A00239 - Book of the Month for February 2024: The Story of a Soul by Therese of Lisieux: Part Two
"The mystery of my vocation, of my entire life, and above all, of the special graces Jesus has given me, stood revealed. He does not call those who are worthy, but those He chooses to call. As St. Paul says: "God will have mercy on whom He will have mercy; so then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy." (Cf. Rom. 9:15-16).
(The Story of a Soul, pg. 3)
"For a long time, I had wondered why God had preferences, why He did not give the same degree of grace to everyone. I was rather surprised that He should pour out such extraordinary graces on great sinners like St. Paul, St. Augustine and so many others, forcing His grace on them, so to speak. I was rather surprised, too, when reading the lives of the Saints, to find Our Lord treating certain privileged souls with the greatest tenderness from the cradle to the grave, removing all obstacles from their upward path to Him, and preserving the radiance of their baptismal robe from the stains of sin. Also, I wondered why so many poor savages die without even hearing Our Lord's name. Jesus chose to enlighten me on this mystery. He opened the book of nature before me, and I saw that every flower He has created has a beauty of its own, that the splendor of the rose and the lily's whiteness do not deprive the violet of its scent nor make less ravishing the daisy's charm. I saw that if every little flower wished to be a rose, Nature would lose her spring adornments, and the fields would be no longer enameled with their varied flowers.
"So it is in the world of souls, the living garden of the Lord. It pleases Him to create great Saints, who may be compared with the lilies or roses, but He has also created little ones, who must be content to be daisies or violets, nestling at His feet to delight His eyes when He should choose to look at them. The happier they are to be as He wills, the more perfect they are."
(The Story of a Soul, pgs. 3-4.)
"Father would come and fetch me about eight o'clock. I remember how I used to love looking up at the stars on the way home. I was quite fascinated by Orion's Belt, which hung like a cluster of golden pearls across the deep vault of the sky, for they seemed to me to form the letter "T." "Look, Father," I used to say, "my name is written in Heaven." Then this miserable earth lost all interest for me, and I would ask him to guide me; without looking where my feet were going, I threw my head back and never tired of gazing at the stars."
(The Story of a Soul, pg. 23.)
Peace,
Everett "Skip" Jenkins
----- Forwarded Message -----
From: skipjen2865@aol.com <skipjen2865@aol.com>
To:
Sent: Friday, February 2, 2024 at 03:58:00 AM PST
Subject: The Book of the Month for February 2024: The Story of a Soul by Therese of Lisieux
"I feel that my mission is soon to begin, to make others love God as I do, to teach others my 'little way.' I will spend my Heaven in doing good upon earth. ..."
St. Therese
July 17, 1897
{Therese of Lisieux would die on September 30, 1897 at the age of 24.}
"The Story of a Soul, better known to the English public as The Autobiography of St. Therese of Lisieux, was first published in 1899. Today it ranks with the greatest of the Church's spiritual classics, has been translated into practically every well-known language, and has had a worldwide influence. The reading of this book has brought innumerable people into the Church or back to the practice of their religion.' {Foreward, page ix, The Story of a Soul.}
"The whole work was quite spontaneous, we may say that she did not so much write a book as live it, and then it wrote itself. Since its first publication, the appeal of the Autobiography has been universal, and the demand for its prodigious." {Prologue, page xv, The Story of a Soul.}
"The Sacred Congregation of Rites in 1921 stated that 'in the Autobiography which Saint Therese wrote by order of her Superiors we find a fact as wonderful as it is universal, that is to say, the abundant fruit which is derived from the reading of this attractive and fascinating biography -- effects which far exceed the narrow limits of the merely human.
"In fact this reading moves the hearts of men, inclines their wills, amends their lives, kindles charity and produces other salutary results which absolutely transcends human power, and can find no adequate explanation except in the action of Divine Grace itself." {Prologue, page xv, The Story of a Soul.}
Peace,
Everett "Skip" Jenkins
----- Forwarded Message -----
From: skipjen2865@aol.com <skipjen2865@aol.com>
To:
Sent: Sunday, January 21, 2024 at 06:25:06 AM PST
Subject: The Book of the Month for February 2024: The Story of a Soul by Therese of Lisieux
It is Sunday and I am back in Manila now. Since it is Sunday, I decided that it would be good to attend mass. As it happens, the Shrine of Saint Therese of the Child Jesus
is only two blocks from my hotel. I missed the morning mass but returned later on in the day for the evening mass. Unfortunately, the service was primarily conducted in Tagalog, a language in which I do not have any competence. Nevertheless, I did stand when the others stood and I did pray when the others prayed. However, during the actual sermon itself, I found myself reading about Saint Therese.
and became intrigued by the concept of the "little way of spiritual childhood" that evolved from her book The Story of a Soul.
It was Saint Therese's life as set forth in this book which inspired a great many people including a certain nun who took the name Teresa
in tribute to Saint Therese and whose saying
"We can do no great things, only small things with great love."
is one of the scrolls that adorns my bedroom wall.
Given this connection, I am now inclined to learn more about Therese of Lisieux, the woman who is described by some as the Emily Dickinson of Catholic saints. And so, for the month of February, The Story of a Soul by Therese of Lisieux will be the book of the month.
Peace,
Everett "Skip" Jenkins
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From: skipjen2865@aol.com <skipjen2865@aol.com>
To:
Sent: Monday, January 15, 2024 at 01:55:03 AM PST
Subject: Cloud 9 on MLK Day
Today is MLK Day in the United States. It is also Martin Luther King's actual birthday, and it is also the day I chose to retire from the City Attorney's Office for the City of Richmond. I chose Martin Luther King's birthday for my retirement day so that I would always remember my retirement day by remembering Martin's most famous speech, -- the "I Have A Dream" speech
by remembering how Martin stirred the crowd on August 28, 1963, with this thundering conclusion
"And if America is to be a great nation this must become true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania! Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado! Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California! But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia! Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee! Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring. And when this happens, when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"
and by adopting Martin's last words in the speech as my own retirement motto:
"Free at last! Free at Last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"
Usually to commemorate my "Freedom" day, I like to go to Encinitas and meditate on the meaning of the day at the Self-Realization Fellowship Meditation Garden. However, this year, for reasons personal and professional, I have ventured to the Philippine island of Siargao
which is home to the surfing mecca known as Cloud 9.
As I walked along the pier that ventures out into the ocean waters where the waves are generated so powerfully, I could only reflect on this Freedom Day with great appreciation and to contemplate a trailblazing song that won Motown it's first ever Grammy Award some 55 years ago.
Despite the hardships, sometimes Cloud Nine can be achieved.
Happy MLK Day everyone,
Everett "Skip" Jenkins
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