“The Saint of Resilience and Persistence”
Today, we celebrate the memorial of Therese of the Child Jesus, who loved despite struggling with depression. There were two depressive bouts that Therese encountered in her childhood. The first was the trauma of losing her mother to cancer. The second occurrence took place when her sister Pauline joined the Carmelites. Feeling the pangs of loss one again, Therese became severely depressed and the doctors gave up all hope of her recovery. Her sister Celine came to visit Therese who was confined to bed and unresponsive. Seeing Therese so young and in the grips of such depression, Celine began sobbing and quickly exited the room. Hearing Celine’s anguish and being moved by the experience, Therese made a resolution to allay her sister’s anguish. Slowly the health of Therese improved and she developed a sense of resiliency when confronted with depression.
Later as a young adolescent, she decided to join her sisters Pauline and Celine who were Carmelites, however, the superior and the pastor would not hear of it since she was too young. But Therese was determined and making a pilgrimage to Rome, she requested from the pope that she be allowed to enter the Carmelites, however she was “shooed” away. Therese persisted and pressing the issue for another year on the home front, she persuaded the superior and entered Carmel at fifteen.
Therese's saintly character of resilience and persistence became her spiritual way to approach life. While the depression continued, especially after learning that her father had taken on a stoke, she used the experience to write “The Dark Night of the Soul”. Therese joined her sufferings with Christ's to be in concert with the Paschal mystery and plan of redemption.