Quote from St. Therese - what does she mean?

[houston1]

Hello CAF members,

I ran across the following quote from St. Therese and am not certain what it means as far as it relates to when one is facing what seems a hopeless situation. What is this “first impulse” to which she refers?

Here is the quote:

“Don’t drag yourself any longer to His feet, follow that first impulse that draws you into His arms. That is where your place is.” - St. Therese of Lisieux

For me, the *first impulse * that would have me jumping into the arms of God would be envisioning getting my prayer granted in a way that I can visualize in concrete way, i.e., this specific thing or that specific thing will happen. This is because I have trouble hoping for a prayer to be answered in an abstract way, i.e., “everything will be okay” or “something good is sure to happen.”

When I think of hope in the abstract, my *first impulse *is to hesitate to trust God. If I rather think in a concrete way, my *first impulse *is confidence in God with renewed hope even in spite of obstacles and ominous signs to the contrary.

I would appreciate your thoughts and experiences.

May God bless you.

houston1

 

[coopnann]

HI, What an interesting quote. I like it, I think it will stay with me for a while.

To me, my first impression is when we see Jesus is love, our first impulse is to want to jump into that, completely trust, seek, and love the true love. But, sometimes we think our faults, failures, or struggles will keep us begging instead, or just focus on our unworthiness. So, instead of doing that (dragging ourselves to His feet), instead immerse ourselves in His love.

Those are my first thoughts.

Will be interesting to see what others share.

 

[littlestsouls2]

“Don’t drag yourself any longer to His feet, follow that ***first impulse ***that draws you into His arms. That is where your place is.”

I believe she is referring to the first impulse of grace, which is an invitation to union with God, Our Father. I think she is saying that we should surrender to God’s grace, relying on Him like little children, instead of approaching Him with reluctance, fear, distrust, or self-reliance (i.e. dragging ourselves to His feet). Ultimately, God’s love/grace draws us to His loving Heart; He does not call us to be slaves (at His feet).

“I have said already that dust cannot rise towards Heaven but by the help of the wind; and my nothingness cannot rise to its Sovereign Good but by Thy impulse.” - Sr. Jeanne Benigne Gojos

 

[Dorothy]

This is a great thread!

I think Therese means that the goal is to trust in the Lord completely in how He will answer our prayer.

 

[ready]

The penitent’s first impulse would be to kiss the feet of Jesus; the fist impulse of a child would be to rush into His arms and kiss His Face. Given my understanding of St. Therese and her spirituality, this is how I interpret the passage you have given us. A religious sister who went to kiss Jesus’ feet on her crucifix was told by Sr. Therese to kiss Jesus on His Face instead. God bless you.

 

[Joy2day]

The penitent’s first impulse would be to kiss the feet of Jesus; the fist impulse of a child would be to rush into His arms and kiss His Face. Given my understanding of St. Therese and her spirituality, this is how I interpret the passage you have given us. A religious sister who went to kiss Jesus’ feet on her crucifix was told by Sr. Therese to kiss Jesus on His Face instead. God bless you.

I absolutely agree with this. This is how Jesus wants us to be - confident with Him and His love. St Therese also said that when we get to Heaven, Jesus will wait on us, and - He is already doing that in this life.

 

[ready]

The penitent’s first impulse would be to kiss the feet of Jesus; the fist impulse of a child would be to rush into His arms and kiss His Face. Given my understanding of St. Therese and her spirituality, this is how I interpret the passage you have given us. A religious sister who went to kiss Jesus’ feet on her crucifix was told by Sr. Therese to kiss Jesus on His Face instead. God bless you.

I have read that those in the Purgative State kiss Jesus’ Feet; those in the Illuminative State kiss His Hands; and those in the Unitive State kiss His Lips. God bless you.

 

[houston1]

I have read that those in the Purgative State kiss Jesus’ Feet; those in the Illuminative State kiss His Hands; and those in the Unitive State kiss His Lips. God bless you.

Thanks to all those who have added your insights. Please continue posting your comments if you have additional ones.

Ready, I like your analysis of the various states. I think that makes total sense.

