THE PRAYER OF ST THÉRÈSE OF LISIEUX Vernon Johnson 1938
CATHOLIC TRUTH SOCIETY
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PUBLISHERS TO THE HOLY SEE
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She shows us that we must pray, like little children, by love, in order to obtain love, “the one thing necessary”…
Mgr Vernon Johnson (1886-1969) was an Anglican clergyman who became Catholic after visiting the Carmel of Lisieux.
CTS ONEFIFTIES Originally published as The Prayer of St Teresa of Lisieux: Part I and The Prayer of St Teresa of Lisieux: Part II, 1938. The texts have been very slightly abridged for this edition. Published by The Incorporated Catholic Truth Society, 40-46 Harleyford Road London SE11 5AY www.ctsbooks.org All rights reserved. Copyright © 2017 The Incorporated Catholic Truth Society.
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ISBN 978 1 78469 549 1
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THE PRAYER OF ST TERESA OF LISIEUX - PART I
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Vernon Johnson
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CONTENTS PART I
PAGE
INTRODUCTION......................................................................... 7 I.
THE NECESSITY OF PRAYER.................................................... 9
II.
THE SOURCE OF ST TERESA’S PRAYER................................. 12
III.
THE CHARACTER OF ST TERESA’S PRAYER— Its Love......................................................................... 14 Its Humility................................................................... 17 Its Confidence............................................................... 19 Its Abandonment.......................................................... 22 Its Simplicity................................................................. 25
IV. THE HOLY EUCHARIST AND THE PRAYER OF ST TERESA....... 29 The author wishes to express his deep gratitude to the Carmelites of Lisieux without whose supervision and encouragement this little book would never have been written. In the chapter on “Dryness in Prayer” the author wishes to express his indebtedness to The Science of Prayer by Ludovic de Besse, O.S.F.C.
REFERENCES A.—Autobiography; L.—Laveille; N.V.—Novissima Verba; S.—Spirit of St Teresa.
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THE PRAYER OF ST TERESA St Teresa of The Child Jesus, commonly known as the Little Flower, was raised up by Almighty God to teach us the Little Way of Spiritual Childhood. In it she teaches us to look upon God always as Our Father, and ourselves as His little children; to treat Him with that love and humility, confidence and abandonment, which marks the relationship of any little child with its parent. It was in order that she might teach us this Little Way that she was canonized by the Holy See. But the Little Way of Spiritual Childhood is not the fruit of our own unaided human effort. It is the result of the co-operation of our will with the grace of God. This grace, without which we can neither understand nor follow the Little Way, we can only obtain by prayer. And so our generation turns to St Teresa, the teacher of the Little Way of Spiritual Childhood, the messenger of Jesus, as long ago the Apostles turned to their Master Himself, saying: “Teach us to pray.”1 She answers our appeal by the beautiful teaching of her life and of her writings. She tells us of the necessity of prayer. She shows us that the foundation of all prayer lies in belief in the Fatherhood of God, “the Father of lights, from whom comes every good and perfect gift.”2 She shows us that we must pray, like little children, by love, in order to obtain love, “the one thing necessary,” and that we must pray with humility and confidence, with a complete abandonment to the Divine Will, and with utter simplicity. She teaches us how to pray, not only in moments of consolation, but also in the midst of dryness and, above 1 2
Luke xi. 1. James i. 17.
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all, in the hour of suffering and spiritual desolation. Finally, she teaches us, and this is the main point in her teaching, that in truth there is only one Prayer—the Prayer of Jesus, the Sacrifice of Calvary, continued in our midst to-day upon the altars of the Church—and that it is from this prayer, and from this prayer alone, that all other prayers derive their reality and power.
