Jacques Philippe - The Way of Trust and Love - A Retreat Guided by St. Therese of Lisieux

Other books by Jacques Philippe available from Scepter Publishers

Time for God

Interior Freedom

In the School of the Holy Spirit

Called to Life

My way is entirely one of trust and love.

Thrse of Lisieux,
Letter to Father Roulland

LT 226.

Copyright 2011, Jacques Philippe

The total or partial reproduction of this book is not permitted, nor its informatic treatment, or the transmission of any form or by any means, either electronic, mechanic, photocopy or other methods, without the prior written permission of the owners of the copyright.

Originally published as La voie de la confiance et de lamour, copyright 2011 by Editions des Beatitudes, S.C.C., Burtin, France.

Scripture texts from the New and Old Testaments are taken from The Holy Bible Revised Standard Catholic Edition 1965 and 1966 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States. All rights reserved. All copyrighted material is used by permission of the copyright owner. No part of it may be reproduced without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Copyright 2012, Scepter Publishers, Inc.
P.O. Box 211, New York, N.Y. 10018
www.scepterpublishers.org

Translated by Helena Scott

Text and cover design by Rose Design

Printed in the United States of America

ISBN: 978-1-59417-165-9

CONTENTS

The abbreviations used to refer to St. Thrses writings are:

ms A, ms B, ms C: autobiographical manuscripts (published together as The Story of a Soul or The Autobiography of a Saint in various English translations). These references are followed by the page number of the original manuscript and r (recto) or v (verso). In recent editions of St. Thrses writings, the manuscript and page numbers are usually included in the text, so that quotations can be located easily.

LT: Letters, with the number of the letter as given in the French edition of St. Thrses collected works, Sainte Thrse de lEnfant-Jsus et de la Sainte-Face: uvres compltes (Textes et Dernires Paroles), Cerf 1992. http://bibliotheque.editionsducerf.fr/par%20page/2653/TM.htm#

PN: Poems, with the number of the poem as given in Oeuvres Compltes, Cerf 1992.

Pr: Prayers, with the number of the prayer as given in Oeuvres Compltes, Cerf 1992.

YN: Yellow notebook (last conversations), followed by the date.

T his book is based on a retreat that I preached in a parish near Madrid on the first weekend of October 2010, close to the liturgical feast of St. Thrse of Lisieux.

In it, I tried to present the essential message of this young Carmelite nun, who died at the age of twenty-four and whom John Paul II proclaimed a Doctor of the Church in 1997. I wanted to explain what this completely new little way, this way of trust and love

Shortly before her death, Thrse intuited that a huge task awaited her.

I feel that I am going to my rest but above all, I feel that my mission is about to begin, my mission of making God loved as I love him, of giving my little way to other souls. If God grants my request, my Heaven will be spent on earth, until the end of the world. Yes, I wish to spend my Heaven in doing good on earth.

The wonderful way in which Thrses teaching spread, and continues spreading today, shows that her desire was not an illusion but reflected the wisdom of God the Father, who has hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to babes.

I did not think that the six conferences I gave in the course of that weekend should be made into a book, but I was asked if they could be published. Being unable to undertake a thorough revision of the texts, I have simply gone through the transcripts and tried to improve the style, clarify or complete some points, and add references and relevant quotations.

The result is certainly not perfectit is still in a spoken style rather than a written one, and there are repetitions and digressions. Even so, it may help some people and, in particular, give them the desire to go more deeply into the message of the young Carmelite from Lisieux, which is, in my opinion, essential for the Church and society today.

In a vulnerable, wounded world like ours, where nevertheless the Holy Spirit is addressing all Christians with a ringing call to holiness and inspiring them with a desire to live out the Gospel message in all its depth, I think there is no better path than the one St. Thrse of Lisieux offers us: her little way of trust and love. This book is best used, obviously, in accordance with its original intention, as the guideline for a retreat. For example, you could use it over the course of a week, reading one chapter a day and then taking time to meditate on it, re-reading the quotations in the context of your personal prayer, and asking yourself what light they throw on your own life, what invitations our Lord is making to you through them.

Thrse also uses the expression way of simple, loving trust. LT 261.

See the end of ms B.

YN, July 17, 1897.

Cf. Luke 10:21.

Cf. ms C, 3 r.

A COMPLETELY NEW WAY

T he main topic I am going to talk about is trust in God. The world we live in is not an easy one, and we sometimes carry, for different reasons, a heavy load of worries. It is therefore important for us to increase our trust; to ask the Holy Spirit for the strength of faith to be able to face up to everything we will have to live through in these times of ours.

When dealing with this topic, I sense strongly that God wants to create a new people and fill them with the strength of the Holy Spirit: a people who will be able to produce plentiful fruits for his glory, the proclamation of the Gospel, and the good of all mankind. This, however, is a people that includes little children and the poor. Gods real strength is not mere human strengthit is not a matter of physical, mental, or intellectual abilities, useful though they may be. Gods strength is made perfect in mans weakness, as St. Paul says. We are invited to let ourselves be visited in our littleness, our poverty, our weaknesses, to receive a new strength: the strength of trust and faith.

The Church is going through difficult times. These difficulties, of course, are not the same in France as in Spain or in Pakistan, but we all face a definite spiritual combat. More than ever, perhaps, the Lord wants to give us his Holy Spirit, the Spirit that helps us in our weakness, as the Letter to the Romans says so beautifully. It is he who teaches us to pray, introduces us into our true relationship with God, it is he who teaches us to believe, hope, and love. I am convinced that the Lord wants to do great things in our hearts. If you take the time to read this book prayerfully, with a heart open to Gods Word, he will work marvels in you.

In the first five chapters of the book, I will comment on some passages from the writings of St. Thrse of Lisieux, a saint who received a special grace to establish us firmly in the trusting attitude of small children. I shall talk about some of the lights received by St. Thrse, which are still extremely valuable for us today. In the last chapter, I describe how to practice that trust amidst the difficulties and trials life brings. Its easy to trust when everything is going well, but when everything is going wrong, its another matter! But still we must; and here we shall see how to do it, in a way that I hope will prove practical.