On earth, I find nothing that makes me happy. My heart is too big; nothing that this world calls happiness can satisfy it. My thoughts soar towards Eternity; time will end! (…) It is truly true that the Lord chooses the small to shame the great of this world… I do not lean on my own strength, but on the strength of Him who overcame the powers of hell on the cross.
(Thérèse of Lisieux, letter 245, to her sisters, June 1897;
this is a paraphrase of the thoughts of Théophane Vénard /1829–1861/, missionary-martyr in the French colonies)
