We break from our usual format to reflect on the life of St Therese, patroness of Central Catholic High School, whose Memorial is today. Her :"Little Way", being faithful to God in "little things", presents us with a spirituality that is possible for everyone to follow. Through her intercession may we learn to "uncomplicate" our lives and become "little children." I've borrowed this passage from Bishop Robert Barron.
Bro. Rene
Friends,
today is the Memorial of Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus. The best
introduction to Thérèse’s spirituality is a text that she wrote at the
behest of Sr. Marie of the Sacred Heart, a sort of memoir of the retreat
that she made in September 1896, just a year before her death.
What
she offers is a "science of love," a way of knowing and acting that is
utterly conditioned by the love that Jesus has placed in her heart:
"Jesus deigned to show me the road that leads to this Divine Furnace,
and this road is the surrender of the little child who sleeps without
fear in its Father’s arms."
God, Thérèse concluded, is pleased to
work with those who have become utterly docile to his direction, who
have acknowledged their total dependence upon him, their readiness to
receive gifts. Any sense that God’s love must be earned or that a
relationship with him is a product of economic calculation is repugnant
to a healthy spirituality: "Jesus does not demand great actions from us
but simply surrender and gratitude."
When this attitude is in
place, anything and everything is possible. Following Thérèse, we can be
pleasing to God and valuable to the Church in the humblest places and
through the simplest acts. All we need to do is surrender,
like a little child asleep in its Father’s arms.
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