Therese wrote this poem in 1895, either in June or in October, at the request of her sister, Marie of the Sacred Heart. She does not understand the Heart of Jesus as demanding reparation, but as "burning with tenderness." Jesus is the "only Friend whom I love," "my happiness, my only hope." Unable to see his bright face or hear his voice, she still can rest on the Sacred Heart. In her daring climax, she chooses that Heart for her purgatory.
“To the Sacred Heart of Jesus”
. . . .
To be able to gaze on your glory,
I know we have to pass through fire.
So I, for my purgatory,
Choose your burning love, O heart of my God!
On leaving this life, my exiled soul
Would like to make an act of pure love,
And then, flying away to Heaven, its Homeland,
Enter straightaway into your Heart.
The Poetry of Saint Therese of Lisieux, tr. Donald Kinney, O.C.D. Washington, D.C.: ICS Publications, 1996, pp. 117-120. All rights reserved. Used with permission.
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