Walking the Little Way of Therese of Lisieux: Discovering the Path of Love

by Joseph F Schmidt

Overview

From her early years, Thérèse of Lisieux desired to be a saint, so the primary focus of her life was to walk the path of love-what she called "the science of love." But she often asked herself if her love was pure and authentic. With sensitivity and insight, author Joseph Schmidt shows us how Thérèse discovered certain qualities of the heart that told her that she was indeed walking the path of authentic love. These qualities-inner freedom, creativity, compassion, willingness, self-surrender or abandonment, and gratefulness-"opened her heart to a new depth of God's life in and through her." Eventually, they played a very practical role in Thérèse's ordinary day-to-day life relationships-and they can in our own as well.

As he did in his earlier book on Thérèse, Everything Is Grace, Joseph Schmidt breaks new ground in his latest book and offers tremendous food for thought and reflection on the spirituality of this great saint.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781593252052
Publisher:	Word Among Us Press, The
Publication date:	09/01/2012
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	262
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.70(d)

Table of Contents

Source Abbreviations 12

Foreword 13

Introduction 15

The Authority of Thérèse's Teaching

1 The Science of Love 22

Doctor of the Church, Teacher for Our Time, Icon of God

Thérèse's Experience of Complete Conversion

2 Is Pure Love in My Heart? 39

Practicing Virtue in a Strange Way

3 I Was Still in the Swaddling Clothes of a Child! 48

Needing a Little Miracle

4 That Unforgettable Christmas Day 55

Welcoming Complete Conversion

5 The Grace of Leaving My Childhood 61

Regaining Her True Character

Thérèse's Experience of Living in Community

6 I Felt Charity Enter My Heart 73

Entering the Carmelite Community

7 I Know That She Loved Me Very Much 81

Relating to Mother Gonzague

8 There Is Something, I Don't Know What, That Repels Me! 91

Living Community Life

9 We Don't Have Any Enemies in Carmel but There Are Feelings 97

Responding to Difficult Sisters

10 I Would Be Very Foolish to Refuse These Treasures 107

Expressing the Spirit of Love

11 We Should Never Allow Kindness to Degenerate into Weakness 117

Sharing Love in Special Ways

12 When I Am Charitable, It Is Jesus Alone Who Is Acting in Me 125

Bearing with the Faults of Others

Thérèse's Experience of Engaging the Spirituality of Her Time

13 Love Lowers Itself and Transforms Nothingness into Fire 135

Confronting Jansenism, Perfectionism, and Pelagianism

14 I Find Perfection Very Easy to Practice 143

Understanding Gospel Perfection

15 Even God's Justice Seems to Me Clothed in Love 154

Learning from Scripture

16 He Instructed Me Secretly in the Things of His Love 165

Oblation to Merciful Love

Thérèse's Little Way

17 I Want to Seek Out a Means of Going to Heaven by a Little Way 174

Finding the Little Way

18 If You Are Willing to Bear Serenely the Trial of Being Displeasing to Yourself 181

Teaching the Little Way

19 Don't Think That the Path of Love Is Full of Consolations 189

Understanding the Little Way

20 Everything Has Disappeared on Me, and I Am Left with Love Alone 195

Dying in the Little Way of Confidence and Love

Thérèse's Heart Qualities of Love

21 The Science of Love: The Road into God's Loving Arms 212

Exploring Thérèse's Heart Qualities of Love

22 My Vocation Is Love 243

Summary and Concluding Reflections

Select Bibliography 252

Index 254

Scriptural Index 260

Acknowledgments 262