Carmelite Quotes<p><strong>Quote of the day, 31 January: St. Thérèse & Abbé Bellière</strong></p><p>On the evening of Love, speaking without parable,<br>Jesus said: “If anyone wishes to love me<br>All his life, let him keep my Word.<br>My Father and I will come to visit him.<br>And we will make his heart our dwelling.<br>Coming to him, we shall love him always.<br>We want him to remain, filled with peace,<br>In our Love!…”</p><p><strong>Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus</strong></p><p><em>PN 17, <em>Living on Love!</em></em>, <em>st. 1</em></p> <p><span>The goodness that God has shown me is very touching, and the goodness that He has imparted to you is working deep in my soul, comforted by the attention that your charity inspires in me—I feel myself becoming better each time I experience a little of the piety that you experience in Carmel—and I would like to love Jesus as you love Him there—You had it in your heart, Sister, when you were composing that hymn of love that you so kindly sent me [NP 17, <i>Vivre d’Amour</i>]. You’re inhaling a divine breath that makes you pure and strong. The evening of the day when I had the joy of receiving it, it was the object of a long and sweet meditation, together with my Director, who was so happy to know that my soul and my work were entrusted to your care. </span></p><p><span>Oh, yes, Sister, “Let’s live in love.” It is the way to find happiness on earth—Without God, without his Love—it’s cold all around us—But as soon as a holy fervor enlivens our hearts, what serenity and sweetness there is in life—Indeed, it’s like resting on the stormy waves, it’s living the life of the Glorious King, the Delights of the Chosen Ones—to begin on earth the happiness of Heaven—Calvary then becomes Tabor and sorrow is no more—for, as the Holy One says: when we love, there is no more sorrow, or if there’s sorrow, it’s sorrow that we love.</span></p><p><span>I’m asking the Sacred Heart to give us this love that is ever greater, ever stronger, and ever more generous, and that through it He may so draw us to Himself that we may remain definitively and indissolubly attached to Him. </span></p><p><span>Forever in his Holy Heart, your miserable brother</span></p><p><strong><span>M. Barthélemy-Bellière</span></strong></p><p><em>LC 174, Sunday, 31 January [1897], (excerpts)</em></p><p><span><strong>Note: </strong></span>St. Thérèse’s poem <em>Vivre d’Amour</em> (<em>Living on Love</em>) was sent to Abbé Maurice Bellière by Mother Marie de Gonzague on January 27 or 28, 1897. In his letter to Thérèse dated January 31, he acknowledged receiving it and shared how deeply it moved him. That same day, in a separate letter to Mother Marie de Gonzague, he expressed gratitude for the poem: <em>“You were right, Mother, it was to do me good, and it is often a sweet joy for me to read it over again. When adapting it to music, I seem to hear a tune from heaven.”</em></p> <p>Thérèse of Lisieux, S & Clarke, J 1988, <em><a href="https://www.icspublications.org/collections/therese-of-lisieux/products/the-letters-of-st-therese-of-lisieux-and-those-who-knew-her-general-correspondence-vol-2" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">General Correspondence: Letters of Saint Therese of Lisieux: Volume 2 1890-1897</a></em>. Centenary ed., Institute of Carmelite Studies, Washington DC.</p><p>Thérèse of Lisieux, S & Kinney, D 1995, <em><a href="https://www.icspublications.org/collections/therese-of-lisieux/products/the-poetry-of-st-therese-of-lisieux" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The Poetry of Saint Thérèse of Lisieux</a></em>, ICS Publications, Washington DC.</p><p><strong>Featured image:</strong> <a href="https://mafrome.org/150th-anniversary-father-maurice-belliere-pe-nr-1093-2018-07/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Abbé Maurice Barthélémy-Bellière</a> is seen in this undated photo, wearing the habit of the Pères Blancs (White Fathers), formally known as the <a href="https://mafrome.org/about-us/who-we-are/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Missionaries of Africa</a>. Adobe Express creates a collage of images of Bellière and St. Thérèse, featured with a background image of zebras grazing in Malawi, where Bellière served in the missions.</p> <p><a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://carmelitequotes.blog/tag/abbe-belliere/" target="_blank">#AbbéBellière</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://carmelitequotes.blog/tag/love/" target="_blank">#love</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://carmelitequotes.blog/tag/maurice-belliere/" target="_blank">#MauriceBellière</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://carmelitequotes.blog/tag/missionaries-of-africa/" target="_blank">#MissionariesOfAfrica</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://carmelitequotes.blog/tag/poetry/" target="_blank">#poetry</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://carmelitequotes.blog/tag/seminarian/" target="_blank">#seminarian</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://carmelitequotes.blog/tag/st-therese-of-lisieux/" target="_blank">#StThereseOfLisieux</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://carmelitequotes.blog/tag/white-fathers/" target="_blank">#WhiteFathers</a></p>