exhorted others she herself practiced first: "On waking I think of the pains and sufferings awaiting me, and I rise feeling all the more courageous and light of heart in proportion to the opportunities I foresee of proving my love for our Lord and of gaining—mother of souls as I am—my children's livelihood. Then I kiss my crucifix, and, laying it gently on my pillow, I leave it there while I dress and say: 'My Jesus, Thou hast toiled and wept enough during Thy three and thirty years on this miserable earth. Rest Thee today. It is my turn to suffer and fight.'" A beautiful practice, well worthy of imitation!
By thus leading the life of a martyr of love, she merited that highest of all deaths, for which she so sorely yearned—the death of a victim of God's merciful love: "the death I so ardently desire is that of Jesus on the Cross." With great confidence she could then in her Act of Oblation make the bold petition: "Since Thou hast deigned to give me this precious Cross as my portion, I hope to be like to Thee in Paradise and to behold the Sacred Wounds of Thy Passion shine on my glorified body." Such was the oneness with God which she desired for the love of Him, and it was just because she realized that suffering was the one means of attaining this end that her heart rejoiced spontaneously when pain of body, heart or soul presented itself. As I become one in suffering with Jesus, so shall I also be one with Him in glory. My choice…?
(3) Love of Souls.—St. Therese was not content to love God herself—she also desired to win much love for Him, "to make Him greatly loved" by all men. Her Jesus was consumed by an insatiable thirst for souls, and she, being one with Him, shared the same all-consuming thirst. "I longed at all costs," she said, "to snatch souls from the eternal flames of hell."
But it was less the thought of the misery of the lost than of the grief and sorrow of God that spurred her on; as she expressed it: "The cry of my dying Saviour: 'I thirst!' sounded incessantly in my heart and kindled therein a burning zeal hitherto unknown. My desire was to give my Beloved to drink." Under the pressure of a great sorrow she exclaimed: "Oh, let us not
