The Holy Face – Joykya

The little flower transplanted to Mount Carmel was to expand under the shadow of the cross. The tears and blood of Jesus were to be her dew, and her Sun was His adorable Face veiled with tears. Until my coming to Carmel, I had never fathomed the depths of the treasures hidden in the Holy Face.¹⁷⁵ It was through you, dear Mother, that I learned to know these treasures. Just as formerly you had preceded us into Carmel, so also you were first to enter deeply into the mysteries of love hidden in the Face of our Spouse. You called me and I understood. I understood what real glory was. He whose Kingdom is not of this world¹⁷⁶ showed me that true wisdom consists in “desiring to be unknown and counted as nothing,”¹⁷⁷ in “placing one’s joy in the contempt of self.”¹⁷⁸ Ah! I desired that, like the Face of Jesus, “my face be truly hidden, that no one on earth would know me.”¹⁷⁹ I thirsted after suffering and I longed to be forgotten.

175. Devotion to the Holy Face sprang up in the 19th century, following certain revelations made to Sister Marie of St. Pierre in the Tours Carmel. Thérèse was introduced to the devotion by Sister Agnes of Jesus. She studied it in a very personal way, using the texts of the prophet Isaiah. She did this principally at the time of her father’s illness. She signed her name for the first time as “Sister Thérèse of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face” the day she received the habit, January 10, 1889.

176. John 18:36.

177. The Imitation of Christ I, 2:3.

178. The Imitation of Christ III, 49:7.

179. Isaiah 53:3.

How merciful is the way God has guided me. Never has He given me the desire for anything which He has not given me, and even His bitter chalice seemed delightful to me.

After those beautiful festivities of the month of May, namely, the Profession and taking of the Veil of our dear Marie, the oldest in the family being crowned on her wedding day by the youngest, we had to be visited by trial. The preceding year, in May, Papa was seized with a paralytic stroke in the limbs and we were greatly disturbed. But the strong character of my dear King soon took control and our fears disappeared. However, more than once during the trip to Rome we noticed that he easily grew tired and wasn’t as cheerful as usual. What I noticed especially was the progress he was making in perfection. He had succeeded, like St. Francis de Sales, in overcoming his natural impetuosity to such an extent that he appeared to have the most gentle nature in the world.¹⁸⁰ The things of earth seemed hardly to touch him, he easily surmounted contradictions, and God was flooding him with consolations. During his daily visits to the Blessed Sacrament his eyes were often filled with tears and his face breathed forth a heavenly beatitude. When Léonie left the Visitation, he was not disturbed and made no reproaches to God for not having answered the prayers he offered up to obtain his daughter’s vocation. It was even with joy that he left to go and bring her home.

180. “Allow me, Mother, to cite in this regard an example of his virtue. During the pilgrimage, the days and nights on the trail were long for the pilgrims. We saw them playing card games which, at times, became rather noisy. One day, they asked Céline and me to join them, but we refused, giving as our excuse that we knew little about the game. Unlike them, we found the time none too long for enjoying the magnificent panoramas that spread out before us. They were annoyed, and our dear Papa came to our defense, suggesting that as pilgrims we could pray a little more. Forgetting the respect due to white hairs, one of them exclaimed: ‘Fortunately, Pharisees are rare!’ Papa did not answer and appeared even pleased. He found a chance later to shake this man’s hand, accompanying his action with a kind word, giving the impression the insult was not heard or at least forgotten. You know, Mother, this habit of pardoning didn’t date from that day. According to Mama’s testimony and that of others who knew him, never did he speak an unkind word” (Histoire d’une Ame).

Here is the faith with which Papa accepted the separation of his little Queen, announcing it to his friends in these words: “My dear Friends, Thérèse, my little Queen, entered Carmel yesterday! Only God could demand such a sacrifice. Don’t sympathize with me, for my heart is overflowing with joy.”

It was time that such a faithful servant receive the reward of his works, and it was right that his wages resemble those which God gave to the King of heaven, His only Son. Papa had just made a donation to God of an altar,¹⁸¹ and it was he who was chosen as victim to be offered with the Lamb without spot.¹⁸² You are aware, dear Mother, of our bitter sufferings during the month of June, and especially June 24, 1888.¹⁸³ These memories are too deeply engraved in the bottom of our hearts to require any mention in writing. O Mother, how we suffered! And this was still only the beginning of the trial.

181. The main altar of St. Peter’s church at Lisieux.

182. “O Mother, do you remember the day and the visit when he said to us: ‘Children, I returned for Alençon where I received in Notre-Dame church such great graces, such consolations that I made this prayer: My God, it is too much! yes, I am too happy, it isn’t possible to go to heaven this way. I want to suffer something for you! I offer myself…’ the word victim died on his lips; he didn’t dare pronounce it before us, but we had understood” (Histore d’une Ame).

183. Saturday, June 23, 1888, M. Martin disappeared without notifying anyone. Céline and M. Guérin found him at Le Havre, June 27.