Therese of Lisieux Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Therese of Lisieux - Essay Example She almost shares this trait with another woman mystic, Saint Teresa of Avila (1515-1582). As Carol L. Flinters point out â€Å"Over and over in the lives of these women, perhaps most explicitly in Teresa and Therese, we come to see the incredible strength that comes of starting with â€Å"the little things† (Enduring Grace, Introduction, PP12). These saints gave away their lives for the sake of God and for others. Saint Therese was born in France in 1873 with a strange background of parenthood. Her father wanted to be a monk and her mother a saint. Thus after marriage they decided to go for celibacy. It was a priest who convinced them otherwise and they had nine children. Five children who survived were all girls. Therese lost her mother when she was just four. Her sixteen year old elder sister, Pauline was her second mother. But she lost this mother too as Pauline joined the Carmelite convent with in five years. Later after a few months when she fell ill and when every one thought that she was dying, she prayed at the statue of Mary in her room and found that Mary was smiling at her. She got cured. Carole L. Flinters points out that, such periods of illness and solitary sufferings are seen in the lives of most of these women mystics including Saint Teresa of Avila.