This Sunday the Vatican published the apostolic exhortation C’est la confiance of Pope Francis, on trust in the merciful love of God, on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the birth of Saint Therese of the Child Jesus.
The exhortation, composed of 53 paragraphs, points out at the end that “a century and a half after her birth, Therese is more alive than ever in the pilgrim Church, in the heart of God’s people. She accompanies us on our pilgrim way, doing good on earth, as she had so greatly desired.”
“The most lovely signs of her spiritual vitality are the innumerable ‘roses’ that Therese continues to strew: the graces God grants us through her loving intercession in order to sustain us on our journey through life,” he adds.
In January 2015, when the Holy Father went to the Philippines, he shared with journalists that before each trip or when faced with a concern he usually asks for a rose from Saint Therese, to whom he has special devotion.
“When I don’t know how things will go, I have the habit of asking Saint Therese of the Child Jesus to take the problem in her hands, and to send me a rose,” the Pontiff then explained.
Saint Therese of the Child Jesus or Saint Therese of Lisieux was a French discalced Carmelite nun. She was born in the city of Alençon, on January 2, 1873. She was declared a saint in 1925 by Pope Pius XI and proclaimed “Doctor of the Church” on October 19, 1997, by Saint John Paul II. Pope Saint Pius X considered her “the greatest saint of modern times.” She is also, with Saint Francis Xavier, Patroness of the Missions.
Below is the prayer with which Pope Francis concludes his exhortation C’est la confiance:
Dear Saint Therese,
the Church needs to radiate the brightness,
the fragrance and the joy of the Gospel.
Send us your roses!
Help us to be, like yourself,
ever confident in God’s immense love for us,
so that we may imitate each day
your “little way” of holiness.
Amen.
(This article was translated by Jacob Stein)
