[Rank]
S. Theresiae a Jesu Infante Virginis;;Duplex;;3;;vide C6

[Rule]
vide C6;
9 lectiones

[Oratio]
O Lord, who hast said: Unless you became as little children you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven, grant us, we pray, so to follow, in humility and simplicity of heart, the footsteps of the virgin blessed Theresa, that we may attain to an everlasting reward.
$Qui vivis

[Lectio4]
Theresa of the Child Jesus was born in Alencon in France. Her parents were estimable people, well known for their piety and their love of God. From her earliest childhood, endowed by a special grace of the Holy Ghost, she yearned to enter the religious life. She promised God with the utmost sincerity that she would deny him nothing he might ask of her. She kept this promise faithfully to the end of her life, although she had to suffer a great deal to keep it. Her mother died when Theresa was but five years old. From then on the child committed herself to the providence of God, under the vigilant care of a most tender father and her elder sisters. Under their teaching Theresa raced as gayly strong as a young giant along the way of perfection. At the age of nine she was sent to school at Lisieux to the Benedictine nuns, where she made remarkable progress in her knowledge of divine things. In her tenth year she was ill for a long time of a serious and mysterious malady. From this, as she herself relateth, she was delivered only by the power of God himself, through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, who appeared to her with a smiling countenance, and to whom under the title of our Lady of Victories, she was constantly making novenas. Filled with angelic fervour she prepared herself at this time with the utmost care to receive Christ in the sacred banquet of her first Holy Communion.

[Lectio5]
After being refreshed for the first time with the Eucharistic Bread Theresa seemed to develop an insatiable hunger for the celestial food. Then, as if by inspiration, she asked Jesus to turn all her earthly consolation into bitterness. After that she burned with a most tender love for Christ the Lord and for his Church. More than anything in the world she wanted to enter the Order of the Discalced Carmelites, where by self-sacrifice she might assist priests, missionaries and the whole Church, and so gain innumerable souls for Christ Jesus. All this, she promised God would do for her, even when apparently she lay at the point of death. Her extreme youth was an obstacle which hindered her entrance upon the religious life. Even this she overcame by her incredible courage of soul. She entered Carmel at Lisieux happily at the age of fifteen. There God fashioned the heart of Theresa in a marvellous way, teaching her to ascend to him step by step. Imitating the hidden life of the Virgin Mary like a well-watered garden she bore flowers of every virtue, especially an abiding love of God and neighbour.

[Lectio6]
That she might please the most high God to greater degree, when she read in Sacred Scriptures the warning, Whoever is a little one, let him come unto me, she determined to be a little one in spirit. As such she consecrated herself forever with childlike confidence to God, her most loving Father. The way of spiritual childhood, following the teachings of the Gospel, she taught to others, especially to the novices who training in the pursuit of religious virtues she undertook in obedience to her superiors. Overflowing with apostolic zeal she pointed out to a world filled with pride and a love of vanities, the simple way of the Gospels. Meanwhile Jesus, her spouse, inflamed her with a desire to suffer both in soul and in body. Moreover, perceiving that the love of God was everywhere rejected, she became filled with grief and two years before her death, offered herself as a victim of love to the merciful God. She writeth that she was then wounded by a flame of fire from heaven, whereupon she became consumed by love, rapt as it were in ecstasy. Repeating over and over again the fervent words, My God, I love thee, she passed on to her Spouse on the 30th day of September, in the year 1897, at the age of twenty-four years. As she was dying she promised that she would let fall upon earth a ceaseless shower of roses. This promise she hath indeed fulfilled in heaven, and her shower of roses hath continued to this very day. The Sovereign Pontiff Pius XI added her name to the Virgins declared Blessed and two years later, at the time of the great Jubilee, listed her among the Saints. He also appointed and declared her Patroness of all the missions.

