We asked you to share with us how St. Therese and the late Pope John Paul II have affected you. Your personal stories are beautiful and affirming. Thank you for taking time to write. We will continue posting in the coming weeks.
Tim OBrian
 In 1987, I was 33 and had never been married. I was #2 in a family of 10 (5 girls all named Mary). Most of my brothers & sisters had already gotten married and were starting their families. I wanted to be married & raise a family just like my folks had done. Having the Manic Depressive gene (AKA Bi-Polar), before I was even born, I was not marketable to say the least. I went twice to Ireland to look for a fine Irish Catholic lassie "with red hair & freckles." I came back empty handed both times. Finally, my dad gave me a holy card of St. Therese that had a novena prayer on the back. I prayed it for 9 days, & guess what? Someone else was praying that very same novena...Deirdre Kennelly from Limerick, Ireland who had moved to Pomona, Ca in 1963. Here I was looking on the other side of the world for my wife to be, & she lived less than 5 miles from me. And, OH, did I mention: she had the most beautiful head of red hair, freckles, is a total "knock-out" , plus she's given me 4 wonderful children. St. Therese...I love YOU!
I believe in miracles and I believe in the intercession of the saints. My husband had a massive stroke 2 years ago, and we were told that he would never walk, talk or think clearly again. While he was in rehab, he was very hostile towards me, and it broke my heart to be on the receiving end of this treatment, from a man who had always cherished me and made me feel so special. I prayed to the Lord on a daily basis for the strength and understanding that I needed to get through this time and often visited a monastery chapel to pray. It was at this chapel that I saw a shrine to St. Therese and learned of her power - ("Little Flower in this hour show that power"). It was a little prayer that I started to say in front of her statue. One evening I had a particularly difficult time with my husband, and I fled to the chapel in tears. I asked for St. Therese to intercede for me and to let me know that she heard my prayers. The next day when I visited my husband, he was sitting in bed holding a stuffed toy which carried a huge red rose! St. Therese is known for using roses as a sign that she has heard our prayer. My husband is now driving, using the computer and volunteering with other stroke survivors. He walks with a cane and leads a productive life while trying to regain his speech. I believe that St. Therese came to our aid and will be forever grateful!
Linda Khoyan
 
My wife has Fibromyalgia and during a particularly bad day I asked Saint Therese's interecession to help her out. The next day someone brought a dry cleaning bag into my office with the words "Thank You for Shopping at The Rose" and emblazoned with a red rose(my rose sign!). My wife felt much better for that day, like she never even had it. Thanks be to God!
Jeremy
Paula Cole
 In 2002 I went on a Pilgrimage to Rome and saw Pope John Paul II in a procession. As he went by us, he looked right at me and I will never forget the feeling when I looked at his eyes. No words can describe the holiness I felt. As he grew weaker in health, we all knew how much he suffered but he continued to do the work of God till the end. Even at his funeral, it was like we were missing a part of us but his life will continue just as Jesus' life continues now.
Something happened and I can't keep it for myself. I was feeling very guilty over something that I had done and I could not sleep. I got so tired of turning and twisting that I finally got off the bed at 3:00 a.m. I put the TV on, I don't watch TV and I always struggled to push the right button. This time I had no problem, I picked EWTN and there was a discussion about the movie St. Therese. I had watched the movie in the theatre and I knew what they were talking about. Towards the end of the talk, I smelled a nice and sweet smell of flowers. After a few seconds the smell was gone. After the show I went back to bed and slept peacefully. I woke up at my usual time and was so happy and at peace. St. Therese I love you and I Thank you for being there for me. Please intercede for each member of my family. Amen


