St. Therese of the Child Jesus Manuscript B

[l r] J.M.J.T.¹⁸.    

Jesus +

O  my dear Sister! you ask me to give you a souvenir of my re­treat, one which will probably be my last . . . Since Mother Prioress permits it,¹⁹ it will be a joy for me to come and speak with you who are doubly my Sister,²⁰ with you who lent me your voice promising in my name that it wished to serve Jesus only.²¹ This child, dear little godmother, whom you offered to the Lord and who speaks to you this evening . . . . is one who loves you as a child loves its mother . . . . . Only in heaven will you understand the gratitude that overflows my heart. . . . . . O my dear Sister, you wish to hear about the secrets Jesus confides to your little sister; however, I realize He confides these secrets.to you too, for you are the one who taught me how to gather the divine instructions, Nevertheless, I am going to stammer some words even though I feel it is quite impossible for the human tongue to express things that the human heart can hardly understand [1 Co 2.9] . . . .

Do not believe I am swimming in consolations: oh, no, my consolation is to have none on earth.²² Without showing Himself, without  making His voice heard, Jesus teaches me in secret; it is ‘not by means of books, for I do not understand what I am reading. Sometimes a word comes to console me, such as this one which I ­received at the end of prayer (after having remained²³ in silence and aridity): “Here is the teacher whom 1 am giving you; he will teach you everything that you must do. I want to make you read in the book of life, wherein is contained the science of LOVE ²⁴ .@  The science Love,²⁵ ah, yes, this word resounds sweetly in the ear of my soul, and I desire only this science. Having given all my riches for it, I esteem as having given nothing [Sg 8.7] . . . . as did the bride in the sacred Canticles. I understand so well that it is only love that makes us acceptable to God  that this love is the only good I ambition. Jesus deigned to show me the road that leads to this Divine Furnace, and this road is the surrender of the little child²⁶ who sleeps without fear in its Father’s arms . . . . . . “Whoever is a little one, let him come to me [Pr 9.4].” So speaks the Holy Spirit through the mouth of Solomon. This same Spirit of Love also says: “For to him that is little, mercy will be shown [Sg 6.7]. “The Prophet Isaiah reveals in His name that on the last day: “God shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather together the lambs with his arm, and shall take them up in his bosom [Is 40.11]. As though these promises were not sufficient, this same prophet whose gaze was already plunged into the eternal depths cried out in the Lord’s name: As one whom a mother caresses, so will I comfort you; you shall be car­ried at the breasts and upon the knees they will caress you [Is 66.13.12]. After having listened to words such as thee, dear godmother, there is nothing to do but to be silent and to weep with gratitude (1 v] and love . . . . . . . Ah! if all weak and imperfect souls felt what the least of souls feels,²⁷ that is, the soul of your little Therese, not one would despair of reaching the summit of the mount of love.²⁸ Jesus does not demand great actions from us but simply surrender and gratitude. Has He not said in Ps. XLIX: “I will not take the he‑goats from out your flocks, for all the beasts of the forest are mine, the cattle on the hills and the oxen. I know all the fowls of the air . . . . . . . If I  were hungry, I would not tell vou, for the world is mine, and the  fullness thereof. Shall I eat the, flesh o/ bulls or shall I drink the blood of goats? . . . . OFFER TO GOD THE SAC­RIFICES OF PRAISE AND THANKSGIVING [Ps 49.9-14].” See, then, all that Jesus lays claim to from us; He has no need of our works but only of our love,²⁹ for the same God who declares He has no need to tell us when He is hungry did not fear to beg for a lit­tle water from the Samaritan woman. He was thirsty . . . . But when He said: “Give me to drink [Jn 4. 6-15], It was the love of His poor creature the Creator of the universe was seeking. He was thirsty for love . . . Ah! I feel it more than ever before, Jesus is parched,³⁰ for He  meets only the ungrateful and indifferent among His disciples in the world, and among His own disciples, alas, He finds few hearts who surrender to Him without reservations, who understand the real tenderness of His infinite Love.

How fortunate we are, dear Sister, to understand the intimate secrets of our Spouse. Ah! if you wished to write all you know about these secrets, we would have beautiful pages to read, but I know you prefer to keep “the King’s secrets” in the bottom of your heart. And yet you say to me, “it is honorable to publish the works o/ the Most High [Tb 12.7.11]. I find you are very right to maintain silence, and it is only to please you that I write these lines. I feel how powerless I am to express in human language the secrets of heaven, and after writing page upon page I find that I have not yet begun.. . . . . . There are so many different horizons, so many nuances of infinite variety that only the, palette of the Celestial Painter will be able to furnish me after the night of this life with the colors capable of depicting the marvels He reveals to the eye of my soul.

You asked me, dear Sister, to write to you my dream and “my little doctrine” as you call it. . . . . I did this in these following pages,³¹ bur so poorly it seems to me you will not understand it. Perhaps you will find my expressions exaggerated. Ah! pardon me, this will have to be .put down to my poor style, for I assure you there is no exageration in my little soul. Within it all is calm and at rest …..

(When writing these words, I shall address them to Jesus since this makes it easier for me to express my thoughts . . . . . . . but it does not pre­vent them from being very poorly expressed³²)

J.M.J.T..

[2 r]8 September 1896

(To my dear Sister Marie of the Sacred Heart³³)

O Jesus, my Beloved! who could express the tenderness and sweetness with which You are guiding my little soul³⁴ It please s You to cause the rays of Your grace to shine through even in the midst of the darkest storm? . . . Jesus, the storm was raging very strongly in my soul ever since the beautiful feast of Your victory, the radiant feast of Easter; one Saturday in the month of May,³⁵ thinking of the mysteri­ous dreams which are granted at times to certain souls, I said of myselfthat these dreams must be a very sweet consolation, and yet I wasn’t asking for such a consolation. In the evening, considering the clouds which were covering her heaven, my little soul said again within herself that these beautiful dreams were not for her. And then she fell asleep . . . . . . in the midst of the storm. The next day was May 10, the sec­ond SUNDAY of Mary’s month, and perhaps the anniversary of the day when the Blessed Virgin deigned to smile³⁶ upon her little flower³⁷.. . .  

