Joy in Suffering (mini) Book Club — Day 3: St. Therese's Threefold Martyrdom
- Prayer & Productivity
- Nov 14
- 7 min read
We continue our 9-day book club, reading the book Joy in Suffering.
📖 Day 3: St. Therese's Threefold Martyrdom 🌹
If you don’t already have the book, you can find the readings online for free here:
What was your favorite quote or takeaway from today’s reading? Share in the comments below!
MY TAKEAWAYS
Today’s reading was my absolute favorite so far because it really puts into perspective all that St. Therese suffered. She suffered in a threefold way, and all simultaneously (physically, emotionally, and spiritually). I think many times people get the wrong impression and do not know or understand the extent of suffering that St. Therese endured, precisely because she kept it hidden so well, for God alone to know.
As we recall from yesterday, she said, "...I wished to offer to Jesus, a hidden flower, which keeps its perfume only for heaven" and” The more the suffering is and the less it appears before men, the more it is to Thy honor and glory."
She is such an amazing example of how to find joy even amidst trials and sufferings if we keep in mind the purpose and value of suffering (as was covered on Day 1). Those were: a) Proof of Love, b) Oneness with God, and c) Saving Souls.
My ABSOLUTE favorite quote from today comes from the Novena Prayer because it is such a beautiful reminder that the shower of roses that St. Therese sends down to us now came at the cost of this threefold suffering.
“This is the incredibly great price you paid for that veritable deluge of roses you have sent down upon the world from heaven.”
Keeping this in mind really makes me appreciate St. Therese’s intercession (and that of all the saints) even more. It is so beautiful to consider that she loved Our Lord and souls so much (us included!) that she bore all these sufferings so as to one day be able to send down a “shower of roses” to help us. The novena prayer says it best, “How I thank God for the heroic love with which He filled [St. Therese] and the strength of soul with which [St. Therese] bore all!”
I’ll end my takeaway with another beautiful quote from the Novena Prayer from today:
St. Therese, “Pray for me, that I, too, may be filled with courage in all the sufferings of body, heart, and soul that it may please God to send me for His greater glory, the salvation of souls, and my own eternal bliss…Obtain for me the grace to endure them all with the cheerful sentiments with which you welcomed this simultaneous triple martyrdom, and thus prove my love for God.”
📝I look forward to hearing you main takeaway and/or favorite quote from today! Thanks for joining me! 💕
💗My favorite quotes from today:
🌹(1) Martyrdom of the Body:
“toward the end of her earthly pilgrimage that her pains were multiplied many times over. Her strength wasted, she would literally drag herself to the various exercises of the community, sharing every duty, even the exhausting midnight office, though she had to fight against numbness, weariness and giddiness to keep on her feet. When all was finished, she would pull herself up the stairs by the banister, resting on each step for breath, so that it took her fully half an hour to traverse the icy corridor that led to her unheated cell. When she reached it, she was so worn out that sometimes it took her a full hour to undress. Then she tried to rest on her hard pallet, but having only two thin blankets, the entire night at times was spent shivering from the cold.
"My greatest physical suffering was from the cold...”
But she fought on, for one of her principles was: "We must go to the end of our strength before we complain."
"If you only knew," she said, "what I am suffering. One has to experience it to know what it means…Yet there was always a sweet smile on her lips.
🌹(2) Martyrdom of the Heart:
"My heart," she wrote, "is naturally sensitive, and because of this, is a cause of much suffering. I wish to offer Jesus all that it can bear."
What one might ordinarily lament was for her a source of joy, because of the opportunities it afforded her of proving her love by suffering.
A natural aversion which she felt for another Sister was so strong that her only refuge often lay in flight; yet she was so pleasant toward the Sister..
She volunteered her services to assist a sick nun, though she "knew beforehand the impossibility of satisfying her," and she did it "with such great care that she could not have done better had she been waiting on our Lord Himself."
She offered her aid to the portress, who sorely tried her patience by her particularities and unbearable slowness; but Therese's playful amiability did not allow anyone even to guess the violent interior struggle she was waging.
