Laboring for our hearts’ inmost desire by Beth DeCristofaro
Memorial of Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus, Virgin & Doctor of the Church
But as for me, I know that my Vindicator lives, and that he will at last stand forth upon the dust; Whom I myself shall see: my own eyes, not another’s, shall behold him, And from my flesh I shall see God; my inmost being is consumed with longing. (Job 19:25, 27)
He said to them, “The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few; so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest. Go on your way; behold, I am sending you like lambs among wolves. … Yet know this: the Kingdom of God is at hand. (Luke 10:2-3, 11)
Piety
Study
Go, Jesus said and says today. Bring my Word to life. But it ain’t going to be easy! Job struggled with crushing loss and excruciating, distracting advice from his friends. Jesus warns the disciples that others will target them as they evangelize. Day to day, our path can feel enveloped in fog or lined with cactus. St. Therese, the Little Flower, had a brief journey in the harvest but she traveled immense distances within her soul to find God, and to translate the inmost longing of her being to us.
St. John Paul 11 proclaimed St. Therese Doctor of the Church. He in part said, “The core of her message is actually the mystery itself of God-Love, of the Triune God, infinitely perfect in himself. … At the summit, as the source and goal, is the merciful love of the three Divine Persons, as she expresses it, especially in her Act of Oblation to Merciful Love. At the root, on the subject's part, is the experience of being the Father's adoptive children in Jesus; this is the most authentic meaning of spiritual childhood, that is, the experience of divine filiation, under the movement of the Holy Spirit. At the root again, and standing before us, is our neighbor, others, for whose salvation we must collaborate with and in Jesus, with the same merciful love as his.” (Section 8)[i]
“Through spiritual childhood one experiences that everything comes from God, returns to him and abides in him, for the salvation of all, in a mystery of merciful love. Such is the doctrinal message taught and lived by this Saint.” (Section 8)
Therese possesses an exceptional universality. Her person, the Gospel message of the "little way" of trust and spiritual childhood have received and continues to receive a remarkable welcome, which has transcended every border.” (Section 10)
Action
Pope Francis has a special devotion to St. Therese. She models for us the faith of a small child who can sleep in the arms of her father by her "little way" of trusting in God and God’s consolation. Gratitude and surrender are more important to God than great deeds.
Do something today which you might have done as a child: pray a prayer such as “Now I lay me down to sleep…”; pick a flowering weed to put in a vase; make outlandish shadows with your arms and legs; tell someone a silly secret on yourself and laugh together; dig an old stuffed animal out of a closet. Feel the sweet joy you recognize from childhood and offer that to God in gratitude. Listen to the joyful silence, where God fills the longing of your inmost being.
Illustration: https://www.carmelites.net/blog/how-happy-i-am-to-see-myself-imperfect-and-in-need-of-gods-mercy-st-therese-of-lisieux/
[i] Apostolic Letter of His Holiness Pope John Paul II, Divini Amoris Scientia, Saint Therese of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face is Proclaimed a Doctor of the Universal Church https://www.littleflower.org/therese/doctor-of-the-church/apostolic-letter-full-text/
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