Our Dear St. Therese

Traditional Feastday: October 3rd

There are not words to describe how we love this Saint of the Little Way. How can anyone not be touched by the story of her life and the roses she still showers on earth? Thank you, St. Therese, for all the little roses you've strewn our way!
"The good God does not need years to accomplish His work of love in a soul; one ray from His Heart can, in an instant, make His flower bloom for eternity... "
Letter to her sister Celine

"Yes, my Beloved, it is thus that my life's brief day shall be spent before Thee. No other means have I of proving my love than to strew flowers; that is, to let no little sacrifice escape me, not a look, not a word, to avail of the very least actions and do them for Love. I wish to suffer for Love's sake and for Love's sake even to rejoice; thus shall I strew flowers. Not one shall I find without shedding its petals for Thee...and then I will sing, I will always sing, even if I must gather my roses in the very midst of thorns - and the longer and sharper the thorns the sweeter shall be my song. "
Story of A Soul, Chapter XI


Here are a few ways to celebrate the Feast of St. Therese:

*We found a good summary of the life of St. Therese with follow up questions and activities for her feast day at Catholic Families Today.

*You can find some lovely coloring pages of St. Therese as a little girl and as a grown up Carmelite nun at Waltzing Matilda.

*There is an album of photos and images of St. Therese at this site, and there are a couple of wonderful movies we can watch about the life of St. Therese. We'll watch our Therese DVD this year, but I'm hoping to be able to order the release of an old classic movie, The Miracle of St. Therese for next year.

* Make roses! My girls love to do origami, so we're going to try to make some origami roses. We also found some directions for a cut and paste paper rose that turns out really pretty, as well as a tutorial for ribbon roses. The younger children can probably navigate the directions for this napkin rose or this toilet paper rose.


* You can make edible roses for dinner, too! Here are instructions for making radish roses for our salad ~ and here's how to carve a rose out of a tomato.

* And then, for dessert, make a cake decorated with roses! If we get really ambitious, we might try to make our own, squeezed, or wrapped with fondant. Or maybe we'll just buy some... We found a wonderful recipe for a St. Therese cake here. And here is a recipe for St. Therese cupcakes. Both of these are from Catholic bloggers with tons of wonderful recipes and ideas: the ladies at Catholic Cuisine and Barbara at Bless Us O Lord. And Jessica, over at A Shower of Roses has a wonderful idea for chocolate St. Therese roses!

* But the best way to remember St. Therese is to follow her example in prayer and in little offerings of sacrifice. Here is a site devoted to prayers for St. Therese's intercession. And here is an excellent tutorial for making sacrifice beads.

I don't know what we'll end up doing tomorrow. I expect, since I'm on a diet, we'll make a big grilled chicken salad with carved radishes and tomatoes. I may let the girls make the cupcakes, so long as I can stay out of the way of temptation. (St. Therese, help!) We'll definitely work on Charlotte's beautiful coloring pages, and I'm sure we'll be making a selection of the different paper and ribbon roses. I'll let our Theresa call the shots since it's her nameday.

Happy nameday, Theresa!

** Make that salad without chicken ~ today's Friday, for goodness sake!