 At the first glimmerings of dawn I was (in a dream) in a kind of gallery and there were several other persons, but they were at a distance. Our Mother³⁸ was alone near me. Suddenly, without seeing how they had entered. I saw three Carmelites dressed in their mantles andlong veils.³⁹ It appeared to me they were coming for our Mother, but what I did understand clearly was that they carne from heaven. In the depths of my heart I cried out: “Oh! how happy I would be if I could see the face of one of these Carmelites!” Then, as though my prayer were heard by her, the tallest of the saints advanced toward me; immediately I fell to my knees. Oh! what happiness! the Carmelite raised her veil or rather she raised it and covered me⁴⁰ . . . with it Without the least hesitation, I recognized Venerable Anne of Jesus, Foundress of Carmel in France⁴¹. Her face was beautiful but with an immaterial beauty. No ray escaped from it and still, in spite of the veil which covered us both, I saw this heavenly face suffused with an unspeakably gentle light, a light it didn’t receive from without but was produced from within . . . . .

I cannot express the joy of my soul since these things are experienced but cannot be put into words . . . .  Several months have passed since this sweet dream, and yet the memory it has left in my soul has lost nothing of its freshness and heavenly charms. I still see Venerable Mother’s glance and smile which was FILLED with LOVE. I believe I can still feel the caresses she gave me at this time . . . . . 

Seeing myself so tenderly loved, I dared to pronounce the words: “O Mother! I beg you, tell me whether God will leave me a long time on earth. Will He come soon to get me?” Smiling tenderly, the saint whispered: “Yes. soon, soon . . . I promise you. ” I added,’ B “Mother, tell me further if God is not asking something [2 v] more of me than my poor little actions and desires. Is He content with me?⁴² The saint’s face took on an expression incomparably more tender than the first time she spoke to me. Her look and her caresses were the sweetest of answers. However, she said to me: “God asks no other thing from you. He is content, very content!” After again embracing me with more love than the tenderest of mothers has ever given to her child, I saw her leave . . .   My heart was filled with joy, and then I remem­bered my Sisters, and I wanted  to ask her some favors for them, but alas . . . I awoke! . . .

O Jesus, the storm was no longer raging, heaven was calm and serene . . . . I believed, I felt there was a heaven and that this heaven is peo­pled with souls who actually love me, who consider me their child . . . This impression remains in my heart, and this all the more because I was, up until then, absolutely indifferent to Venerable Mother Anne of Jesus. I never invoked her in prayer and the thought of her never came to my mind except when I heard others speak of her, which was seldom. And when I understood to what a degree she loved me, how indifferent I had been toward her, my “heart was filled with love and gratitude, not only for the Saint who had visited me but for all the blessed inhabitants of heaven . . 

O my Beloved! this grace was only the prelude to the greatest graces You wished⁴³ to bestow upon me. Allow me, my only Love, to recall them to You today . . .  today which is the sixth anniversary of our union.⁴⁴ . . . . . . Ah! my Jesus, pardon me if I am unreasonable in wishing to express my desires and longings which reach even unto infinity. Pardon me and heal my soul by giving her what she longs for so much ⁴⁵ !!! . . . . . . . . .

To be Your Spouse, to be a Carmelite, and by my union with You to be the Mother of souls, should not this suffice me? . . . . . . . . . . And yet it is not so . . . No doubt, these three privileges sum up my true vocation: Carmelite, Spouse, Mother,and yet I feel within me other vocations. I feel the vocation of the WARRIOR, THE PRIEST, THE APOSTLE, THE DOCTOR, THE MARTYR. Finally, I feel the need and the desire of carrying out the most heroic deeds . . . . . for You, 0 Jesus. I feel within my soul the courage of the Crusader the Papal Guard, and I would want to die on the field of battle in defense of the Church . .

I feel in me the vocation of the PRIEST. With what love. Jesus, I would carry You in my hands when, at my voice, You would come down from heaven . . . . And with what love would I give You to souls! But alas! while desiring to be a Priest, I admire and envy th humility of St. Francis of Assisi and I feel the vocation of imitating him in refusing the sublime dignity of the Priesthood.

O Jesus, my Love, my Life . . . how can I combine these contrasts? [3 r] How can I realize the desires of my poor little soul? . . . .

Ah! in spite of my littleness, I would like to enlighten souls as did the Prophets and the Doctors. I have the vocation of the Apostle . . . I would like to travel over the whole earth to preach Your Name and to plant Your glorious Cross on infidel soil. But O my Beloved, one mission alone would not be sufficient for me, I would want to preach  the Gospel on all the five continents simultaneously and even to the most remote isles [Is 66.19]   . . . . . I would be a missionary, not for a few years only but from the beginning of creation until the consummation of the ages . . . . But above all, 0 my Beloved Savior, I would shed my blood for You even to the very last drop⁴⁶ . . . . . . .              . . .. 

Martyrdom was the dream of my youth and this dream has grown with me within Carmel’s . . . cloisters. But here again, I feel that my dream is a folly, for I cannot confine myself to desiring one kind of martyrdom. To satisfy me I need all . . . . Like You, my Adorable, Spouse, I would be scourged and crucified.⁴⁷ . . . . l would die flayed like St. Bartholomew. . . .  I would be plunged into boiling oil like St. John. I would undergo all the tortures inflicted upon the martyrs . . . With St Agnes and St. Cecilia. I would present my neck to the sword, and like Joan of Arc, my dear sister, I would whisper at the stake Your Name. O JESUS  . . . .  When thinking of the torments which will he the lot of Christians at the time of Anti‑Christ,⁴⁸ I feel my heart leap with joy and I would that these torments be reserved for me . . . . .  Jesus, Jesus, if I wanted to write all my desires, I would have to borrow Your Book of Life [Rv 20.12],  for in it are reported all the actions of all the saints, and I would accomplish all of them for You . . . . . 

O my Jesus! what is your answer to all my follies? . . . . Is there a soul more little, more powerless than mine? Nevertheless even because of my weakness, it has pleased You, O Lord, to grant my little childish desires and You desire, today, to grant other desires that are greater than the universe . . . . . . . . . .

During my meditation, my desires caused me a veritable mar­tyrdom, and I opened the Epistles of St. Paul to find some kind of answer. Chapters 12 and 13 of the First Epistle to the Corinthians fell under my eyes . . . . I read there, in the first of these chapters, that all cannot be apostles, prophets, doctors, etc. . . . that the Church is com­posed of different members, and that the eye cannot be the hand at one and the same time [1 Co 12.29,12,21] . . . . 

The answer was clear, but it did not fulfill my desires and gave me no peace . . . .  But just as Mary Magdalene found what she was seeking by always stooping down [3 v] and looking into the empty tomb [Jn 20.11-18],⁴⁹ so I, abasing myself to the very depths of my noth­ingness, raised myself so high that I was able to attain my end⁵⁰ . . . . .  Without becoming discouraged, I continued my reading, and this sen­tence consoled me: “Yet strive after THE “BETTER GIFTS, and I point out to you a yet more excellent way [1 Co 12.31].@ “And the Apostle explains how all the most PERFECT gifts are nothing without LOVE.⁵¹ . . . . . [1 Co 13.1-3] That Charity is the EXCELLENT WAY that leads most surely to God.

