Known as the Little Flower who practiced the Little Way, Marie Françoise-Thérèse Martin was born in Alencon, Orne, France and died twenty-four years later in Lisieux, France. In her very short life, cut short due to tuberculosis, she composed her autobiography, The Story of a Soul, which, after extensive editing, went on to become a highly circulated publication. (See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Therese_of_Lisieux)

Singer/songwriter Billy Joel released his hit song “Only the Good Die Young” in 1977. His lyrics may provide a hint of the significant influence of the Little Flower on young Catholic women of the 20th Century.

For her part, St. Therese wrote:

“I will seek out a means of getting to Heaven by a little way – very short and very straight little way that is wholly new. We live in an age of inventions; nowadays the rich need not trouble to climb the stairs, they have lifts (elevators) instead. Well, I mean to try and find a lift by which I may be raised unto God, for I am too tiny to climb the steep stairway of perfection. […] Thine Arms, then, O Jesus, are the lift which must raise me up even unto Heaven. To get there I need not grow. On the contrary, I must remain little, I must become still less.”

Saint Thérèse de Lisieux (2012). The Story of a Soul (L’Histoire d’une Âme). The Autobiography of St. Therese of Lisieux with Additional Writings and Sayings of St. Therese. 

My humble haiku response is: Happy Day, St. Therese

Born to be a saint

you achieved your death’s desire –

happy day, Therese