Editor's Note: This is Part 3 of a series. Find the first installment here and the second installment here. 

On Oct. 15, Pope Francis released an apostolic exhortation on St. Thérèse of Lisieux. This year marks 150 years since Thérèse’s birth and 100 years since her beatification. The message was published on the liturgical feast of St. Teresa of Ávila, a fellow Carmelite from whom Thérèse inherited “a great love for the Church.” Thérèse, a doctor of the Church, has called the faithful to follow her along her “Little Way,” inspiring countless people to greater charity toward their neighbor and more complete trust in God.

The Register spoke with several devotees of the Little Flower who have studied and written about her spirituality and offered timely insights gleaned from this new papal document on the beloved saint.

Heather Khym is the cohost of the internationally popular Abiding Together Podcast. She and her husband, Jake, are the co-founders of Life Restoration Ministries, where she serves as director of vision and ministry of the British Columbia-based apostolate. She has more than 25 years of experience as a speaker and retreat leader, offering workshops and conferences in the United States and Canada.

Anthony Lilles is professor of spiritual theology and director of the M.A. program at St. Patrick’s Seminary and University in Menlo Park, California, and co-author of  Living the Mystery of Merciful Love: 30 Days With Thérèse of Lisieux.

Kris McGregor, founder and executive director of Discerning Hearts, is a regular on EWTN Radio, conducts retreats with Anthony Lilles and Father Timothy Gallagher, and provides commentary on saints for EWTN’s The Doctors of the Church series. 

Edward Sri is a theologian and author of a new book featuring various saints, including St. Thérèse of Lisieux, called When You Pray: Trust, Surrender and the Transformation of Your Soul (Ascension Press).

Later, the Pope writes, “In an extraordinary way, she probed the depths of divine mercy, and drew from them the light of her limitless hope.” We know that everything wasn’t rosy for the Little Flower — she suffered greatly throughout her life. How is her witness an enduring balm to people who suffer?

KHYM: Suffering is so hard. We want to avoid it at all costs because we are terrified of the pain, we fear that there is no light in that darkness, and struggle to know what meaning is to be found in it. Yet we cannot avoid it; all of us suffer. We need witnesses who have tangible hope in the resurrection power of Christ, who welcome Jesus into their wounds and allow the promises of God to be made manifest there. In the hardships Thérèse endured, she modeled the Gospel in action as she followed the way of Christ, not only in the surrendered suffering, but in the intermingling of pain, joy and hope — a hope that all things will one day be made new and that heaven is real. This witness can calm our fears and open our hearts to trust Jesus in a similar way.

LILLES: St. Thérèse reveals how to suffer with faith in the love of God. In one of his last public appearances after prison, Cardinal [George] Pell explained to a group of seminarians in San Francisco that the biggest difference between secularists and believers is how they approach suffering. For the secularist, suffering, humiliation and death are the worst things that can happen in life. Some of his secularist enemies really believed that he would be crushed by his experience of prison, and they hoped that he would die there. The cardinal, however, knew a peace that they could not understand. It is this peace in the face of terrible circumstances, a peace that one can even have in death’s agony, that St. Thérèse offers to us today. For the Christian, Christ Crucified has endowed even the worse suffering, the greatest humiliation and most terrible death with a meaning that nothing can ever diminish. It turns out that we live in a world where suffering, humiliation and death happen to all of us, and people need a better answer than what the secularists propose. Precisely because she suffered with the faith and love of Christ, St. Thérèse is a compelling prophet to the victory of hope over despair in the face of death. People are hungry for hope.   

MCGREGOR: St. Thérèse, through her own suffering and compelling spiritual journey, encapsulated the deep yearning of the human soul to be embraced unconditionally by the love of God. Her life remains a testament to the power of love and trust in God, even in the face of immense internal turmoil and physical pain.

St. Thérèse’s story resonates profoundly with people across generations, as it touches upon the universal existential queries that perplex every human heart: “What is my purpose?” “Am I loved?” “What is the value of my life?” With unshakeable conviction, she discerned love as the answer to these deep questions, underscoring how the awareness of being loved empowers individuals to surmount challenges and achieve extraordinary things. Her love for Jesus was so intense and personal that her utmost desire became a reflection of his love through complete alignment with the Father’s will, confident in the belief that this path would invariably lead to a greater good.

Her teachings underscore that while the path of love and spiritual pursuit can be arduous, and even painful, it ultimately leads to the most fulfilling and authentic life. She exemplifies that embracing suffering with love can transform it into a conduit for deeper connection with Christ, providing a sense of purpose and belonging. St. Thérèse, through her life and words, assures that in God’s embrace, every soul finds its rest and unshakeable love, resonating with the inherent restlessness of the human heart until it rests in God’s love.

SRI: I particularly appreciated how the Holy Father connected St. Thérèse’s trial of faith with atheism of the modern world. Near the end of her life, Thérèse had a profound experience of spiritual darkness, a fog penetrating her soul, such that the thought of heaven had become a cause of struggle and torment and she was tempted to wonder if after this life there is only “a night of nothingness.” Indeed, some of the words in her autobiography about the questions swirling in her head sound like something French atheistic writers such as Camus or Sartre might have written! 

And yet, she remained faithful in the midst of this thick darkness. She continued to believe. She said her prayers. She made more “Acts of Faith” than ever before. She made the act of the will to sing what she wanted to believe. Through her acute suffering and spiritual trial, she experienced something of the pain, loneliness and doubt modern secular man experiences. Still, her intense darkness could not overcome the light of faith in her soul and gives hope to those who suffer or doubt or outright don’t believe and points to the source of her hope: God. 

I’ve always been moved by this part of her story. Before her trial, she used to think there weren’t real unbelievers; she thought people deep down know there’s a God but are just acting against their inner convictions. Through her trial, however, she said, “Jesus made me feel that there really are souls who have no faith.” It’s as if she finds herself eating at the table of unbelievers and grows in compassion for those who suffer and doubt. Her example invites us to do the same. Instead of condemning those who doubt, our hearts should go out to them in compassion, like Thérèse’s heart did. Through her own trials, she came to understand their plight better and responded with even greater love and intercession for their souls. Atheism, of course, is wrong. But even from our own, perhaps more limited, experiences of darkness, hurt, abandonment or suffering, we might be able to enter more deeply into experiences of others who suffer in our modern world and understand their doubts better, so as to be a greater witness to faith, hope and love for them. 

Right now, for example, in Israel and in Gaza, there probably are some innocent people who wonder where God is in the midst of their profound losses, sufferings and fears. Whether it be for those innocent souls in war zones or victims of horrific atrocities, or those who suffer around the world from various forms of use, rejection, broken homes, abuse, addiction or loneliness common in our modern, relativistic, “throwaway culture,” may Thérèse’s trial of faith inspire us to enter into the experience of darkness and suffering many unbelievers might have and to pour out our hearts in compassion and intercession for their souls, that they may come to know the comfort, love, mercy of God in the midst of their afflictions.