We remember the Memorial of Saint Therese of the Child Jesus, Virgin and Doctor of the Church on October 1. Saint Therese of Lisieux is one of the Patronesses of this website. For a short biography of this Saint, please read our older post.
Last week, I was watching one of my favorite topics, the Universe, with my family. In particular, it was about the Sun. There was a bit of Physics too. Our Solar System is the size of a dot in our Milky Way Galaxy, but it would take millions of years to travel across it. How do we picture the fact that there are 2 trillion galaxies in the observable Universe? In average, a galaxy the size of ours (other galaxies are far larger) contains 400 Billion stars; our Sun is just one among that surreal number. The Sun, as you know, only has 8 planets revolving around it. But our galaxy alone, which is a speckle in the size of the entire Universe, has about 100 Billion planets.
I often wonder how a tiny speck of a creature like I am in the Universe would matter to God, who with His endless magnificence, created all these. As science finds it, every person is technically composed of stardust. Do I matter to Him? Our world alone is too big for me. Does God out there, who commands the Universe and puts in motion all these galaxies, still care for me? Does He care about anything I do? Does He value the good things that I do?
Here on Earth, especially in a materialistic world, many of us feel small. Somebody is always better than you. If one is great, another person is greater. We feel overshadowed by people who shine brighter than us. How can we compare with them?
In moments like this when we doubt whether God still cares for humble people like many of us, let your faith remain steadfast, and follow what Saint Therese of Lisieux originated as she saw in herself – a “Little Flower” in her own “Little Way.”
Therese as the “Little Flower”
Saint Therese’s autobiography, “The Story of a Soul,” started with a question of why God created all those flowers of varying elegance and beauty, while He made the others, like those simple wild flowers in forests and fields, go unnoticed. For humans, that analogy asks this question: Why do many people receive several graces while others don’t? Moreover, why did other Saints before her time receive so many spiritual graces from God that sanctified them and made them able to do many great holy things for Him, like how Saint Paul the Apostle was converted? The Carmelite nun concluded her story by giving an answer in a lowly spiritual sense:
“Jesus set before me the book of nature. I understand how all the flowers God has created are beautiful, how the splendor of the rose and the whiteness of the lily do not take away the perfume of the violet or the delightful simplicity of the daisy. I understand that if all flowers wanted to be roses, nature would lose her springtime beauty, and the fields would no longer be decked out with little wild flowers. So it is in the world of souls, Jesus’ garden. He has created smaller ones and those must be content to be daisies or violets destined to give joy to God’s glances when He looks down at His feet. Perfection consists in doing His will, in being what He wills us to be.”
Therese did not equate herself to a brilliant rose and an elegant lily. Simply, she saw herself as a small wildflower – simple and hidden, and in our modern terms, “less pretty,” but bloomed where God planted her. She ardently thought that just as a child can be fascinated with a small wildflower, Jesus delights in His “Little Flower,” which is simple, hidden, unnoticed, yet growing and giving glory to God, with a strength so big that makes it survive and flourish throughout the year in all seasons.
As in the Carmelite tradition, Therese saw the world as God’s garden, wherein every person is a different kind of flower, with varying in degrees of beauty that Jesus delights in.
Given my thought earlier, I recall Saint Therese seeing herself as a little flower. I may be a miniscule speck in the whole-wide Universe. But if I accept my position here on earth, and entrust myself to God that He has placed me where I’m supposed to be at this point in my life, I’ll be able to follow His Holy Will, just like the humble Saint did.
“The Little Way” of Therese
I was also wondering earlier, whether God still cares for anything I do, and if He still finds the good things I do as valuable. But of course, God, being a loving Father, always watches out for all our movements, and knows of every single thing we ever do.
1. Saint Therese is the initiator of “The Little Way” – That is, to love God as a little child loves his or her father, with an outlook of confidence, right temperament, attitude of humility, self-surrender, and peace. For her, there’s no shortcut in loving God; no faster and easier way that cuts across the long path to God. Her ways in approaching God were little, but it was precisely her smallness and feebleness that brought her closer to Him. God was there to lift her up, like a father does to his small child.
2. The incredible perspective of Saint Therese between herself and God underscores the importance of a child’s relationship to a father–
Catholics say that how you see God is greatly influenced by how you see your father. If you see your father as a mean disciplinarian that you fear, you see God as an angry, punishing God and a stern judge. But if you see your own father as a loving father, then you see God as a caring and merciful God. That’s why fathers must give their best effort to be a good father image to their children. A good father image is important, especially for sons. Once they are through childhood, boys go through formative years wherein they mostly need a strong father image – a father that is a leader, a motivator, an advisor, protector, defender, and a sturdy paternal figure at home with a loving command and strong personality. This is crucial not only because of how it can affect a person’s view of God, but also because more commonly, a son becomes exactly like his father when he himself becomes a man, a husband, and a father.