I finally had rest . . Considering the mystical body of the Church, I had not recognized myself in any of the members described by St. Paul, or rather I desired to see myself in them all . . .  Charity gave me the key to my vocation. I understood that if the Church had a body composed of different members [ 1Co 12.14], the most necessary and most noble of all could not be lacking to it, and so I understood that the Church had a Heart⁵² and that this Heart was BURNING WITH LOVE. I understood it was Love alone that made the Church’s members act, that if Love ever became extinct, apostles would not preach the Gospel and martyrs would not shed their blood . . . . . I understood that LOVE COM­PRISED ALL VOCATIONS, THAT LOVE WAS EVFRYTHIN(G THAT IT EMBRACED ALL TIMES AND PLACES…. IN WORD, THAT IT WAS ETERNAL! . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Then, in the excess of my delirious joy, I cried out: O Jesus, my Love . . . . . my vocation, at last I have found it MY VOCATION IS LOVE! . . . .

Yes, I have found my place in the Church and it is You, O my God, who have⁵³ given . . . . me this place, in the heart of the Church, my Mother, I shall be Love . . . Thus I shall be everything . . . .       and thus my dream will be realized !!! . . . ..

Why speak of a delirious joy? No, this expression is not exact for it was rather the calm and serene peace of the navigator perceiving the beacon which must lead him to the port . . . . O luminous Beacon of love, I know how to reach You, I have found the secret of possessing Your flame.

I am only a child, powerless and weak, and yet⁵⁴ it is my weak­ness that gives me the boldness of offering myself as VICTIM of Your Love,⁵⁵ O Jesus! In times past, victims, pure and spotless, were the only ones accepted by the Strong and Powerful [ Ps 23.8] God. To satisfy Divine Justice, perfect victims were necessary, but the law of Love has suc­ceeded to the law of fear, and Love has chosen⁵⁶ me as a holocaust [ Lv 22.18], me, a weak and imperfect creature . . . . . Is not this choice worthy of Love? . . Yes, in order that Love be fully satisfied, it is necessary that It lower Itself, and that It lower⁵⁷Itself to nothingness and transform this nothing­ness⁵⁸ into fire [1 K 18.38]⁵⁹ . . . . .

[4 r] O Jesus, I know it, love is repaid by love alone,⁶⁰ and so I searched and I found the way to solace my heart by giving you Love for Love.B  AMake use of the riches which render one unjust in order to make friends who will receive you into everlasting dwellings [Lk 16.9]. Behold, Lord, the counsel You give Your disciples after having told them that “The children of this world, in relation to their own genera­tion, are more prudent than are the children of the light [Lk 16.8].@A child of light, I understood that my desires of being everything, of embracing all vocations, were the riches that would be able to render me unjust, so I made use of them to make friends . . . Remembering the prayer of Elisha to his Father Eiijah when he dared to ask him for HIS DOUBLE SPIRIT [2 K 2.9], I presented myself before the angels and saints and I said to them: “I am the smallest of creatures; I know my misery and my feebleness, but I know also how much noble and generous hearts love to do good. I beg you then, O Blessed Inhabitants of heaven, I beg you to ADOPT ME AS YOUR CHILD. To you alone will be the glory which you will make me merit, but deign to answer my prayer. It is bold, I know; however, I dare to ask you to obtain for me YOUR TWOFOLD LOVE.“⁶¹

Jesus, I cannot fathom the depths of my request; I would be afraid to find myself overwhelmed under the weight of my bold desires . . . . . .  My excuse is that I am a child, and children do not reflect on the meaning of their words; however, their parents, once they are placed upon a throne and possess immense treasures, do not hesitate to satisfy the desires of the little ones whom they love as much as they love themselves. To please them they do foolish things, even going to the extent of becoming weak for them. Well, I am the Child of the Church and the Church is a Queen since she is Your Spouse, O divine King of Kings . . . . . . The heart of a child . . . . .does not seek riches and glory (even the glory of heaven). She understands that this glory belongs by right to her brothers, the angels and .saints. . . . .Her own glory will be the reflected glory which shines on her Mother’s forehead.⁶² What the child asks for is Love . . . . . . . .. She knows only one thing: to love You, O Jesus . . . . Astounding works are forbidden to her; she cannot preach the Gospel, shed her blood; but what does it matter since her brothers⁶³ work in her stead and she, a little child, stays very close to the throne[ Rv 14.3] of the King and Queen.⁶⁴ She loves in her brothers’ place while they do the fighting . . . . . .  But how will she prove her love since  love is proved by works?⁶⁵ Well, the little child will strew flowers, she will perfume the royal throne [Rv 8.3] with their sweet scents, and she will sing in her silver, tones the canticle of Love [Rv 14.3] . . .

Yes, my Beloved, this is how my life will be consumed . . .  I have no other means of proving my love for you other than that of strewing flowers, that is, not allowing one little sacrifice to escape, not one look, [4 v] one word, profiting by all the smallest things and doing them through love . . I desire to suffer for love and even to rejoice through love; and in this way I shall strew flowers before Your throne. I shall not come upon one without unpetalling it for You . . . .  While I am strewing my flowers, I shall sing, for could one cry while doing such a joyous action? I shall sing even when I must gather my flowers in the midst of thorns, and my song will be all the more melodious in proportion to the length and sharpness of the thorns.

O Jesus, of what use will my flowers be to You?. Ah! I know very well that this fragrant shower, these fragile, worthless petals, these songs of love from the littlest of hearts will charm You. Yes, these nothings will please You. They will bring a smile to the Church Triumphant. She will gather up my flowers unpetalled through love and have them pass through Your own divine hands, 0 Jesus. And this Church in heaven, desirous of playing with her little child, will cast these flowers, which are now infinitely valuable⁶⁶ because of Your divine touch, upon the Church Suffering in order to extinguish its flames and upon the Church Militant⁶⁷ in order to gain the victory for it! . . .

O my Jesus! I love You! I love the Church, my Mother! I recall that “the smallest act of PURE LOVE is of more value to her than all other works together⁶⁸ But is PURE LOVE in my heart? Are my measureless desires only but a dream, a folly? . . . Ah! if this be so, Jesus, then enlighten me, for You know I am seeking only the truth. If my desires are rash, then make them disappear, for these desires are the greatest martyrdom to me . . . . . .  However, I feel, O Jesus, that after having aspired to the most lofty heights of Love, if one day I am not to attain them, I feel that I shall have tasted more sweetness in my martyrdom and my folly than I shall taste in the bosom of the joy of the Fatherland, unless You take away the memory of these earthly hopes through a miracle. Allow me, then, during my exile, the delight of love. Allow me to taste the sweet bitterness of my martyrdom. Jesus, O Jesus, if the desire of loving You is so delightful, what will it be to possess and enjoy this Love? . . . . . . . .

