Thérèse tells us what, as a little girl, she told her school teacher:

« I went behind my bed in an empty space that was there and that it was easy for me to close with the curtain and there “I thought. – But what are you thinking? she told me. – I think of the good Lord, of life.. . to ETERNITY, at last I think!… The good nun laughed a lot at me, later she liked to remind me of the time when I was thinking, asking me if I was still thinking… I understand now that I was praying without knowing it and that already the Good Lord was instructing me in secret. »

Manuscript A, 33

She had already understood that prayer was a relationship with someone: God. She was already implementing the motto of the Order of Carmel: "He is alive God before whom I stand" (the prophet Elijah in the book of Kings)
At Carmel, she will deepen this desired life of union with God where prayer invades all of life:

« For me, prayer is a surge of the heart, it's a simple look to the sky, it's a cry of gratitude and love in the midst of trial as in the midst of joy; finally, it is something great, supernatural, which expands my soul and unites me to Jesus. »

Manuscript C, 25

She often saw this prayer near the Tabernacle, and it inspired her most beautiful poems:

« Often silence alone is able to express my prayer, but the divine host of the tabernacle understands everything, even the silence of a soul that is filled with gratitude. »

Letter 138

This prayer does not stop at this moment of prayer, but passes into all the actions of his life:

« Here is my prayer, I ask Jesus to draw me into the flames of his love, to unite me so closely to him, that he live and act in me. »

Manuscript C, 36

This prayer is fraternal and missionary, already with its prayer for the criminal Pranzini,

« his first child ":" I myself felt devoured by the thirst for souls… It was not yet the souls of priests that attracted me, but those of great sinners, I burned with the desire to snatch them from the eternal flames… »

Manuscript A, 45

This prayer is maintained in the last months of her life when she is immersed in the " nothingness night as she says. To hold on, she writes the creed with her blood and will write in the gospel that she always carries with her " I sing what I want to believe (Manuscript C, 7). She died on September 30, 1897 saying:

« My God, I love you. »

Last words