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Prayer Sheet
Fourth Sunday of Advent, Year A
Preparation:
Be still for a moment. Be aware of God with you and quietly welcome the
Christ Child into your heart.
Reading:
Therese, afflicted by over-sensitivity since her mother's death is cured
by a grace given her on Christmas day. God caused her to "grow up"
and thus freed, she would now do great things for him.
I was really unbearable because of my extreme touchiness;
if I happened to cause anyone I loved some little trouble, even unwittingly,
instead of forgetting about it and not crying, which made matters worse,
I cried like a Magdalene and then when I began to cheer up, I'd begin to
cry again for having cried. All arguments were useless; I was quite unable
to correct this terrible fault. I really don't know how I could entertain
the thought of entering Carmel when I was still in the swaddling clothes
of a child!
God would have to work a little miracle to make me grow up in an instant,
and this miracle He performed on that unforgettable Christmas day. On that
luminous night which sheds such light on the delights of the Holy Trinity,
Jesus, the gentle, little Child of only one hour, changed the night of
my soul into rays of light. On that night when He made Himself subject
to weakness and suffering for love of me, He made me strong and courageous,
arming me with His weapons. Since that night I have never been defeated
in any combat, but rather walked from victory to victory, beginning, so
to speak, "to run as a giant"! The source of my tears was dried
up and has since reopened rarely and with great difficulty. This justified
what was often said to me: "You cry so much during your childhood,
you'll no longer have tears to shed later on!
(Story of A Soul. Clarke p 97-98)
Scriptural Echo:
The Lord is the everlasting God, the creator of the ends of the earth…..
He gives power to the faint, and strengthens the powerless…..
but those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength,
they shall mount up with wings like eagles,
they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint. NRSV Isaiah
40:28,29,31
I can do all things through him who strengthens me. NRSV Phil 4:13
Questions:
1. What aspect or imperfection in your personality have you been waging
a war against with no victory in sight?
2. Are you able to accept your imperfection and the suffering associated
with it just as God embraced humanity and subjected himself to it as a
little child at Christmas?
3. In Thèrése' heart and mind, she has no doubt whatsoever
that Jesus saw fit to make himself a child out of love for her. Could you
have the same confidence that every action and promise of God is expressly
for you, particularly and personally?
Quote for the week:
Jesus made Himself subject to weakness and suffering
for love of me.
Third Sunday of Advent, Year A
Preparation:
Close your eyes for a moment and open your heart to God's love.
Be aware of the freeing power of grace.
Reading:
Therese looking back on her own journey is filled with love for God, seeing
how he has, with his fatherly care, preserved her from evil in all her
ways.
"I have no merit at all, then, in not having given myself up to the
love of creatures. I was preserved from it only through God's mercy! I
know that without Him, I could have fallen as low as St. Mary Magdalene,
and the profound words of Our Lord to Simon resound with a great sweetness
in my soul. I know that "he to whom less is forgiven, LOVES less,"
but I also know that Jesus has forgiven me more than St. Mary Magdalene
since He forgave me in advance by preventing me from falling. Ah! I wish
I could explain what I feel. Here is an example, which will express my
thoughts at least a little. Suppose a clever physician's child meets with
a stone in his path, which causes him to fall and break a limb. His father
comes to him immediately, picks him up lovingly, takes care of this hurt,
using all the resources of his profession for this. His child, completely
cured, shows his gratitude. This child is no doubt right in loving his
father! But I am going to make another comparison. The father, knowing
there is a stone in his child's way, hastens ahead of him and removes it
but without anyone's seeing him do it. Certainly, this child, the object
of his father's tender foresight, but UNAWARE of the misfortune from which
he was delivered by him, will not thank him and will love him less than
if he had been cured by him. But if he should come to learn the danger
from which he escaped, will he not love his father more? Well, I am this
child, the object of the foreseeing love of a Father who has not sent His
Word to save the just, but sinners. He wants me to love Him because He
has forgiven me not much but ALL. He has not expected me to love Him much
like Mary Magdalene, but He has willed that I KNOW how He has loved me
with a love of unspeakable foresight in order that now I may love Him unto
folly! I have heard it said that one cannot meet a pure soul who loves
more than a repentant soul; ah! how I would wish to give the lie to this
statement!" (Story of A Soul. Clarke p 83-84)
Scriptural Echo:
You who live in the shelter of the Most High, who abide in the shadow of
the Almighty,
will say to the Lord, "My refuge and my fortress; my God in whom I
trust."
For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the deadly
pestilence;
he will cover you with his pinions, and under his wings you will find refuge;
his faithfulness is a shield and buckler…..
A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but
it will not come near you…..
no evil will befall you, no scourge come near your tent.
For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your
ways.
On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot
against a stone.
(Psalm 91:1-4, 7, 10-12 NRSV)
Questions:
1. What are the things in your life that might be a stumbling stone to
a deeper relationship with God?
2. Recall times when you have experienced God's mercy?
3. Given Thèrése insight to the Heavenly Father's all foreseeing
love, how would you now interpret the incidences where life has been good
to you?
Quote for the week:
"He will…. guard you in all your ways."
Second Sunday of Advent, Year A
Preparation:
Adopt a posture, which you will be able to hold comfortably throughout
the prayer. Become aware of Christ who is in your heart. Prepare to listen
to him.
Reading:
Therese's Communion, May 8th 1884: The eleven year old is deeply in love
with Jesus, present to her in the Eucharist. Pauline her favourite sister
had entered Carmel and could not be there.
"Ah! how sweet was that first kiss of Jesus! It
was a kiss of love; I felt that I was loved, and I said: "I love You,
and I give myself to You forever!" There were no demands made, no
struggles, no sacrifices; for a long time now Jesus and poor little Thèrése
looked at and understood each other. That day, it was no longer simply
a look, it was a fusion; they were no longer two, Thèrése
had vanished as a drop of water is lost in the immensity of the ocean.
