Before we discuss St. Therese of Lisieux’s teaching on Purgatory, I want to put that teaching into context. Her teaching is daring. Some of the nuns she lived with in the Carmelite monastery were scandalized by it, thinking it presumptuous. The last thing St. Therese (or I) would want is for people to interpret her teaching in such a way that they thought they could be spiritually lax and still go straight to Heaven. So, As you read about her teaching, keep these things in mind: One. Therese is a doctor of the Church. The Church has only 35 doctors, four of them women. Now, being a doctor of the Church doesn’t mean she was infallible. But it does mean that the Church especially recommends her spirituality for Christians in any age. Therese is the Doctor of the Little Way of Spiritual Childhood, and her teaching on Purgatory was part of that Little Way. Two. St. Therese was completely orthodox. This follows from #1. What she taught about Purgatory must never be taken to contradict official Church teaching on the subject. Three. Presumption is a sin. And if we presume that God will forgive our mortal sins without true repentance and a visit to the Sacrament of Reconciliation, that presumption is a mortal sin. Can we avoid Purgatory? So, what did St. Therese say about Purgatory? When she was assistant novice mistress, she began teaching the novices under her that they could avoid Purgatory. What was so daring about this? None of the novices was especially holy! All of them were average Catholic women, with natural weaknesses. They had very few meritorious acts to balance the weight of their sins. Some of them even had personality problems. Therese taught them they could go straight to Heaven when they died. How? Simple. By trusting God for everything. An antidote to Jansenism Therese grew up in a France that was still greatly influenced by Jansenism. French Catholics believed God was exacting. If you wanted to be holy, you had to not only do your duty, but perform a host of good works to earn spiritual merit. If you stored up enough merits, you could avoid Purgatory. When Therese was little, her sister Marie brought home from boarding school a string of sacrifice beads. Marie was to use the beads to count the day’s merits. Zelie Martin, Therese’s mother, gave one to Celine so she could count merits too. Then Therese, who was still a preschooler, wanted one as well. As Therese grew older, she struggled with scruples. She knew she was not particularly strong. In fact, psychologically, she was very sensitive and immature following her mother’s death. How could she ever accumulate enough merit? She pondered this question for a few years before the Lord showed her the answer through Sacred Scripture. The quick way to holiness, the easy way to go straight to Heaven, was to abandon oneself totally to God as a child entrusts himself fully to his father. The Little Way of Spiritual Childhood was born. Therese stopped storing up merits for herself. She still performed little meritorious acts, but she offered them all for others. Her plan was to have no merits in her account on the Day of Judgment. The power of empty hands One day towards the end of Therese’s life, her sister Pauline (now Mother Agnes of Jesus) lamented having no good works to offer to God on Judgment Day. Therese considered herself “in the same circumstances.” It did not perturb her. Since she could give God nothing, he would supply everything. She said: “As far as little ones are concerned, they will be judged with great gentleness. ‘At the end, the Lord will rise up to save the gentle and the humble of the earth.’ It doesn’t say ‘to judge’; but ‘to save.'” (Last Conversations, 67) When we stop counting our merits, we learn to rely totally on God. A baby can do nothing for himself. He depends on his parents for everything. This is Therese’s spiritual attitude. She gave away everything she could possibly have placed her confidence in, so that God would be her all in all...