[8] When asked before her death how they should pray to her in Heaven, Soeur Therese, with her wonted simplicity, made answer: "You will call me 'Little Therese'--_petite Therese."_ And at Gallipoli, on the occasion of her celebrated apparition in the Carmel there, when the Prioress, taking her to be St. Teresa of Avila, addressed her as "our holy Mother," the visitor, adopting her then official title, replied:--"Nay, I am not our holy Mother, I am the Servant of God, _Soeur Therese of Lisieux_." This, her own name of Soeur Therese, has been retained in the present edition, unless where it was advisable to set down her name in full--Sister Teresa of the Child Jesus and of the Holy Face. The name of the "Little Flower," borrowed by her from the Blessed Theophane Venard, and used so extensively in the pages of her manuscript, is the one by which she is best known in English-speaking lands. [Ed.] [9] Cf. Prov. 19:11. [10] Matt. 25:49. [11] Wisdom 6:7. [12] Cf. Ps. 75[76]:10. [13] Cf. Ps. 17[18]:5. [14] Cf. Ps. 22[23]:4. [15] From the last poem written by Soeur Therese. [16] Ps. 115[116]:15. [17] John 12:24, 25. _____________________________ COUNSELS AND REMINISCENCES OF SOEUR THERESE, THE LITTLE FLOWER OF JESUS _____________________________ Most of what follows has been gathered from the conversations of Soeur Therese with her novices. Her advice cannot but prove helpful to souls within the cloister, and likewise to many in the world who may be attracted by her simple and easy _little way_ to God. * * * * * * One of the novices, greatly discouraged at the thought of her imperfections, tells us that her mistress spoke to her as follows: "You make me think of a little child that is learning to stand but does not yet know how to walk. In his desire to reach the top of the stairs to find his mother, he lifts his little foot to climb the first step. It is all in vain, and at each renewed effort he falls. Well, be like that little child. Always keep lifting your foot to climb the ladder of holiness, and do not imagine that you can mount even the first step. All God asks of you is good will. From the top of the ladder He looks lovingly upon you, and soon, touched by your fruitless efforts, He will Himself come down, and, taking you in His Arms, will carry you to His Kingdom never again to leave Him. But should you cease to raise your foot, you will be left for long on the earth." * * * * * * "The only way to advance rapidly in the path of love is to remain always very little. That is what I did, and now I can sing with our holy Father, St. John of the Cross: 'Then I abased myself so low, so very low, That I ascended to such heights, such heights indeed, That I did overtake the prey I chased!'" * * * * * *