[Lectio7]
From the Holy Gospel according to Matthew
!Matt 18:1-4
In that time: The disciples came to Jesus, saying: Who thinkest thou is the greater in the kingdom of heaven? And so on.
_
Homily of St. Leo, Pope
!Sermo 37, in Epiphaniae solemn 7, cap 3-4
The whole teaching of Christian wisdom consisteth, dearly beloved, not in an abundance of words, not in skill in disputation, not surely in seeking after praise or glory, but rather in seeking after true and voluntary humility.  This was the way which the Lord Jesus Christ chose and taught with all his strength from his Mother's womb to his death on the Cross. When the Lord's disciples, as the Evangelist saith, discussed among themselves which should be the greatest in the kingdom of heaven, he called a little child and set him in the midst of them, and said: Verily, I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Christ loveth childhood, which state at first he took upon himself, both in his soul and in his body. Christ loveth childhood, for it is the teacher of humility, the rule of innocence, and the type of meekness. Christ loveth childhood, for he formeth the character of the grown man on this model, and bringeth back the latter years of the old to this very state; and he shapeth on this wise those whom he would raise to the kingdom of heaven.

[Lectio8]
But, that we may be fully able to understand how this marvellous transformation can be accomplished, and by what change we are to return to the state of childhood, let us follow the teaching of the blessed Paul, who saith: Be not children in understanding; howbeit, in malice be ye children, but in understanding be men. Hence we are not to return to the pastimes and imperfect beginnings of childhood, but thence are rather to take whatever is suitable to the full-grown: such as the swift passing of excitement; the speedy restoration of peace; the forgetfulness of injuries; the indifference to dignity; the love of the companionship of their comrades; and the natural evenness of temper. It is indeed a great good not to know and not to have a taste for harm; for to do and to return injuries is the wisdom of this world, but to render no man evil for evil is to possess the childhood of Christian goodwill.

[Lectio9]
The mystery of this day's festival, dearly beloved, calleth you to this imitation of little children. And the Saviour, who was adored by the Magi as a child, recommendeth to you this pattern of humility. To shew what glory he prepareth for them that would imitate him, he consecrated by martyrdom those born at the same time as himself. And thus the children born in Bethlehem, where Christ was born, became sharers of his passion by virtue of sharing the age of his infancy. Let the faithful then love lowliness, and shun all arrogance. Let each one prefer his brother to himself. Let him seek not even what is his own, but only that which will profit his brother. The feeling of charity will abound in all; the poison of envy will be found in none. For he that exalteth himself shall be humbled, and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted. This is the teaching of our Lord Jesus Christ, who with the Father and the Holy Ghost liveth and reigneth, God, for ever and ever. Amen.
&teDeum

[Lectio94]
Theresa of the Child Jesus was born of good and devout parents at Alencon in France. When she was five years old and had lost her mother, she committed herself completely to God's providence under the care of her loving father and older sisters, and with such teachers "rejoiced as a giant to run the way" of perfection. When she was nine, she was sent to the Benedictine nuns at Lisieux to be educated. Then, at the age of ten, she was tormented by an unknown and serious illness, from which she was divinely freed by the aid of Our Lady of Victory. When, filled with angelic fervor, she went to the holy banquet for the first time, she seemed to daw from it an insatiable hunger for this food. She desired to enter the Order of Discalced Carmelites but, because of her youth, met with many difficulties in embracing the religious life. These difficulties she courageously overcame and happily entered the Carmel of Lisieux at the age of fifteen There she burned with love for God and neighbor. She followed the spiritual way of childhood according to the teaching of the Gospels, and taught it to others, especially to the novices. Inflamed with desire for suffering, she offered herself two years before her death as a victim to the merciful love of God. At the age of twenty-four, on September 30, 1897 she hastened to her heavenly Bridegroom. Pius XI, enrolled her as a Virgin among the Blessed, and, two years later on the occasion of the great jubilee, solemnly placed her among the Saints appointed and declared her the special Patroness of all Missions.
&teDeum