I have written at length of Thérèse of Lisieux’s famous Christmas Eve conversion. This year I had a little one of my own! I write about it HERE. Headed up to the Central Coast for the week–wishing you all peace, hope and joy.
ST. THÉRÈSE OF LISIEUX
ST. THÉRÈSE OF LISIEUX’S CHRISTMAS EVE CONVERSION

Thérèse of Lisieux, as you may know, is one of only three women to have been made a Doctor of the Church. Her mother died when Thérèse was 4. One by one, her four older sisters left for the cloister. She became emotionally clingy. A key moment in her spiritual development occurred on Christmas eve […]
THE BORDERS OF OURSELVES

The Canossian Spirituality Center, where I’m attending a retreat on St. Thérèse of Lisieux, is in Albuquerque’s South Valley, which seems to be an old section of town with few zoning laws, an eclectic mix of people, and roots in farming. The old Camino Real runs through and is now called Isleta Boulevard, and even […]
JUST SAY YES TO NO!: THE SPIRITUALITY OF IMPERFECTION

I’ve been pondering a quote about St. Thérèse of Lisieux from Ida Friederike Görres biography, The Hidden Face: “[S]he rejected all ascetic efforts which were directed not towards God but toward one’s own perfection.” I, for one, have a way of trying to be perfectly accommodating, perfectly forgiving, perfectly available, perfectly responsive which is somehow not […]