JMJT
June 23, 1896 Carmel of Lisieux.
Jesus
My Reverend Father,
I thought that I would be agreeable to our Good Mother, by offering her on June 21, for her birthday, a corporal and a purificator with a blade so that she would have the pleasure of sending them to you for the 29th. to this Venerable Mother to whom I owe the intimate happiness of being united to you by the apostolic bonds of prayer and mortification, so I beg you, my Reverend Father, to help me at the Holy Altar to pay her my debt of acknowledgement.
I feel very unworthy to be associated especially with one of the Missionaries of our Adorable Jesus, but since obedience entrusts me with this sweet task, I am assured that my Heavenly Spouse will make up for my weak merits (on which I do not no support) and that He will fulfill the desires of my soul by fertilizing your apostolate. I will be truly happy to work with you for the salvation of souls; it is for this purpose that I became a Carmelite; not being able to be a missionary of action, I wanted to be one by love and penance like Saint Thérèse my seraphic Mother... I beg you, my Reverend Father, ask Jesus for me, the day that He will condescend for the first time to come down from Heaven at your voice, ask Him to kindle me with the fire of his Love so that I can then help you to kindle it in hearts.
For a long time, I wanted to know an Apostle who would like to pronounce my name at the Holy Altar on the day of his first Mass... I wanted to prepare for him myself the sacred linen and the white host intended to veil the King of Heaven... This God of Goodness wanted to make my dream come true and show me once again how much He delights in fulfilling the desires of souls who love Him alone.
If I were not afraid of being indiscreet, I would still ask you, my Reverend Father, to have a souvenir for me each day at the Holy Altar... When the ocean separates you from France, you will remember by looking at the pale that I painted with so much happiness, that on the mountain of Carmel a soul prays unceasingly to the Divine Prisoner of Love, for the success of your glorious conquest.
I desire, my Reverend Father, that our apostolic union be known only to Jesus alone, and I claim one of your first blessings for her who will be happy to call herself eternally
Your unworthy little Sister in Jesus-Host
Thérèse of the Child Jesus of the Holy Face rel.carm.ind.
