st therese of lisieux the story of a soul

When someone is in a state of grace and remains grafted onto the Lord, he or she need not fear the devil, who will run away from them like those two little devils. The most effective way to combat the influence of the devil is to live a virtuous life, united to the sacraments. This reflects a simple truth that even an exorcist would agree with.

She explains, “I do not suppose this dream was very extraordinary, but I do think God made use of it to show me that a soul in the state of grace need never be afraid of the devil, who is such a coward that even the gaze of a child will frighten him away.” Therese never really understood the dream until later on in life, when its meaning became clear. From time to time they came nearer, still very agitated, to peep through the window then, when they saw I was still there, they began racing about again in abject misery. There the little wretches were, running round and round the table, and not knowing how to escape my gaze. When I saw how cowardly they were, I put my fears aside and went over to the window to see what they were up to. They escaped in some mysterious way and ran off to hide in the linen room, which opens onto the garden.

They looked at me with flaming eyes, then, as if overcome by fear, threw themselves in the twinkling of an eye to the bottom of the barrel. I remember a dream I had at that age, which left a very deep impression: I was walking alone in the garden when suddenly I saw two horrible little devils near the arbor, dancing on a barrel of lime with amazing agility, in spite of having heavy irons on their feet. She writes about a dream she had when she was around three or four years old that involves two little devils. Therese of Lisieux records in her autobiography, Story of a Soul, an interesting story from her early childhood. The closer she approached, the farther the little devils wanted to run away.

St therese of lisieux the story of a soul