How can a soul as imperfect as mine aspire to the possession the plenitude of Love? . . O Jesus, my first and only Friend, You whom I love UNIQUELY,⁶⁹ explain this mystery to me! . . .Why do You not  reserve these great aspirations for great souls, for the Eagles that soar in the heights? . . . I look upon myself as a weak little bird,⁷⁰ with only a light dovn as covering. I am not an eagle, but I have only an eagle’s EYES AND HEART. In spite of my extreme littleness I still dare to gaze upon the Divine Sun, the Sun of Love, and my heart feels within it all [5 r]. the aspirations of an Eagle . . . . The little bird wills to fly toward the bright Sun⁷¹ that attracts its eye, imitating its brothers, the eagles, whom it sees climbing up toward the Divine Furnace of the Holy Trinity⁷². . . . . But alas! the only thing it can do is raise its little wings; to fly is not within its little power‘! What then will become of it? Will it die of sorrow at seeing itself so weak? . . . Oh no! the little bird will not even be troubled. With bold surrender, it wishes to remain gazing upon its Divine Sun.⁷³ Nothing will frighten it, neither wind nor rain, and if dark clouds come and hide the Star of Love, the little bird will not change its place because it knows that beyond the clouds its bright Sun still shines on and that its brightness is not eclipsed for a single instant. At times the little bird’s heart is assailed by the storm, and it seems it should believe in the existence of no other thing except the clouds surrounding it; this is the moment of perfect joy for the poor little weak creature. And what joy it experiences when remaining there just the same! and gazing at the Invisible Light which remains hidden from its faith! !!! . .O Jesus, up until the present moment I can understand Your love for the little bird⁷⁴ because it has not strayed far from You . . . But I know and so do You that very often the imperfect little creature, while remaining in its place (that is, under the Sun’s rays), allows itself to he somewhat distracted from its sole occupation. It picks up a piece of grain on the right or on the left; it chases after a little worm . . . then coming upon a little pool of water, it wets its feathers still hardly formed. It sees an attractive flower⁷⁵ and its little mind⁷⁶ is occupied with this flower . . . . . .  In a word, being unable to soar like the eagles, the poor little bird is taken up with the trifles of earth. And yet after all these misdeeds, instead of going and hiding away in a corner, to weep over its misery and to die of sorrow, the lit­tle bird turns toward its beloved Sun, presenting its wet wings to its beneficent rays.  It cries like a swallow [Is 38.14] and in its sweet song it recounts in detail all its infidelities, thinking in the boldness of its full trust that it will acquire in even greater fullness the love of Him who came to call not the just but sinners [Mt 9.13] . . . .  And even if the Adorable Star remains deaf to the plaintive chirping of the little creature, even if it remains hidden . . . well, the little one will remain wet, accepting its numbness from the cold and rejoicing in its suffering which it knows it deserves . . . . . . O Jesus, Your little bird is happy to be weak and little. What would become of it if it were big?. . Never would it have the boldness to appear in Your presence, to fall asleep in front of You . . . . . Yes. this is still one of the weaknesses⁷⁷ of the little bird: when it wants to fix its gaze upon the Divine Sun, and when the clouds prevent it from seeing a single ray of that Sun, in spite of itself, its little eyes close, its little head is hidden beneath its wing, and the poor little thing falls asleep, believing all the time that it is fixing its gaze upon its Dear Star. When it awakens, it doesn’t feel desolate; its little heart is at peace and it begins once again its work oflove.⁷⁸ It calls upon the angels and saints who rise like eagles before the consuming Fire, and since this is the object of the little bird’s desire [5 v] the eagles take ­pity on it, protecting and defending it, and putting to flight at the same time the vultures who want to devour it. These vultures are the demons⁷⁹ whom the little bird doesn’t fear, for it is not destined to be their prey but the prey of the Eagle whom it contemplates in the center of the Sun of Love.⁸⁰ O Divine Word [Jn 1.1]! You are the Adored Eagle⁸¹ whom I love and who alone attracts me [Jn 12.32; Sg 1.3]! Coming into this land of exile, You willed to suffer and to die in order to draw souls to the bosom of the Eternal Fire of the Blessed Trinity. Ascending [Mk 16.19] once again to the Inaccessible Light [1 Tm 6.16] henceforth Your abode, You remain still in this valley of tears.[Ps 83.7], hidden beneath the appearances of a white host. . . . Eternal Eagle, You desire to nourish me with Your divine substance and yet I am but a poor little thing who would return to nothingness if Your divine glance did not give me life from one moment to the next . . . .  O Jesus, allow me in my boundless gratitude to say to You thus Your love reaches unto folly [1 Co 1.18-25]   . . . . . In the presence of this folly, how can You not desire that my heart leap toward You? How can my confidence, then, have any limits? . . . . . Ah! the saints have committed their follies for You, and they have done great things because they are eagles . . . . .

Jesus, I am too little to perform great actions .and my own folly is this: to trust that Your Love will accept me as a victim⁸² . . . . My folly consists in begging the eagles, my brothers, to obtain for me the favor of flying toward the Sun of Love with the Divine Eagle=s [Dt 32.11] own wings⁸³ . . . . . .

As long as You desire it, O my Beloved, Your little bird “‘will remain without strength and without wings and will always stay with its gaze fixed upon You. It wants to be fascinated by Your divine glance. It wants to become the prey⁸⁴ of Your Love . . . . . One day I hope that You, the Adorable Eagle, will come to fetch me, Your little bird; and ascending with it to the Furnace of Love, You will plunge it for all eternity into the burning Abyss of this Love to which it has offered itself as victim . . . . . .

O Jesus! why can’t I tell⁸⁵ all little souls⁸⁶ how unspeakable . . . . . is Your condescension? I feel that if You found⁸⁷ a soul weaker and littler than mine, which is impossible, You would be pleased to grant it still greater favors, provided it abandoned itself with total confidence to Your Infinite Mercy . . . But why do I desire to communicate Your secrets of Love,⁸⁸ O Jesus, for was it not You alone who taught them to me, and can You not reveal [Mt 11.25] them to others? . . . Yes, I know it, and I beg You to do it. I beg You to cast Your Divine Glance upon a great number of little souls . . . . . . . . . .  I beg You to choose a legion [Mt 26.53] of little Victims worthy of Your LOVE! , , ,

The very little⁸⁹ Sister Therese of the Child Jesus⁹⁰ and the Holy Face, unworthy Carmelite religious⁹¹.

