The Story of a Soul: The Autobiography of St. Therese of Lisieux with Additional Writings and Sayings of St. Therese

It is to you, dear Mother, that I am about to confide the story of my soul. When you asked me to write it, I feared the task might unsettle me, but since then Our Lord has deigned to make me understand that by simple obedience I shall please Him best. I begin therefore to sing what must be my eternal song: "the Mercies of the Lord." Before setting about my task I knelt before the statue of Our Lady which had given my family so many proofs of Our Heavenly Mother's loving care. [5] As I knelt I begged of that dear Mother to guide my hand, and thus ensure that only what was pleasing to her should find place here. Then opening the Gospels, my eyes fell on these words: "Jesus, going up into a mountain, called unto Him whom He would Himself."