Upon their deaths, most people, particularly obscure Carmelite nuns, remain in obscurity, their lives fade into the hidden folds of history. Yet this particular Carmelite, Therese, has proven quite different. Within years of her death, her spiritual autobiography began to be read widely. Miracles attributed to her intercession began to be reported. In just a few decades after her death, the image of Thérèse of Lisieux would be immediately recognizable in the Catholic world. Canonization would soon follow. And at the hundred-year anniversary of her death, Pope St. John Paul II declared her to be a Doctor of the Church, a title given to only a privileged few of the Church’s saints, establishing Thérèse as one of the Church’s great authorities in regards to the meaning and purpose of the Christian spiritual life.
At the heart of Thérèse’s spirituality is the principle that holiness can be discovered not only in the performance of mighty deeds, but in a willing surrender to the purposes of God in the seemingly ordinary experiences of life. St. Therese the Little Flower taught that most of us are not called to do great things, but we can become holy by doing small things with great love. She called this “the little way”—doing small things with great love.
In her autobiography, St. Therese wrote, “I applied myself above all to practice quiet hidden little acts of virtue; thus I liked to fold the mantles forgotten by the Sisters, and sought a thousand opportunities of rendering them service.” I think many spouses and parents already practice these thousands of hidden little acts of service for their families. These thousands of little acts are likely noticed by no one but God. But because they are noticed by God they are powerful, and infuse the world with his love.
The little way of St. Therese is the way of humility encouraged by our Lord. St. Paul speaks about the need for each of us to practice the humility of Jesus in our second reading. “Do nothing out of selfishness or out of vainglory; rather, humbly regard others as more important than yourselves, each looking out not for his own interests, but also for those of others. Have in you the same attitude that is also in Christ Jesus.”
Jesus’ own humility is most evidently seen in his embrace of the cross: the God of the universe becoming a slave, taking upon himself mockery, torture, humiliation, and suffering in order to restore humanity to grace.
You see why the world sees us Christians as so strange? We hold up this image of this crucified slave and say that’s what God looks like, this is what love looks like, this is the meaning of life. And you too can become the person you are meant to be, by embracing this way of life, by taking suffering and hardship upon yourself for the sake of others, without complaint. Doing the laundry, cooking the meals, caring for a sick child or spouse, laboring diligently at one’s job: these things can be roads to spiritual growth, when we do them humbly and out of love.
In the Gospel, Jesus praises, not the son who makes empty promises to the Father, not the one who gives lip service, who claims to be the good son. Jesus praises the son, who actually goes and does the Father’s will.
The Christian faith is not a matter of lip-service, we do not get to heaven by simply telling people we are Christian, but by actually practicing this stuff, by subjugating the mind, the heart, the will, the bank-account, the leisure time to the will of God. Real faith requires real action.
St. Therese, whose feast day is on October 1, reminds us that holiness is certainly within the reach of ordinary, simple people. God smiles upon those small acts of love, which puts the needs of other before our own, and through those acts of charity, God can enflame our hearts with a burning love and heavenly joy that nothing else in the world can provide.
This week, perform one act of charity per day, without expecting adulation or praise, a hidden act, that only God sees, or perhaps one chore per day without having to be asked.
May each of us be attentive to the little acts of service which God calls us to perform humbly, without notice, without any other reason other than it is good, a blessing for another. Through the life of charity, may God transform us into the people he made us to be, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.
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