Editor's Note: This is Part 4 of a series. Find the first installment here and the second installment here. For the third installment, click 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).

The Pope consistently returns to the crux of her spirituality: “The act of love — repeating the words, ‘Jesus I love you’ — which became as natural to Therese as breathing, is the key to her understanding of the Gospel.” Why is charity and love of Christ so vital to understanding this beloved saint?

KHYM: It feels so common for us as human beings to get confused and lose our way. St. Thérèse had the gift of absolute clarity about what was most important and what her mission was. No suffering or circumstance seemed to lure her focus away from love as the central work of her life. She modeled the truth that she believed with her whole heart found in 1 Corinthians 13, that if I “do not have love, I gain nothing … I am nothing.” Nothing else matters if love isn’t present. If we could learn from her and adopt her clarity of focus, our lives would radically transform, draw us closer to Jesus, and propel us outward to bring that love to the world.

LILLES: She was fascinated with the immensity and inexhaustibility of the love of Christ revealed in the cross. She kept his Holy Face etched in her heart even in the face of her own frailty and weakness. She learned to completely rely on this gaze of love and in this reliance to surrender herself to the mystery of mercy it reveals. This surrender, which she called an oblation, became the ultimate purpose of her life. In a poem she celebrates this as “living by love.”

MCGREGOR: Charity and love of Christ are essential to grasping St. Thérèse of Lisieux’s spirituality, as they anchor her Little Way of finding holiness in everyday simplicity. Inspired by her childhood ritual of casting flowers during Corpus Christi processions, St. Thérèse integrated this imagery into her spirituality, seeing her small acts of love as flowers offered to Jesus. Despite her initial belief that joining the Carmelites would distance her from such joys, she found flowers — and thus, opportunities for love — abundant in her life.

St. Thérèse recognized her limitations compared to great saints but found her unique path to sanctity through simple gestures of love. Her approach makes holiness accessible, urging us to embrace small sacrifices and acts of love in daily life. Whether with family, at work, or in the community, she demonstrates that every moment is a chance for sanctity and that heroic love is attainable for all.

By wholeheartedly opening ourselves to the love of Christ, allowing his strength and grace to work in us, we can live the Little Way, finding deep spiritual meaning and preparation for life’s larger challenges in the simplicity of “casting flowers.” This practice ensures we are rooted in love, ready to face any challenge with grace and resilience. Understanding St. Thérèse thus requires embracing charity and the love of Christ, revealing her pathway to holiness and the transformative power of a love-filled life.