Tuesday, May 10, 2011

What's with the name? (Part Duex!)


Now, as for my name, Little Flower. You may be wondering about it, or maybe not. Little Flower was the nickname for my confirmation saint, St. Therese of Lisieux, who I must say, is an extremely awesome role model! Her mother died when she was four, and several years later one of her closest sisters left to enter a Carmelite order. A few months after that she got very sick and almost died, but was cured by the intercession of the Blessed Mother!  As a child she was very emotional and selfish, but at age fourteen she had a conversion and decided to enter the Carmelite convent and give her life to Jesus. When the Mother Superior would not let Therese join because she was so young, Therese went to the bishop, and he refused to give her permission. So young Therese went to the Pope! A short time later she was granted permission to enter the Carmelite convent. While at the convent she had a rough time. Shortly after she joined her father suffered several strokes and she also went through a period where she stated about her prayer life, "Jesus isn't doing much to keep the conversation going." As a nun, Therese knew that she couldn't do great deeds for God, so she made little sacrifices every day, offering them up and striving to achieve holiness calling her daily sacrifices her "little way" to Jesus. She had dreams of becoming a missionary, but those were to remain only dreams, as it was discovered that Therese had tuberculosis. In the last years of her life, she wrote her autobiography at the request of a superior which was published posthumously (a word here meaning published or printed after the author's death) and called "The Story of a Soul". After suffering for many years, Therese died at age 24. She was canonized by Pope Pius XI twenty-eight years after her death. And in 1997 she was declared a Doctor of the Church by Pope John Paul II. There is not much else to why I chose the name "Little Flower". If you wish to read deeper into it, you may but be warned. I am not peacefully beautiful like a flower. I do not sit idly by while life goes on around me. Like a flower, I have deep roots and I cannot be easily moved to a permanent location. Like a flower, I am always fighting for the best spot in the meadow, and like a flower, I am surrounded by beautiful flowers. I am also like a flower or any logical plant, because I try my best to turn and face the Son and live in the light.  

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