On this feast day of Saint Therese, we remember that she suffered excruciating pain, physically, emotionally and spiritually.
Suffering pain from tuberculosis, suffering rejection and constant misunderstanding, feeling profoundly her own weakness, and feeling cut off from God…all these made up the awful morass of suffering in which she continually lived.
Traveling through this earth as if it were a wasteland…knowing that only one thing matters, love and the pursuit of love, as we journey to heaven. “I will be Love in the heart of the Church,” she said. “Love will be my vocation.”

All these recollections speak to me; they draw me in. they help me to make sense of an otherwise senseless life. Pain has meaning when it is shared with Christ, shared and offered for all, in union with Christ. Suffering has value when it is accepted for the purpose of love; for purification and preparation for heaven.
Lord, that I may see…
Lord, that I may live,
Accepting all you offer me,
In climbing the Mountain to Christ.