The feast day of beloved Saint Thérèse of Lisieux is celebrated on October 1. Born in 1873 in Alençon, France, she is the youngest daughter of Saints Zélie and Louis Martin. At the age of 15, she became a cloistered Carmelite nun in Lisieux. During her teens, she struggled with tuberculosis, until she died at the young age of 24. Saint Thérèse is referred to as the "little flower of Jesus" and her "little way" of making small, quiet sacrifices with love reminds us that sainthood is achievable each time we allow God to draw us out of ourselves.
Saint Thérèse is the patron saint of florists, missionaries, pilots and priests. She was canonized in 1925, and her legacy is one that many of us look up to today!
As we prepare for Saint Thérèse's feast day, we gathered five simple and fun ways to celebrate her!
Deliver flowers
Using the Michaelmas daisy bouquet idea, deliver fresh daisies to a neighbor, friend or helpers in your community. Write a short thank you card that expresses your gratitude and appreciation for all they do.
Photo courtesy of Charley on Unsplash
Spend time with flowers
St. Thérèse loved nature and often used nature imagery to describe God’s abiding love. She is known as “the little flower” because she saw the ways small wildflowers grew in forests and fields, yet were no less beautiful because they were unnoticed. Rather than a grand lily or elegant rose, she understood herself as a small flower who bloomed where God planted her.
She said, "If every flower were a rose, spring would lose its loveliness.”
Learn to paint watercolor flowers, work on your garden, or visit a botanical garden.
Make resin floral coasters
For our artistic friends, this one is for you!
Supplies needed:
- Pictures of St. Thérèse
- Mod Podge
- Dried flowers (Check Amazon or your favorite craft store to find your favorite flowers!)
- Resin kit
- Coaster mold
Instructions:
- Cut out the pictures of St. Thérèse.
- Cover with Mod Podge on both sides and let them dry so that they become water resistant.
- Follow the instructions on the resin kit and pour half of the resin into the mold.
- In each coaster, add a picture of St. Thérèse and arrange the dried flowers around it. Wait a minimum of four hours before pouring the rest of the mold. Let it set for twenty-four hours.
Keep Saint Thérèse near and dear to your home all year long!
*If arts and crafts is not your thing, the coasters are available for purchase on our website!
Make a daisy chain bracelet
This is a fun activity to do with a group of friends or your older children!
Supplies needed:
- 8/0 seed beads
- 0.8–1 mm silk thread
- Beading needle
- 3 mm round gold beads
- Jewelry closures
Insturctions:
- Tie a knot at the end of your thread, and thread the other end through the needle.
- Add seed beads to form a line between your daisies. To make a daisy shape, add four beads in the color of the petals and then a yellow or gold bead (this will be the center of the flower). Then pass the needle through the first four beads to make a loop; pull the thread through. Then add four more beads in the petal color and loop the needle through the yellow bead.
- Add more beads to separate this daisy from the next, then repeat to make another daisy.
- When the bracelet is the desired length, tie the jewelry closures on either end of the thread. Wear it and think about how you can be a little flower like St. Thérèse!
Image courtesy of Benjamin Lehman on Unsplash
Go outside and play ball
"I had offered myself to the Child Jesus to be His little plaything. I told Him not to treat me like one of those precious toys which children only look at and dare not touch, but to treat me like a little ball of no value, that could be thrown on the ground, kicked about, pierced, left in a corner, or pressed to His Heart just as it might please Him. In a word, I wished to amuse the Holy Child and let Him play with me as He fancied. Here [In Rome] He was answering my prayer."—St. Thérèse of Lisieux
St. Thérèse wanted Jesus to use her as a toy, something to love and play with without worrying about breaking it. Play ball today, and think about how much fun you have while you kick, hit, or bounce it around.
How can you open yourself and bring joy to Jesus like a little ball?
Looking for inspiration on how to celebrate the liturgical seasons and feast days?
Living The Seasons: Simple Ways To Celebrate The Beauty Of Your Faith Throughout The Year is a full-color guide to creatively celebrate our faith. Each page is filled with beautiful inspiration with effortless directions to celebrate feast days, holy days and seasons within the Church. This will be your resource for living liturgically! Now available to order on our website.