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¹⁸ For Therese, her interlocutor is not only Jesus, nd the divine Word in the movement of trinitarian love that attracts toward the Father. He with whom Therese converses, Jesus is the only being where the Persons itself, being divine, doesn=t exist but in relation to its source. One could never say such a thing of Buddha or Mohamet or of any prophet, so sublime is that which Therese says of Jesus.  It changes everything.@ Cf  B. Bro: Therese de Lisieux, her family, her God, her message, Paris, Fayard 1996, p.76. On the reciprocity of Love, cf. In particular ibid, pp. 75-130.

¹⁹ The dedication that one actually reads there Ato my dear Sister Marie of the Sacred Heart@ is truly in Therese=s handwriting and was written in at a later date, without a doubt at the demand of her sister. 

²⁰ For example in Pri 8 for Abbé Belllière, Pri 9 for Sister Geneviève, Pri 12 for hwer novices.

²¹At the time of Thérèse=s baptism, on January 4, 1873, at Notre-Dame church in Alençon.  Her Agodmother@ Marie was then thirteen years old. 

²² Thérèse doesn=t linger at her states of soul, her personal feelings; she considers the Object of her love.  The purity and gratuitousness of her love for the Beloved are a superior Aconsolation@ to her.  Cf. M 5r, where she is assailed by the storm: Athis is the moment of perfect joy@, and G 7r: Ais there a joy greater than that of suffering out of love for You? A  B What she is searching for is Ato console@ Jesus: cf. p. 349, note 14. 

²³ First attempt: Awithout words@, corrected into Ain silence@. 

²⁴ Thérèse could have found these words of the Lord addressed to Saint Marguerite-Mary Alacoque in one of the rare books that she had at her personal disposal, le Petit bréviare du Sacré-Coeur.  Petits offices pour chaque jour de la semaine et Exercice pendant la Messe (Small breviary of the Sacred-Heart. Small offices for every day of the week and Exercise during the Mass), Nancy, Librairie Notre-Dame, 1882, p. 58.

²⁵ Thérèse uses the expression again, but she had also read it in John of the Cross: Athe science of love@(CS, st. 26, v. 1; st. 38, v. 1).

²⁶ Typical theological attitude of Thérèse, but one which at the same time echoes the letter by Marie writing about Thérèse: A… her heavenly Spouse (…) rocks her gently on His Heart, He smiles at her abandonment@.  See infra, note 37.  BAAlthough the Saint never describes abandonment with precision, she so often connects it to God=s will that one can see it, in a first definition, as the pursuit of conformity of the human will with the divine will, putting the stress however on the divine initiative to which one desires to adhere faithfully. This pursuit is neither forced nor servile, but free and loving@ (DYN, pp. 483 and following.) 

²⁷ Four times in this Manuscript M, Thérèse expresses her conviction of being the littlest soul that can exist.   See the texts in our Introduction to this Manuscript, p. 318 of the present volume. 

²⁸  Already at the time of her profession she was speaking of the Asummit of the mountain of love@

(LT 110; LT 112).  At that time she intensely consulted John of the Cross, whose diagram of AMount Carmel@, Amountain of perfection@, inspired her very much. 

²⁹  Cf. Teresa of Avila, The Interior Castle, III Dwelling Places, ch. 1: Aand this love must not be in our imaginations, but must appear in works.  Don=t think however that God needs our works; what He asks for is the determination of our wills to be His without reserve@ (trad. Bouix). On the >works,= cf. infra, notes 48 and 49.

³⁰  Thérèse doesn=t put a comma between the preceding words.  We don=t know with certainty if she feels Amore than ever@ that Jesus is parched, or if she feels that Jesus is Amore than ever@ parched.  B In the first perspective, she was able to understand fifteen months earlier Amore than ever before how much Jesus desires to be loved@ (A 84r). 

³¹ To specify, Thérèse added between the lines words that were absent at first: Ain the following pages@.

³²  Thérèse first wrote: Aqu=elles le soient bien mal!@, which is translated into Athey were it badly!@  She erases Ait@ and adds Aexprimées@ which is translated into Athey are poorly expressed@. 

³³ This dedication, in different ink and a later writing (the capital A is very pointed, whereas all the other times in Manuscript MB in the words AAmour@ (Love), AAstre@ (Star), AAigle@ (Eagle), AAdoré@ (Adored) B it is round), has been added afterwards, probably at Marie=s request, during the summer of 1897 when Thérèse touches up the Manuscript in view of its publication. 

³⁴  In Manuscript M, the seven occurrences of the formula Alittle soul(s)@ are underlined: the formula has therefore become a concept for Thérèse.  In the spirituality that is henceforth her own, the Alittle souls@ (in the plural) constitute like a family of which Thérèse is in some way the leader and which she would like to be very numerous (cf. M 5v). The attitude of humble and entire confidence in Divine Mercy spontaneously calls to mind the anawims, the poor of heart of the Bible. 

³⁵ After these words, two and a half lines have been erased and rewritten in a darker ink, including the words Adidn=t ask for it@.  Two lines further on, the addition of the word Aagain@. Among the Acertain souls@vaguely mentioned here was included in the first version the mythical figure of Diana Vaughan; probably it was about her alone (cf. our Justification, p. 35).

³⁶ Cf. A 30r.  The Asecond@ Sunday of May, indeed, but it was May 13 (not Athe 10″) in 1883, the day of Pentecost. 

³⁷ For Thérèse, a fundamental image, also present since the prologues of Manuscripts A and G. Cf. our Introduction to Ms A, p. 66, note 10. 

³⁸ The presence of the prioress, in this dream, could symbolize Thérèse=s deep spirit of religious obedience.  In addition, it seems to her that the heavenly visitors came Afor our Mother@.  B Thérèse dreams in the plural!  In the background, there are Aseveral other people@, and Athree@ Carmelites from Heaven come. 

³⁹  White choir Amantles@; Alarge (black) veils@, that descend from the head to the waist and that Carmelites wore in certain circumstances to escape the view of the public. 

⁴⁰ This time, in the dream, the presence inside the space of the veil seems to symbolize a maternal protection, to which Thérèse is very sensitive and that is offered to her here by Mother Anne of Jesus, who has come from Heaven.  Thérèse also likes to allude to the veil of the Virgin Mary, under which one hides oneself (cf. LT 162; PN 1,5.13; RP 8,6r). 

