‘Little Flower’ is almost here

Sydney
24 March 2002

‘Little Flower’ is almost here

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‘Little Flower’ is almost here

St Thérèse of Lisieux’s relics arrive on Monday. By MARILYN KERJEAN

Sydney is set to witness a warm reception for the much loved ‘little’ saint as the reliquary of St Thérèse of Lisieux approaches on the latest leg of its national tour.

It will arrive at Varroville, in Sydney’s south-west, on Monday, March 25. And on Sunday, April 7, Archbishop Pell will officially receive it at Australia’s mother church, St Mary’s Cathedral.

As a measure of the anticipation with which many await the reliquary’s arrival to Sydney, the hours that people will have access to the cathedral have been extended again.

The cathedral will now be kept open around the clock for private veneration and prayer while the relics are there (9.30am Sunday, April 7, to 9.30am Monday, April 8).

Archbishop Pell will lead a welcome ceremony at 9.30am on Sunday, followed by a solemn choral Mass at 10.30am.

“The welcome visit of the relics of St Thérèse to Sydney, to the Catholic ‘mother church’ of this city and nation, will give many of us the treasured opportunity, through our prayer to experience Christ’s love, so beautifully revealed in the life of this young nun,” said Archbishop Pell.

“St Thérèse of Lisieux continues to have an astonishing impact on millions of people, who see in her life and writings evidence of God’s love and mercy for all his children.

“Like her, many of us feel too spiritually small to do great things for God, but she shows us a way that we can find holiness and a deep faith in Jesus,” the Archbishop said.

In recent weeks, the reliquary containing remains of the much-loved saint drew up to 16,000 people in one day to a parish church in Melbourne, according to Fr Greg Homeming, superior of the Discalced Carmelites in Australia.

He sees the tour as a means for people to meet the person of Thérèse and discover her unique Carmelite spirituality, which has the gospel at its heart.

“(Her) message is one of trust and hope, which calls everyone to a human and divine integrity through the acceptance of who we are, and the doing of even the smallest tasks with love,” he said.

“Our weaknesses become assets because, through them, we come to realise in ourselves the mercy and true love of God, whose love is only fully appreciated in forgiveness.”

For the Discalced Carmelite community at Varroville, the arrival of the reliquary is “a great event we’re looking forward to so much”, he said.

“It’s like our beloved sister is coming here, coming to visit.”

Wollongong’s Bishop Peter Ingham, who will welcome the reliquary to Our Lady of Mt Carmel Parish, Varroville, with Mass at 7.30pm tomorrow (Monday, March 25), says the relics provide an opportunity for St Thérèse’s spirit to touch and influence us and point us to God.

The reliquary arrived in Perth on January 31 as part of a world tour that began in 1997, the centenary of her death.

So far in Australia it has drawn the biggest crowds in Melbourne. In the US it stopped traffic in New York City. And in Ireland most of the population turned out to venerate the relics.