Memorial – St Therese of the Child Jesus

Fr Paul reads today’s Gospel from Luke (10:1-12) about the mission of the 72 disciples, who Jesus appointed and sent out ahead of him in pairs.

Fr Paul says St Therese, whose memorial we celebrate today, is well known to us as her relics, along with those of her parents, visited our Parish in Port Macquarie earlier this year (in February 2020).

With this in mind, Therese was born Alencon in France on January 2, 1873. Her mother died when she was four and the family moved to Lisieux.  At the age of 15, despite the Prioress at the time saying she was too young, Therese became a Carmelite nun.  Having done so, then at the aged of 24, Therese passed away due to Tuberculosis.

In 1895, the Prioress of the order, ordered Therese to write her memoirs up until that point in time.  Therese did this and presented them to the Prioress, who put them in a drawer unread.

A year after her death, Therese’s memoir was published and it was from there that miracles started to happen, conversions, cures and even a few apparitions. Because of this, the movement grew for her to become a Saint and so she was canonised a Saint in 1925.  Her parents, who Fr Paul mentioned earlier, were also canonised in 2015.

And so, Fr Paul says, as we celebrate today the life and memorial of St Therese, we ask that for all the intentions we have she pray for us and that we have her intercession with our Lord.