The Story of a Soul: The Autobiography of the Little Flower (with Supplemental Reading: Classics Made Simple) [Illustrated]

by Thérèse of Lisieux

world” (John 18:36) taught me that the only royalty that counts consists in “being willing to be ignored and despised” (Cf. Imit., I, ii, 3) and “to find one’s joy in self-contempt.” (Cf. Imit., III, xlix, 7). If only my face, like the Face of Jesus, “could be hidden from everyone” (Cf. Is. 53:3), that none on earth might take any notice of me! I longed to suffer and to be despised.