One of the greatest saints of all time was an impressionist.
I have had a devotion to St. Thérèse of Lisieux for some time, but it was only recently that I learned about her sense of humor. Here is what one of her sisters said about her in 1893, when Thérèse was twenty:
‘Tall and strong, with the appearance of a child, a tone of voice, an expression, hiding within her a wisdom, a perfection, a perspicacity of a fifty-year-old. … Little innocent thing, to whom one would give God without confession, but whose head is full of mischief to play on anyone she pleases. Mystic, comic, everything … she can make you weep with devotion and just as easily split your sides with laughter during our recreations’ (Bernard Bro, Saint Thérèse of Lisieux: Her Family, Her God, Her Message, 19)
Mystic, comic, everything.
Why is it so delightful that the Little Flower was known by her sisters as so funny? Each saint’s life illuminates in a specific time and place something beautiful about the life of our Lord Jesus. As I learned more about the character of St. Thérèse of Lisieux, what emerged was a more vibrant image of her personality. As God shined his light upon his holy daughter from Lisieux, I saw that this light was coming from the face of his Beloved Son from Nazareth, the Light of the World. As Jesus shined on Thérèse, he revealed more details about himself.
Thérèse reminds us that a holy face is also a smiling face. In becoming man, God showed us his face. The Holy Face of Jesus, the blessed countenance, was so marred for our redemption, yet it was a face that also beamed with joy. We remember the grave aspect of the Lamb who bore the crushing gravity of man’s sin, and rightly do we weep with the women of Jerusalem over his suffering. But we also recall the humor of Jesus calling Peter to be a “fisher of men.” It’s hard to imagine that Jesus didn’t say this line with a smiling face, his humanity shining through. What a joy to be looked at by such a face.
And we know that when we return Jesus’ glance, when he sees the joy on our redeemed faces, we ravish his heart (Song 4:9). There is no rift between a life fully given over to loving God and a life of smiling in the company of friends. Thérèse smiled back at Jesus, and she smiled at her sisters in Lisieux.
Having a fuller human picture of St. Thérèse of Lisieux helped me recognize the humanity of our Lord. Saints are a gift from God, images of his son given to the Church. Thérèse was a mystic and a comic, she was everything, a reflection of Christ who is everything— he who “has done all things well” (Mark 7:37).
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Image: St. Thérèse of Lisieux (from the Carmelite Archives of Lisieux)
