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Mother Thérèse and the Eucharist
The month of April is traditionally dedicated to the Eucharist: Mass and Blessed Sacrament. To help us during this month, let us see what Mother Thérèse tells us about these themes.
Illustration: "New Eucharistic Year or preparations and thanksgiving for Holy Communion ...", Clermont-Ferrand, Librairie catholique (rue du Terrail), 1848, 468 pp.
This book was used by Mother Thérèse. On it is written,the mention "Communauté de la Retraite Lyon Montpellier" (Montpellier is crossed out).
Communion
“She had a great love for Holy Communion, and one day she was told about frequent communion. She said that she did not think there was a better preparation for communion than communion itself.”[1]
In the spring of 1866, Theresa, realizing the time she used for her Spiritual Exercises, told me: "When I received Holy Communion, it is impossible for me to leave the Chapel like other days; The time devoted to thanksgiving by the Community seems so short to me that I forced myself to follow it (the community) to the Refectory. I go, I eat lunch without knowing what I'm doing and without being distracted for a moment from the presence of Our Lord. When I return to the Chapel and find myself alone, I can indulge in the feelings I have had to hide until then, and often I am flooded with tears. It is a weakness of the nerves, humbly added the Holy Mother, there are days when the thought of God moves my heart so much that I cannot control of myself. Then I would like to hide from all eyes and the obligation to remain in the choir causes me unspeakable pain and discomfort. "[…][2]
“I take advantage a little more often of the permission you gave me to add a communion to those I already made, it is one more consolation and a grace of which I thank you again, because I appreciate it very much. However, it must be said, it is bread that does not satisfy, the more one eats it, the more one wants to eat it, this poor soul is always hungry for her God and until she is fully united with him, she will sigh after him .” [3]
“About the coldness we sometimes feel in Holy Communion, she said: The less we feel that Our Lord is with us, the more He is. She advised never to leave Holy Communion, on the contrary, if we could receive Communion three times a day, we should do so.” [4]
“What is important is not to receive more or less often, it is to receive well; it is to seek in Holy Communion only Jesus Christ and a perfect conformity with him.” [5]
Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament and Sunday
“I asked her why it is that we were so easily overwhelmed by sleep during the exercises at the chapel. "No doubt," she replied, "it is necessary to share human weakness and fatigue; but it is also because we do not have a strong enough faith: we are not sufficiently penetrated by this thought that Our Lord is really present there before us".” [6]
“I say to her once, “My mother, you stay too long on your knees in the chapel and it wears you out”. “But no, she told me, I look at Him in His tabernacle and time passes quickly, too fast.”
To the same Sister who was going through a period of deep discouragement: When you go before the Blessed Sacrament, kneel in front of the tabernacle and then say to Him, "Lord, I am here, look at me, please. I am weak, very weak, comfort me. I am sick, heal me. Give me humility and confidence so that I may bear my miseries without discouragement. 'See, my good Sister, we should never allow a single thought of sadness to enter our hearts, having in our midst the One who effects heaven's joy. But we do not understand our happiness. We look elsewhere for consolation. We need sensitive consolations, that's all. But this is not a real folly. Moreover, you know as well as I do that they are vain and do not last long, and that they make us lose those that our Lord would make us feel within us if we went straight to Him. […] Another time, she told me: when you receive Holy Communion, beg Our Lord to help you to overcome, to renounce; for I often see that you are as susceptible, as impatient, after Communion as before. Communion is not only for the happiness of possessing for a few minutes the real Presence of Our Lord; this Communion must last all day. Believe me, a religious soul that has no other will than the will of her Superior, who for her is that of Our Lord, all her actions are spiritual communions; that is, she is always in communion with Our Lord. " [7]
“She never interrupted her prayer, her soul was always in direct communication with God. On Sundays and on feast days she literally left the chapel only for her short meals and recreation. She had to spend 10 to 11 hours there that day”. [8]
Sundays
"In August 1866, after a day of Recollection, Mother Thérèse said to me: "I have only one need, only one thought: pray, always pray. It is so strong in me that on Sunday I am like a soul in pain all the time that I spend outside the Chapel (because that day she felt free from the manual work that she was doing so conscientiously in the week.) I used to do my spiritual reading with taste and consolation. Now I can neither apply myself to it, nor find relief in it even with the powerful appeal that calls me before the Blessed Sacrament. Still I do it, even if Father Desjardins, to whom I once shared this, said, "Do always what the Rule says and in spite of everything." But it cost me a lot. " [9]
“Mother Thérèse spent Sunday as her day of Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.” [10]
“Her Sundays were but a continuous prayer, staying on her knees without relying in any way on her prie-Dieu, sitting rarely, taking no less than three-quarters of an hour to make her way of the cross; in the end she seemed exhausted and bowed under the weight. But her Sundays, even if well spent, made her sick as usual, it was like that...” [11] »
“Mother Thérèse is killing herself with the love of God. Would you believe that yesterday she stayed in the chapel from 5 am until past than 10 am, taking just a liitle time to have lunch.” [12]