St Therese: Chapter VII

• Therese enters the sacred Ark
• First trials
• Divine betrothal
• Snow
• A great sorrow

...there is no man who hath left house or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or children, or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, [30] Who shall not receive an hundred times as much [Mark X, 29-30}

Excerpts

Carmel

Monday,  April  9,  1888,  being  the  Feast  of  the  Annunciation,  transferred from  Passiontide,  was  the  day  chosen  for  me  to  enter  the  Carmel.  On  the evening  before, we were  gathered  around  the  table  where I  was  to  take  my place  for  the  last  time. These  farewells  are  in  themselves heartrending, and just  when  I  would  have  liked  to  be  forgotten  I  received  the  tenderest expressions of affection, as if to increase the pain of parting.
The next morning, after a last look at the happy home of my childhood, I set out   for   the   Carmel,   where   we   all   heard   Mass.   At   the   moment   of Communion, when Jesus had entered our hearts, I heard sobs on all sides. I did not shed a tear, but as I led the way to the cloister door my heart beat so violently  that  I  wondered  if  I  were  going  to  die.  Oh,  the  agony  of  that moment!  One  must  have  experienced  it  in  order  to  understand.  I  embraced all my dear ones and knelt for my Father's blessing. He, too, knelt down and blessed  me  through  his  tears.  It  was  a  sight  to  gladden  the  Angels, this  old man giving his  child to  God while she  was yet in the  springtime of life.  At length  the  doors  of  the  Carmel  closed  upon  me.  .  .  .  I  found  a  welcome  in your arms, dear Mother, and received the embraces of another family, whose devotion and love is not dreamed of by the outside world.At last my desires were realised, and I cannot describe the deep sweet peace which filled my soul. This peace has remained with me during the eight and a  half  years  of  my  life  here,  and  has  never  left  me  even  amid  the  greatest
trials.

Suffering and trials

After a photograph of January 1889

Suffering  opened  her  arms  to  me  from  the  first,  and  I  took  her  to  my heart.  In  the  solemn  examination  before  my  profession  I  declared—as  was customary—the  reason  of  my  entry  into  the  Carmel:  "I  have  come  to  save souls, and especially to pray for Priests." One cannot attain the end without adopting the means, and as Our Lord made me understand that it was by the Cross  He  would  give  me  souls,  the  more  crosses  I  met  with,  the  stronger grew  my  attraction  to  suffering.  For  five  years  this  way  was  mine,  but  I alone  knew  it;  this  was  precisely  the  flower  I  wished  to  offer  to  Jesus,  a hidden flower which keeps its perfume only for Heaven.