St Thérèse of Lisieux and the influenza pandemic of 1892

Sister Therese of the Child Jesus, novice, 1889

Saint Therese of Lisieux also lived through a sudden and deadly pandemic in 1891-1892.  In 2020, what can we learn from how she responded?

St. Therese lived through a severe influenza epidemic.  Erupting in 1889, it circled the globe in only four months.  During its second recurrence, it reached the Carmel of Lisieux at the end of 1891. Of the 25 Carmelites, the three oldest died within six days. Only the three youngest, including Therese, remained on their feet.

From the blog http://www.thereseoflisieux.org/

Read more here.

http://www.thereseoflisieux.org/my-blog-about-st-therese/2020/5/14/st-therese-and-the-influenza-pandemic-in-the-lisieux-carmel.html

http://www.thereseoflisieux.org/my-blog-about-st-therese/2020/5/17/st-therese-and-the-influenza-pandemic-in-the-lisieux-carmel.html

http://www.thereseoflisieux.org/my-blog-about-st-therese/2020/5/23/st-therese-of-lisieux-and-the-influenza-pandemic-of-1892-par.html

http://www.thereseoflisieux.org/my-blog-about-st-therese/2020/5/26/st-therese-of-lisieux-and-the-influenza-pandemic-of-1892-par.html

Nada Te Turbe (en casa)

Nada Te Turbe - A Virtual Choir of Carmelites

From the Provincial Delegate

From the provincial Delegate

While we are Easter Christians and Alleluia is our song, it feels like we are still back in Lent. The suffering around us is widespread. We are aware of those struggling with the virus and those in anguish seeing loved ones in distress. We are concerned for the grieving, the overwhelmed workers, the unemployed. And the list goes on.

Clearly we are going through the darkest of nights and the cross has fallen heavily upon us. Jesus told us that as his disciples we must carry the cross as he did. We must find redemptive value in our experience. Jesus transformed the meaning of the cross by his saving death and glorious resurrection. What was an instrument of death became the mean to life, a sign of despair became our only hope. The cross was the expression of powerlessness and folly; for us it has become the power and wisdom of God.

St John of the Cross teaches us that if we want to share the glory of Christ, we must also embrace his cross. He speaks more of the night of faith we go through when control is taken out of our hands. This dark night is the way the cross touches our lives.

St Teresa, our Holy Mother, tells us: “The Father gives according to the courage he sees in each one, and the love each has for his Majesty. He will see that whoever loves him much will be capable of suffering much for him… I myself hold that the measure to be able to bear a large or small cross is love (WP, 32, 7).

May the Lord give us the courage and love to bear the cross with him as we pass through this dark night until the light of dawn breaks through.

Fr Salvatore, OCD