momentarily lifted, and she exclaimed: "Verily the Lord will work wonders for me, and they will infinitely surpass my boundless desires." And again, in prophetic tones: "I will spend my heaven in doing good on earth. After my death I will let fall a shower of roses."
Her words have been more than fulfilled, in fact, there is no longer question of a mere "shower," but it has become a veritable torrent, an unprecedented deluge, both of material and spiritual roses. Who will venture even to begin to number them—the many miracles of body and soul that have been wrought through her intercession during the thirty-six years that have passed since she winged her flight to the realms of heaven? How much good she has accomplished—and how much she is still doing—through her autobiography, letters, and poems! How many sinners she has led back to God, how many pagans have received the grace of Baptism through her, how many children have been privileged to receive their First Holy Communion at an early age, and how many souls have been fired with an ardent love of their Eucharistic Lord! Only the very slightest portion of what she is accomplishing is visible to mortal eyes; we shall be dumbfounded when, on entering heaven, we shall see how much of all the good now being done, is to be laid to her credit. Was there ever such a wonder-worker in the history of the Church?
And this her glorious task is far from ended; according to her own words, it is to continue until the end of time: "Only when the angel shall have said: 'Time is no more!' then I shall be able to rejoice, because the number of the elect will be complete." Only then will the shower of roses cease to fall, because there will be none left upon whom they may fall. What motives for trust in her intercession! Would I be of genuine service to souls? Then I must be willing to pay the same price which St. Therese paid, in order to purchase the precious fruits she now so lavishly scatters abroad—joy in suffering. Am I willing, or, better, is my love of souls for the sake of God's love strong enough?
(3) For God.—"The glory of God, this is my sole ambition!" Thus wrote St. Therese, and
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