Wednesday, June 24, 2015

Join Us! Reading Shirt of Flame and Following Saint Therese of Lisieux

Several girlfriends ....from Alaska to New Jersey... are planning to read together Heather King's little masterpiece, Shirt of Flame: A Year with Saint Therese of Lisieux. Join us!

This 135-page spiritual memoir has what one reviewer calls "the grit of sanctity" because of its unaverted gaze at the mess that is King's life, that is all our lives.

Until a few years ago, I knew nothing about St. Therese, a cloistered nun who died at the age of 24. This woman was declared a Doctor of the Church is 1997. You do not have to be a catholic to appreciate her Little Way, which gives us a path to grace and meaning by confronting our everyday existence.

I'm just on the first chapter, called Early Loss, but here is one gem from King:

"Therese's gift was to have suffered early loss but also to have chosen to remain childlike. Not childish, for from a very young age she was mature beyond her years, but childlike, trusting, resilient, lost in wonder."

I put little stars by those three traits. As someone who also suffered deep losses early in my life, I can relate to the idea of learning right away that life is a series of losses. I've learned it's important to consider the gifts of the accidents of our births.

So please read the first chapter and share your reflections below....


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