trust of the "little way of spiritual childhood", discovered by St Therese, were his as though with different emphasis. This subject of resemblance and difference does merit further research. Here I only give the few references I managed to find so far.

    The Kalendarju Museumin (SDC Calendar), from 1959 till 1963, carried a series of 100 short paragraphs entitled "The Saints Message to us" and which were later collected in book form Is-Sinagoga l-Gdida (The New Synagogue). In paragraph 25, Fr Preca imagines St Therese speaking to us: "Dear sisters and brothers, one of the shortest roads to holiness is undoubtedly the little way of spiritual childhood as taught by Jesus Christ himself in the Gospel. This means that we rest fully and securely in the bosom of God just as a baby relaxes in her mother's lap without any worry about her destiny because it is in sure hands. Cancel away your own will and let God be God."

    Much earlier, in a masterly book written during the 1930's, and without mentioning St Therese, Fr Preca had already spelled out his ideas about this "childlike attitude" which "is indeed necessary for eternal life." This is the subject of Instruction 81 in the book Gymnasium for the Spiritual Life. The characteristics of the child for Preca are simplicity, humility, meekness and trust. "Unless you change and become like little children you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. This means that one must change and from the wisdom of corrupt human nature cross over to the wisdom that comes from grace" (ibid.,87).

    In his prayers, moreover, Fr Preca shows mare clearly this attitude of childlike trust in God whom he addresses as "Gracious Father of the Blessed Jesus Christ, my Lord and my Master" (cf the Morning Prayer in The Watch). The Meditation on Divine Providence ends with the resolution "to rest securely in the bosom of our heavenly Father and to adore God in all his providential dispositions" (ibid ., 11.45 a.m.). Then also The Quotidie which is a short litany and "is meant to be the daily prayer of God's servant", has this introduction: "Lord God you are here and I an in you: I ask you and you grant to me because you have shown us in Holy Scripture that it is your delight to be with us your children, and also that it is your wish that we should have recourse to you in all our needs. It is with total confidence, therefore, that we ask of you as children as their parents."

    The crucial words here are "total confidence". The same words are used repeatedly by St Therese in her diverse writings. In fact the French word confiance is the key to a thorough understanding of Therese.

    Fr Preca in his book Total Self-Abandonment (Not yet available in English) comes very close to some central sentiments expressed by St Therese. In chapter 2 he writes: "In Holy Scripture we often find God telling us: Ego Dominus - I an the Lord. Since God is the Lord, we are hence his servants. Now servants never receive praise unless they are submissive and obedient and no reward or salary is due to them." A much more touching paragraph, and more in line with the language of Therese, is found in chapter 26: "Let us repeat together with the bride in the Song of Songs (6:3): 'I  belong to my love, and my love to me'. My beloved constantly thinks about me and I only think how to please my beloved and to totally fulfil his will in everything."

    This bounteous love of God makes Therese audaciously trustful of God's mercy. Indeed the adjective by which she repeatedly describes God's love and justice is "merciful" - "l'Amour misericordiex de Dieu". Together with his emphasis on Divine Justice, Fr Preca also sings this Mercy of God: "Come, you poor children of Eve, come and hear how merciful the Lord is. As you listen, your fear of the coming wrath will abate, and you will experience respite from the yoke that is burdening us .... Your mercy extends over all that lives on earth, because you despise nothing of what you have created ..." (see "Singing God's Mercy. A Psalm" in Singing the Glory and Mercy of our God. Two Psalms. SDC, 2000). But we have to admit that Therese goes even further than Preca in her childlike, fearless and total trust in the merciful and uplifting arms of God.

    At the very beginning of Story of a Soul, in Manuscript A, St Therese writes that God does not only "create great saints", but also "little ones ... The happier they are to be as He wills, the more perfect they are." And towards the end, in Manuscript C, in spite of her sufferings during her illness, she writes: "No, what I ask for is love. Only one thing, my Jesus, to love You .... O Jesus, let me tell You that Your love goes as far as Folly! In the face of such folly, what can You expect, save that my heart should fly out to You? How can my confidence know any bounds? ..." Her best poem (Poesies, nr. 17) is called Vivre d'Amour! (To live by love!). The last words she uttered before she died on that Thursday evening of 30 September 1897, with her eyes fixed on the Crucifix, sum up her life and spirit: "Oh! Je l'aime! .. Mon Dieu ... je vous aime! - Oh! I love Him! ... My God ... I love You!

Note: We encourage every Member and Candidate to read meditatively St Therese's autobiography Story of a Soul. Those who want to go deeper in her spirituality, lots of books are available. We suggest especially Empty Hands and The Power of confidence, both by Conrad de Meester, OCD.

Joseph Abdilla, sdc.
Blata l-Bajda - Malta