Here is another question that I have about what first impulse means . . . I was thinking more in an Ignatian way of looking at this, i.e., what thoughts give rise to one to want to jump in the arms of Jesus. Do you all have any insight on how to apply Ignatian spirituality to St. Therese’s quote ?

I am really trying to hone in on what *first impulse *means. Since St. Therese was very childlike, I agree with all that you all have said about her viewing God as “father.” So, applying this in an Ignatian way, it seems to me that children don’t pretend to want something other than what they want. They just plainly say what it is that they want and do not try to be more noble or virtuous than they really are. Does this make sense?

 

[Telstar]

Hello CAF members,

I ran across the following quote from St. Therese and am not certain what it means as far as it relates to when one is facing what seems a hopeless situation. What is this “first impulse” to which she refers?

Here is the quote:

“Don’t drag yourself any longer to His feet, follow that first impulse that draws you into His arms. That is where your place is.” - St. Therese of Lisieux

For me, the *first impulse * that would have me jumping into the arms of God would be envisioning getting my prayer granted in a way that I can visualize in concrete way, i.e., this specific thing or that specific thing will happen. This is because I have trouble hoping for a prayer to be answered in an abstract way, i.e., “everything will be okay” or “something good is sure to happen.”

When I think of hope in the abstract, my *first impulse *is to hesitate to trust God. If I rather think in a concrete way, my *first impulse *is confidence in God with renewed hope even in spite of obstacles and ominous signs to the contrary.

I would appreciate your thoughts and experiences.

May God bless you.

houston1

I tend to agree with those who’ve said that in St. Therese’s view, our ‘first impulse’ would be to run straight into the arms of Jesus. I know that at times when we’re filled with sorrow, like when we lose a loved one, our ‘first impulse’ is to go to those who share our loss and throw our arms around them, to console them. In turn, they also console us. This seems to be what Therese is saying we all should do, whenever we need consolation from Jesus. We should go to Jesus as we would to any other family member, confident that He will never reject our embrace. He doesn’t want us to come crawling to His feet, because He loves us more than we could ever love Him. He wants to console us. But, He also wants us to console Him, for all that He suffers from those who refuse to accept His love.

I don’t look at it in terms of just having our prayers answered, or not. I really don’t think this has anything to do with ‘getting something’ we ask for in prayer. St. Therese was more focused on loving Jesus with her whole heart. If we start with that, then we can think about asking Him for favors.

We shouldn’t just ‘love’ God because we want to get something tangible out of our relationship. That kind of love is focused on the ‘self’. We should love God because of Who He is, and for everything He’s already done for us, because He loved us, first. What God wants from us is a selfless love, that’s willing to make even small sacrifices for His sake, just as Jesus made the ultimate Sacrifice of Himself for us. They don’t have to be big sacrifices, but little things, like giving up something we like for a few hours, or a whole day. That was the “Little Way” of St. Therese. That’s how our love for God can grow by leaps and bounds.

 

[JimR-OCDS]

“Don’t drag yourself any longer to His feet, follow that first impulse that draws you into His arms. That is where your place is.”

It means to draw to his love, not dragging yourself in guilt and self-damnation.

Jim

 

[houston1]

I tend to agree with those who’ve said that in St. Therese’s view, our ‘first impulse’ would be to run straight into the arms of Jesus. I know that at times when we’re filled with sorrow, like when we lose a loved one, our ‘first impulse’ is to go to those who share our loss and throw our arms around them, to console them. In turn, they also console us. This seems to be what Therese is saying we all should do, whenever we need consolation from Jesus. We should go to Jesus as we would to any other family member, confident that He will never reject our embrace. He doesn’t want us to come crawling to His feet, because He loves us more than we could ever love Him. He wants to console us. But, He also wants us to console Him, for all that He suffers from those who refuse to accept His love.

I don’t look at it in terms of just having our prayers answered, or not. I really don’t think this has anything to do with ‘getting something’ we ask for in prayer. St. Therese was more focused on loving Jesus with her whole heart. If we start with that, then we can think about asking Him for favors.

