Saint Thérèse of Lisieux

Saint Thérèse of Lisieux

Act of Offering to Merciful Love

Written on Trinity Sunday, 9 June 1895

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O mon Dieu ! Trinité bienheureuse, je désire vous aimer et vous faire aimer, travailler à la glorification de la sainte Église, en sauvant les âmes qui sont sur la terre et en délivrant celles qui souffrent dans le purgatoire. Je désire accomplir parfaitement votre volonté et arriver au degré de gloire que vous m’avez préparé dans votre royaume ; en un mot, je désire être sainte, mais je sens mon impuissance et je vous demande, ô mon Dieu, d’être vous-même ma sainteté.

O my God, blessed Trinity, I long to love you and to make you loved, to work for the glory of holy Church by saving the souls on earth and setting free those who suffer in purgatory. I long to fulfil your will perfectly and to reach the degree of glory you have prepared for me in your kingdom; in a word, I long to be a saint, but I feel my helplessness, and I ask you, O my God, to be yourself my holiness.

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Au soir de cette vie, je paraîtrai devant vous les mains vides, car je ne vous demande pas, Seigneur, de compter mes œuvres. Toutes nos justices ont des taches à vos yeux. Je veux donc me revêtir de votre propre Justice et recevoir de votre Amour la possession éternelle de Vous-même. Je ne veux point d’autre Trône et d’autre Couronne que Vous, ô mon Bien-Aimé !

At the evening of this life I shall appear before you with empty hands, for I do not ask you, Lord, to count my works. All our righteousness is stained in your eyes. I wish, then, to clothe myself in your own Righteousness and to receive from your Love the everlasting possession of Yourself. I want no other Throne and no other Crown than You, O my Beloved!

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Afin de vivre dans un acte de parfait Amour, je m’offre comme victime d’holocauste à votre Amour miséricordieux, vous suppliant de me consumer sans cesse, laissant déborder en mon âme les flots de tendresse infinie qui sont renfermés en vous, et qu’ainsi je devienne martyre de votre Amour, ô mon Dieu !

In order to live in an act of perfect Love, I offer myself as a victim of holocaust to your merciful Love, begging you to consume me without ceasing, letting the floods of infinite tenderness that are shut up in you overflow into my soul, and so let me become a martyr of your Love, O my God!

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Je veux, ô mon Bien-Aimé, à chaque battement de mon cœur, vous renouveler cette offrande un nombre infini de fois, jusqu’à ce que, les ombres s’étant évanouies, je puisse vous redire mon Amour dans un Face à Face éternel !

I wish, O my Beloved, at every beat of my heart, to renew this offering to you an infinite number of times, until the shadows having faded away, I can tell you of my Love in an eternal Face to Face!

— Marie Françoise Thérèse of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face, unworthy Carmelite religious. Feast of the Most Holy Trinity, 9 June 1895.

SourceSaint Thérèse of Lisieux · Written on Trinity Sunday, 9 June 1895

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The history of this prayer

On Trinity Sunday, 9 June 1895, during Mass at the Carmel of Lisieux, St Thérèse of the Child Jesus understood that she should offer herself not to God's justice, as some souls did, but to his merciful Love. She wrote the offering and made it two days later, together with her sister Céline, before the statue of the Virgin of the Smile.

She kept the text over her heart, inside her book of the Gospels. This is where the famous line comes from: “In the evening of this life I shall appear before you with empty hands.” Thérèse was canonized in 1925 and declared a Doctor of the Church in 1997. Her feast is on 1 October.

Frequently asked questions

Is the text on this page the complete offering?

No. We give the central passages, marked […] where there are cuts. The full offering is in St Thérèse's writings, printed with the Story of a Soul.

Can anyone make this offering?

Yes. Thérèse wrote it for herself but proposed it to her sisters and novices. It does not ask for extraordinary sufferings; it asks that God's Love consume us, with a child's trust.

In what language did St Thérèse write it?

In French. The original is printed beside the translation on this page.

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