St. Therese of the Child Jesus
A young girl born in France in 1873 entered the Carmelite convent when she was only 15; she died from tuberculosis at the age of 24. She did nothing extraordinary in her seven years in the convent but now is known as St. Therese of the Child Jesus, the Little Flower and Doctor of the Church. Today is her feast day in the Church.
She died in obscurity but when her memoirs she had written on orders of obedience to her superior became known the world discovered she did ordinary things, like washing the dishes or preparing the altar for Mass with extraordinary love. Her way of finding God in the ordinary things in life became known as the “little way” and many persons, including Dorothy Day co-founder of the Catholic Worker found great inspiration in her life.
Living fully in the moment and finding God in the depth of the ‘now’ is something I have thought and talked about. However, like Dorothy Day and Mahatma Gandhi taught us it takes extraordinary discipline and courage to find holiness in the ordinary things of life. “She believed that just as a child becomes enamored with what is before her, we should also have a childlike focus and totally attentive love. Therese’s spirituality is of doing the ordinary, with extraordinary love.” (Society of the Little Flower.)
To be more like St. Therese I realized that I must slow down. “What matters in life,” she wrote, “is not great deeds, but great love.” This great love and living fully in the present happens when we become like little children in our lives. Jesus tells us we must be like a child to enter the Kingdom of God and Therese shows us what that means.
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