St. Thérèse
Each year, it is a great blessing to be able to celebrate the feast day of St. Thérèse, our patron saint! Today, I would like to reflect with you on St. Thérèse’s famous “Little Way” and how this beautiful teaching can help you in your walk with Jesus.
St. Thérèse is probably best known for her “Little Way.” Even as a little girl, she had extraordinary aspirations – the heart of an eagle. She said in her writings, “I don’t want to be a saint by halves.” She did not just want to become a saint, but to become a great saint. She wanted to love God as much as He could be loved. Her motto is: To love Jesus and to make him loved.
Like St. Thérèse, we often have big aspirations. St. Thérèse realized that if God put the desire to be a great saint on her heart, then he wanted to fulfill it. She famously said, “God does not put a desire on our heart that he does not want to fulfill.” Thank God for the good desires that he puts on your heart. He has put them there because he wants to fulfill them.
As St. Thérèse continued to reflect, however, she quickly realized something about herself. She recognized her weakness in fulfilling her heroic desires. She was keenly aware how imperfect she was. She was aware of her weaknesses, faults, limitations, sins, etc. She called this her “littleness.” For St. Thérèse, she was aware of her emotional sensitivity, which she struggled with since losing her mother when she was just four and a half. Even though she had the heart of an eagle, she compared herself with a weak little bird barely able to fly.
St. Thérèse refused to become discouraged as she knew that discouragement never came from God. Therefore, she remained committed in her pursuit. She thought about how loving parents were attracted to their children’s weaknesses and wanted to help them. For St. Thérèse, God was not repelled by her imperfections and weaknesses but rather mysteriously attracted to them. Much like a father or mother bends down to pick up a child that falls, so Jesus bends down to pick us up when we fall. For our part, we just need to hold out our arms to Jesus and beg for His help.
She realized that not only was God attracted to our imperfections, but in the mystery of his merciful love, when we have confidence and place our trust in Jesus, He transforms our imperfections, weaknesses, and faults so that they become a path of holiness for us. In other words, St. Thérèse did not view her weakness as a barrier to holiness, but rather as an opportunity for God’s mercy and strength to shine through her. In a paradoxical way, St. Thérèse rejoiced in her weaknesses. She saw her moments of falling or stumbling as reminders of her need for God, which prevented self-reliance and pride from entering her soul.
In short, St. Thérèse recognized that God’s power is perfected in weakness (2 Cor. 12:9). St. Paul asked the Lord three times to take away the thorn in his flesh, a symbol of human frailty. God, however, taught Paul that the weakness was a gift as it was an opportunity for God’s power and grace to be fully manifested in his life. We could say it this way: God perfects his saints not despite their weaknesses, but rather in and through them.
For St. Thérèse, she did not need to become “big” or more self-reliant but rather little, more dependent and childlike so that Jesus could more easily pick her up. She accepted her weaknesses and imperfections and abandoned herself to God’s love, allowing Jesus, her Fiancé, to work through her weaknesses and transform them.
The key word for St. Thérèse and her Little Way is confidence. St. Thérèse famously said, “It is confidence and nothing but confidence that must lead us to love.” Confidence in approaching Jesus and His merciful love. Confidence that it is the little actions done with great love that are pleasing to Jesus. Confidence that even the smallest tasks – done with extraordinary attention and love, as if doing them for Jesus Himself – is very pleasing to Jesus. St. Thérèse may not have been able to do great deeds like the big saints, but she could be “courageous in her weakness” and do little things with great love.
In short, St. Thérèse’s “Little Way” means recognizing that our great desire to please God is a gift. While we have great desires, we also accept and embrace our “littleness” – weaknesses, failures, and powerlessness with humility and not become discouraged by them. Instead, we maintain confidence that Jesus will transform our shortcomings and led us to sainthood. This same confidence involves abandoning ourselves to God, freeing ourselves from worry and fear by trusting that God’s love is greater than our sins or failures.
~St. Thérèse, pray for us!