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Everything Is Grace: The Life and Way of Therese of Lisieux

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Everything is Grace is a remarkable, yet readily accessible, book in which Brother Joseph Schmidt shares the fruit of his deep and intimate knowledge, of the life and person of St Thérèse of Lisieux. The author not only knows Thérèse, he understands and obviously loves her. However, he never lets his admiration for this young woman get in the way. His focus is clearly on this most recently created Doctor of the Church with her disarming honesty, courage and insight.
Thérèse came to know God, not through the prevailing spirituality of late nineteenth century France, a spirituality imbued with a harsh, ultimately ego-centered Jansenism, perfectionism and Pelagianism. Her spirituality matured as she reflected on her everyday life experience - the mundane and the sublime, the brickbats and the bouquets - in the light of the Gospel.
Like any life, Thérèse' life was unique. It could readily be stereotyped as narrow, sheltered, obscure and a-typical. Schmidt succeeds in presenting the profound wisdom of Thérèse' "Way", the fruit of her reflection on her life. This way is ultimately a way of understanding the gospel call of love. The Good News of this book is that this way is accessible to all.
I value this book because of its profound teaching on love. Thérèse teaches that love is never, ever violent; love never accommodates others by compromising one's own integrity and inner freedom; love does not cultivate one's own preferences; love refuses to harbor self-centered thoughts and negative feelings; and love never calculates. Indeed, says Thérèse, arithmetic is the one science God doesn't know! The whole call of Christian love, she teaches, is that we love others in their weakness, we love ourselves in our inadequacy, all made possible through our willingness to receive God's love in us.
Joseph Schmidt believes that Thérèse and her teaching are great gifts to the modern church and to modern people. Those reading this book will endorse his view.

Why read Everything Is Grace. The Life and Way of Therese of Lisieux? Consider that at her death, which was attended by no more than 30 people, Therese was remembered as no one particularly special by several sisters from her convent nor did they ever think that she would ever become a saint. What was it about her life? What was contained in her poetry, letters and autobiography that would cause this humble woman, who died at the young age of 24, to be canonized by the church in 1925 and then, in 1997, proclaimed a Doctor of the Church by Pope John Paul II. These are the questions that Joseph F. Schmidt, FSC, invites us to explore in this wonderfully well written and easy to read book about St. Therese of Lisieux. Her insight for our time into the fundamental message of the Gospel is that there is no "violence" contained in the Gospel. Today, when we struggle with the presence of so much violence in the world, we should take to heart her life and words. This is especially true of the "violence" we often commit on ourselves. The gentle advice she gave to one of her sisters applies to you and me, "if you are willing to bear serenely the trial of being displeasing to yourself, then you will be for Jesus a pleasant place of shelter." Please read the book. You'll be glad that you did.

I just ordered a dozen copies of this book as Christmas presents for friends! Let me share why with you review readers.
I found myself not only reading, but also praying this book. It is a wonderful adventure in following the life and spiritual way of Therese of Lisieux. Even more than that, I found it engaging my heart and mind in a penetrating way--calling me to the possibility of holiness in the ordinary experiences of each day.
Joseph Schmidt is a scholar of Therese and has made her so accessible to spiritual pilgrims of today. His beautiful book presents Therese's life and spirituality in a way that inspires and urges the reader to imitate her inner freedom and transformation.
The 40 chapters of the book are each about 5-6 pages in length, and so well-written that I found myself treasuring each thought, under-lining and noting on each page ideas for further digesting.
Therese's message is the fundamental gospel messaage of God's "stooping down" in merciful love and drawing us all--not just the good--into God's Love. Joseph Schmidt develops this contemporary message of the gospel way of holiness in a very fresh and compelling way, true to Therese herself. Therese's life unfolds before the reader in the ordinary experiences of her days, as she responds with generosity, confidence and love.
I found myself inspired and wanting to imitate her. The truth of her and Schmidt's message--Everything is Grace--is a gift to today's readers. It is a path of inner freedom and transformation.

Readers will experience a fresh view of Gospel spirituality and join the ranks of Therese's followers which include Thomas Merton, Mother Teresa, Edith Stein and Dorothy Day--a diverse group of 20th century saints who have championed Therese's non-violence and her spiritual way of accepting with willingness all of life's happenings as gifts of God's grace.

About me, the writer of this review - I am a happily-married woman at mid-life with a successful professional career. Because of some very good people I have known along the way, I have stayed connected to my Catholic heritage - sometimes by a thread - despite profound disappointments with the institutional church over the years. I was curious about Therese from what I had learned on some retreats with Br. Joseph Schmidt.

His book does not disappoint - it is a sensitive and intimate portrait of a very remarkable young woman and her path to God. I recommend it especially to those whose childhood faith was bruised or betrayed, those who feel cynicism, abandonment and loss. There is wisdom and healing here.

