Apostolic exhortation "C’est la confiance", on confidence in the merciful love of God, for the 150th anniversary of the birth of saint Therese of the child Jesus and the holy face.

[Unavoidably, i only subjectively kept some passages.]
[I've also taken the liberty of replacing the word Jesus with [Lord], in square brackets, partly because i'm currently angry, but mainly because I don't understand how the Christ could be an aspect of God while still being fully human. I'll stop doing this if i understand how Jesus-Christ is God, but until then i'll be with the muslims on this one. In any case the teachings won't change with this small replacement.]
[I've also changed his/His into H..er.is, and mostly didn't bothered with indicating "(...)", i even deleted them in the end]

Saint Therese is one of the best known and most beloved saints in our world. Like Saint Francis of Assisi, she is loved by non-Christians and nonbelievers as well.
In addition, she has been recognized by UNESCO as one of the most significant figures for contemporary humanity.

We would do well to delve more deeply into her message as we commemorate the 150th anniversary of her birth in Alençon(, 2 January 1873,) and the centenary of her beatification.
Yet, I have not chosen to issue this Exhortation on either of those dates, or on her liturgical Memorial, so that this message may transcend those celebrations and be taken up as part of the spiritual treasury of the Church.

The earthly life of Saint Therese was brief, a mere twenty-four years, and completely ordinary, first in her family and then in the Carmel of Lisieux.
The extraordinary burst of light and love that she radiated came to be known soon after her death, with the publication of her writings and thanks to the countless graces bestowed on the faithful who invoked her intercession.

1 Jn 4:8 :
Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.

Therese could define her mission in these words : “I shall desire in heaven the same thing as I do now on earth : to love [the Lord] and to make H..er.im loved”
She did not view her consecration to God apart from the pursuit of the good of her brothers and sisters. (...)
For this reason, Therese is the Patroness of the missions[ and of florists according to the Internet], and a model of evangelization.
Evangelization takes place by attraction, not [only?] by pressure or proselytism.

“That is my prayer. I ask [the Lord] to draw me to the flames of H..er.is love, to unite me so closely to H..er.im that S.H..e live and act in in me (...), for a soul that is burning with love cannot remain inactive.”
“the elevator which must raise me to heaven is your arms, O [Lord] ! And for this, I had no need to grow up, but rather I had to remain little and become this more and more”.
[I can't agree, sorry. Misdoers are little, not worth noticing, while saints are shining stars.
Well, i guess you could say that saints are very little, since there's a paradox in saying that the last will be the first, thus probably two opposite definitions for the same word 'greatness', in any case we're here to serve, by placing ourselves below others]

Therese always stresses the primacy of God’s work, his gift of grace.
Once gratuitously justified by sanctifying grace, we are changed and enabled to cooperate by our good works in a process of growth in holiness. Through this “elevation”, we can possess real merits by virtue of the development of the grace received.
At the heart of her teaching is the realization that, since we are incapable of being certain about ourselves, we cannot be sure of our merits. Hence, it is not possible to trust in our own efforts or achievements.
The Catechism chose to quote the words that Saint Therese addressed to the Lord : “I will appear before you with empty hands”, in order to express that “the saints have always had a lively awareness that their merits were pure grace”. This conviction gives rise to a joyful and tender gratitude.

Her gaze remained fixed not on herself and her own needs, but on [the Lord], who loves, seeks, desires, and dwells within.
The complete confidence that becomes an abandonment in Love sets us free from obsessive calculations, constant worry about the future and fears that take away our peace.

The sin of the world is great, but not infinite, whereas the merciful love of the Redeemer is indeed infinite.
Filled with confidence, she dared to explain : “[Lord], allow me to save very many souls ; let no soul be lost today… [O Lord], pardon me if I say anything I should not say. I only want to give You joy and to console You”.

1 Cor 13:13 :
And now these three remain : faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

The act of love – repeating the words, “[Lord] I love you” – which became as natural to Therese as breathing, is the key to her understanding of the Gospel.
Once she surrendered completely to the working of the Spirit, she received, quietly and unobtrusively, an abundant outpouring of living water : “rivers, or better, the oceans of graces that flooded my soul”.
This is the mystical life that, apart from any extraordinary phenomena, offers itself to all the faithful as a daily experience of love.

