Thérèse of Lisieux: Session 3

Turning to the Mystics with James Finley

Center for Action and Contemplation

Spirituality, Christianity, Religion & Spirituality

4.8 • 1.8K Ratings

🗓️ 20 April 2026

⏱️ 39 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

This is the third session which focuses on Thérèse of Lisieux. In the tenor of the ancient practice of Lectio Divina, James Finley reads passages from the John Clarke translation of Thérèse's Story of a Soul, reflects on core themes, and finishes with a meditative practice. Resources: The transcript for this episode can be found here. The books we will be using this season are: Story of a Soul: The Autobiography of St. Thérèse of Lisieux, Third Edition, translated by John Clarke, which can be found ⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠, and ⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠. ⁠⁠⁠St. Thérèse of Lisieux: Essential Writings (Modern Spiritual Masters Series), edited by Mary Frolich⁠⁠⁠ Connect with us: Have a question you'd like Jim or Kirsten to answer about this season? Email us: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠podcasts@cac.org⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Send us a voicemail: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠cac.org/voicemail⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ We'll be accepting questions for our Listener Questions episode until May 15, 2026. This podcast is made possible, thanks to the generosity of our donors. If you would love to support the ongoing work of the Center for Action and Contemplation and the continued work of our podcasts, you can donate at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://cac.org/support-cac/ Thank you!

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	You're listening to a podcast by the Center for Action and Contemplation.
0:04.0	To learn more, visit cac.org.
0:08.2	Greetings. I'm Jim Finley.
0:11.9	Welcome to Turning to the Mystics.
0:27.4	Greetings, everyone, and welcome to our time together,
0:34.1	turning for trustworthy guidance to the spiritual teachings found in St. Terese's story of a soul.
0:41.6	When Teres entered the monastery, she followed the custom of keeping her baptismal name,
0:48.6	but taking two devotional names. They would kind of embody her way of experiencing the presence of Jesus in her life. And we saw in our previous session, one name was Therese of the child Jesus.
0:56.2	The other devotional name she chose was Therese of the Holy Face.
1:01.1	And by the Holy Face, she's referring to the Holy Face of Jesus.
1:05.0	And that's what we're going to be reflecting on here.
1:07.8	What she saw in her devotional sincerity to the Holy Face, the face of Jesus,
1:13.3	by following her how it might help us in devotional sincerity to deepen our own experience
1:20.0	of God's presence in our life. And I'd like to proceed with this in a kind of a poetic,
1:25.7	experiential way that will lead directly in kind of the intimate
1:30.1	interiority of where her mind is and where she helps us go there too within ourselves.
1:36.4	And I'd like to suggest first that the face of Jesus, really the context with the meaning of the
1:42.8	face of Jesus is the presence of Jesus.
1:46.4	That's what she's really talking about.
1:48.4	And I would like to start there on a reflection on the presence of God revealed to her in the presence of Jesus.
1:56.1	It's the context for the face of Jesus.
1:58.6	And I'd like to begin by explaining poetically with each other and then see how that leads to our understanding of
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Center for Action and Contemplation, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Center for Action and Contemplation and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.