stthereseofthechildjesus.gifLike most of us, I have people in my life that I have a hard time loving. 

So this morning’s entry for the Office of Readings, for the memorial of St. Theresa of the Child Jesus (or Therese of Lisieux, as many of us know her) had special resonance.  It comes from her autobiography:

Love appeared to me to be the hinge for my vocation.  Indeed I knew that the Church had a body composed of various members, but in this body the necessary and more noble member was not lacking; I knew that the Church had a heart and that such a heart appeared to be aflame with love.  I knew that one love drove the members of the Church to action, that if this love were extinguished, the apostles would have proclaimed the Gospel no longer, the martyrs would have shed their blood no more.  I saw and realized that love sets off the bounds of all vocations, that love is everything, that this same love embraces every time and every place.  In one word, that love is everlasting.  

St. Theresa, I pray… 

that you help me to love those who are unlovable…
that you guide me to offer charity toward those who are uncharitable…
and that you help me to offer healing to those who would prefer to inflict wounds. 
This I ask, through Christ our Lord.
Amen
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