Saint Therese Is Stalking Me!

[IgnatiusofLoyola]

Vee8--Remind me to give you the specifics of how St. Therese "sent me roses" a year and a half after I prayed the novena to her. St. Therese used the Dominicans to help her, but I know the roses were send by St. Therese (even if the sender might not have realized who gave her the thought to send me "roses").

At the time I prayed the novena to St. Therese, I was having problems understanding and relating to her. But when Vee8 posted a novena to St. Therese two years ago in honor of her feast day, I prayed the novena anyway--all nine days. Since that time, I've been trying to learn more about St. Therese so that I could understand her better. I realized that to better understand St. Therese, I had to put St. Therese's thoughts and writings in the context of who she was, how she was raised, and the time in which she lived, so that I could look past St. Therese's 19th century writing style and hear what she was saying. That has helped a lot, although I admit that St. Therese still isn't my "first to go to" saint--there are other saints to whom I pray every day, for example, St. Joseph, St. Anthony, and of course, St. Ignatius. I said another novena to St. Therese this year for her feast day earlier this month, although I confess, I usually started my prayers to St. Therese with, "Forgive me for not trying hard enough to understand you."

I got "the roses" from St. Therese on my birthday last summer, although I'm not sure the sender even knew it was my birthday. It showed to me that St. Therese looks beyond our initial reactions and even sends roses to those of us who sometimes find it difficult to understand her. I suspect I will remain mostly Ignatian/Dominican as my primary spirituality, but that doesn't mean we can't pray to Carmelite saints (or saints of other religious Orders).

I've grown to really like praying to saints. It makes me feel like I have "friends in heaven" who are on my side and helping me. I, at least, certainly need as many "friends" as possible.

Note: I'm not posting the specifics of how I received "roses" from St. Therese simply for the privacy of the person(s) involved. The specifics don't matter anyway--it was nothing "mysterious" or supernatural.

[Mary's Margaret]

When I first read St. Therese, I was less than impressed: I think I actually called her 'whiny"! She certainly didn not speak to me as deeply as had Sts. Teresa and John of the Cross. However, books about her kept coming to my attention and with each one, veils dropped from my eyes and I began to see more of her spirit. Then, I took last June as a month of retreat and one of the 2 books my spiritual director allowed me to read was The Message of Therese of Lisieux by M.M. Philipon. Well, God has a sense of humour, and St. Therese is insistent indeed. That book became the foundation of my Rule of Life.
Indeed, we have friends in heaven!

[NonNovi]

Saw some [url="http://www.phatmass.com/phorum/topic/124927-pictures-of-me-in-a-cassock/"]red roses[/url] again. This time she threw in a FuturePriest too, must be a sign

[NonNovi]

I started a novena on All Saints day (seemed a good day to begin) in front of this statue I recently "discovered" in the church where I serve the EF Mass. I've been going to this church at least once a month the last 4 years, and weekly the last year to serve this Mass, but I never noticed this statue. Last wednesday I did. At her feet are pictures of 2 of my favorite priests, Saint Damien of Molokai (who I am related to very distantly, according to family legend) and the Blessed priest Poppe. For the record, I didn't put them there. This can't be coincidence. A week ago I made a little pilgrimage to a chapel near the school where I'm doing an internship the next 2 weeks. I didn't know earlier, but this was also the chapel where the Blessed priest Poppe came to pray for his vocation.

This is like a giant puzzle, where some parts are coming together, but a lot are still on a big pile to sort out. At first it was frustrating, but on the other hand I began to see it as something pretty exciting.

[img]https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/--LZZ5fBniVE/UJZmwNa_8uI/AAAAAAAACmE/BWp7kdCySR0/s512/SL744886.JPG[/img]

Edited November 4, 2012 by NonNovi

[PadrePioOfPietrelcino]

Saint Therese has not stalked me, but I've had some stalking done by some others who got me to join the Church...

I'll be praying for you.

Edited November 4, 2012 by PadrePioOfPietrelcino

[truthfinder]

Therese has stalked me, but so has Our Lady of Mt. Carmel...

[LittleWaySoul]

Little Therese is so beautiful She does a lot of stalking. She's one of those saints who, I think, works overtime

[LittleWaySoul]

On October 1, Imagine Sisters did something called the One Rose Campaign. That was where you give a single rose to someone you know to ask them to consider religious life in honor of St. Therese. One of my friends on Facebook posted this picture. It was a note and a rose necklace she got in the mail. There was no return address label and no handwriting for her to find out who sent it. I used Paint to cross off her name and address so that her privacy is protected, but at the bottom of the piece of paper with the quote, there was a URL for the video on Imagine Sisters that explained what One Rose is.

