Pope Francis published an apostolic exhortation entitled Ces’t la confiance [It is trust] on trust in the merciful love of God, on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the birth of Saint Therese of the Child Jesus and of the Holy Face.
The document, extending over 10 pages, is divided into 53 points divided into 4 sections titled Jesus for Others, The Little Path of Trust in Love, I will be Love, and In the Heart of the gospel.
The Press Office of the Holy See has distributed the text to the media in the following languages: Spanish, Italian, French, English, German, Portuguese, Polish and Arabic.
As soon as the text begins, the Pope emphasizes that the French saint’s phrase “ C’est la confiance et rien que la confiance qui doit nous conduire à l’Amour ” [It is trust and nothing more than trust that owes us lead to Love] explains “the genius of her spirituality and would be enough to justify her being declared a doctor of the Church.”
The Pope also explains the reason why he has decided to publish the document on the feast day of another Carmelite saint and doctor of the Church, Saint Teresa of Ávila, to “present Saint Teresa of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face as “ripe fruit of the reform of Carmel and the spirituality of the great Spanish saint.”
Likewise, the Pontiff emphasizes that, despite having a short life, “the Church quickly recognized the extraordinary value of his figure and the originality of his evangelical spirituality.”
Thus, he highlights from her spiritual legacy that “the last pages of Historia de una alma are a missionary testament, they express her way of understanding evangelization by attraction, not by pressure or proselytism” and that “one of Teresita’s most important discoveries, For the good of all the People of God, it is their ‘little path’, the path of trust and love, also known as the path of spiritual childhood.”
On the other hand, Pope Francis highlights that the patron saint of the missions “prefers to highlight the primacy of divine action and invite full trust looking at the love of Christ that has been given to us until the end” in such a way that “we cannot to be certain of having one’s own merits.”
Consequently, he adds, “the most appropriate attitude is to place the trust of the heart outside of ourselves: in the infinite mercy of a God who loves without limits and who has given everything on the Cross of Jesus Christ.”
This abandonment in God, “should not be understood only in reference to one’s own sanctification and salvation,” but for the Pope “it has an integral meaning, which embraces the totality of concrete existence and is applied to our entire life, where many times “We are overwhelmed by fears.”