A. A. Noser - Joy in Suffering

Joy in
Suffering

According to
St. Therese of the
Child Jesus

A Novena:
9 Days of Instructions
and Prayers

Bishop A. A. Noser,
S.V.D., D.D.

Nihil Obstat:	P. L. Biermann Censor Librorum
Imprimatur:		George Cardinal Mundelein, D.D. Archbishop of Chicago

Originally published by Divine Word Missionary Publications, Techny, Illinois in approximately 1953. (Republished as Peace in Suffering by the Carmelite Nuns of Allentown, Pennsylvania in 1986.)

Retypeset and republished in 2006 by TAN Books, an Imprint of Saint Benedict Press, LLC, Charlotte, North Carolina, with permission of the Society of the Divine Word.

Cover and frontispiece illustration: Photo Office Central de Lisieux.

TAN Books
Charlotte, North Carolina
www.TANBooks.com
2011

St. Therese of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face

Yes, all that I have written about my thirst for suffering is really true. I do not regret having surrendered myself to Love.... Oh!... I love Him!... My God, I... love Thee!St. Therese at the end of her life

Contents

My Joy and My Peace

By St. Therese

My joy I find in pain and loss,

I love the thorns that guard the rose,

With joy I kiss each heavy cross ,

And smile with every tear that flows.

When clouds the sunny skies oercast

And weary grows my heart the while,

My joy it is that joy is past ,

And gone my Lords consoling smile .

My peace is hid in Jesus breast:

May His sweet will alone be done!

What fear can mar my perfect rest,

Who loves the shadow as the sun?

Wheneer He stealeth from my side ,

With many a fond and sweet caress,

I then to Him my love confide

With double warmth and tenderness .

Tis all for Thee, dear Jesus mine,

Yea, suffering is my gladsome choice ;

My joy on earthmy bliss divine

Ah, tis to make Thy Heart rejoice!

Since loves divine, celestial breath

Is all I need my heart to bless,

What matters life , what matters death?

Love is my peace, my happiness!

Introduction

St. Therese and Suffering

A Little Child Shall Lead Them

S UFFERING is the common lot of man. Many people spend their lives in an unbroken effort to plan ways of escaping it. All through the ages philosophers have racked their brains in an attempt to find a solution of the mystery of pain. Nineteen hundred years ago the Son of God came down from Heaven and chose to be a Man of Sorrows, that He might be the Way and Model for suffering mankind. But men either rejected or neglected His wholesome doctrine; so God, who is ever rich in mercy and compassion, in order to recall these priceless lessons, has placed before the eyes of the world today a tender maiden to teach them in a most attractive manner, both by word and example. This maiden was solicitous not about avoiding suffering, but about embracing it joyously with all her heart. The words of the prophet, A little child shall lead them, are fully verified in St. Therese of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face.

Did St. Therese Suffer Much?

This question naturally suggests itself as one looks upon the cheerful, almost smiling countenance of the Little Flower pressing her rose-covered crucifix to her heart. Even those with whom she lived for nearly nine years openly voiced their belief that she had not. She herself, however, gave a different answer as her last days drew near. Pointing to a glass containing medicine of a bright-red color, she said, You see this little glass? One would suppose that it contained a most delicious draught, whereas, in reality, it is more bitter than anything else that I take. It is the image of my life. To others it has been all rose colored; they have thought that I continually drank of a most precious wine; yet to me it has been full of bitterness . I say bitterness , yet my life has not been a bitter one, for I have learned to find joy and sweetness in all that is bitter . A slow and thoughtful reading of St. Thereses autobiography, letters and poems will fully convince one of the truth of these wordsyes, even of that seemingly incredible and exaggerated cry of her anguished soul: I could never have believed it was possible to suffer so intensely!

You Must Tell People This...

Toward the end of her life, knowing that people might be deceived by her perpetual aspect of happiness, St. Therese insisted on having it made known that she had suffered much. Deep down in my soul, she said, there are, I admit, joy and transports of delight.... But that would not encourage others if they thought that I had not suffered much.... Oh, if they only knew how much I suffer... ! I have had much to suffer on earth. You must tell people this.... !

In these pages we propose to give an outline of the teaching of St. Therese on Joy in Suffering. The readings and prayers are arranged in the convenient form of a novena with three main thoughts for reflection for each day. It is hardly possible to give more than the barest sketch in such a short book, but this little study is offered as a tribute of gratitude and love to the Saint, and in the hope that it may be of service to her devoted clients whose devotion to her is not of the purely emotional and sentimental type, but who are her true clients and who, like St. Therese herself, are ready to be generous even to heroism and immolation in their love of God, to be among her legion of little victims of Divine Love who will follow her in triumph by joy in suffering. St. Therese, be our guide!

Note: We include here, for the light that it may shed, a footnote which appears on p. 133 of Thoughts of St. Therese : No reader should be discouraged by this chapter on Suffering. What St. Therese says is very consoling for those who are nailed to the Cross; and others must remember that God had given to His humble Servant a sensible attraction for suffering, which is a rare grace and reserved to very few souls, though many imagine they possess it and mistake their road, choosing to follow this supposed attraction. Without the sensible desire and even though experiencing an invincible repugnance to suffering, souls can be sanctified. What pleases God is that the suffering be borne with love. Publisher , 2006.

Preparatory Prayer

(To be recited daily during the Novena)

D EAR ST. THERESE of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face, I thank the Most Holy Trinity for all the graces lavished upon you, and through you upon the world. I have great confidence in your intercession, both because of your power in Heaven, since you yourself said that God would refuse you nothing, and because of your goodness and your promise that no one would invoke you without receiving an answer, since you would spend your Heaven in doing good upon earth and let fall from Heaven a shower of roses. Intercede for me with the loving Hearts of Jesus and Mary, that the Holy Spirit may assist me to understand your teaching on Joy in Suffering and may grant me the gift of fortitude, that fired with a burning love of God and souls, I may eagerly follow you in joyous suffering and one day share in your glorious triumph. I promise to show my heartfelt gratitude by doing whatever I can to promote your honor and to make you ever more widely known and loved throughout the world, for the greater glory of the Most Holy Trinity. Amen.

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