This is the kind of stuff St. Therese does. Isn't she beautiful?

[img]https://pbs.twimg.com/media/A64EdjfCAAEFFNu.jpg[/img]

[Pax_et bonum]

There has been a vase of white roses in the side chapel where the tabernacle is, and there's never usually any flowers there. My first thought was, "OK, who prayed a novena to Therese," but today my theo professor told me that he was looking around at a daily Mass, saw me, and thought I looked like St. Therese--my prayer posture or something.

[NonNovi]

I'm so bad at praying novenas! Still haven't accomplished to finish one for Saint Therese, this morning I started again. But I keep seeing red roses and her portraits everywhere, especially in places that have something to do with the priesthood or with persons who wanted to be priests.

 

Friday evening we had a meeting with a group of catholic young people in the house of a priest who died a few years ago (read the Youcat, had adoration, was nice). In the living room are some bookcases, my eye fell almost immediately on a little one : "Novena to Saint Therese". That's why I decided to try once more :proud:

Later that evening, the housekeeper showed me some sort of prayer card drawn by Saint Therese herself!! (3th class relic!) :shocking: I held a piece of paper in my hands (okay, it was in a plastic cover to protect it, but still) with drawings she made! There were 7 swords on it and below that a sacred heart, with hand written text around the drawings (can't remember what it said, it was in French).It was given to the priest when he was in Lisieux. Next time I'll ask if I can take a picture of it or something.

 

She just won't let me go :nun1: :flowers:

Edited December 2, 2012 by NonNovi

[NonNovi]

(3th class relic!) :shocking:

Mistake, it is 2nd class!

[petitpèlerin]

Yeah. Advice: watch out for what you ask for, she just might get it for you! She said she would spend her heaven doing good on the earth. She's one busy saint up there. Here's my one Therese experience: I came to France last fall and met a French brother I liked so much I couldn't stand not to get to know him. Every circumstance was against me, but I took it to Therese. (I'm in her country, she's a patron of his community, and he loves her, so I thought she'd be a good choice.) A few weeks later I got a clear and beautiful sign that there was the beginning of a friendship between him and me . . . on her feast day! I'm not sure if there were any roses involved, but it happened in a flower garden! And things have progressed since then. I don't know how it's happened - he's the most graceful and gracious man in western Europe and I'm the most clumsy American - but I've somehow developed a profound friendship with him. I don't know, maybe he just tolerates me in charity, as Therese did with that sister who rubbed her every wrong way, but if that's the case then he's a saint himself already, because he treats me like a friend, like someone important. He's been so tremendously good to me in ways I couldn't have even imagined, in the most simple human ways as well as some profound spiritual ones. My time in France and my story are not over yet, but I know that my French brother has some significant role in it. Like you, I'm still watching it unfold. And I owe a big thanks to Therese.

Scoffers can scoff. Spiritual friendship, with the saints in heaven as well as those among us, is one of the best things on earth. It sounds like Therese is the one pursuing you, in which case you really better watch out, because she's probably up to something!

[NonNovi]

I finally managed to finish a novena yesterday! :winner:  :saint2:  I guess she made me realise what I have to do in the past 9 days. The first day of the novena I started to think about what my friend said to me, the last day I posted my It's going too fast thread here.

 

PetitPelerin, you're right, she does get you what you ask for! She confirms everything I ask. I'm getting used to her presence now, Therese is really pushing me in one direction. When I was at the SJM-monastery last weekend, there was a funeral of one of the sisters living there. On the coffin was put a red rose. The remaining sisters like me a lot and want me to stay every time I'm there. When I left Saturday, the priest told me he has a 1st class relic of Saint Therese (ex carne)!! He will show it to me next time I'm there. See, she even is present literally in the one place I really want to be right now.

[petitpèlerin]

Oh my gosh, I didn't realize it was you, the same guy who's been stalked by St Therese, who's also experiencing things going so fast! Not to make light of your present situation, I believe important things are happening in your life right now, but that's downright comical! And so like Therese! It sounds like she's really got an eye out for you. Wow.

 

I think I had a major breakthrough this weekend and some things that my friend has shared with me figured deeply into it. I realize now that he's in my life to help me recognize and encourage me along my way. Sometimes providence comes in the form of coincidences, but when it comes in the form of really excellent people who share God's grace and light with you, life just doesn't get any better. We'll see how it all goes, I'm in the middle of some big shifts just like you are. Your story is quite inspiring.

[Lil'Nun]

Oh how I wish she would stalk me...