Roses welcome a 'Little Flower'

Sydney
7 April 2002

Roses welcome a 'Little Flower'

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Roses welcome a 'Little Flower'

Young altar server Sarah Robins, 11, welcomes the reliquary of a young saint - St Thérèse of Lisieux, the 'Little Flower', who died at just 24

By Marilyn Kerjean

Red and white roses greeted the reliquary of the Little Flower, St Thérèse of Lisieux, when she 'came home' to a house of her own brothers and sisters - the Discalced Carmelites - in outer Sydney.

St Thérèse called herself only a little wildflower or an unpetalled rose, but she has always been associated with the most beautiful roses.

The Discalced Carmelite parish of Our Lady of Mt Carmel, Varroville, was decorated with bunches of red and white roses in anticipation of her reliquary's arrival on March 25.

Hundreds of long-stemmed red roses with lots of fresh green foliage adorned the altar in the main stunning arrangement.

More than 800 people attended the official Mass in the evening to welcome St Thérèse of Lisieux's relics to the Discalced Carmelite communities of friars and nuns and the parish.

They brought extra roses to lay across the top of her reliquary.

Parish priest Fr Tadgh Tierney, was "touched" by the reverence of pilgrims who came to visit the church through the afternoon and night.

"To see how devout people are as they are praying by the relics; to me that's been quite impressive," he said.

The saint lived her 'Little Way' of spiritual childhood, a new and radical way to sanctity, before dying at the age of 24.

The regional vicar for the Discaled Carmelites, Fr Greg Homeming, said in the welcome Mass homily that St Thérèse is a saint for young people.

That was why Pope John Paul II chose the 1996 World Youth Day in Paris to announce he would declare her a doctor of the Church

Fr Greg extended a special invitation to the young to spend more time with God and St Thérèse while the relics were with the community.

The Bishop of Wollongong, Bishop Peter Ingham, welcomed the relics on behalf of the diocese, saying he hoped that during Holy Week, the apex of the liturgical year, people might recapture what the Catholic faith is all about with the help of St Thérèse.

"We have in our midst one of the greatest saints of all times," he said, "one who taught us ... how to do God's will."

It was a privilege to be welcoming St Thérèse home to the territory of the fathers, nuns and brothers who gave witness to the way she lived, he said.

Around 400 people gathered to meet the police-escorted reliquary vehicle when it arrived earlier in the day. Students from the parish high school formed a guard of honour for the convoy. Some students performed a liturgical dance outside the church before the reliquary was taken inside.

There, in a short welcome liturgy, the con gregation was addressed by Fr Greg and Sr Jennifer Jones, prioress of the order's convent in Varroville.

During the welcome Mass, photos of St Thérèse as a child, teenager and young adult were projected on screens at either side of the altar.

Fr Greg spoke in the homily about her doctrine of the 'Little Way', for which Pope John Paul II declared her a doctor of the Church in 1997.

Her doctrine is of great significance, not simply for Catholics or Christians, but for every person of good will, Fr Greg said.

"Whether they be Christian or Muslim or Hindus the message which this person presents to us transcends all differences," he said. "That's why so many people flock to her."

What many take to be her 'little way' is a caricature of her teaching, he said, which is more than simply offering up unpleasant tasks to God, although that is good.

Rather, it is based on the Gospel and her experience of the power of God's love for and within her with all her faults and failings.

"She knew that simply by struggling and doing what she could do with the attitude of love and with all of her being, this was pleasing to our Lord," he said.

"By living this way she could be sanctified by the love of God.

"And she realised that in and through this everything she did in her little way was joined to Jesus Christ ... as part of the body of Christ.

"United with him in love, her smallest prayer was as powerful as the prayer of Jesus Christ."

He encouraged everyone to read her autobiography, Story of a Soul, and, more importantly, to spend more time with God and not to be afraid to love God.

Fr Greg invited the young people present to return and pray by the reliquary at a quieter time and, if they wanted, to take the time to talk to a priest.

Evening Mass was followed by an all-night vigil during which people venerated and prayed by the relics and went to confession.

The reliquary was taken next day to the Carmelite friary chapel until Holy Thursday. Then it was hidden from public view until after Easter Sunday.

The itinerary this week has included Wollongong, West Wollongong, Albion Park and Bowral.

Today (Sunday) it reaches St Mary's Cathedral, which will remain open all night for public veneration. It leaves for Wentworthville parish at 9.30am tomorrow, arriving there at 10.30am.