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 waste our time! Let us save souls! Souls are falling into hell innumerable as the flakes of snow on a winter's day, and Jesus weeps; and we are brooding over our own sorrow, instead of thinking of consoling Him." And still more clearly: "There is only one thing to do during the brief day, or rather night, of this life: it is to love, to love Jesus with all the strength of our heart and to save souls for Him, so that He may be loved." To this end she desired to embrace all vocations, to endure all sufferings, to be a missionary to all peoples and ages.

Above all she was heartbroken at seeing God's generously proffered love utterly neglected, nay, even openly rejected, by so many millions, and even by consecrated souls, and lamented sadly: "Oh, how little is the good God loved on earth! No, the good God is not much loved…! More than ever is Jesus athirst for love … and even among His disciples He finds, alas! but few hearts that surrender themselves WITHOUT RESERVE to the tenderness of His infinite love." Realizing how deep was the sorrow of the Divine Heart because of this, and being all aflame with love of Him, she yearned to give Him an opportunity of satisfying His longing by taking up into her own heart all this neglected and rejected love, opening it as if it were an abyss into which He might pour all. This she did by her supreme act of consecration as a victim to God's merciful love, "with the sole aim"—to use her own words—"of pleasing Thee, of consoling Thy Sacred Heart, and of saving souls who will love Thee throughout eternity." What is the measure of my love of God when judged by my desire "to make Him greatly loved" by saving souls?

Dear St. Therese, Seraph of Divine Love, consumed as a victim of holocaust by the flames of divine charity, I thank God for all the love with which He overwhelmed you and for your generosity toward Him. Obtain for me also an ardent and generous love that knows no such thing as impossible, but makes everything sweet and easy, in spite of the sharpest pain that may accompany it. Pray for me that I, too, may become one