Author Topic: The Little Flower (Read 1873 times)

Hobbledehoy · « **on:** September 20, 2011, 11:30:33 PM »

[Inquiries have been submitted to me that I may post some resources for the Little Flower in time for her imminent Feast Day. So I hereby accede to these requests, and gladly so.]

The great Carmelite Virgin and glorious thaumaturge, St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face, has been so enriched by the love and grace of the Lord God and the Blessed Virgin Mary, the beautiful Flos Carmeli, that one cannot but cry forth with King David, Confitebor tibi Domine in toto corde meo: Sanctis, qui sunt in terra ejus, mirificavit omnes voluntates meas in eis, "I will confess unto Thee, O Lord, with my whole heart: by the Saints that are in His land, He hath made my all desires marvelous in them" (Pss. ix., 2; xv., 3). That is to say, "I shall praise Thee, O Lord, with all my heart on account of the Saints that are in the Kingdom of Thy only-begotten Son, Who by His holy grace hath raised and transfigured all my aspirations and desires --- most especially in His well-beloved spouse, the Little Flower, whom He hath called unto the celestial Carmel, so that I now desire to persevere and progress in the way of prayer as she hath taught by word and example, and no longer aspire to earthly and vain things."

O happy clients of the Little Flower, I rejoice with you and hereby proffer you the means by which you may glorify your celestial Patroness and adore the Lord God all the more on account of the prodigies He has wrought in her little soul, hidden upon the earth but now effulgent amongst the stars.

From the book Carmelite Devotions and Prayers for Special Feasts of the Liturgical Year, compiled by a Carmelite Tertiary (Milwaukee, WI: The Bruce Publishing Company, 1956):

Hobbledehoy · « **Reply #1 on:** September 20, 2011, 11:37:23 PM »

From The Little Flower Prayer Book: A Carmelite Manual of Prayer (Chicago, IL: Carmelite Press, 1926):

I will soon upload more from this rare prayer-book in time for the Little Flower's Feast Day, so stay tuned...

s2srea · « **Reply #2 on:** September 21, 2011, 02:46:27 PM »

Thank you sir

Hobbledehoy · « **Reply #3 on:** September 24, 2011, 11:13:52 PM »

From The Little Flower Prayer Book: A Carmelite Manual of Prayer (Chicago, IL: Carmelite Press, 1926), here are more devotions to St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face.

May the Little Flower shower upon us all her heavenly roses!

Hobbledehoy · « **Reply #4 on:** September 24, 2011, 11:34:47 PM »

From The Little Flower Prayer Book: A Carmelite Manual of Prayer (Chicago, IL: Carmelite Press, 1926), here are prayers composed by St. Thérèse herself. The clients of this great Patroness ought to avail themselves of those prayerful words that welled up from her pure heart all ablaze with with divine charity and which she offered as a sacrifice of praise unto her Divine Spouse (cf. Ps. xliv., 2).

** The prayer that the Little Flower composed as she was inspired by the sight of a statue of St. Joan of Arc is especially awesome! A heart so humble and hidden and given over to interior solitude and silence can at the same time be the valiant, fearless warrior who is all jealousy for the glory of God and therefore strives to battle ceaselessly and fiercely for such a great heavenly King. It is the prodigy of grace that can reconcile two apparently contradictory virtues (humility and magnanimity in this case) in a harmony that resembles the apex of a pyramid: not only the mean between two contraries, but also eminently elevated above them. Such is the sacred paradox of the interior life.

Hobbledehoy · « **Reply #5 on:** September 26, 2011, 12:36:15 AM »

In the Library, I just posted from The Little Flower Prayer Book: A Carmelite Manual of Prayer (Chicago, IL: Carmelite Press, 1926), the formulary for the Mass of the Feast Day of St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus with the Ordinary of the Mass as found in the Missal of the Brethren-Friars of the Order of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel according to the Ancient Custom of the Church of Jerusalem: http://www.cathinfo.com/catholic.php/Mass-in-Honor-of-the-Little-Flower-According-to-the-Carmelite-Rite

***The first person to point out in a Private Message seven notable differences between the Ordinary of the Mass in the Roman Rite and that in the Carmelite Rite (and providing the comparison of the pertinent texts) gets a very special gift from me in honor of the Little Flower! So crack open those Missals and enjoy some comparative liturgical study whilst honoring one of the greatest Saints of the Carmelite Order!

Edit: The seven differences must be pointed out in seven distinctly different prayers. Just thought I ought to clarify that...

:reading:[/color]

Hobbledehoy · « **Reply #6 on:** October 03, 2011, 12:47:34 AM »

I know this is early, but I have to work tomorrow, so...

HAPPY FEAST DAY OF THE LITTLE FLOWER!

[/size][/b][/color]

So great is the glory of the Little Flower, that Our Lord saw fit to have her glorified even by the Greek Churches in communion with the Apostolic See, to show that this little Spouse of His is truly to be venerated as the celestial Patroness of the Missions.

From the Byzantine Missal for Sundays and Feast Days with Rites of Sacraments, and Various Offices and Prayers published at Birmingham, Alabama, by St. George's R. C. Byzantine Church in 1958, (having been printed at Tournai, Belgium, by Société Saint Jean l' Evangéliste, Desclée & Cie), here are the Proper texts for her Feast Day amongst the Byzantine Catholics. They are very beautiful and very apt.

Remember, in the Library you may find excerpts from her spiritual writings here:

http://www.cathinfo.com/catholic.php/Spiritual-Readings-from-the-Little-Flowers-Writings

http://www.cathinfo.com/catholic.php/More-Spiritual-Readings-from-the-Writings-of-the-Little-Flower

You may also find her Proper Mass with the Ordinary according to the Carmelite Missal (distinct in some ways from the Ordinary of the Roman Rite):

http://www.cathinfo.com/catholic.php/Mass-in-Honor-of-the-Little-Flower-According-to-the-Carmelite-Rite