We shouldn’t just ‘love’ God because we want to get something tangible out of our relationship. That kind of love is focused on the ‘self’. We should love God because of Who He is, and for everything He’s already done for us, because He loved us, first. What God wants from us is a selfless love, that’s willing to make even small sacrifices for His sake, just as Jesus made the ultimate Sacrifice of Himself for us. They don’t have to be big sacrifices, but little things, like giving up something we like for a few hours, or a whole day. That was the “Little Way” of St. Therese. That’s how our love for God can grow by leaps and bounds.

Lori, thank you for your thoughtful reply. I think I now understand what “first impulse” means when you used the comparison of seeking comfort from those who share our loss like during the time of the loss of a loved one. Jesus should be the first one we seek not the second, third, and so on until we finally drag ourselves to his feet.

May God bless you.

houston1

 

[Pat_Albertson]

Therese was virtually a saint from her earliest days. She wanted to be a martyr, and though that didn’t happen, she was a confessor of the church and saint who died young.

I don’t think there was ever any question but that she loved God, even when she had nothing but spiritual dryness.

For the rest of us though (OK, for me), sinners that we are, we are often fascinated by the things of this world and if we have any chance at all of going to heaven, it’s only after we drag ourselves away from the things of this world and try to get our priorities straight.

I think for some of us (OK, just me), that first impulse that Therese speaks of may not happen, so that for Therese, what is secondary, “dragging yourself”, is what we do first, that is if we do it at all. What is for Therese the “first impulse” comes to the rest of us as a secondary epiphany, awakening, insight, intuition, enlightenment, or religious experience if we are lucky enough to have it.

I found myself deeply humbled by Therese’s humility and holiness. She was very different from myself. Not so much that I couldn’t understand anything of what she was saying, but enough so that I felt the great contrast and deep chasm between a true saint and myself.

I found her to be very inspiring, but I had to make more than a few “translations”, swaps, and analogies along the way in order to try to fit myself in her place. It’s kind of hard to pound a square peg into a round hole. You have to sort of file off the corners first.

 

[Telstar]

Lori, thank you for your thoughtful reply. I think I now understand what “first impulse” means when you used the comparison of seeking comfort from those who share our loss like during the time of the loss of a loved one. Jesus should be the first one we seek not the second, third, and so on until we finally drag ourselves to his feet.

May God bless you.

houston1

You’re very welcome.

St. Therese has always been my favorite Saint, since I was very little. In fact, she even looks a little bit like my Mom when she was young.

 

[ready]

Dear Houston1,

I believe that one’s first impulse is just that – the very first impulse we have in response to a stimulus. When you see Jesus on the Crucifix what is your first impulse, what it your first automatic response? to kiss Jesus in reparation? on His Feet? on His Face? Is it some words of love or contrition that you are compelled to make? Is your first impulse to tell Him you are very sorry? Or is it to tell Him that you love Him? Is it to pull away from Him, God forbid?

If your first impulse is that of contrition, then maybe you’d have a bigger desire to tell Him you are sorry with a kiss on His Feet. If your first impulse is that of gratitude and love, then maybe you’d want to tell Him you love Him while hugging your Crucifix or kissing Jesus on His Face. Maybe not. Anyway, I hope your first impulse is always to somehow draw closer to Him and never the opposite. Some person’s first impulse may always be to kiss the Feet of Jesus on a Crucifix rather that His Face because traditionally in the Church we kiss Jesus’ Feet when adoring the Corpus of Christ on a Cross.

I read Fr. Timothy Gallager’s (sp?) book on the Ignatian Spiritual Exercises, but I can’t recall what he said about first impulses, if he spoke at all about them. God bless you.

Yours in the Sacred Heart of Jesus,
ready

 

[houston1]

Therese was virtually a saint from her earliest days. She wanted to be a martyr, and though that didn’t happen, she was a confessor of the church and saint who died young.

I don’t think there was ever any question but that she loved God, even when she had nothing but spiritual dryness.

For the rest of us though (OK, for me), sinners that we are, we are often fascinated by the things of this world and if we have any chance at all of going to heaven, it’s only after we drag ourselves away from the things of this world and try to get our priorities straight.