Therese practised charity in littleness, in the simplest things of daily life, and she did so in the company of the Virgin Mary, from whom she learned that “to love is to give everything. It’s to give oneself”.
While preachers in those days often celebrated Mary’s grandeur in ways that made her seem far removed from us, Therese showed, starting with the Gospel, that Mary is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven because she is the least(, cf. Mt 18:4), the one closest to Jesus in his abasement.
She saw that, if the apocrypha are full of striking and amazing feats, the Gospels show us a lowly and poor life lived in the simplicity of faith.
Therese did not hesitate to write :
“Mother full of grace, I know that in Nazareth You live in poverty, wanting nothing more.
No rapture, miracle or ecstasy embellish your life, O Queen of the Elect !
The number of little ones on earth is truly great.
They can raise their eyes to you without trembling.
It’s by the ordinary way, incomparable Mother, that you like to walk to guide them to heaven”.

It is that heart whose fire is rekindled with each of our acts of charity. “I shall be love”.

The transformation that was taking place enabled her to pass from a fervent desire for heaven to a constant, burning desire for the good of all, culminating in her dream of continuing in heaven her mission of loving [the Lord] and making H..er.im loved.
As she wrote in one of her last letters : “I really count on not remaining inactive in heaven. My desire is to work still for the Church and for souls”.
And in those very days she said, even more directly : “My heaven will be spent on earth until the end of the world. Yes, I want to spend my heaven in doing good on earth”.

It is trust that brings us to love and thus sets us free from fear. It is trust that helps us to stop looking to ourselves and enables us to put into God’s hands what S..H.e alone can accomplish. Doing so provides us with an immense source of love and energy for seeking the good of our brothers and sisters.
Let us ask, then, for such trust as a free and precious gift of grace, so that the paths of the Gospel may open up in our lives.

Not everything is equally central, because there is an order or hierarchy among the truths of the Church, and “this holds true as much for the dogmas of faith as for the whole corpus of the Church’s teaching, including her moral teaching”. The centre of Christian morality is charity, as our response to the unconditional love of the Trinity. Consequently, “works of love directed towards one’s neighbour are the most perfect manifestation of the interior grace of the Spirit”.
In the end, only love counts.

The specific contribution that Therese offers us as a saint and a Doctor of the Church is not analytical, along the lines, for example, of Saint Thomas Aquinas.
By her words and her personal experience she shows that, while it is true that all the Church’s teachings and rules have their importance, their value, their clarity, some are more urgent and more foundational for the Christian life.

As theologians, moralists and spiritual writers, as pastors and as believers, wherever we find ourselves, we need constantly to appropriate this insight of Therese and to draw from it consequences both theoretical and practical, doctrinal and pastoral, personal and communal. We need boldness and interior freedom to do so.

At times, the only quotes we find cited from this saint are secondary to her message, or deal with things she has in common with any other saint, such as prayer, sacrifice, Eucharistic piety, and any number of other beautiful testimonies.
In an age that urges us to focus on our ourselves and our own interests, Therese shows us the beauty of making our lives a gift.
At a time when the most superficial needs and desires are glorified, she testifies to the radicalism of the Gospel.
In an age of individualism, she makes us discover the value of a love that becomes intercession for others.
At a time when human beings are obsessed with grandeur and new forms of power, she points out to us the little way.
In an age that casts aside so many of our brothers and sisters, she teaches us the beauty of concern and responsibility for one another.
At a time of great complexity, she can help us rediscover the importance of simplicity, the absolute primacy of love, trust and abandonment, and thus move beyond a legalistic or moralistic mindset that would fill the Christian life with rules and regulations, and cause the joy of the Gospel to grow cold.
In an age of indifference and self-absorption, Therese inspires us to be missionary disciples, captivated by the attractiveness of Jesus and the Gospel.

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.

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.

Given in Rome, in the Basilica of Saint John Lateran, on 15 October, the Memorial of Saint Teresa of Avila, in the year 2023, the eleventh of my Pontificate.
FRANCIS