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ST.

THERESE & MOTHER: TWO LIVES, ONE THIRST


Jesus original call of the Twelve to follow Him and belong to Him will
always stand as the pattern for every vocation, a model for all those who are
called to follow Jesus in a special way.
And yet our call to follow Him in love and service is not something generic
each call within the Church has a very specific nature. t is the call to follow
Jesus, as the Twelve, but in a very particular way to render a particular service
to the !ody of Christ, and to do so in a particular spirit.
n loo"ing at #others call $and our own as #Cs%, is it possible to find a
pattern, a model on which &od built and which He wished to continue in the
Church in calling #other to leave 'oretto and follow Him into the slums( s there
only the general model of the Apostles who sold all to follow Jesus, or is there
some very specific spirit and mission which in &ods mind was already the
pattern for His call of #other and of those who would one day follow her(
The first clue, surely, we have from #other herself, who has always seen
her own vocation as being patterned after that of her patroness, )t. Therese of
'isieu*. !ut if indeed in &ods mind there is a real connection between the two
calls, then it must be something deep and substantial, well beyond a common
name and a sense of devotion.
The first connection apparent to everyone is #others admiration and
imitation of )t. Thereses +'ittle ,ay.- !ut even this is not enough to claim her
as a pattern for #others vocation, nor to claim that #other and the )ociety are to
be a continuation of her spirit in the world. The +'ittle ,ay,- both for #other and
)t. Therese, is the fruit of something else, the e*pression of roots that are deep
and hidden, yet without which the +'ittle ,ay- could always be something +nice,-
but never important enough to be an essential part of their vocation.
,hat then are the roots of the +'ittle ,ay-( ,hat are the roots of )t.
Thereses vocation, and dare we claim they are the same as #others( The root
of #others vocation is something "nown to all it was the experience of esus!
T"irst for "er lo#e on the train to .ar/eeling, and the call to satiate that Thirst in
those who most echoed it the poorest of the poor. 0verything else springs from
that e*perience, both the )pirit and the #ission of the )ociety are contained in
that e*perience and bear fruit only in connection with it. There is no other reason
for #other or the )ociety to go into the slums, if not that she and we have been
deeply touched by the e*perience and conviction of Jesus daily Thirst for our
love, and the desire to satiate Him there where He Thirsts most.
!ut what of )t. Therese( f there is any real connection with #other and
the )ociety it must begin in the common e*perience of Jesus Thirst. A
superficial loo" at the life of the 'ittle 1lower would bring the conclusion that there
is no such connection, no such common e*perience. ,ho has ever heard of the
Thirst of Jesus being mentioned in relation to the life or spirituality of the 'ittle
1lower(
And yet the connection is there... n her autobiography alone, )t. Therese
spea"s not once, but eleven times of Jesus Thirst2 And she spea"s of His Thirst
in #others same language, describing it as a +thirst for love and for souls.-
,hat is important is not only the fact that )t. Therese does indeed spea"
of her own personal e*perience of Jesus Thirst, but above all $"ere she places
it in the story of her life. The initial e*perience, which will stay with her all of her
life, too" place as part of her +conversion- after the Christmas grace of 3445.
The victory over selfishness $the famous episode of the shoes on the staircase
on Christmas 0ve% opened her heart to a new relationship with Jesus6 and the
first and greatest sign of that new intimacy was this une*pected and
overwhelming e*perience of Jesus Thirst. )he saw this e*perience as part of
her conversion, and as the doorway and foundation to the rest of her life.
The 'ittle 1lowers e*perience occurred on a )unday as she ga7ed on a
picture of Jesus Crucified. 8ears later she would write that the cry of Jesus
Thirst had penetrated her soul in that moment, and that the words + Thirst- had
+set aflame in me a lively and un%no$n ardor- of love. + wanted to satiate my
!eloved,- she writes, +and felt &'self devoured by His same thirst for souls.-
1urther on she continues, + seemed to hear Jesus saying to me as to the
)amaritan9 :&ive #e to drin"6 and the more gave Him to drin" the more the
thirst of my soul grew...- )he called the e*perience of His Thirst t"e &ost
precious gift and channel of His love.
;otice well that she says that the more she attempted to satiate His Thirst,
the more her own thirst grew. Here is an important lesson for us that Jesus
Thirst is not /ust a conviction on paper, but something that needs to be
e*perienced and lived in order to become a real source of conversion for us, as
for )t. Therese. ,e are reminded also that His Thirst within us, and our thirst for
Him, is something alive, something that can and must (ro$ within us through the
years, as it did for the 'ittle 1lower. #y penetration of the mystery of Jesus
Thirst for my love, and my own thirst for Him in return, should be greater now
than when was called, greater now than it was last year, or even last month.
The great sign of this hidden e*perience of Jesus Thirst, an e*perience
which no one outside of ourselves can ever detect, is precisely our own growth in
thirst for Jesus, as the 'ittle 1lower herself discovered. ,e see it clearly in her
life and her writings a constantly increasing thirst for Jesus and for Him alone.
t is enough to consider that in the brief pages of her autobiography, Jesus name
appears over <== times2 And who can deny that the single most noticeable
