Dilexit Nos §134

¹³⁴ When Therese was fifteen, she could speak of Jesus as the one “whose heart beats in unison with my own”. Two years later, speaking of the image of Christ’s heart crowned with thorns, she wrote in a letter: “You know that I myself do not see the Sacred Heart as everyone else. I think that the Heart of my Spouse is mine alone, just as mine is his alone, and I speak to him then in the solitude of this delightful heart to heart, while waiting to contemplate him one day face to face”. 135.In one of her poems, Therese voiced the meaning of her devotion, which had to do more with friendship and assurance than with trust in her sacrifices: “I need a heart burning with tenderness, Who will be my support forever, Who loves everything in me, even my weakness… And who never leaves me day or night… I must have a God who takes on my nature, And becomes my brother and is able to suffer! … Ah! I know well, all our righteousness Is worthless in your sight… So I, for my purgatory, Choose your burning love, O heart of my God!”