The extraordinary Therese

Just been reading a delightful article about Therese on the net. There are so many paradoxical things about this saint 'who never founded a religious order or even left her monastery'. Pope Pius XI called her 'the greatest saint of our age' and recommended her way to everyone. The article asks why she has become so amazingly popular, and answers that her writing has made us 'the patron saint of all of us'. She laid bare her soul and all its pains and became 'the patron saint of practically every human difficulty - problems with friends, unhelpful family members, sickness, exhaustion, depression, scrupulosity, the prospect of death, psychological struggles, anguish about one's vocation' - and more. The way she faced all this with childlike trust is the tool or remedy for us today as we face the strains and stresses of ordinary life. This makes her a wonderful gift from God - as indeed all the saints are, in their very different ways.