My first closer encounter with St Therese took place after my grandmother died. In her collection of religious items was an old medal with the image of St Therese. It was rusty and the face of Therese was lacking its former beauty. I carried the medal with me everywhere, to the point that it has disappeared just after my interview at Oxford. I remember dad jokingly saying "She has done her job, so now she's gone", but I was devastated at the loss of one of very few keepsakes. It took year before Mr Magic finally found a worthy replacement.
Therese lived in France and joined the Carmelites in Lisieux when she was 15, after petitioning the Pope himself to let her join the convent being so young. St Therese had a short life, she died at only 24. Her life was not glamorous, but she grew to appreciate the smallest of things and it was her great charism to show love on every step of the way.
I prefer the monotony of obscure sacrifice to all ecstasies.
I've become really fond of Little Therese and she has been present in my life on a regular basis. What I like about her is her focus on the simplicity of the way to sainthood. She doesn't call for grand deeds. She's all about everyday little sacrifices. Doing the dishes. Going out of your way to get something for an ill friend. Always having a smile for a passer-by. Being there in the middle of the night for your loved one. Letting another driver in front of your car. Giving a seat up for somebody on a train. No heroic acts of virtue!
What is amazing is that St Therese was designated as the Doctor of the Church. There are only two other female saints with this title: St Catherine of Siena and St Theresa of Avila. What these women have in common is the desire to become close to God and to draw others closer to Him through their unceasing commitment to do His will in their daily circumstances. They submitted themselves completely to the will of God and really stuck with it through any difficulties.
Therese was so extraordinary in her total ordinariness. I sometimes want to do something fabulous for the glory of God. Become a missionary, run a parish prayer group, organise wonderful worship. Instead, I struggle to pray, I am short-tempered and often bored in church. Therese brings me a message of hope: the ordinary can be as holy as the experiences of mystics:
Jesus deigned to teach me this mystery. He set before me the book of nature. I understood how all the flowers He has created are beautiful, how the splendor of the rose and the whiteness of the lily do not take away the perfume of the little violet or the delightful simplicity of the daisy. I understood that if all the flowers wanted to be roses, nature would lose her springtime beauty, and the fields would no longer be decked out with little wildflowers.
And so it is in the world of souls, Jesus’ garden. He willed to create great souls comparable to lilies and roses, but He has created smaller ones and these must be content to be daises 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.
The message of St Therese of Lisieux is the message of Love. Our lives will be transformed if take seriously the call to serve one another with a smile. The glory of God shines on us in the ordinary.
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