God's cold shoulder is an act of mercy.

Spiritual reading for Catholics is so important. I picked up this little treasure at the Basilica of the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington DC on the occasion of venerating the relics of the beloved saint. I have been enthralled by it and my admiration for the little flower just grows and grows. I see in this book what I have seen presented by so many saints and by the Gospels. The greatest desolation of all is the feeling of being abandoned by all yet, if it can be suffered well, it can be the greatest occasion for growth in the faith.

When Therese entered the convent as a teenager, God took no time in waiting to lay this cross upon her.

Isn't it astounding how God would use her desolation for our consolation? Isn't it incredible that God would put her in my path?

The Savior who possessed within Himself, Omniscience, withdrew from His own Divinity in order to swim in the deepest water of human agony. God Himself experience the agony of feeling abandoned by God Himself.

Matthew 27: 45: Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour.

46: And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, "Eli, Eli, la'ma sabach-tha'ni?" that is, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?"

He allowed Himself to experience this bitterest of agonies to unite Himself to it and make it a channel of the greatest purification and spiritual growth. It is in this Dark night of the Soul, when God seems so cold, merciless and distant, that He is holding us closest, burning away our defects and crafting us into beings worthy of heaven.

Doesn't this sound absolutely contradictory?

A person enters the convent to give their life totally to God and God responds by walking away? Why would God respond in such a cold way? Why would God abandon someone seeking Him?

God is not cold and He is not walking away. He forces us to pursue Him that much harder by playing Hard to get. He doesn't do it for any longer than necessary. Therese was taken home at the age of 24.