⁴¹ Anne of Lobera (1545-1621), a companion of Teresa of Avila and the one for whom John of the Cross composed the commentary on his Spiritual Canticle.  In 1604, she introduced thérésian reform in France, and some years later in Belgium, where she died at the Carmel of Brussels, on March 4, 1621. 

⁴² A question of love and delicate conscience, which reside in Thérèse since her early childhood (cf. A 18v). 

⁴³  Thérèse was addressing Jesus more formally (with AThou@) in the beginning of M 2r (very much like in Manuscripts A and G and most of her texts addressed to the respectable near relations or intended for the public): she is on familiar terms with Him from here on.  This again proves the very intimate and particular character of Manuscript M. 

⁴⁴ Allusion to her religious profession. The date of this Asixth anniversary@ is indicated earlier: ASeptember 8, 1896″ (M 2r).

⁴⁵ The great supplication of stanzas 9-11 of the Spiritual Canticle of John of the Cross. 

⁴⁶ Cf. G 7r: AI run towards my Jesus; I tell Him I am ready to shed my blood to the last drop to profess that there is a Heaven@.  In the obscurity of her faith, the desire for martyrdom does not weaken even for an instant. 

⁴⁷ At the front of the impressive series of desires for martyrdom that Thérèse is going to describe, comes that of Jesus= martyrdom on the cross. 

⁴⁸ Here Thérèse is probably inspired by the second conference of Arminjon (about Athe Antichrist=s persecution@): A… the Antichrist=s persecution will be the most inhuman and bloodiest of all those that Christianity ever underwent (…) there will then be multitudes of martyrs, more glorious and more admirable than those who fought previously against lions in the amphitheaters of Rome and Gaul@ (ARM II, p. 73).

⁴⁹ Comparison already used in A 60v. 

⁵⁰ Cf. the poem by JOHN OF THE CROSS, In an impetus burning with love (we underline the words that appear in Thérèse=s writings): AEngulfed in my vile nothingness. / (…) And abasing myself so low, so low, / I raised myself so high, so high, / That I was able to attain my end@. 

⁵¹ Written in slanted writing, this word is moreover very enlarged, which is why we render it in CAPITALS.  This will be the case five times in this folio 3v; in addition, seven times she draws the word in writing that is slanted and enlarged, but less enlarged than in the first case, which is why we print the word in SMALL capitals. (Another time, still in this same M 3v, while using the word as an epithet, in AO Jesus, my Love@, she continues in straight writing, but uses upper case.  While speaking of the Aluminous Beacon of love@, this time the capital will be omitted.)  Without a doubt, Thérèse is fascinated by her vocation of Love! The writing and even the punctuation illustrates how Thérèse lets herself be enthusiastic to the point of speaking about her Adelirious@ joy, an expression that she is going to use with a nuance a little further on. 

⁵² Saint Paul doesn=t mention the Aheart@. Thérèse elaborates in an original way on the paulinien comparison of the Abody@, in the line Athe most perfect gift@ which is Acharity@. 

⁵³ One currently reads, as a word written over another, on the manuscript: A Avous@/Thou@ and AAavez@/have@. This reading, while using AThou@ to address God, is a correction of Adoubtful@ origin (cf. PF II, p. 104, appraisal of M. Trillat). The correction seems foreign to us; this is why we return to the first version by Thérèse herself, where she addresses God in familiar terms, very much like before and after in this Manuscript M.  B She has no difficulty in being on familiar terms with AGod@ (for example in PN 17,11; 23,3; 31,5; RP 2,1r and 4v). 

⁵⁴ Here Thérèse is going to describe, in a remarkable synthesis, how she emerges from the dilemma in which her powerlessness placed her: through confidence (core of her Little Way) in God=s absolute and merciful intervention.  In M 5r and M 5v, Thérèse will again offer two other very beautiful resumes of her spirituality of confidence.  BLet us also recall the other summary of her Little Way: A… the only path that leads to this Divine furnace is the abandonment of the little child who falls asleep without fear in its Father=s arms@ (M 1v).  In its own way, the parable of the little bird animated with a Abold abandonment@, with a Adaring abandonment@, and helped finally by the divine Eagle (M 4v-5v), will describe the same attitude under narrative and symbolic form. 

⁵⁵ Allusion to her Offering to Merciful Love, of June 9, 1895. Marie, for whom Thérèse writes this Manuscript M, also had offered herself as victim (cf. infra, note 65) to Merciful Love. 

⁵⁶  ATo choose@: once more, Thérèse likes to underline the initiative and the free choice of the Lord. AIs not this choice worthy of His Love? A, she exclaims again (M 3v). And she will finish with the ardent supplication addressed to Jesus Ato choose a legion of little victims worthy of (His) LOVE@ (M 5v).  BSince the first lines of her autobiography she had highlighted the gracious character (Agraces@) of the divine action, Athe mystery of the privileges Jesus showered upon (her) soul….. He does not call those who are worthy, but those whom He pleases@ (A 2r). Thérèse=s fundamental reaction is to surrender to this divine Achoice@ of mercy. 

⁵⁷ Cf. A 2v: A… the nature of love is to humble oneself@. 

⁵⁸  Thérèse has offered us here a remarkable overall view of the theology that underlies her Little Way: divine Love lowers itself toward the Aweak and imperfect creature@ so that the condescending mercy that characterizes it is Afully satisfied@.  It is a Achoice worthy of Love@.  This (merciful) ALove@ surpasses (vindictive) Adivine Justice@ to which, in principle, only the Aperfect@ sacrifice could be suitable.  Thérèse knows that she is Achosen@ by Love, in her nothingness and because of her nothingness offered to God; she knows that she is freely loved by God.  B From the exegetical point of view, such a limited and simplified approach to the Old Testament presented as Alaw of fear@ and of (vindictive) AJustice@ that accepts only a Aperfect@ sacrifice, is rather one-sided, but it is attributable to the Jansenist yoke of the time, which Thérèse will contribute powerfully to breaking, while glorifying God=s supreme Mercy that she wants to serve with a maximal fidelity, a fidelity of love and not of fear. 

⁵⁹  Undoubtedly an allusion to the sacrifice of Elijah at Carmel, a narration that the Carmelite had to know well: AThe fire of the Lord fell [cf. Alowers itself@] and devoured [cf. Atransforms@] the holocaust@ (1 R 18:38). Thérèse, who is going to mention Elijah some lines later, evidently considers God=s action in the plenary light of the New Testament. 

⁶⁰ Cf. John of the Cross, CS, st. 9, v. 5.  BHaving become Thérèse=s personal motto, this sentence is inscribed in her Coat of Arms (cf. A 85v and 86r). 

