Merciful Love of Jesus Christ as Experienced by St. Therese of Lisieux

Abstract

The experience called «the knowledge of love» (scientia amoris) reported by the Saints is not at tangent with academic science, but in fact is the ultimate of knowledge. This is the knowledge of Christ’s love. It is superior to all other kinds of knowledge and cognition (cf. Eph. 3:19). Many Saints contemplate the mystery of the Saviour focusing on one divine attribute. St Therese of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face chose Christ's «Merciful Love», which constitutes the key to the interpretation of her doctrine.

The teaching of the Saint Carmelite is named „the little way”, which is an open invitation to a programme of individual evangelical growth towards perfection. The departure point in the interpretation of Therese’s teaching is her great craving for exalted sanctity, which for her equalled with a need to work for the salvation of sinners: loving God and making Him loved by others. Therese’s sense of personal imperfection and misery (miseria) is not an obstacle for her efforts. Instead, it leads her to discover that the most prominent and outstanding attribute of God’s love is His Mercy (misericordia). Merciful Christ gives Himself to the sinful man: «humility is an attribute of love». (Ms A 2v). This divine attribute, to which she referred as «Merciful Love», is one of the key elements of the Teresian doctrine, and «praising the Mercy of the Lord» (Ms C 1r) is the main reason underlying her work on her diary. The pivotal idea of the „the little way” is her hope in God, manifesting itself in her confident trust and complete devotion (abandonment) of her life to God. Contemplating Christ’s Merciful Love leads Therese up to her being „sure” of becoming a great saint, but it also opens new horizons of hope for all people.