Thursday, January 12, 2012

The Intimidating Saint


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How do you know St. Thérèse?  

For many it is through plastic statues and well-meaning but sugary devotions that veer dangerously close to superstition: the Little Flower as a spiritual rabbit's foot.

"Not for me," you say.

Another common encounter with Thérèse yields the same off-putting feelings. You know the facts about her short life. You've read her autobiography, Story of a Soul. You've seen the pictures.  

And yet ... you struggle to identify with the young girl from Lisieux, with her superhuman zeal, her willingness to suffer, with her total surrender to Christ at an age when most of us were just giving up playing with toys and turning our attention to the opposite sex.      
  
Either type of encounter with Thérèse makes her unapproachable and intimidating.

But both are inaccurate.

What then are we supposed to do with Louis and Zelie Martin's little Thérèse?  

 
St. Therese as a child.   

Does her life really provide instruction for the rest of us or are we to just stare from a distance?

In 1933 French playwright, novelist, and critic, Henri Gheon was asking the same questions about Thérèse. Gheon spent much of his youth away from the Church immersed instead in nature, literature, music, and art.  

After a powerful conversion back to the faith, his writing became uniquely informed and penetrating, brimming with candor, sensitivity, and insight. It was his appreciation for life's subtleties which transform his treatment of St. Thérèse into a book unlike any other written.

book cover  

The Truth about Thérèse recovers the humanity of the saint. The platitudes fade away. Left is the joy in finding the real Thérèse. Gheon shows what lay behind the smile; an intense soul living a life of heroic grandeur amidst dull and worldly associates. A soul driven by a burning love for God, even as she wrestled with great physical and emotional pain.  

In The Truth about Thérèse you will discover the secrets of the Little Flower and understand why she is indeed the saint most fitted to be our model at this moment.

 Read an excerpt from The Truth about Thérèse.


St. Therese prayer card with relic.   

When you order The Truth about Thérèse you will also receive a beautiful Italian-made St. Thérèse relic prayer card FREE (while supplies last).

And remember to take advantage of our store-wide 25% discount good through the end of January: at check out enter discount code newsite25.



book cover 

by Henri Gheon
168 pgs ppbk $18.95
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At checkout enter code:
newsite25
Sale ends 1/31/2012.
Cannot be combined with other discounts. 
Shipping not discounted.


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