Today we Celebrate the Memorial of Saint Teresa of Los Andes.

Juana Fernandez read the memoirs of the saint Thérèse, often known as the Little Flower when she was a child growing up in Santiago in the early 1900s. Her passion for God grew as time passed by, which also made her future course more clear. At 19, Juana adopted the name Teresa and became a Carmelite nun.

The convent provided Teresa with the quiet lifestyle she craved and the delight of residing in a neighborhood of ladies devoted to God. She dedicated her days to sacrifice and prayer. In her diary, she noted, “I am God’s.” “He made me, and I am nothing without Him.”

Teresa started a letter-writing apostolate after her brief life, in which she shared her views on spiritual life with many individuals. She developed typhus when she was 20 and immediately made her last vows. A short while later, during Holy Week, she passed away.

Teresa, sometimes called the “Flower of the Andes,” continues to be adored by the approximately 100,000 pilgrims who travel to her shrine in Los Andes yearly. She is the first saint in Chile and was canonized in 1993 by Pope John Paul II.

Source: franciscanmedia.org