Customer Reviews

The Little Way of Saint Therese of Lisieux: Into the Arms of Love (Liguori Classic)

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I can't believe no one's reviewed this wonderful little book yet. It says "ships in 1 to 3 weeks," so I hope it's not going to go out of print.

The Little Way of St. Therese of Lisieux is a wonderful philosophy of life that is imbued with humility, grace, and freedom. It's about realizing that one does not have to accomplish great things in order to be a Saint - that is, in order to be saved. Of course, if one does then that's a bonus, but what St. Therese of the Child Jesus (what she called herself) realized is that all that's *really* needed is to respond to *whatever* life's circumstances are with love and a simple desire to please God starting with the small things.

So why read this book instead of St. Therese's celebrated autobiography "Story of a Soul"? Well, this book is splendidly put together and organized topically and contains excerpts from "A Story of a Soul" as well as other writings of St. Therese, so it serves as a wonderful introduction to St. Therese's Little Way (presumably the interested reader will want to go on to read "A Story of a Soul" as well, as I am doing myself). With each topical excerpt, there is included a scripture passage as well as a passage from Thomas a Kempis's beautiful "Imitation of Christ." This is extremely appropriate since St. Therese was devoted to reading from scripture and the "Imitation," in fact almost exclusively those two. The result is a very clear portrait of the Little Way as painted by St. Therese's own thoughts and the readings in which she immersed herself. The book is both short and tremendously inspirational, and I give it my highest recommendation as an introduction to the treasures of St. Therese of Lisieux.