⁶¹  This is a difficult supplication to specify.  It is most likely that Thérèse is considering here, in addition to the love with which she is already burning on earth, obtaining also from now on the love that one possesses in Heaven: Ayour@ love, she asks of the Angels and Saints, the all pure and perfect love that she anticipates from God, the full participation in the Love of the Trinity, the infusion of Divine Love increasing then almost to infinity the love that already on earth lives in and Atransforms@ her heart.  Of course, the humble Thérèse will assign to her heavenly intercessors all Athe glory@ of this greater Adouble@ Love: Ato you alone@, to these Aparents@ who she wants to Aadopt her as their child@.  Farther on, she repeats that she asks for herself, not AGlory@, but ALove@.  B Also see our Introduction to this Manuscript M, about the ecclesiology of Thérèse=s communion, p. 321 of the present volume. 

⁶² The Church.

⁶³ The word Abrothers@ undoubtedly relates to all evangelical workers, even if for several months Thérèse has been praying ardently for her two Apriest brothers@, Maurice Belli_re and Adophe Roulland (cf. G 31v – 33v).

⁶⁴ Still the Church.  Thérèse has just told Jesus: AThe Church is a Queen since she is Your Spouse@ (M 4r). 

⁶⁵ Axiom of Saint Teresa of Avila, already quoted in note 12 of M 1v, p. 325,

⁶⁶ It is therefore Jesus, the only Mediator, who grants the supernatural Avalue@ to our actions, by >touching=our actions B a very evangelical gesture and almost >sacramental.=  (Here Thérèse borrows a word from John of the Cross, toque/touched, synonymous with the mystical graces where God >touches= the soul). But Thérèse=s actions, in so much as she is a member of the Church, the mystical body of the Lord, belong to the entire Church, to the great >Communion of Saints,= which means that the Saints of Heaven themselves can also use Athese@ actions, these Aflowers@, Athese nothings@ transformed, in order to let others on earth benefit from them, graces obtained from Jesus alone.  B The description clearly shows how Thérèse could have intuitively conceived for herself a posthumous activity, strewing her Aflowers@ on earth. Our prayer AThy Kingdom come@ should not stop in Heaven, on the contrary! 

⁶⁷ Currently one reads on the manuscript the foreign correction AMilitant@, but Thérèse wrote AFighting@, a term that designates the Church on earth, while the Church ASuffering@ evokes the deceased who still have need of further purification (in Apurgatory@), the two Churches being united in the Church ATriumphant@ in Heaven. 

⁶⁸  Thérèse cites from memory, a bit freely, John of the Cross, CS, Exposition of st. 29; Athe smallest act of pure love is of more value in God=s eyes and is more profitable to the Church and the soul herself, than all other works together@. 

⁶⁹  Underlined twice.  Cf. AOh my Beloved (…), my only Love@ in M 2v. 

⁷⁰ Here begins the parable of the little bird (Thérèse) and of the divine Eagle (Jesus). The parable will be traversed by another line of thought, the contrast between the little bird Thérèse and the Agreat souls@, also called the AEagles that soar in the heights@ and that are apparently capable of Aclimbing up towards the Divine Abode of the Holy Trinity@, while Thérèse, incapable of taking off by her own strength, must fly there with the wings of the divine Eagle Himself. Cf. infra, note 64 and 66. 

⁷¹  Jesus – AEagle@ is at the same time Jesus – ASun@.  In poetic style, the images easily overlap. 

⁷² Among these Abrother Eagles@, the Carmelite evidently is thinking in the first place about her spiritual parents, Saint Teresa of Avila and Saint John of the Cross. They will later be declared Doctors of the Church (in 1970 and 1926 respectively), as Alittle@ Thérèse will be in 1997. 

⁷³  Since Thérèse has just spoken of the ADivine Abode of the Holy Trinity@, which is the ADivine Sun, the Sun of Love@ and the Abright Sun@, the formulas ADivine Sun@ and Athe Star of Love@ that she is going to use now still refer to the whole Trinity.  While thinking about the whole Trinity, Thérèse is also thinking about Jesus (the Adivine Word@ that she Acontemplates at the center of the Sun of Love@ which is the Trinity, as she will say farther on in M 5v) and three times, in the development of the parable of the little bird, she will address herself especially to AJesus@. Vice versa, in focusing the attention on the divine Word-made-man, Thérèse implicitly meets the whole Trinity. In her writings, Thérèse will often pass from Jesus= Name to God=s Name. Often she speaks of her Adivine Jesus@.  In this Manuscript M, she speaks of the ADivine Hands@ of Jesus (M 4v), of His Adivine glance@ (3 x in M 5v) and of His Adivine substance@ with which He wants to feed us in the Eucharist (M 5v).  As the ADivine Word@ (M 5v), Jesus reflects for her all of the Father (cf. Jn 14:9: AWhoever sees Me, sees the Father@) and He gives us all of the Holy Spirit (cf. Jn 14:26: AWhen the Paraclete that I will send you from the nearness of the Father will come… A).  Thérèse is looking at the whole ATrinity@ in Unity.  In loving Jesus, she attracts the Father and her heart is set aflame with the Holy Spirit.  We will meditate the admirable stanza 2 of To Live on Love from the end of February 1895 (PN 17): ALiving on Love is holding You Yourself / Uncreated Word, Word of my God, / Ah! Divine Jesus, You know I love You. / The Spirit of Love sets me aflame with His fire. / In loving You I attract the Father / My weak heart holds Him forever. / Oh Trinity!  You are Prisoner / Of my Love! ….. A

⁷⁴ Thérèse Aunderstands@ Jesus= love for her because, hitherto, the soul is presented as strong and generous in the storm and obscurity.  Now she ends up explaining Jesus= faithful love for her precisely because she is weak and distracted, committing Ainfidelities@.  The more Thérèses will approach the end of her Manuscript, the more she will exalt the merciful love of the Lord. 

⁷⁵ This image is quite unexpected (a flower capable of interesting a bird!): the distant inspiration is probably found in John of the Cross (CS, st. 3, v. 3), who describes the soul in love with God as determined not Ato slow its journey@ by picking Aflowers that she will find on her path@ (Thérèse makes allusion to it in LT 149), that is by letting itself be delayed unduly by the Apamperings@, Apleasures@ and Adelights@ that Amay be encountered in this life@.

⁷⁶ First attempt: Aits little head@, erased and replaced by Aits little mind@. 

⁷⁷ Her Aweakness@ of Afalling asleep@ in the presence of the Divine Sun, that is to say during the two daily hours of silent prayer at Carmel.  When lacking nightly rest, the young Thérèse fell asleep easily during prayer (cf. A 75r, 79v), only to resume very generously, upon her awakening, her Awork of love@ and to continue to pray, as she is going to describe it. The Little Way of confidence in divine Mercy passes here through the very heart of her intimacy with God. 

