by Mr. Benjamin Dominic Categories All St. Therese of Lisieux is a well-beloved saint of our modern times. Perhaps it is because she is the most recently living saint to be declared a Doctor of the Church. Perhaps it is a selection bias within my friend circle; they are mostly around the same age St. Therese was when she passed away, and might therefore be inspired by her combination of sanctity and youth. I think it is more likely that she is attractive because of her personality: simple, charming, endearing, and boldly confident in the Father’s love for her.
All of these aspects of her personality are reflected in her characteristic path of holiness, the “Little Way,” described as doing “small things with great love.” It is an inspiring truth for any person: holiness -- great holiness -- can be achieved by the simplest and smallest of us. It is the greatness of our love in even the smallest deed, and not necessarily the greatness of the deeds themselves, that matters most in light of eternity. Since this idea is so enlightening and inspiring for so many people, you can imagine my shock when I felt I had no idea what the Little Way really meant. In particular, I recall reading St. Therese say that “to pick up a pin for love of God can save souls,” but I did not understand what it meant (practically speaking) to “pick up a pin” with love. Did it mean to pick up a pin with the loving intention that someone else does not step on it and get hurt? That did not seem quite right! In my efforts to understand this, I found the letter of St. John and the philosophy of St. Thomas Aquinas to be helpful. St. John famously writes, "Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love. [...] God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them." (1 Jn 4:7-8, 16) In parallel, consider the teaching of St. Thomas Aquinas that God is Ipsum Esse, Being Itself (ST I, q.4, a.2). God is the First Cause; that is, no created thing is sufficient to explain its own existence. No created thing caused its own existence. Rather, any created thing is held in existence by the First Cause, by Being Itself, by God, without Whom it would cease to exist. And yet, putting the two together, Being Itself -- God -- is love. Every created thing that exists in the world is held in its existence by God’s continual love. In this way, everything we touch, see, and experience can serve as a constant reminder that God is loving us and holding all these things in existence through His love. And what is the proper response to this perpetual love? In my view, the Little Way is the proper response. If all that we are and all that we do is sustained by God’s perpetual love, the Love in which “we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28), then there is no action that cannot be offered back to God as a sign of our love for Him. [1] Every action, no matter how small, is simultaneously a reminder of God’s infinite love for us, and can be offered with great love back to Him. The Little Way is the presence of mind and will to say, with any action, “God, in this act I am aware that I am sustained and surrounded by Your infinite love for me. And, I respond by consecrating and offering my whole being, my whole self, and this act, back to You out of love for You. In this way, I abide in You and Your love, and invite You to abide in me and my acts.” Perhaps this drawn-out exposition has marred the simplicity of St. Therese’s writings and the Little Way. But, I hope it may be fruitful for those of you who think like me. -------------- [1] Of course, we cannot offer an act of sin out of love for God. As St. Thomas Aquinas teaches, evil (such as sin) is a privation of the good (ST I, q.49, a.1).
2 Comments
Scott Lowry
3/17/2023 06:20:14 pm
Good points. Encouraging sin truly is doing harm to someone and is not compatible with love or charity!
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3/30/2023 03:29:45 pm
It has been fruitful! Well written with much to chew on. Thank you for sharing this post.
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