Here is how I would describe this book:
Everything is Grace: The Life and Way of Therese of Lisieux gives us a rare opportunity to accompany the life and growth of a saint as it is told by a psychologist, spiritual director, and observant student of Therese. The book is richly woven with Therese's own words, so that as readers we feel invited into companionship and empathy with this intense young woman who integrated both losses and loves as she forged her entirely new path to spiritual maturity.

In an account as fresh, direct, audacious and unpretentious as its subject, Brother Joseph Schmidt illuminates Therese's Way in today's language and concepts. He re-introduces us to Therese's humor, her bold trust and confidence in God's love, her courageous integrity and inner freedom, the trials of doubt she suffered, and her wisdom, so far beyond her years.

Therese followed the Jesus she experienced in her life and in the Scriptures. With a nature oriented to honesty and integrity, she stayed true to her understanding of God's love; she didn't buy into the punitive images of God so common in her day. Her guidance is profoundly non-violent; radically and peacefully accepting everything in her life as a source of God's grace, even and especially her weaknesses and failures.

This is a book I have read more than once, and I have come to believe that in this story, Therese will offer guidance, wisdom, and friendship to me for many years to come. The fruit of her example shows up in moments of inner calm, in the hope of free and loving responses to what life brings, be it difficult or joyful. Her life is a testimony that everything is grace, really.
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Joseph Schmidt's "Everything is Grace: The Life and Way of Therese of Lisieux" is one of the best books on Therese of Lisieux that I have read. It is scholarly without being ponderous. With keen insight and skill, the author cuts through the sentimental and saccharin presenting us with Therese as she was: a young woman who reached extraordinary holiness by courageously embracing the ordinary struggles of daily life.

Saint Therese complained that reading spiritual books gave her a headache. That is most certainly not the case with Everything Is Grace. Brother Schmidt has masterfully combined a very readable biography with a step by step manual for following the saint's "Little Way."

Feeling somewhat like an intruder, the reader is drawn into the very private life of the privileged little French girl and into the extraordinary depths of her religious experiences beginning even at the age of three. One feels almost embarrassed as this chosen soul lays bare her conscience. What we would barely consider peccadillos, appears on Therese's lists of faults. We are even forced to ask if this is real! It is at this point that we understand the absolutely perfect choice of the title of the book: Everything is Grace.

Courageously setting aside the notions of Pelagianism and perfectionism which tainted the thinking of her times, Therese abandons herself to the promptings of the Holy Spirit and sets out on her own unique spiritual journey. Counting up sins, keeping track of good works became to her tiresome stumbling blocks. Little by little Therese sees her Lord as One who loves her more because she is weak and One who wants only her love and total trust.

If Therese's "Little Way" sounds easy, read on. Although deep peace remained in her heart, temptation, enormous suffering, doubts, aridity and physical pain were to be hers.

Everything Is Grace is for those who may have been put off by the seemingly sentimentality of the saint's autobiography. The author constantly reminds us of the cultural climate and attitudes of the times in which Therese and her Sisters lived. Historical and other points that are uniquely Catholic are explained.

Besides being a utterly readable work, Everything Is Grace can be read with profit by any person, regardless of religious persuasion. One need only wish to venture into the realm of the spiritual and perhaps, therefore, to lead a better life.

In this detailed yet to the point biographical exploration of Therese's spirituality of the little way, the author unfolds his own vision of what a life of gospel holiness and true Christian spirit looks like. As a scholarly presentation of her interconnected life and teachings, the book is certainly of great value to those interested in Therese or Christian theology. It is, however, the authors own voice and vision that makes this work more universally relevant and important. The events of Therese's life and her positive interpretation and incorporation of them are used as an inspiration and model for self reflection and integrity. Her spirit of acceptance and non-violence in the face of suffering and all that is beyond our influence and control is emphasized as the core truth and insight of her spirituality and sanctity. By allowing this attitude to be of more importance than the cultural particulars in which she expresses her self, the author has given readers of any tradition the opportunity to understand and appreciate what might be the most essential spiritual experience: the realization of our place and proportion in the larger world. In istelf this realization is only a small beginning, but through it, as we can see in this account of Therese's life, we are enabled to have the experience of grace and through that, to find peace.

Joseph Schmidt's attrative and insightful portrayal of Therese's life and spirituality gently inspires one to integrate into one's own spirituality the wisdom of Therese's "little way". So, Buyer Beware! The reading of this book could change your life! I highly recommend it!

Joseph Schmidt has written an accessible, insightful book about this popular saint from a wealth of knowledge he has about her. His personal affection and admiration for Therese never gets in the way of uncovering facts about Therese that help explain why she has charmed people as diverse as Jack Kerouac and Thomas Merton as well as many in the Muslim community. Therese died at 24 but her influence grows stronger with each year. After reading this book you will know why.

This most interesting book tells of how Therese's spirituality is at the heart of our Christian beliefs in the present day. Brother Joseph Schmidt has also included many new facts and insights on Therese's life that I have not found in any other books on her, including information on her advocate in Rome, Brother Simeon.

I found this book to be most enjoyable and would highly recommend it to anyone interested in contemporary spirituality.