What an enormous grace it was for Saint Therese that she had a loving and very close relationship with her father. Many attribute to it her notable love of God. (Her parents were Louis and Marie-Azelie “Zelie” Martin, both canonized to Sainthood in 2015.)
3. Relying on God’s providence – After the death of her mother, Therese had went through so many emotional trials prior to entering the Carmelite convent. She became “a very difficult child.” Her bouts of moodiness, anger, and loneliness affected her for many years. But because of the love and patience she received from her good father, she had a firm resolve to continue praying and stick with God, who is the Most Loving Father. God gives His grace according to His will. We must put all our trust with a childlike virtue in His love, providence and mercy. Just as a child gives his father total trust that he will take care of him, nourish him, provide him his needs, teach him, and so on, that’s how we must give our complete trust in God.
4. “The Little Way” for us – this Way is not for the rich, powerful, and famous. Rather, it is for many of us here who want to serve God with love and simplicity, in our littleness or smallness. Most of us won’t be Saints raised in the altars someday. But Saint Therese said that however ordinary the good things we do are, we must do them with extraordinary love:
“Our Lord does not so much look at the greatness of our actions, or even at their difficulty, as at the love with which we do them.”
“Miss no single opportunity of making some small sacrifice, here by a smiling look, there by a kindly word; always doing the smallest right and doing it all for love.”
“Kindness is my only guiding star. In its light, I sail a straight route, I have my motto written on my sail: ‘To live in love.'”
“Without love, deeds, even the most brilliant, count as nothing.”
For all of us who work hard to move up in sanctification and holiness, we can’t help but sometimes question whether God is pleased with our simple holy acts of faith, hope, and charity. Many of us can only serve God by doing our holy obligations, like going to Mass on Sundays, praying our devotions like the Rosary in our homes, and helping the needy within our small means. For example, a mother who takes care of her children or a sick person confined at home might think that if they only had a different life, a better or healthier life, they can serve God well, like perhaps, by joining grand mission trips abroad. However, the will of God has planned something else for them. Following “The Little Way” of Saint Therese, this means that the mother already serves God well by taking care of her children with love, than those career men and women who take their family’s well-being for granted. And the sick, who can’t go out and simply prays at home, already pleases God so much with his small sacrifices and prayers that he does with love, than those who go on mission trips and only do it for the ‘experience’ or ‘fun adventure.’
Therese’s “Little Way” demonstrates that holiness is within reach for simple and ordinary people like most of us.
Again, no matter how small we feel in this big, vast Universe, God has given each one of us a role in salvation, which we can only fulfill if we follow His will with love. Those who continue to lead unholy lives are wasting that chance God has given them. Let us remember Saint Therese’s big example in her “Little Way.” She taught us that God is everywhere, in every situation and person, in everyday life. The Divine Presence is everywhere, as she says, and we can serve God in the littlest, most loving of ways.
St. Therese of Lisieux, pray for us!
St. Joseph, pray for us!
Mama Mary, pray for us!
Amen.
She graduated cum laude from the University of Santo Tomas, the country's Pontifical and Catholic university, with an AB in Legal Management and minor units in Theology.
As an unmarried woman, prayer holds a central place in her daily life, with a focus on the Rosary and the Divine Office. Embodying her faith, she emphasizes the growth of her inner spiritual life, guided by the wisdom of Carmelite spirituality.
God manifested to her in a unique and radical manner, which made her know Who He truly is and led her to total surrender of her life to Him.
She has studied the Bible with her family, developing a particular fondness for the Old Testament.
Her adorable and intelligent toy poodle is a delightful companion in her daily life, bringing warmth and joy to her home.
Her hobbies include reading about everything, learning Japanese and German, listening to music and playing the flute.
In her leisure time, she enjoys gaming on PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch OLED, Nintendo 3DS, iOS and OS, and collecting things related to PlayStation and Nintendo.
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Do you have a copy of the prayer that begins: O GLORIOUS ST THERESA, THOU WHOM ALMIGHTY GOD HAS UP TO AIDE AND COUNSEL MANKIND, I IMPLORE THY MIRACULOUS INTERCESSION…