Little Therese Is Lifting My Spirits!
Dear readers:
I'm disappointed for two reasons.
1. I've been under the weather since Friday. There is a lot to do the week before Christmas, and I can't do many of the things I'd planned.
2. The book I agreed to read and review for St. Paul's/Alba House, A Call to a Deeper Love: The Family Correspondence of the Parents of St. Therese of the Child Jesus 1863—1885 (2011, $29.95), is almost over. Yes, it is that good. I read it every night before bed, these engrossing and uplifting letters of Zelie and Louis Martin (most of them are Zelie's) and I am despairing because I don't know what I will do when the book is finished! Have you ever felt like that when you were nearing the end of a good book? When I do finish the book in the very near future (sigh), I intend to write my review here on this blog, so stay tuned for that. Let's just say that I have developed quite a fondness and admiration for Blessed Zelie Martin. I've laughed, cried, and been touched by the letters she wrote to her brother, sister-in-law, and daughters Pauline and Marie away at boarding school. She is an amazing soul, a very holy soul, and had a great sense of humor, much like her daughter, St. Therese!
I get so excited to read the little anecdotes of daily life with Little Therese, who Zelie calls an "imp" but "very cute, high strung, and she remembers everything!" Oh, how Zelie loved that little girl, the very sensitive girl with a heart of gold!
I wanted to give you a little inkling of the amusing stories Bl. Zelie shares of her little Therese in this book. So here's one that made me so sad, but yet made me laugh out loud at the same time (does that make sense?):
"Two weeks ago Therese, finding Celine so happy to be sick and wanting so much to be in her place, came down as she did with a high fever and all the symptoms of measles. Thank God, at the end of four days she was cured...We asked Therese if she was happy to be sick like Celine, but no, her wish had passed. She said, 'I wanted to be sick as big as the head of a pin, but not like this.' And she said this to us while crying."
From the tales of poor Therese whacking her forehead on a table, to crying on the stairs, to curling up in bed with her beloved older sister Celine, to jumping up and down with glee upon receiving a box of chocolates, to the little child's thoughts on going to Heaven, I can't get enough of this book. At least I have something uplifting to read when I'm sick. But I'll be so sad when it ends!