⁷⁸  An expression inherited from John of the Cross (st. 36 of the CS) and already used in A 83r. 

⁷⁹  Afterwards, Thérèse specified what she means by Avultures@, by writing between the lines Aimage of demons@.

⁸⁰  A superb theological synthesis begins here.  Thérèse evokes in it the whole Trinitarian mystery and the Paschal mystery of redemption. She travels the course, going and coming, abasement and elevation, from the Trinity to the Trinity.  While passing by the kenosis of the Incarnation (Ahastening toward this land of exile@) and of the Death of Jesus (who Awilled to suffer and to die@), she contemplates His return (His Ascension) to the Father (Aascending to the inaccessible Light@), as well as our spiritual transformation (Ato give (us) life@) particularly in the Eucharist (Ato nourish me with Your divine substance@), so that we are also elevated (Ato fly with the Divine Eagle=s own wings@).  From the Trinity, to the Trinity, in Jesus.  B  See also supra, note 56 and our Introduction to this Manuscript, pp. 315-317.

⁸¹ Thérèse could have known Deut. 32:11 (where Yahweh is compared to an Aeagle that incites his nestlings forth: he hovers over his brood, he spreads out his wings, he receives them and bears them up on his wings@), but the image seems especially attributable to John of the Cross.   In CS, st. 31, v. 3-4, he explains how the Adivine Spouse@, the ABeloved@is in love with the soul (and John mentions Ct 4:9 about the Ahair of your neck@, that Thérèse herself mentioned in LT 191, two months before writing Manuscript M): Ain His merciful goodness@ the Lord Alowered Himself unto us@, letting Himself Abe captivated by a love as poor and as imperfect@ as ours; Awounded@ and Aheld prisoner@ by Aonly one hair@, Ait pleases the royal eagle to descend from inaccessible heights where he ordinarily stays, to let himself be captured@.  B However, Thérèse keeps all her originality while situating the love of the Beloved in His great design of salvation and while describing, in the face of so much merciful divine love, her Aconfidence@ distraught with love unto Afolly@. 

⁸² After M 3v Athe boldness of offering myself as a Victim to Your Love, O Jesus@, what Thérèse is soon going to repeat a third and a fourth time at the end of M 5v), here is a new allusion to her Offering of June 9,1895. Here in Manuscript M as then, faith in Merciful Love, bold confidence and the offering that flows from it, together constitute the heart of her spiritual theology and are the source of all her burning desires of holiness for God and missionary fruitfulness for the world.B The word Avictim@ is understood in the light of the strength of the divine infusion for which Thérèse hopes and of her desire to abandon herself to it without any reserve. 

⁸³  The little bird won=t rise up poised on the wings of the Divine Eagle (as in Deut 32:11), but Awith@ the very wings of this One.  The powerful help of God will not remain by any means foreign or exterior to her, therefore, but will invade and will transform her powerlessness, while becoming interior and Atransforming her nothingness into fire A (M 3v).  The holiness that Thérèse envisions is not an exterior supplement attached to her own effort, but it consists in Apossessing the plenitude of Love@ to which she aspires (M 4v), to really Atake possession of (the) flame@ of Love (M 3v).  It is He within her, the Eagle within the little bird, who will fly.  Or, if one prefers, the bird will fly with the infinite strength that Jesus within her gives to her.  This is why, very much as in the description of the discovery of her Alittle way@ (G 2v-3r), Thérèse places the end of this final transformation Ain Heaven@, when she will be plunged Afor eternity in the burning Abyss of This Love@. 

⁸⁴ As in the Offering to Merciful Love (Pri 6), the image of the Aprey@ here does not evoke anything that is tearing or destructive.  Thérèse has said that she is not Adestined to become the prey of vultures@ (M 5v) but of Jesus who, while transforming her, will take possession of her entirely and will confer upon her the strength to fly Awith the Eagle=s own wings@. By no means is Thérèse thinking therefore about a tearing by the claws and beak of an eagle. The image of the prey is tied rather to the presence of a fire that Aconsumes without consuming@, as in the case of the burning bush of Moses (Ex 3:2), in the sense where Thérèse speaks of it elsewhere (A 38 v: Athis Divine Fire which burns without consuming@).  BIn this book of fire that is The Living Flame of Love by John of the Cross, Thérèse was able to read precisely (VF, st. 2, v. 1) about the activity of Aour God (who) is a fire consuming@ (Deut 4:24): AIt is a wonderful thing! this divine fire (…) does not consume and destroy the souls in which it burns. Far from that, it makes them feel delights whose charm is commensurate with their strength and ardor; it deifies them while penetrating them with its sweet flames.

⁸⁵ After having finished her exposition, Thérèse traced a dotted line and moved on to the final supplication.  Suddenly her prayer becomes clearly universal.  She implores for Aall the little souls@, the Aothers@, Aa legion@. 

⁸⁶  Here Thérèse already envisions a determined category of people who are poor and confident like her, a school of disciples of Jesus to whom He will be able to Areveal@ B it is Thérèse=s ardent supplication B the same Asecrets of love@ that He already revealed to Thérèse, and that she has exposed…  Thérèse sees herself as their prototype, their vanguard. 

⁸⁷ A new brief synthetic evocation of her Little Way will ensue here. 

⁸⁸  ATo desire to communicate@, Asecrets@, Ato teach@: the Manuscript that Thérèse has just composed satisfied the request of Marie of the Sacred-Heart.  But at the same time this teaching corresponds to a deep desire of Thérèse to be able to Aenlighten souls@ (M 3r).  In addition to being a prayer of love, this Manuscript is a lesson, in which her Alittle doctrine@ is contained (M 1v).   See pp. 312-313 of our Introduction to Manuscript M. 

⁸⁹ The underlining of words Avery little@ (in slanted writing) reveals a secret allusion to one of her favorite biblical texts: AWhoever is very little, let him come to Me@ (Prov. 9:4Bin the translation that she read), a text that was to the basis of her discovery of the Little Way.  Since at the time of, the two words Avery little@constitute like a program, a slogan for her (cf. DYN, pp. 112-114). What=s more, in M1v, Thérèses explicitly quotes Prov. 9:4 and underlines the words very little.

⁹⁰ The conjunction Aand@, which one presently reads on the manuscript between AJesus@ and Aof@, is a foreign addition. 

⁹¹ Abbreviation in the Franch of Aunworthy Carmelite religious@, which at the time one added to her signature.