Saint Therese of Lisieux: A Gateway

 Sculpture of St. Therese on the facade of the Hotel du Sud in Rome, where she stayed as a pilgrim in November 1887 Photo credit: Juan Marrero

Section II A), "Demands of the New Evangelization," of Therese, A Doctor for the Third Millennium, siggests what is necessary to proclaim the gospel.  This section continues to create the context for Therese's doctorate.  Excerpted from  the joint pastoral letter written by the Carmelite superiors geneeral,  Fr. Camilo Maccise, O.C.D. and Fr. Joseph Chalmers, O. Carm., when Therese was named a doctor in 1997.  For the footnotes, please follow the link above to the complete document.  

A) Demands of the New Evangelization

10. To make the proclamation of the Gospel ring out requires following in the direction pointed out by the encyclical Redemptoris Missio: witness, proclamation, communion, and service.³ It is useful to keep these in mind in order to understand the heart and relevance of the message of Thérèse of Lisieux, Doctor of the Church.

Witness

11. To evangelize is not to transmit a doctrine but an experience transformed into life. This experience is precisely what is shared: "Something which we have heard, which we have seen with our own eyes, which we have watched and touched with our own hands…we are declaring to you…so that you too may share our life" (1 Jn 1:1-3). At the threshold of the third millennium the world to which we must give witness is largely one of unbelief and injustice. Christians are called to "always have your answer ready for people who ask you the reason for the hope that you have" (1 Pt 3:15). The question is how to make this hope and witness clearly intelligible. It must lead the faithful to revise their personal lives and the way they participate in the Church because: "People today put more trust in witnesses than in teachers, in experience than in teaching, and in life and action than in theories."⁴ "The evangelical witness which the world finds most appealing is that of concern for people, and of charity toward the poor, the weak and those who suffer,"⁵ along with a commitment to peace, justice, and human rights.⁶

Proclamation

12. As well as witnessing by their lives, Christians fulfill their evangelical missions by proclaiming the good news of salvation: Christ has died and is risen, and he has transformed us into sons and daughters of God; he has set us free from the slavery of evil, sin, and death. We must proclaim the love of God, our Father, who calls us to union with Him. The good news is addressed to all. There are some areas that need our particular attention in our day: big cities tend to foster individualism, anonymity, cultural disintegration, pluralism, and indifference. Young people in particular need to be evangelized. They are the future of the world. There is also urgent need to proclaim the Gospel among the masses of non-practicing Christians. Of perennial importance is the need for a first proclamation to those who have never heard the Gospel or who do not know Christ.

Communion

13. "God, however, does not make men and women holy and save them merely as individuals, without bond or link between one another. Rather has it pleased him to bring mankind together as one people, a people which acknowledges him in truth and serves him in holiness."⁷ with these words the Second Vatican Council stressed that faith is lived in community, that the fruit of evangelization and the action of the Spirit is the creation of fraternal communities forming the new family of God. The coming of Christ manifests itself in this communion. "By this we know that we have passed from death to life (cf. 1 Jn 3:14)…and from communion there emanates a source of great apostolic energy."⁸ Communion comes about as a result of faith and the sacraments of faith which lead us to a koinonía, open to all, especially to those who believe in Christ through an ecumenism that is active and in solidarity. Communion demands a sincere and fraternal dialogue.

Service

14. Faith needs to be expressed in deeds because in Christ Jesus "only faith working through love" (Gal 5:6) has value. To serve God and people is the best proof of love. Christian diakonía is nothing else than following Jesus who "came not to be served but to serve" (Mt 20:28), and who lived among us "as one who serves" (LK 22:27). From the beginning, Christian service has been notable toward the poor, the outcasts, and the suffering. For this reason, at the threshold of the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000, John Paul II, in his Apostolic Letter "Tertio Millenio Adveniente," did not hesitate to state: "Indeed, it has to be said that a commitment to justice and peace in a world like ours, marked by so many conflicts and intolerable social and economic inequalities, is a necessary condition for the preparation and celebration of the Jubilee."⁹

Stay tuned for the next section, "Therese: Doctor of the Experience of a God both Merciful and Near to Us," which speaks more precisely of Therese herself.