Victim of Merciful Love
Distinct from Victim of Justice
St. Therese of the Child Jesus
Jesus revealed to St Therese His desire that she offer herself as a "victim of mercyful love."
Act of Oblation to Merciful Love
She carried it in a book of the Gospels always near her.
"If Thy Justice—which is of earth—must needs be satisfied, how much more must Thy Merciful Love desire to inflame souls, since
"Thy mercy reacheth even to the Heavens"? O Jesus! Let me be that happy victim—consume Thy holocaust with the Fire of Divine Love!
Are we worthy of receiving this grace?
St. Therese: "Am I a choice worthy of Love? Yes, for in order that Love should be fully satisfied, it needs to stoop down, to stoop down to Nothingness and to transform this Nothingness into FIRE."
"Oh Jesus! why can't I tell all little souls how unspeakable is Your condescension? I feel that if You found a soul weaker and littler than mine, which is impossible, You would be pleased to grant it still greater favors, provided it abandoned itself with total confidence to Your Infinite Mercy...Yes, I know it, and I beg you to do it. I beg You to cast Your Divine Glance upon a great number of little souls. I beg You to choose a LEGION of little Victims worthy of Your Love." -St Therese
Will Victims of Love be many?
His Holiness Pius XI -in the course of her solemn Canonization - repeated her words imploring the Lord "to choose a legion of little Victims worthy of Your Love." Therese also said: "thus my dreams will be realized."
Will offering self as victim bring upon us more suffering? Therese invited her sister Marie (Sister Marie of the Sacred Heart) to join her in the Offering. Marie at first protested, thinking that to make such an Offering would be to invite additional suffering and punishment upon herself. But Therese explained that was not the case: "I do understand what you are saying, but to offer oneself to love is an entirely different thing to offering oneself to His Justice. One does not suffer more. It is a matter only of loving God more for those who do not love Him". More
Jesus responds to her oblation three days later: "I was on fire with love, and I felt that one moment, one second more, and I would not have been able to bear this burning without dying."
Questions and Answers Regarding the Act of Oblation to Merciful Love -Learn what St. Therese meant by "victim".
Therese on love of God
>>> explains sacrifice, offering self and victim of love. St Therese, on the reason for offering self as victim of love:
The Science of Love! How sweetly do these words echo in my soul! That science alone do I desire. Having given all my substance for it, like the Spouse in the Canticles, "I think that I have given nothing." After so many graces, may I not sing with the Psalmist that "the Lord is good, that His Mercy endureth for ever"?
It seems to me that if everyone were to receive such favours God would be feared by none, but loved to excess; that no one would ever commit the least wilful fault—and this through love, not fear.
Yet all souls cannot be alike. It is necessary that they should differ from one another in order that each Divine Perfection may receive its special honour. To me, He has given His Infinite Mercy, and it is in this ineffable mirror that I contemplate his other attributes. Therein all appear to me radiant with Love. His Justice, even more perhaps than the rest, seems to me to be clothed with Love. What joy to think that Our Lord is just, that is to say, that He takes our weakness into account, that He knows perfectly the frailty of our nature! Of what, then, need I be afraid?
Will not the God of Infinite Justice, Who deigns so lovingly to pardon the sins of the Prodigal Son, be also just to me "who am always with Him"? In the year 1895 I received the grace to understand, more than ever, how much Jesus desires to be loved. Thinking one day of those who offer themselves as victims to the Justice of God, in order to turn aside the punishment reserved for sinners by taking it upon themselves, I felt this offering to be noble and generous, but was very far from feeling myself drawn to make it. "O my Divine Master," I cried from the bottom of my heart, "shall Thy Justice alone receive victims of holocaust? Has not Thy Merciful Love also need thereof? On all sides it is ignored, rejected . . . the hearts on which Thou wouldst lavish it turn to creatures, there to seek their happiness in the miserable satisfaction of a moment, instead of casting themselves into Thine Arms, into the unfathomable furnace of Thine Infinite Love.
"O my God! must Thy Love which is disdained lie hidden in Thy Heart? If Thou should find souls offering themselves as victims of holocaust to Thy Love, Thou would consume them rapidly; Thou wouldst be well pleased to suffer the flames of infinite tenderness to escape that are imprisoned in Thy Heart.
"If Thy Justice—which is of earth—must needs be satisfied, how much more must Thy Merciful Love desire to inflame souls, since
"Thy mercy reacheth even to the Heavens"? O Jesus! Let me be that happy victim—consume Thy holocaust with the Fire of Divine Love!"Dear Mother, you know the love, or rather the oceans of grace which flooded my soul immediately after I made that Act of Oblation on June 9, 1895. From that day I have been penetrated and surrounded with love. Every moment this Merciful Love renews me and purifies me, leaving in my soul no trace of sin. I cannot fear Purgatory; I know I do not merit to enter, even, into that place of expiation with the Holy Souls, but I also know that the fire of Love is more sanctifying than the fire of Purgatory. I know that Jesus could not wish useless suffering for us, and He would not inspire me with the desires I feel, were He not willing to fulfill them.
St Therese poetry on the Heart of Jesus and her heart
I need a heart burning with tenderness Who will be my support forever,
Who loves everything in me, even my weakness... And who never leaves me day or night.
You heard me, only Friend whom I love.
To ravish my heart, you became man.
You shed your blood, what a supreme mystery!... And you still live for me on the Altar.
If I cannot see the brilliance of your Face Or hear your sweet voice,
O my God, I can live by your grace, I can rest on your Sacred Heart!
O Heart of Jesus, treasure of tenderness, You Yourself are my happiness, my only hope. You who knew how to charm my tender youth, Stay near me till the last night. That I want to lose myself, O Heart of Jesus! I beg You, O my God, to be Yourself my Sanctity!
Ah! I know well all our righteousness is worthless in your sight.
To give value to my sacrifices, I want to cast them into your Divine Heart. You did not find your angels without blemish. In the midst of lightning you gave your law!... I hide myself in your Sacred Heart, Jesus.
I do not fear, my virtue is You!… To be able to gaze on your glory,
I know we have to pass through fire.
So I, for my purgatory,
Choose your burning love, O heart of my God! On leaving this life, my exiled soul
Would like to make an act of pure love,
And then, flying away to Heaven, its Homeland, Enter straightaway into your Heart.
