This sweet treat in the shape of a rose is perfect for the Little Flower

St. Thérèse of Lisieux, whose feast day is October 1st, called herself a “little flower” and followed a spiritual path of humble self-sacrifice that, in her autobiography “The Story of a Soul,” she called the Little Way of Spiritual Childhood. When Thérèse entered the Carmelite convent at Lisieux, France in 1888 at the age of 15, she longed to accomplish great deeds, but over time she realized that the Lord creates each flower for his purpose, each with a beauty of its own. “Our Lord’s love shines out just as much through a little soul who yields completely to His Grace as it does through the greatest,” Thérèse wrote.

Such complete yielding is no small thing, and Thérèse’s sainthood came from her pursuit of every opportunity for selflessness, including eating all foods set before her, which she admitted was the occasion of much mortification. She believed that souls, once trained, “are quite ready to admit that they would rather have a little bitterness than sugar,” and she eschewed worldly pleasures for a feast of “gentle, joyful love.” Nonetheless, her admirers occasionally make an apple tart for her feast day in the shape of a rose, a flower that she loved and refers to often in her autobiography.

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