I finished this last night, and it is truly an invaluable aid to a deep understanding of St. Thérèse. I need some time to go back over it for a worthy review.
So far, this book is absolutely phenomenal. Jamart has made himself thoroughly familiar with all of Thérèse's writings and has organized them thematically as follows: • Spiritual Childhood: the Way of Holiness • Evangelical Perfection • How her primitive spiritual became more complex • Thérèse’s and its History • Has Thérèse’s Doctrine any authoritative Value? -Popes and God Himself • More on the importance of Spiritual Childhood, what it is, its source, how did Thérèse discover it and the way of Spiritual Childhood and the Fatherhood of God • Humility and littleness • Spiritual Poverty • Love of God • Thérèse’s exclusive love; disinterested love; generous love; her tender and generous love • Love of our neighbor and Thérèse’s perfect charity, zeal for souls • Spirit of Renunciation and Sacrifice and what it is • Thérèse’s renunciation during childhood and in Carmel • Peace—the reward of spiritual combat • Keep smiling! • Love—the source of generosity and serenity • Abandonment
That’s as far as I’ve gotten, but I am so grateful for the way the author has pulled all her ideas together and distilled them into coherent lessons for the reader. There are so many quotes, I want to quote the entire book. My only complaint so far, is I don’t understand his abbreviations for the books or sources. Still looking for an index or something to explain this.