No, I am not a Saint; I’ve never performed the actions of a Saint. I’m a very little soul upon whom God has bestowed graces; that’s what I am. What I say is the truth; you’ll see this in Heaven.
–Saint Therese of Lisieux (1873-1897)
This daring ambition of aspiring to great sanctity has never left me. I don’t rely on my own merits, because I haven’t any; I put all my confidence in Him who is virtue, who is Holiness itself.
–Saint Therese of Lisieux (1873-1897)
I always wanted to become a saint…Instead of being discouraged, I told myself that God would not make me wish for something impossible…I will look for some means of going to heaven by a little way which is very short and very straight. It is your arms, Jesus, which are the elevator to carry me to heaven. So there is no need for me to grow up. In fact, just the opposite: I must become less and less.
–Saint Therese of Lisieux (1873-1897)
You know well enough that Our Lord does not look so much at the greatness of our actions, nor even at their difficulty, but at the love with which we do them.
–Saint Therese of Lisieux (1873-1897)
I am not always faithful, but I never get discouraged. I abandon myself into the arms of Jesus and there I find again all that I have lost and much more besides.
–Saint Therese of Lisieux (1873-1897)
Everything is a grace, everything is the direct effect of our Father’s love – difficulties, contradictions, humiliations, all the soul’s miseries, her burdens, her needs – everything, because through them, she learns humility, realizes her weakness. Everything is a grace because everything is God’s gift. Whatever be the character of life or its unexpected events – to the heart that loves, all is well.
–Saint Therese of Lisieux (1873-1897)
