THE HIDDEN FACE – A Study of St. Therese of Lisieux by Friederike Gorres

From Ignatius Press (410 pages)

At the beginning of THE HIDDEN FACE – A Study of St. Therese of Lisieux by Friederike Gorres, is a surprising quote by one of the sisters in Therese’s convent:  “Sister Therese will die soon. What will our mother prioress be able to write in her obituary? She entered our convent, lived and died – there really is no more to say.” This book holds those title words,  ‘hidden face’, a depth that easily escapes most di-hard St. Therese devotees, including me.

Everything I thought I knew about Therese seemed to be enlarged and clarified in reading this in depth look at her personality traits and emotional scars. In her introduction, Gorres goes beneath the surface of Therese’ beautifully simple, though deep, “PORTRAIT OF A SOUL’ to examine the cultural backdrop of the times in which it was written. She challenges her readers to set aside the flowery French bourgeoisie language that seems almost theatrical in the little book and to think more deeply of the very private and ‘hidden’ face of St. Therese. This book, less known perhaps,  is a psychological sketch of Therese as a young girl, who suffered loss of her mother in early childhood, then loss of two of her older sisters, both who’d become surrogate mothers to her, to the convent. It expresses in beautiful and pointed manner, Therese’s sadness at the reality of her beloved father’s mental illness and depression, her own grappling with her response to God through entering Carmel and her desire to be present to her father in his frailty and illness.

Anyone who has ever worked among a group of women can identify with the young Therese’s mixed emotions in the convent serving among the older, often austere nuns who, for the most part were confused and at times even irritated by her desire to enter Carmel at such a young age. The human arrows of judgment and unscrupulous comments did not escape Therese even in her beloved Carmel. No one but her esteemed Lord knew the hurt, confusion and bitter sweetness of those years Therese spent hidden – claiming to ascend the elevator of heaven by offering those unnoticed pangs to Jesus in her ‘little way’. Therese was once described as a ‘Steel Magnolia’ rather than ‘The Little Flower’. I agree! This in-depth portrait will elicit much prayerful thought and guide readers to perhaps cherish that which is hidden as they strive to immolate Therese’s Little Way as they grow in faith.  This book is excellent spiritual reading anytime, but perhaps most especially during Lent.

--Submitted by Therese Thomas