What makes St. Therese of Lisieux a missionary?

In the year 1927, Pope Pius XI declared St Therese of Lisieux as the Patron of Missions. Below is my opinion on why St Therese has been considered a Patron for Missions when she herself never left the convent to evangelize unlike St. Francis Xavier a great missionary who was also named Patron of Missions during the year 1748.

1.      At the age of fourteen, she came to know about a murderer through the newspapers who is about to be executed for his crimes, and she decided to pray for him that he may repent and his soul be saved. After the execution, Therese was so delighted to read from the papers that the convict repented and kissed the crucifix three times before his punishment. The convict named Pranzini is known later as her ‘first son’ that she had interceded for and to bring to his conversion.

2.      St. Therese herself wanted to be a missionary that she even expressed her desire to go to Hanoi when the Saigon Carmel was founded, but her poor health prevented her from becoming one so instead she prayed daily for active missionaries. Two particular missionaries she prayed for worth mentioning here is a young priest Adolphe Roulland (missionary to Africa) and a young seminarian, Maurice Belliere (missionary to China). She wrote to her sister "Our mission as Carmelites is to form evangelical workers who will save thousands of souls whose mothers we shall be.”

3.      In her writings, St. Therese has many ways expressed her desire to save souls. This is an element in missionary activity, that all people may come to know the Father whom Jesus Christ His son revealed to all of us. I believe that is why her monastic life motto was “to love Jesus and to make him loved.” In her autobiography; “The story of a soul” she shares her principle of her Carmelite life that is “for prayer and sacrifice that one can help the missionaries” The elements of missionary attraction in her life and writings could be seen as her motive to her Carmelite vocation and that is another reason why the church has named her Patron for Missions.

"The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page." -- St. Augustine

This post is to update on all the countries that I have been. I praise God for this opportunity to be able to visit all these countries and to have beautiful and memorable experiences. I pray that I'll be able to go more places and cover all the continents.

1. I am from Malaysia. A Malaysian since 1977. 

Here are the countries that I've visited:-

2. Singapore

1^st trip was when I was 3months old – 1^st Christmas.

And then yearly visits.

Residence 2005- March 2008. 

3. Thailand 

Border towns near Malaysia (1^st visit was in  1990 & 2 other visits date not known).

Bangkok - 2004, 2017, 2022

 Chiang Mai - 2004, 2007, 2024

Chiang Rai (Golden Triangle) - 2024

4. Philippines 

Manila - 1995

Resided for studies April 24, 2012 to Nov 2014.
Various times after (yearly visits)

5. Italy 

Rome, Florence & Assisi - 2000.
Rome - 2016, 2019

6. Vatican City (2000, 2016, 2019)

7. Indonesia 

Batam - 2005
Bali - 2017

Yogyakarta - 2019

Medan - 2025

8. Australia 

New South Wales – 2008, 2012, 2018

9. India 

Tamil Nadu – 2009, 2010, 2012.

Karnataka – 2010.

Kerala – 2012.

Goa - 2024

10. Sri Lanka 

Colombo & Jaffna -2010, 2018

11. Egypt (2010)

12. Israel (2010)

13. Palestine Authority (2010)

14. Jordan (2010)

15. Spain 

Madrid, Barcelona – 2011
Loyola, Avila, Salamanca, Burgos - 2019

16. France 

Paris – 2011
Lourdes - 2019

17. United Kingdom 

London  - 2011

18. Netherlands

Amsterdam – 2016

19. Poland
Krakow - 2016

20. Czech Republic 
Prague - 2016

21. Austria
Vienna - 2016

22. Slovakia
Bratislava - 2016

23. Hungary
Budapest - 2016

24. Vietnam

Hanoi - 2017

Ho Chi Minh City - 2024

Da Nang - 2026

  25. Cambodia

Siem Reap - 2018

26. Taiwan - 2018

 

27. Portugal
Fatima, Lisbon - 2019

28. United States of America

California, Arizona, Nevada - 2024

29. Canada

Toronto - 2024

 

30. Laos (Northern - Golden Triangle)

2024

31. Japan

Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka - 2024

32. Brunei (2025)

33. Turkey 

(Oct 2025)

34. Greece - Nov 2025

35. China (2025)

Macao & Hong Kong (Dec 2025)

"Let the earth be glad; let them say among the nations, 'The Lord reigns!'"(1 Chronicles 16:31)

Decalogue of Inter-Religious Dialogue.

In conjunction with Malaysia Day and since Malaysia is a multi-ethnic and multi-religious country, I would like to share my 'Decalogue' of Inter-Religious Dialogue that I prepared as my class assignment after readings on some books on Inter-Religious Dialogue.

1.     Inter-Religious Dialogue should be the mission and characteristic of each religious groups.

2.   Inter-Religious Dialogue becomes not only a method, not only an option but a duty and necessity when all strive to recognize in each other some action of God within each religions.

3. The objectives of Inter-Religious Dialogue should be of mutual understanding and enrichment of each others' religions and a collaboration and common shared growth of each others' spirituality.

4.  Inter-Religious Dialogue should not only promote better knowledge of each other by looking at on what all agree on of each other but also where we disagree thus enabling us to be sensitive of each other.

5.    Inter-Religious Dialogue should lead one into an exploration of values which all have in common and an examination on how these values are actually rooted differently in each religious tradition and yet have a common content. 

 6.  Inter-Religious Dialogue must reach out for life, touches life and for the promotion of better life. It is in common struggle for justice and humanity that people will realize that religions could be allies against all that reduces and oppresses life.

7.      Inter-Religious Dialogue should encourage all to respect, promote and defend the freedom of every individual to profess, practice and grow in the faith through which God is manifesting God’s self to that person at the moment.

8.  In Inter-Religious Dialogue each believers have to see the other as persons and their religion as their effort to live their lives in the light of the Creator and not a system to be dissected objectively and discussed.

9.      In order for a good Inter-Religious collaboration, each religion must keep itself free from being exploited by social and political forces.

10.  Inter-Religious Dialogue should promote common involvement in social projects and encourage participation in each others' festivals, meetings and fellowships and praying together. In it through such common involvement and experience, that attitudes formed or change for the better understanding between religions.