I think for some of us (OK, just me), that first impulse that Therese speaks of may not happen, so that for Therese, what is secondary, “dragging yourself”, is what we do first, that is if we do it at all. What is for Therese the “first impulse” comes to the rest of us as a secondary epiphany, awakening, insight, intuition, enlightenment, or religious experience if we are lucky enough to have it.

I found myself deeply humbled by Therese’s humility and holiness. She was very different from myself. Not so much that I couldn’t understand anything of what she was saying, but enough so that I felt the great contrast and deep chasm between a true saint and myself.

I found her to be very inspiring, but I had to make more than a few “translations”, swaps, and analogies along the way in order to try to fit myself in her place. It’s kind of hard to pound a square peg into a round hole. You have to sort of file off the corners first.

Pat,

I agree that St. Therese’s life is most inspiring. But, what is most inspiring is that her “little” way of holiness is way that all of us can follow. Do not underestimate the power of God to work this miracle in you. God calls you to this high calling as well. Just give Him what you have and He will multiply it hundred fold. Remember. This is His will (1 Thess. 4:3). And, He is able take our very small offerings and accomplish immeasurably more than we can ask or imagine (Eph. 3:20). Any doubts to the contrary come from the enemy of our souls.

Thanks for responding to my post and explaining what it means to “drag” oneself instead of responding on first impulse. The way of holiness is a profound battle and we all face a seemingly endless battle. But, as promised, we are more than conquerors in this battle (Rm. 8:37).

May God bless you.

houston1

 

[Pat_Albertson]

Pat,

I agree that St. Therese’s life is most inspiring. But, what is most inspiring is that her “little” way of holiness is way that all of us can follow. Do not underestimate the power of God to work this miracle in you. God calls you to this high calling as well. Just give Him what you have and He will multiply it hundred fold. Remember. This is His will (1 Thess. 4:3). And, He is able take our very small offerings and accomplish immeasurably more than we can ask or imagine (Eph. 3:20). Any doubts to the contrary come from the enemy of our souls.

Thank you for that. I will pray to God that I may take it to heart.

Thanks for responding to my post and explaining what it means to “drag” oneself instead of responding on first impulse. The way of holiness is a profound battle and we all face a seemingly endless battle. But, as promised, we are more than conquerors in this battle (Rm. 8:37).

May God bless you.

Thank you. I need all the help I can get. I mean that literally.

houston1

And may God bless you too. I will say a Hail Mary for you right now.

 

[houston1]

Dear Houston1,

I believe that one’s first impulse is just that – the very first impulse we have in response to a stimulus. When you see Jesus on the Crucifix what is your first impulse, what it your first automatic response? to kiss Jesus in reparation? on His Feet? on His Face? Is it some words of love or contrition that you are compelled to make? Is your first impulse to tell Him you are very sorry? Or is it to tell Him that you love Him? Is it to pull away from Him, God forbid?

If your first impulse is that of contrition, then maybe you’d have a bigger desire to tell Him you are sorry with a kiss on His Feet. If your first impulse is that of gratitude and love, then maybe you’d want to tell Him you love Him while hugging your Crucifix or kissing Jesus on His Face. Maybe not. Anyway, I hope your first impulse is always to somehow draw closer to Him and never the opposite. Some person’s first impulse may always be to kiss the Feet of Jesus on a Crucifix rather that His Face because traditionally in the Church we kiss Jesus’ Feet when adoring the Corpus of Christ on a Cross.

I read Fr. Timothy Gallager’s (sp?) book on the Ignatian Spiritual Exercises, but I can’t recall what he said about first impulses, if he spoke at all about them. God bless you.

Yours in the Sacred Heart of Jesus,
ready

ready, I can see that I was overcomplicating the quote by asking about Ignatian spirituality. I think you have said it well when you say that our first impulses should be whatever draws us closer to Jesus and not the opposite. As I have heard, the closer one becomes to God, the simpler one becomes. Perhaps, I should keep it simple and follow any inspirations which draw me closer to God.

Thanks again for your responses. They are very helpful. You are in my prayers. Btw, I kissed the face of my crucifix after I read your post!

houston1