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THE NECESSITY OF PRAYER “It is by prayer and sacrifice alone that we Carmelites can be useful to the Church.”1 These words are the key to the life of St Teresa and to the life of every Carmelite nun. She gave herself to God in a life of prayer and sacrifice, in order that, being entirely given to God, she might, therefore, be entirely given to the work of the salvation of souls. She did not enter Carmel in order to escape from the world, but just in order that she might be in the very heart of the world and might help souls in the fullest possible way. On her journey to Rome, when she was not yet fifteen, a fellow pilgrim handed her the Annals of some Missionary Sisters. After accepting them eagerly, she passed them on to her sister, saying to her: “I will not read them, for I find I am too anxious for active works, and I wish to be hidden in a cloister so as to give myself more completely to God.”2 She means by that, to sacrifice all the consolation and satisfaction of an active apostolate, in order to give herself to the greatest apostolate of all, a life of prayer and sacrifice. In her eyes prayer was the vital foundation of all activity. “The power of prayer,” she says, “has been understood by all the Saints, and especially, perhaps, by those who have illumined the world with the light of Christ’s teaching. Was it not from prayer that St Paul, St Augustine, St Thomas Aquinas, St John of the Cross, St Teresa, and so many other friends of God, acquired the wonderful knowledge which has enthralled the loftiest minds? The Almighty gave them the prayer that inflames with the fire of love. Thus they have uplifted the world—thus do the Saints who 1 2
N.V., p. 56. L., p. 137.
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still combat on earth raise it to-day, and will continue to raise it, till the end of time.”1 It is so easy to be captivated by the external activities of a life and to forget the prayer that must lie behind them if these activities are to have any supernatural value at all. It is easy to be caught by the glamour of St Teresa and not to realize the prayer which is the source of all her power. It is so, even in the Life of Our Blessed Lord. We all know that He chose twelve Apostles; we all know that He gave us the Lord’s Prayer; we all know that He was transfigured on Mount Tabor. But how many of us realize that Our Lord prepared for each of these occasions by going aside to pray? “And it came to pass in those days, that he went out into a mountain to pray, and he passed the whole night in the prayer of God.”2 Thus did He prepare for choosing the Apostles. It was the same when He gave us the Lord’s Prayer: “And it came to pass, that as he was in a certain place praying, when he ceased, one of his disciples said to him: Lord, teach us to pray…. And he said to them: When you pray, say: Father…”3 And on Mount Tabor, at the Transfiguration, we are told: “And whilst he prayed, the shape of his countenance was altered, and his raiment became white and glittering.”4 It was by an agony of prayer in Gethsemane that He prepared for His approaching Passion. And these were but specially noted occasions of what was, with Our Blessed Lord, a continual habit of prayer. St Mark tells us so: “And rising very early, going out, he went into a desert place: and there he prayed.”5 Here we have a glimpse of that continual background of prayer which was the source of Our Lord’s Public Ministry. Above all, these were but the prelude to the one perfect prayer which Our Lord offered to the Father when He gave Himself for us upon the Cross. The Sacrifice of Calvary is a living prayer, the one and only perfect prayer, A., p. 194. Luke vi. 12. Luke xi. 1. 4 Luke ix. 29. 5 Mark i. 35. 1 2 3
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which alone can save the world. All other prayers derive their power from the Cross. The self-oblation of contemplative souls, whose life is a perpetual prayer, owes its particular power to the fact that it is such an intimate sharing in the Self-Oblation of Our Lord on Calvary. The Holy Father himself has no doubt about this particular prayer, and he is anxious that we should fully realize it. “Contemplatives contribute a great part to the progress of the Church and to the salvation of the human race, far more than those who work in the harvest of the Lord. For if the former did not call down from Heaven an abundant rain of Divine graces to make this harvest fertile, the workers of the Gospel would reap less fruit.”1 Our Lord made prayer the background of His Life, and what He did Himself He teaches us to do as well. “And he spoke also a parable to them, that we ought always to pray, and not to faint.”2 “Faint”—that is just the word. It is not that we disbelieve in prayer; but we just lose heart and collapse from prayer into mere activity, and our works lose all their supernatural savour. In this rushing materialistic age we need a simple guide to lead us back to prayer. Almighty God has answered our need. In so doing, He has chosen neither a learned theologian nor a master of oratory, but a simple nun, hidden in a convent. He stripped her of every activity except that of prayer and sacrifice, and, in a shortness of time quite unparalleled, He has made her loved by all the world. Why? Just to teach us the vital importance, the absolute necessity, of prayer. Most people know of the roses let fall upon the earth by St Teresa; some know and love her Little Way, but few even of those know much about her prayer. And yet her prayer was her supreme activity when she was on the earth, and it is the secret of her power to-day. “In prayer and sacrifice lies all my strength. Experience has taught me that they touch hearts far more easily than words.”3 Extract from the Apostolic Constitutions approving the Institution of the Order of Chartreux, July 9th, 1924. Luke xviii. 1. 3 A., p. 179. 1 2
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