Jesus alone remained; He was the Master, the King. Had not Thèrése
asked Him to take away her liberty, for her liberty frightened her? She
felt so feeble and fragile that she wanted to be united forever to the
divine Strength! Her joy was too great, too deep for her to contain, and
tears of consolation soon flowed, to the great consternation of her companions.
They asked one another: "Why was she crying? Was there something bothering
her?" -- "No, it was because her mother was not there or her
sister whom she loves so much, her sister the Carmelite." They did
not understand that all the joy of Heaven having entered my heart, this
exiled heart was unable to bear it without shedding tears. Oh! no, the
absence of Mama didn't cause me any sorrow on the day of my First Communion.
Wasn't Heaven itself in my soul, and hadn't Mama taken her place there
a long time ago? Thus in receiving Jesus' visit, I received also Mama's.
She blessed me and rejoiced at my happiness. I was not crying because of
Pauline's absence. I would have been happy to see her by my side, but for
a long time I had accepted my sacrifice of her. On that day, joy alone
filled my heart and I united myself to her who gave herself irrevocably
to Him who gave Himself so lovingly to me!"
(Story of A Soul. Clarke p 77-78)
Scriptural Echo:
I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you and that your
joy may be complete.
Jn 15:17 NRSV
Shout for joy, daughter of Zion, Israel, shout aloud!
Rejoice, exult with all your heart, daughter of Jerusalem! ….
Yahweh your God is in your midst, a victorious warrior.
He will exult with joy over you, he will renew you by his love;
he will dance with shouts of joy for you as on a day of festival.
Zeph 3:14, 17-18 Jerusalem Bible
Questions:
1. How does Thèrése' extraordinary vision and understanding
of the Eucharist and of heaven shape your thoughts on them?
2. Do you seek and hope for the intimacy as experienced by Thèrése'
in "The Kiss of Love"? Why or why not?
First Sunday of Advent, Year A
Preparation:
Make the sign of the cross slowly, aloud. "Think", as you do
this, about the presence of the Father.
Reading:
God teaches the young girl how to meditate. [Mental Prayer is simply to
meditate on what God says to us and to allow love to spring up.] Let us
meditate on Therese's words.
At this time in my life nobody had ever taught me
how to make mental prayer, and yet I had a great desire to make it. Marie,
finding me pious enough, allowed me to make only my vocal prayers. One
day, one of my teachers at the Abbey asked me what I did on my free afternoons
when I was alone. I told her I went behind my bed in an empty space which
was there, and that it was easy to close myself in with my bed curtain
and that "I thought." "But what do you think about?"
she asked. "I think about God, about life, about ETERNITY ... I think!"
The good religious laughed heartily at me, and later on she loved reminding
me of the time when I thought, asking me if I was still thinking. I understand
now that I was making mental prayer without knowing it and that God was
already instructing me in secret.
(Story of A Soul. Clarke p. 74-75)
Scriptural Echo:
O God, you are my God, I am seeking you,
my soul is thirsting for you,…..
On my bed I think of you,
I meditate on you all night long,
for you have always helped me.
I sing for joy in the shadow of your wings;
my soul clings close to you,
your right hand supports me. (Ps 63: 1, 6-8 Jerusalem Bible)
Questions:
1. What helped Therese to "think". Can you learn from this?
2. How would you create your own sacred place?
3. What do your thoughts dwell on when you are alone?
Quote for the week:
"I think about God, about life, about ETERNITY
... I think!"
Week Eight - Christ the King,
Year C
Preparation:
Lay aside all the things in your life that clamour for your
attention. Turn, instead, your heart and mind to God and ask
Him to be in your thoughts, on your lips and in your heart as
you begin this prayer meditation.
Reading:
The young woman at 22 looks back on the girl of 10. She is thankful that
her impressionable heart was not allowed to be fascinated by things that
pass, but remained centred on the loving Creator. For her God is King and
the giver of life.
"God gave me the grace of knowing the world just
enough to despise it and separate myself from it. I can say it was during
my stay at Alencon that I made my first entrance into the world. Everything
was joy and happiness around me; I was entertained, coddled, and admired;
in a word, my life during those two weeks was strewn only with flowers.
I must admit this type of life had its charms for me. Wisdom is right in
saying: "The bewitching of vanity overturns the innocent mind!"
At the age of ten the heart allows itself to be easily dazzled, and I consider
it a great grace not to have remained at Alencon. The friends we had there
were too worldly; they knew too well how to ally the joys of this earth
to the service of God. They didn't think about death enough, and yet death
had paid its visit to a great number of those whom I knew, the young, the
rich, the happy! I love to return in spirit to the enchanting places where
they lived, wondering where these people are, what became of their houses
and gardens where I saw them enjoy life's luxuries? And I see that all
is vanity and vexation of spirit under the sun, that the only good is to
love God with all one's heart and to be poor in spirit here on earth."
(Story of A Soul. Clarke p. 73)
Scriptural Echo:
Do not love the world or the things in the world. The love of the Father
is not in those who love the world; for all that is in the world - the
desire of the flesh, the desire of the eyes, the pride in riches - comes
not from the Father but from the world. And the world and its desire are
passing away, but those who do the will of God live forever.
(1 John 2:15-17)
Questions:
1. What was Therese's experience of the 'world' at Alencon? What conclusions
did she draw from it?
2. How do you live/blend/ embody the Christian call for a poverty of spirit
with the lifestyle choices you make each day?
[Earlier prayer reflections: Oct-Nov]
[Background information on these prayer sheets]
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