Anonymous
Dana Cash
 My grandfather who recently passed away was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease several years back. It pained our family to see him shuffling to and from the car, unable to drive most of the time, and doing his best to control shaking, particularly since he was a very athletic man who enjoyed swimming. A few months after his diagnosis, I journeyed to Rome and saw the Holy Father ride by quite close to me, bent over from his own case of Parkinson’s. It made me realize that nothing can make a person incapable of doing great things for God.
St. Therese is a very good friend of mine. She has answered so many of my prayers with the sign of a roses throughout my life.Last year Jan. 2005 was one of her best answers to my prayers ever. I specifically asked for a white rose and my daughter was the one who had to give it to me. You see, she has had a toublesome last 4 years and has turned against her Catholic faith. I was praying that she return to her faith and that her life get in some kind of order. Upon returning from a trip to Cuba my daughter was waiting for us when we returned and there sitting on the counter was a flower package. She said that it was for me. She said she had a very strong urge to buy me flowers for the last two weeks and went in to buy me some. She decided on a single white rose. I needed another sign so therefore asked and that single cut rose started to grow leaves. Two miracles from one rose.
 Christine
Edward C. Hoff
 I have made novenas to St. Therese and she had interceded for me each time. Some form of a rose is always present. The last one was two weeks ago when I ask for favor for my adopted son in the seminary. Petiton granted and I receive rose in my email. I will continue to ask her to guide my son until he becomes a priest. I am asking Her to obtain for him a burning love in his heart for our Lord. At present I am praying to Pope John Paul ll for a personal intention.
I had a dream when I was reading the autobiography of St Therese that I was very high up in a tree and could see so far, I could see into the past. I was singing a song that reflected the words of Therese of how she wanted her story to only be a reflection of God's mercy. As I sang the people of my past (that I could see from the tree) were singing the echo response to my song, "I will sing of the mercies of the Lord for ever, I will sing of the mercies of the Lord".
Teresea Skarlicki
Scott Pauline
 The Little Flower is one of my dearest Saints. I find such great inspiration in her totally loving and courageous gift of self in her life and death. She is dear to my heart! I especially find great consolation in her "Little Way," the idea that I can do "little" things with great "love", and, in so doing, please the Lord, who "alone searches hearts."

Also, I am deeply moved by the wondrous depth of wisdom and love and the heroically patient endurance of suffering of our late Holy Father. Also, I believe, as Christopher West has put it, that his wondrous Theology of the Body is a "theological time-bomb," providing a true window into the wondrous meaning, depth, and love that is the mystery of human sexuality. I pray for the future canonization of Pope John Paul the Great!

 
Hello !

Saint Therese has in my life since I was a small child. My mother had given me a novena card when I was very young and I began saying her novena's and quickly saw the fruit of her favor. Many Many times in my life she has interceded on my behalf. One of the most beautiful times was when I was newly married and trying to start a family with my husband to no avail and one of my sisters was saying a novena for me. She received a sign of roses and I will never forget the sheer joy and belief on her face when she realized my prayers would be answered. I did not know she was saying a novena and when she came to my job and was walking down the hallway yelling your going to have a baby I thought she had lost her mind at first and then when she shared the story with me and the roses I knew it would all be ok and I had to trust.

One other thing I would like to mention that I feel is very important is that many times in my life when God was lovingly saying no to my many request for my life because he of course had a better plan that I could not understand it was Saint Therese who was the only one who could console my heart and soul when I found it so difficult to accept and understand what God was asking of me and why.

I have truly learned from her that God's No's are as loving as God's yes's and we have to take what God sends

My favoirte thing that she is known for saying is

"everything is grace, everthing is the direct effect of our Father's love. Everthing is grace because-everything is God's gift. Whatever be the character of life or its unexpected events TO THE HEART THAT LOVES, ALL IS WELL" AMEN to that !!!! I love you Saint Therese !!!! or as we grew up saying Saint Theresa !!!!!

Linda Bamonte
Francine Williams
 St. Therese taught me that sometimes doing the " little things " in life can have just as much impact as doing something huge . We may have zeal , but it may be for someone else to do the "bigger" part . For example ,I was excited about the "Miracles of The Eucharist " video , wanted to share it with EVERYONE ! But by placing it in the Right persons hands, a Marian Eucharistic Conference was organised by someone who had the knowledge and resources to make it happen . Bob and Penny Lord and 3000 adults and youth came to the Worcester Centrum for a weekend Conference ! Praise Jesus for sending St. Therese and her LITTLE WAY !!!
I always had great love for St Therese since I was a child. I took her name for my Confirmation. I have a medal of her that I wear. As a child, I attended Mass with my mother each morning. There at the front of the church, was her statue that would greet us. On Oct. 1,2001, I was involved in a tragic accident that killed my mother and sister. I was on life support for 2 months. My husband knowing I had devotion to her, placed some rose pedals under my pillow that had been given to him from another miracle through St. Therese's intercession. I knew she had greeted my mother and sister into Heaven, for it was on her feast day they both died. She has also interceded for my recovery which the doctors thought impossible.

Please continue to spread devotion to her and the miracles God shows us through her intercession.
Jessica Mullen