All her life, St. Therese of Liseux wanted to be known. She grew up hoping she'd be prominent across all of France, just like St. Joan of Arc. She also felt an intense desire to enter into cloistered religious life. These two desires were at direct odds with one another. How did she reconcile the constant emotional tug-of-war she often found herself in? Prayer.

This is what converted her heart. It was prayer that led her to a deeply intimate relationship with the Child Jesus. It was prayer that led her to write Story of A Soul, while living a cloistered life before dying at the age of 24, which became one of the most well known books in all of Catholicism.

"“For me, prayer is a surge of the heart; it is a simple look turned toward heaven, it is a cry of recognition and of love, embracing both trial and joy.”

-- A SURGE OF THE HEART --