St. Therese of Lisieux had a boundless confidence and tender love of her Heavenly Father, thus she surrendered herself entirely to Him.
By abandonment, she embraced blindly and with joy and enthusiasm all that it pleased God to send her, no matter how great the suffering involved. Her life was like a blank sheet of paper, at the bottom of which she affixed her signature and then placed it in the hands of God, to let Him write thereon all that might please Him, accepting an advance, with joy and gladness, whatever He would write, not knowing what it might be, but convinced it would be only for His glory and her own spiritual good.
"The good God wills that I surrender myself like a very wee child who does not trouble himself as to what will be done with him."
Accordingly she gave herself to the child Jesus to be His “little plaything,” adding: “I told Him not to treat me like a costly toy that children are content to look at without venturing to touch, but as He would a little ball of no value, that He might throw to the ground, toss about, pierce, leave in a corner or else pressed to His heart if it so pleased Him. If He wishes to break His little plaything to pieces, He is quite free to do so; yes, I want only what He wills."
In her illness she confessed: “I am now sick and I shall never recover. I am at peace. A long time past I have not belonged to myself; I am wholly surrendered to Jesus. If it please Him, I am content to have my sufferings prolonged for years."
"I have no greater desire to live than to die: if Jesus offered me my choice, I would choose nothing. I want only what He wills; it is what He does that I love."
"Whatever has come from God's hands has always pleased me, even those things which have seemed less good and beautiful than the gifts made to others."
She was peaceful in her trustful love and surrender and gave as reason for this peace: “Ever since I have given up all self seeking, I lead the happiest life possible!"
She wrote in a poem, “Remember, Jesus, that Thy holy will is all my repose and my joy most blessed... nothing I fear in holy abandonment, Thy sacred arms, my God, I rest!"
Toward the end of her life, she said: "Now the spirit of self-abandonment is my only guide. I have no other compass, and I know not how to ask anything with eagerness, save the perfect accomplishment of God's designs upon my soul."
PRAYER FOR ABANDONMENT TO GOD'S WILL:
St. Therese, obtain for me abandonment - a childlike, boundless, unreserved, trustful, blind and loving abandonment springing from a deep conviction of God's great love for me. I, too, wish to give up all self-seeking. May all that pleases God also be pleasing to me. I accept it unconditionally and without question, beforehand, knowing that it can only be for my good. I, too, wish to let Him choose for me to be like a signed blank sheet or a little ball in His hands, willing all and only what He wills, be it joy or pain.
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