St Therese lived a life of Hope. She saw beauty where other saw only ugliness..

In the book of Isiah we read ‘there was no beauty in Him’ this was a reference to Jesus in the Cross.. as Isaiah said ‘He was one from which men turn their eyes ‘ but St Therese saw beauty in the disfigured face of Jesus.. because in His suffering on the Cross she saw the Love of God.. As a hospital Chaplin in often see by faith the same disfigured face of Jesus among those whose body has wasted away in the hospital.

But as St Paul says ‘as our body is wasting away Our inner life life of Grace is being renewed’ because like Jesus our wounds that disfigure the body are pledges of Glory that will be crowned in Heaven.

From a blog we read ‘Her autobiography Story of a Soul, published after her death, inspired people all over the world with its moving message of love for Jesus. That book, along with the various miracles attributed to her after her death, lead to her canonization by Pope Pius XI in 1925. This prayer below reflects St. Therese’s special sanctity, as well as her deep humility. It is no wonder that she took the name as a religious of “Sister Therese of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face”!

“O Jesus, who, in Thy cruel Passion didst become the ‘reproach of men and the Man of Sorrows,’ I worship Thy divine Face. Once it shone with the beauty and sweetness of the Divinity; but now, for my sake, it is become as ‘the face of a leper.’ Yet, in that disfigured Countenance, I recognize Thy infinite love, and I am consumed with the desire of making Thee loved by all mankind. The tears that flowed so abundantly from Thy Eyes are to me as precious pearls that I delight to gather, that with their worth I may ransom the souls of poor sinners. O Jesus, whose Face is the sole beauty that ravishes my heart, I may not see here below the sweetness of Thy glance, nor feel the ineffable tenderness of Thy kiss, I bow to Thy Will—but I pray Thee to imprint in me Thy divine likeness, and I implore Thee so to inflame me with Thy love, that it may quickly consume me, and that I may soon reach the vision of Thy glorious Face in heaven. Amen.”