This martyrdom of the heart was especially bitter in regard to her dearly beloved father in his trying illness. Words failed to express her grief, and she made no attempt to describe it. Her tears flowed so fast that she could not hold her pen to write, and yet she said: "The three years of my father's martyrdom seem to me the sweetest and most fruitful of my whole life. I would not exchange them for the most sublime ecstasies, and my heart cries out in gratitude for such a priceless treasure: 'We have rejoiced for the days wherein Thou hast afflicted us.' Precious and sweet was this bitter cross."
🌹(3) Martyrdom or the Soul:
"For me it is always night, always dark, black night." "Dryness and drowsiness—such is the state of my soul in its intercourse with Jesus! But since my Beloved wishes to sleep, I shall not prevent Him."
"When I am in this state of spiritual dryness, unable to pray, or to practice virtue, I look for little opportunities, for the smallest trifles to please Jesus, such as a smile, a kindly word when I would rather be silent…. If no such occasion offers, I try at least to say over and over again that I love Him."
she turned to Heaven and "thanked God and the saints just the same, feeling that they wanted to see how far she would push her trust."
"I did not think it was possible to suffer so much." Yet she was ever peaceful and calm, cheerful and smiling…”
🌹Novena Prayer:
How I thank God for the heroic love with which He filled you and the strength of soul with which you bore all! This is the incredibly great price you paid for that veritable deluge of roses you have sent down upon the world from heaven. Pray for me, that I, too, may be filled with courage in all the sufferings of body, heart, and soul that it may please God to send me for His greater glory, the salvation of souls, and my own eternal bliss.
Obtain for me the grace to endure them all with the cheerful sentiments with which you welcomed this simultaneous triple martyrdom, and thus prove my love for God.
Reflection Questions & Action Items
3.1 Martyrdom of the Body
Reflection Questions
Many people have a "sentimental" devotion to the "Little Flower." How does this description of her physical agony change my perception of her?
Thérèse insisted that people know how much she suffered. Why was it so important to her that we not be "deceived by her perpetual aspect of happiness"?
When I am in physical pain, can I bear "even bear trifling pains with a smile". What does her "sweet smile" in the midst of unbearable agony teach me about the power of love over the body?
Action Items
Recall a time of your own physical suffering. How did you react?
Make a pre-emptive resolution: "The next time I am in physical pain—even a 'trifle' like a headache or a papercut—I will, by an act of will, offer a 'sweet smile' to Jesus in imitation of St. Thérèse."
3.2 Martyrdom of the Heart
Reflection Questions
While not all of us have "martyrdom of the body," everyone experiences "martyrdom of the heart." Who is the "difficult person" or "Sister with the aversion" in my life right now?
How do I handle this aversion? Do I "flee"? Do I complain? Or do I, like Thérèse, overcome it with such active charity that no one can guess my "interior struggle"?
She called her father's tragic illness her "sweetest and most fruitful" time, a "priceless treasure." This proves she truly believed what she said in Day 1 about suffering being a "favor" from God. Do I have the faith to see the "bitter" crosses in my family as "sweet" and "precious"?
Action Items
Identify the person in your life who causes you the most "martyrdom of the heart."
Do not "play the coward" (Day 2.2). Instead, choose to perform one, hidden act of service for them, or pray for them with genuine love precisely at the moment you are feeling the aversion most strongly.
3.3 Martyrdom of the Soul
Reflection Questions
Have I ever experienced "spiritual dryness" and thought it was my fault, or that God had abandoned me? How does Thérèse's experience (it was "daily" for her) reframe this?
What is my solution to aridity? Do I stop praying? Thérèse's solution was to act in love ("a smile, a kindly word") when she could not feel love. Could I try this?
Her tactic for temptations against faith is brilliant: don't engage. She fled to Jesus and thanked God. How does this differ from my own attempts to "argue" or "reason" my way out of doubt?
Action Items
Create a plan for your next "martyrdom of the soul."
When you feel dry in prayer, do not stop. Instead, do what Thérèse did: "say over and over again that I love Him," even and especially when you don't feel it.
If doubt comes, do not argue with it. Flee to Jesus by looking at a Crucifix and make an act of faith.
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