Tough Little Sister<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Therese once said, "I believe I am humble."I was speaking at a conference on the saint when someone asked the obvious question, "How could she have said,\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2007\/10\/tough-little-sister.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Tough Little Sister\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Therese once said, "I believe I am humble."I was speaking at a conference on the saint when someone asked the obvious question, "How could she have said,\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2007\/10\/tough-little-sister.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Fr. 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{"id":2966,"date":"2007-10-01T14:27:00","date_gmt":"2007-10-01T14:27:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2007\/10\/tough-little-sister\/"},"modified":"2007-10-01T14:27:00","modified_gmt":"2007-10-01T14:27:00","slug":"tough-little-sister","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2007\/10\/tough-little-sister.html","title":{"rendered":"Tough Little Sister"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

$\"\"$ <\/span><\/a> Therese once said, \u201cI believe I am humble.\u201d<\/span>
<\/span>
I was speaking at a conference on the saint when someone asked the obvious question, \u201cHow could she have said, \u2018I believe I am humble?\u2019 Surely if you think you\u2019re humble, you\u2019re proud, and therefore you\u2019re not humble, and you\u2019re certainly not a saint.\u201d<\/span>
<\/span>
The answer comes in discovering where and when Therese said this. She said it on her deathbed the day she died. She had suffered in cheerful fortitude for months with the terrible disease of tuberculosis\u2013literally coughing up bits of her lung until there was nothing left. All this in a particularly hot summer. In addition to her illness, she had been in a spiritual darkness for years in which she felt totally abandoned by God. She was even tempted to suicide\u2013so deep was her desolation and so dark was her \u2018dark night.\u2019<\/span>
<\/span>
At that point, the poor girl, only 24 years old, with no lungs left, gasped out. \u201cYes, I believe I am humble.\u201d<\/span>
<\/span>
I\u2019m speechless at it all, and at Mass today, was quite moved. It is my first time to celebrate Mass on the Memorial of this saint who is so very special to me. I think it is her prayers that have allowed for the \u2018miracle\u2019 of my being a Catholic priest. When I first met her at Lisieux as a young Anglican priest (and learning that she prayed for priests) I said to her, \u201cMaybe you will pray for me, even though I am not a full member of your family, and maybe one day I could even be one of your priests.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Now, twenty years later I am not only a Catholic, but a Catholic priest. <\/span>
<\/span>
Excuse me for a moment while I wipe my eyes\u2026<\/span>
<\/span>
Anyway, <\/span>here\u2019s the link <\/span><\/a>to an article I wrote about Therese for Touchstone<\/em> magazine some years ago.
<\/span>
<\/span><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"