Saint Therese of Lisieux: A Gateway

A statue of Therese, donated by Celine, at Santa Maria
della Vittoria in Rome, near the place where Therese,
as a pilgrim, wandered into the inner cloisters.  
Photo credit: Juan Marrero

The beginning of Section II of Therese, A Doctor for the Third Millennium, the joint pastoral letter written by the Superior Generals of the two branches of the Carmelite Order, Fr. Camilo Maccise, O.C.D. and Fr. Joseph Chalmers, O. Carm., creates the context for Therese's doctorate: the new millennium as a time of grace and the need for a new evangelization to respond to this time of grace.

II. Thérèse of Lisieux, Doctor for the Third Millennium

8. To speak of the third millennium is to speak, in the first place, of time and the action of God. He manifests himself and works within human events. Teresa of Jesus told us, "It is always a suitable time for God to grant great favors" (Foundations 4, 5). Two thousand years of Christian history are about to conclude. In celebrating this historical event, "It is certainly not a matter of indulging in a new millenarianism, as occurred in some quarters at the end of the first millennium; rather, it is aimed at increasing sensitivity to all that the Spirit is saying to the Church and to the churches (cf. Rv 2:7 ff.), as well as to individuals through charisms meant to serve the whole community. …Despite appearances, humanity continues to await the revelation of the children of God, and lives by this hope."¹ God calls us today, as he did yesterday and will always, to construct our personal and community existence through a reply that is free and responsible.

9. With regard to the celebration of the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000, God has awakened in the Church the awareness of a need for a new evangelization in order to respond to this special time of grace, and to renew faith, hope, and love by centering them on Jesus, who is the only Savior and center of history. He reveals to us the true face of God and helps us discover the presence and action of the Spirit in people and in the world.

History, our world, is the place where the saving presence of God is at work and the place where the responsibility of persons lies. "The church emphasizes the importance of history as the place in which God manifests himself. …But it is precise to say as well that the Church understands that time, liberty, and history are the place in which mankind constructs human existence. Both need to be present, not in an incommunicable parallel, rather in a dialogue, which, on God's part, is gratuitous and initiates and, on the part of mankind, is open to transcendental meaning."²

The time of new evangelization is also a time of great trials and challenges for the world. We cannot separate these two things.  The Gospel of Jesus, confided to the Church to be proclaimed and realized in the world around us, challenges us by its content and all that is in contrast with it.  The Gospel throws its light on these challenges and claims our total attention. Leaving aside the constancy of it, let us direct our words solely to the demands presented to us directly in the field of evangelization itself.

(my emphasis).

Coming soon:

the next section:

"Demands of the new evangelization:
 witness, proclamation, communion, and  service."