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Day 45 of 80

Little Children Are Not Damned

Counsels·Manuscript C·Trust & Surrender
Context
In an era when many Catholics lived in terror of damnation, Thérèse's response was revolutionary: she was too small to be damned. Not because she was sinless, but because she was a child — and children are carried, not condemned.

"What would you do if you could begin over again your religious life?"

"I think I should do as I have already done."

"Then you do not share the feeling of the hermit who said: 'While a quarter of an hour, or even a breath of life still remains to me, I shall fear the fires of hell even though I should have spent long years in penance'?"

"No, I do not share that fear; I am too small. Little children are not damned."

St. Thérèse of Lisieux — Story of a Soul, Counsels (Manuscript C). Taylor translation, 1912 (public domain).
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