In his post yesterday on the Mass in which he took possession of his titular church, Santa Maria della Vittoria, Cardinal Sean O’Malley spoke in his homily about St. Therese of Lisiuex, whose feast day it would have been had it not been Sunday. In it he recalled Therese’s relationship with her father, Louis, and it was such a beautiful reminder of how I should act as a Catholic father, what kind of example I should be.
During the sermon, he bent over and whispered: “Listen carefully, my little queen, he is talking about your patron saint.” Therese writes: “I paid great attention, but I looked at my father more than at the preacher. His face was so eloquent to me. Many times his eyes filled with tears that he tried in vain to keep back. When he was listening to the eternal truths, it was as though he no longer belonged to this world.” As she knelt beside her father during evening prayers, she says: “I only needed to look at him to learn how the saints pray.”
Louis Martin will be one of my role models as I try to be a role model for my own daughter and our future children.
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How ironic (and blessed that I am)that I was just praying at the graveside of Louis and Zelie Martin (Therese’s parents) just the other day in Lisieux. They are buried outside of the Basilica in the back. A very beautiful and peaceful location. I too prayed to Louis to give me the humility and strength he had to be the best father and husband I can be. To give up all his daughters to the convent must’ve been extremely painful for him, but he accepted it with perfect resolution as it was the will of God. May God bless their heavenly souls.