Talks by Brother Joseph F. Schmidt, FSC
Christian Brother Joseph F. Schmidt, FSC, is an author, lecturer, spiritual director, and counselor. He is the author of Walking The Little Way of Thérèse of Lisieux: Discovering The Path Of Love, and several other books on St. Thérèse.Walking the Little Way was published in 2012 by The Word Among Us Press.
Everything is Grace
Walking the Little Way
The French Carmelite Thérèse of Lisieux, 1873-1897, has been called the greatest saint of modern times. When declared a “Doctor of the Church” in 1997, Pope John Paul II “surprised some of the Catholic faithful, including historians, Scripture scholars, and theologians. Some believed that since she died so young, she had nothing significant to teach the modern Church. Some thought that since she had attended only primary school and lacked any depth of official theological or scriptural training, her teaching carried no weight. Some felt that since she lived a cloistered life in a Carmelite convent, her message was limited and irrelevant to the current active age. Some thought that since she wrote no systematic theological treatises, her spirituality was more sentimental than solid. Some imagined that since she had no special revelations and had no new pious devotions to offer the Church, her teaching was unnecessary. These misconceptions, however, were answered by Pope John Paul II in his apostolic letter Divini Amoris Scientia.” (Quote taken from Bro. Schmidt’s book, cited above.)
In three talks, two recorded before a live audience at the Santuario of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Santa Fe during July of 2013, Brother Schmidt showed us how St. Thérèse discovered certain qualities of the heart that told her that she was indeed walking the path of authentic love. These qualities – inner freedom, creativity, compassion, willingness, self-surrender or abandonment, and gratefulness – opened her heart to a new depth of God’s life in and through her.
The first talk focuses on Saint Therese’s early life and conversion experience.
Brother Joseph’s second talk presented here follows the Saint’s summary of her short life on earth, expressed in the statement, ” My vocation is love.”