A spiritual charism as a legacy

Continuous prayer

“Pray and make others pray”

this double supplication recurs like a refrain in Father Terme’s letters to his religious.

He once wrote to Sister Agnes: “Let us never tire of raising our supplicating hands to Heaven” (letter of 21 December 1830). Mother Thérèse went even further, declaring one day after a retreat in August 1866: “I have only one need, one thought: to pray, always to pray.” (‘Notes by Mother Chartier on our venerated Mother Thérèse,’ Nov. 1885).

Mother Thérèse went even further, declaring one day after a retreat in August 1866: “I have only one need, one thought: to pray, always to pray.” (‘Notes by Mother Chartier on our venerated Mother Thérèse,’ Nov. 1885).

Retreat resolution

In 1872, Mother Thérese wrote down this resolution at the end of her retreat: “To apply myself more and more to contemplation during the course of my day, keeping as much as possible the memory of God’s presence.” The fact that this attitude was the subject of a resolution indicates that it required effort on the part of Mother Thérèse, who had been a religious for 46 years. Her contemporaries were well aware of her “lively, ardent and active nature.” But her ability to control herself was such that, without knowing it, she offered a living image of prayer. Mother Felicia Rostaing reports: “Every time this image of prayer passed before my eyes, I withdrew into myself to gather a communicative grace that came from her. Her prayer was continuous. I never dared to speak to her during these fleeting encounters: it seemed to me that it would be like tearing her away from her pious conversations with God.” (Mother Félicie Rostaing).

Invocations to the Holy Name of Jesus in Mother Thérese's sewing basket

To support her prayer and remain continually in God’s presence throughout the day, including at work, Mother Thérese found a way. She wrote invocations (for example, to the Sacred Heart or the Holy Name of Jesus) on small pieces of paper, kept them in a small bag tucked into her sewing basket, and regularly picked one to nourish her meditation and prayer.

Her union with God became so intimate, so vital to her, that one day she wrote: “Oh, that I could think of nothing but God; everything else is a bore to me.”