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Do not be frightened

  • SAINT THéRèSE OF LISIEUX

The thoughts of Jesus are not our thoughts and his ways are not our ways.


MadonnaChaliceHe is offering us a chalice as bitter as our feeble nature can bear! Let us not withdraw our lips from this chalice prepared by the hand of Jesus.

Let us see life as it really is. It is a moment between two eternities. Let us suffer in peace!

I admit that this word peace seemed a little strong to me, but the other day, when reflecting on it, I found the secret of suffering in peace. The one who says peace is not saying joy, or at least, felt joy. To suffer in peace it is enough to will all that Jesus wills. We must resemble Jesus, and Jesus is all bloody, he is crowned with thorns. To your eyes a thousand years are like yesterday, come and gone, no more than a watch in the night (Ps 89:4). By the rivers of Babylon there we sat and wept, remembering Zion; on the poplars that grew there we hung up our harps. For it was there that they asked us, our captors, for songs, our ­oppressors, for joy. "Sing to us," they said, "one of Sion's songs." O how could we sing the song of the Lord on alien soil? (Ps 136:1-4). No, let us not sing the canticles of heaven to creatures. But, like Cecilia, let us sing a melodious canticle in our heart to our Beloved. The canticle of suffering united to his sufferings is what delights his heart the most. Jesus is on fire with love for us. Look at his adorable face! Look at his eyes lifeless and lowered! Look at his wounds. Look at Jesus in his face. There you will see how he loves us.

This is Meaghen Gonzalez, Editor of CERC. I hope you appreciated this piece. We curate these articles especially for believers like you.

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Acknowledgement

Saint Thérèse of Lisieux. "Do not be frightened," excerpt from Saint Thérèse of Lisieux: General Correspondence, Vol. I, 1877-1890. ICS Publications (1982).

Reprinted under fair use. Image credit: Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

The Author

Saint Thérèse of Lisieux († 1897), "the Little Flower," was a French Carmelite nun who died at the age of twenty-four. She was declared a Doctor of the Church in 1997.

Copyright © 1982 ICS Publications