Feast days and attending to the procession of the Blessed Sacrament were fond childhood memories (“I could scatter flowers beneath the feet of God!”), as was attending weekly Mass. Therese recalls being quite moved by the first sermon she really understood – the Lord’s Passion - when she was five-and-a-half years old. She would listen to the priest, but watch her father’s reactions, as when his eyes at times filled with tears, and he seemed already in another world. Watching him pray was to “know how Saints must pray.”

Gazing at the stars while walking home Sunday evenings from her Uncle Isidore Guerin’s house, Therese was fascinated by Orion’s Belt which seemed to form the letter “T” for Therese. “Look father, my name is written in Heaven.” At bedtime after prayer, Therese would ask, “Have I been good today? Do you think God is pleased with me?” Anything but a yes from her father would bring tears. A timid child, she was taught not to fear the dark, and Therese reflects, “Now it is very hard to frighten me.”