characteristic of #other, more so even than her charity or 7eal, is precisely her
t"irst for esus.
!ut can we honestly say that the e*perience of Jesus Thirst was as
important for )t. Therese as it was for #other( ,as it not rather /ust a beautiful
but passing grace among so many others in the 'ittle 1lowers life( 'et us listen
to her own words, which #other could so easily affirm as well9 +1rom that day on,
the cry of Jesus Thirst on the Cross resounded constantl' in my heart ...- 1rom
then on, she lived that mystery ceaselessly.
The second place where )t. Therese spea"s of the Thirst of Jesus is at
the beginning of +#anuscript !,- the section where she e*plains the discovery of
her personal vocation in the Church.
+Jesus doesnt need our wor",- she writes, +)ut onl' our lo#e, for this
same &od is not afraid to beg a bit of water from the )amaritan. He thirsted ...
but in saying :&ive #e to drin" it was the love of His poor creature that the
Creator of the universe was as"ing. He thirsted for love...-
)een in the light of these words, the 'ittle 1lowers, and #others, vocation
in the Church becomes perfectly clear and logical. !ecause they share the
common roots of a common e*perience of Jesus Thirst, they share as well a
common vocation in responding to that Thirst. f they have been given the grace
of e*periencing that Thirst, it was, in &ods mind, in view of giving them also the
vocation of satiating that Thirst. f Jesus Thirsts for love, then lo#e &ust )e
t"eir #ocation. n one of her most famous lines, )t. Therese /oyfully declares
after receiving this grace of understanding9 +#y vocation is 'ove. n the heart of
the Church, my #other, will be 'ove...-
t is important to see, not only for )t. Therese, but also for #other and the
)ociety as well, that the fruit of the e*perience of Jesus Thirst is the vocation to
'ove. They are not two separate graces one flows necessarily from the other,
and onl' from the other. ,ithout the e*perience of Jesus Thirst, the vocation to
'ove, to )e Lo#e in t"e *"urc" is without sense and without force. His Thirst
for love is the sole reason for Thereses vocation.
That Thirst is the sole reason for #others vocation as well. As the 'ittle
1lower $and here is the second ma/or connection%, #other and the )ociety have
also been called to +be love in the Church.- ,hat greater gift could there be(
This discovery should be /ust as overwhelming for us as it was for the 'ittle
1lower9 our place is in the heart of the Church, and in the heart of the Church $e
are to )e Lo#e+ That is our sole function, our sole aim, our sole reason for
e*istence. >urs is the only society in the Church with this aim, the only )ociety
that has been officially called T> !0 '>?0 in the Church and in the world. >ur
very name is witness to our vocation, and our lives in turn must be witness to our
name. We exist to ,uenc" t"e T"irst of -o. for lo#e. ;o other saint ever
claimed that e*cept the 'ittle 1lower. ;o other )ociety but ours can claim that
today. How great then is our privilege, and how great our responsibility.
n the light of all we have seen, we can at last proceed to loo" at the +'ittle
,ay- in )t. Therese and in #other6 "nowing now that this third $and most
obvious% area of connection between them is not merely superficial, but has a
real deep foundation.
,hy is the +'ittle ,ay- of such importance to )t. Therese and to #other
$and conse@uently to us%( t is much more than merely preferring one spiritual
way over another, of choosing one path to &od instead of another. The +'ittle
,ay- is the logical and necessary e*pression of the vocation to @uench the Thirst
of &od for love, nothing more, nothing less. .oing the little things out of love is
our vocation, and provides the constant means of living it out. Those little things
have no value in themselves, but they ta"e on a surpassing value by reason of
the love with which they are done, and for which they are the channels. The
+'ittle ,ay- allows us to have the living of our vocation to love al$a's $it"in our
reac". As a contemplative, )t. Therese lived the +'ittle ,ay- within the confines
of the cloister, and she defined it as doing little things with great love. #other
and the )ociety are to live the +'ittle ,ay- not only in community, to satiate Jesus
not only through prayer, but by serving His Thirst in the poor as well6 and #other
defines this as .oin( t"e "u&)le $or%s of t"e Societ'. How important, how
beautiful and essential those humble wor"s of love become when seen as the
necessary e*pression of our vocation to 'ove.
n summing up, it should be clear what &od in His loving plan has done.
He has saved the revelation of His Thirst for these times when the cry of Jesus
Thirst in the world was never more pressing, when the vocation to love was
never more urgent or important.
He began by giving this grace to )t. Therese, who was to live it silently
and hiddenly, as Jesus in ;a7areth. !ut as Jesus hidden life was to prepare His
public life, so the inner and hidden communication of this grace to the Church
through the 'ittle 1lower, was to prepare the public and visible e*pression of the
same charism and vocation in the person of #other and through the )ociety.
The original pattern of call in )t. Therese, which &od has retraced in the
soul of #other, is to be a perpetual pattern for the entire )ociety and all its future
generations. 'et us recall the three basic elements9 t"e experience of esus!
T"irst, t"e #ocation to )e Lo#e, an. t"e /Little Wa'0 of "u&)le $or%s. And
let us as" )t. Therese to intercede for us, as she has so evidently for #other, the
grace of being penetrated through and through by the mystery of Jesus Thirst for
love that for us as for her, His cry of Thirst may +resound constantly in our
hearts.-

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