Wednesday, October 1, 2008

St Therese The Little Flower

Today is the feast day of on of my favorite saints, St Therese. Isn't she beautiful? I remember the first St Therese novena I prayed. Yes, I got the roses. It was the first of many.


St Therese, the little flower,
please pick me a rose from the heavenly
garden and send it to me with a message of love
Ask God to grant me the favor I thee implore and tell
Him I will love Him each day more and more.
Amen.
The above prayer plus 5 Our Fathers, 5 Hail Mary's and 5 Glory Be's must be said on 5 successive days. On the 5th day the 5th set of prayers having been completed, offer one more set 5 Our Fathers, 5 Hail Mary's and 5 Glory Be's.
It is said that on the 5th day, when you least expect it, your prayer will be answered with a "shower of roses" . Some how, you just know when your prayer is answered. My first time praying it was many years ago, like 15 years, I think. I was praying for my husband at the time (who is now an ex) and his depression. Desperately. I was kind of just going through my conversion, learning about novenas, saints and all the treasures of my own Catholic faith that I did not even know I had.
I was talking to my mom on the phone and she mentioned they were going to go to a movie with my younger brother. So I asked if I could go with them, she said sure but I'm sure she thought that was kind of weird. (this was not in character with me, as I had kind of given my life to my husband) But I needed a break, and went without even asking him. I just said "I'm going to a movie with my parents, I'll be back in a few hours" and left. I had never done this in our whole 2 years of marriage, just gone and done something on my own like that. It happened to be the last day of my novena to St Therese.
After the movie, my dad took a weird way home and drove around a little, we ended up driving by a house where an older lady was out walking around her yard and we noticed a statue that was placed in a hole in a tree, it was beautiful. We urged my dad to drive around again and tell the lady how beautiful it was. He did. And as we were sitting in the vehicle talking to this lady in her yard, I noticed, all around her yard, she had tons of roses. Tons. (they were fake, but there were tons) They were everywhere. All of them roses, all different colors. At that moment in time, as it was frozen, just for the moment, she looked at me and said she had prayed all her life for her depression, that she had suffered all her life from it and she kept hanging on because of God. That God kept her going and pulled her through every time. A moment frozen in time, that is what it feels like when you get a direct answer, a prayer answer, on the 5th day of my novena, on a road that I noticed was a road I took every day to work, a house I drove by every day and never noticed the roses until that moment.
I continued to pray this special novena many times, getting roses in many different ways, noticing wild roses growing at a stoplight that I'd not noticed before. When a prayer is answered, it is not when you are looking for it though, it is always an "a-ha!" moment. A moment frozen in time, that is the only way I can describe it.
On this special day, I remember St Therese and how special she is to me and to so many. I remember her special "little way" she lived her life. She is a saint for all of us.
St Therese, please pray for us!
**on a side note: I always pronounced her name Therese, like Mother Theresa until our first All Saints party 3 years ago, Ballerina Rosie was dressed as her among others, but everyone else called her St Therese, like Ter-ez. OK, finally, now I usually say Ter-ez, but it is hard to switch and I usually end up saying both! :)

6 comments:

  1. Happy Feast of St. Therese!

    You know, actually, St. Therese is not one of the incorruptible saints, although I wish she was!!! :) (You had me curious though, and I watched the video that you linked to, and they never do list her, I don't know why they have her picture on the title page.)

    The reliquary containing her remains visited the US awhile back and my husband was able to travel a couple hours to visit it. I was on bedrest at the time and was unable to go with him. :(

    If you go to this link:
    http://www.sttherese.com/TourPhotos1.htm
    you can see photos of her the reliquary.

    Thanks for sharing on of your stories of the roses she has sent you! Thank is wonderful! I have received a few myself!

    I hope you have a wonderful day! God Bless!

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  2. I stand corrected. I always thought she was an incorruptible.

    Thank you SO much Jessica.

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  3. Glad you've been able to "stop and smell the roses" so to speak. I'm not very good with sticking to novenas or any formal prayer. I am more of a speak in my own words kind of prayer.

    I still am amazed every day by the way God shows us signs of His love, yet we don't always see it - even if we "drive by it every day." Kind of like when you're pregnant or trying, and all of a sudden you have this radar for other pregnant women...

    When you open your arms/heart and have patience for him to come to you (such as a multi-day novena), then what you have been waiting for becomes so apparent. You pretty much take a double take and just have to smile, nod and point at God. An "ah-ha" moment.

    Thanks for sharing! I always love to read your posts.

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  4. If you go to www.ask.com you can type in:
    Definitions of 'Thérèse de Lisieux'
    and find a auditory button to hear how to prounounce her name.

    tā-rĕź də lē-zyœ́

    I myself never knew which one to use. I'll just have to think "French" when I say it. Teresa of Avila must be the [tar-E-saw] pronunciation.

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  5. Hi Jamie! I am not sure if I know you or not! I googled "St. Therese" for some info for my new little flowers group and then spotted your RR button. Is this Sylvia Middleton's Yulia? Just wanted to say hi! Brenda Lamey

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  6. HI Brenda--nice to "meet" you! Not sure who the baby is on my RR button, I just signed up through RR to have a button to raise awareness of these sweet waiting babies.

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Thank you so much for stopping and commenting!