Feast of Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus

October is, above all, the missionary month. As we begin this time of grace, the Church reminds us that, simply by virtue of being baptized, we are all missionaries. We are not bearers of theories, but witnesses to the Risen One, witnesses to his living presence and entrusted with his commission: “Go into all the world and proclaim the Gospel” (Mk 16:15).

This October opens before us like a sky filled with stars, full of great examples of faithfulness and discipleship. This providential year unites us with the memory of Saint Francis of Assisi, as we commemorate the 800th anniversary of his passing into eternal life (1226–2026), reminding us of the urgency of stripping ourselves of everything to embrace evangelical poverty. The mystical steadfastness of Saint Teresa of Ávila also accompanies us and, in a very special way, we are preparing to celebrate World Mission Sunday, as we commemorate the centenary of its institution by Pope Pius XI in 1926.

This is the “Little Path” — the Little Way of spiritual simplicity — that the young Thérèse gave us. Her words continue to enlighten us today with an overwhelming hope when she reminds us that Jesus does not ask great feats of us, but that we abandon ourselves into his hands, since his arms are like an elevator that lifts us up to heaven in our littleness. Thérèse overcame rigorism to restore to us the image of a God who is close, compassionate and faithful.

As we listen once more to her famous promise, “I want to spend my heaven doing good on earth,” we feel more than ever that she is our sister in mission. Today she smiles alongside us, who wish to follow in the footsteps of Jesus, whom she loved so much. Her mission was a mission of pure love: to proclaim, live and share God’s faithfulness.

Thérèse revolutionized the concept of mission. At a time when missionaries were thought to have to be men and women of great intellectual gifts, giants of physical strength capable of venturing into distant lands, she — without ever leaving the enclosure of her convent — understood perfectly the shared responsibility for missionary work. She understood that every baptized person is called to carry the joy of the Gospel to the ends of the earth. That is why she taught us that the Church’s first missionary responsibility is not geopolitical strategy, but to renew and keep alive the spiritual and fraternal unity among its members.

What a great missionary animator Thérèse is! Her apostolic zeal was not theoretical; it was full of dynamism and action. Through her letters, she encouraged her spiritual brothers at the frontiers of the Church: Father Adolphe Roulland in China, to whom she sent photographs of herself holding the book of the missions as a sign of companionship; and Father Maurice Bellière, assigned to North Africa. She wrote poems, songs, letters to her uncle, short plays… and in each of these gestures beat the sole desire to make Jesus and his Good News known.

The life of Thérèse of the Child Jesus is a fascinating testimony to how the most ardent missionary desire can spring up and grow within the walls of a cloister. She herself described with overwhelming intensity the multitude of vocations she felt burning within her: “I have felt the vocation of a warrior, a priest, an apostle, a doctor, a martyr… I would like to travel the earth, preach your name and plant your glorious cross on unbelieving soil,” she wrote, longing to be a missionary not for a few years, but from the beginning of the world until its consummation. This torrent of desires, which she herself called her “martyrdom,” found its channel not in outward activity, but in love: she understood that, in the Mystical Body of Christ, she would be the heart from which would flow the love that impels all apostles and martyrs. Thus, her missionary zeal became a concrete and active force, demonstrating that contemplative life is not an escape from the world, but its deepest driving force.

That force took the form of a revolutionary kind of “missionary animation” that she carried out from her cell, and which the Church recognized as a model. Her “animation” consisted not of speeches or strategies, but of tangible spiritual collaboration. She maintained a deep and mystical correspondence with two missionary priests: Father Adolphe Roulland, assigned to China, and Father Maurice Bellière, assigned to Africa. Through letters, she offered them not only prayer and sacrifice, but also signs of a tangible fraternity: she sent them her photographs, poems and even a lock of her hair as a relic of affection and spiritual communion. In this relationship, Thérèse did not seek to be merely an “apostle,” but an “apostle of the apostles”: her prayer and self-giving did not touch the missionary directly, but rather, through God’s grace, sought to set ablaze directly the hearts of those they evangelized. In this way, she embodied the true essence of missionary animation: the living reminder that the Church’s mission is the work of the whole Body, in which contemplative prayer and evangelizing action are inseparable.

Thérèse is a missionary animator because she understood that prayer is the fuel of evangelization. She is the great animator of priests, interceding for them in silence while they expend their lives at the ends of the world.

God willed that this simple testimony of Thérèse of the Child Jesus should be brought to the attention of the whole Church precisely at a crucial moment for universal mission. Pope Pius XI, who called her “the star of my pontificate,” beatified her on April 29, 1923, and canonized her on May 17, 1925. Shortly afterward, in 1926, the same Pontiff instituted World Mission Sunday, a day to awaken in all the faithful an awareness of their missionary responsibility. And in 1927, responding to requests from around the world, he proclaimed Saint Thérèse universal patroness of the missions, alongside Saint Francis Xavier. With this gesture, Pius XI definitively united the active life and the contemplative life in the same missionary zeal: Saint Francis Xavier, the tireless traveler who carried the Gospel to distant lands in Asia, and Saint Thérèse, the Carmelite who never left her cloister but who, from within it, sustained the mission through her prayer and her love.

We make our own the words that Pope Leo XIV addresses to us for this day:

“For this reason, I wish to thank especially the men and women who are ad gentes missionaries today; people who, like Saint Francis Xavier, have left their homeland, their family and every security to proclaim the Gospel, bringing Christ and his love to places that are often difficult, poor, marked by conflict or culturally distant. They continue to give of themselves joyfully despite adversity and human limitations, because they know that Christ himself, with his Gospel, is the greatest treasure that can be shared. Through their perseverance, they show that God’s love is stronger than any barrier. The world still needs these courageous witnesses to Christ, and ecclesial communities still need new missionary vocations, which we must always hold in our hearts and for which we must continually pray to the Father. May he grant us the gift of young people and adults willing to leave everything to follow Christ on the path of evangelization to the ends of the earth.”

May Thérèse’s example set our hearts ablaze during this month of October. May we not be afraid of our littleness, but trust fully in the Father’s mercy.