Ask St Therese to accompany you

"St Therese wrote that the four Gospels were her greatest treasure. There she came to know Jesus Christ more profoundly and to love Him more deeply. She wrote, 'I wanted to love, to love Jesus with a passion, giving Him a thousand proofs of my love while it was possible. I copied out several passages on perfect love, on the reception God will give His Elect at the moment He becomes their Reward, great and eternal and I repeated over and over the words of love burning in my heart' (Story of a Soul, 102-3).

The beautiful relationship that she had with Jesus can in some measure be ours. St Therese invites us to join her in reflecting God's Word in Lent, to allow God's Word to touch us in transforming ways. As we meet God's Word each day and join that Word to St Therese's reflection, we will be drawn into prayer. [...] Our heart may wish to praise the Lord or simply be thankful for all that we have received. We may find ourselves resting with a word or a phrase over a period of time because the word engages our heart.

Our prayerful mindfulness of a word or a phrase is truly a form of lectio divina, an ancient form of prayer in which God's Word is central. The experience of God's Word in lectio is live giving, providing a way of bonding with God's love.

St Therese invites us to sit or to kneel and to put ourselves in the presence of God. God is always with us but we need to become mindful of His loving  presence within us. From that act of faith, we can begin our Lenten meditation. Ask St Therese to accompany you and to help you to draw closer to the living God Who is Christ Jesus, the Lord."

-- A Lenten Journey with Jesus Christ and St Therese of Lisieux by Fr John F Russell, OCarm