In the heart of the Church: St Thérèse and the Eucharist

St. Thérèse of Lisieux (1873-1897), the Carmelite nun known to older generations as ‘the Little Flower’, had a deep and distinctive relationship with the Eucharist that shaped both her spirituality and her life. She grew up in a loving and devout family but was not spared suffering in childhood. Her mother, St Zélie Martin, died when Thérèse was only four years old, a loss that left a lasting mark on her sensitive nature.

Following several of her sisters into the Carmelite monastery in her hometown of Lisieux, she entered Carmel at the age of fifteen. There she lived a remarkable life of hidden holiness, simplicity and spiritual insight before her death from tuberculosis in 1897 at the age of twenty-four. She never lived to see the twentieth century, yet in many ways she can be regarded as a remarkably modern saint, living at a time of growing scepticism, rapid material progress and increasing pressures on the Church. Her mission, as she eventually discovered, was simply ‘to be love in the heart of the Church’.

I have copies of her autobiography, Story of a Soul, in both English and French. Along with my parents shortly before my father died, I visited her childhood home at Lisieux as well as the Carmelite monastery that succeeded the original Carmel, which was badly damaged during the Second World War.

In her autobiography, Thérèse describes her First Holy Communion as a moment of intense joy and intimate union with Jesus. She rejected any idea that Holy Communion was a reward reserved for the perfect. Rather, she saw it as a gift and a remedy for the weak and imperfect. Her ‘little way’ was founded on the conviction that Jesus comes to us precisely because we are small, needy and dependent upon his mercy.

Her spirituality of spiritual childhood emphasised trust, humility and complete confidence in God's love rather than extraordinary achievements. She saw in the Eucharist the humility of Christ, who gives himself totally and comes to us under the simple appearance of bread. At Carmel she longed to receive Holy Communion as frequently as possible, though frequent Communion was not as commonly practised in her day as it would become in the twentieth century.

In 1895 she made her famous ‘Act of Oblation to Merciful Love’, offering herself completely to God's transforming love. Her Holy Communions were closely united to this self-offering. In the Eucharist she received the love of Christ and, in return, offered herself entirely to him.