MESSAGE- PART I:
ST. THÉRÈSE OF LISIEUX:
Dear Ones,
I am little Thérèse. Many of you know me through historical accounts and through the witness of the Church, but I have come to tell you that I now rejoice in the promises of our Lord Jesus Christ and in the heavenly dwelling He prepared for me.
Permit me to share with you what Our Lord has asked me to convey to you concerning the meaning of a childlike heart. The light of Christ must always shine through every child of God who is born of the Spirit.
Yet some souls, even in their love for God, can become hardened and resistant to the gentle workings of the Holy Spirit within their hearts. In such souls, the childlike heart struggles to emerge freely, as though hidden beneath a hardened shell, and the labor of the Holy Spirit becomes more difficult because of the soul’s resistance to grace.
Even so, the Holy Spirit, in His great patience and love, continues to work within the soul, gently softening what has become hardened, so that the light of Divine Love may shine forth once again.
The purity of a childlike heart does not necessarily mean that the soul is already perfected in the holiness God desires, nor that the person is the holiest among others.
Rather, it means that the soul carries, in its deepest part, a simple openness and pliability before God, like clay in the hands of its Creator.
In this humble state, the soul remains steadfast in a profound awareness of God, who in His sublime power sustains it in holy providence before Him and surrounds it within the mystery of Divine Love.
Even if the soul cannot yet fully understand the mysteries unfolding within it, or proclaim with ardent devotion its love for its Creator, still, through a gentle movement of grace within its interior, it submits reverently before God and allows the Holy Spirit to labor within it with the spiritual innocence of a childlike heart.
Beloved ones, believe in all things that are holy and pleasing to God. Remain always in the meekness and gentleness of your beloved Jesus!
Farewell, beloved of Jesus, until next time.