“We do not know whether or not Thérèse had a premonition of an early death when she entered Carmel. What we do know is that by the time she passed through the portals of the cloister, she was already skilled in some of the secrets of spiritual living. For example, mortification “consisted in breaking my will, always so ready to impose itself on others, in holding back a reply, in rendering little services without recognition.”2 The practice of these nothings prepared her to be espoused to Jesus, but nothing was more important to Thérèse than the sacramental life.”