Today we have a guest blogger. Arlene B. Muller (Arlene Clare Muller, OSF) is a lector and EM at St. Pancras parish, a singer in the choir at St. Margaret's parish, an itinerant speech/language therapist, and a professed Secular Franciscan at St. Adalbert's Secular Franciscan fraternity.
See Scripture Readings for October 1, 2020: Job 19: 21-27 & Psalm 27
On October 1 we celebrated the feast day of St. Therese of Lisieux, known as "the Little Flower", who is probably one of the most popular Saints in the Catholic Church. She is best known for her "little way", because she learned from the LORD and subsequently taught via her journal (which was eventually published as THE STORY OF A SOUL), that people who grow in love, trust and dependence upon the LORD can become holy by living their everyday lives and simple good works as loving offerings to the LORD, even in the most simple way. For St. Therese, even picking up a pen could be done as an act of love for God. St. Therese believed that in following her "little way" an "army of little saints" could be raised up for the glory of God.
Like many of us St. Therese aspired to do great things, but the LORD showed her as she prayed with Scripture that her vocation was not to be found in any of the ministry gifts listed in 1 Corinthians 12. Rather, as she came upon 1 Corinthians 13 the LORD revealed to her that her vocation was LOVE. She realized that her love for God & for people was to be expressed in her simple chores, in simple acts of kindness toward those around her, and in bearing with the various personalities and quirks of the others sisters in her Carmelite monastery with patience, gentleness, humility and cheerfulness.
In some ways the life of St. Therese bears similarities to St. Faustina, the LORD's "secretary" of Divine Mercy, a saint who lived and died a few decades later and whose feast day is celebrated on October 5. Both were contemplative nuns who suffered trials in their religious life. Although St. Faustina was given direct visions of the LORD and St. Therese was not (as far as we know), both saints were given a revelation and a message of the LORD as Merciful Love in contrast to the more rigid concept of God that focused on His justice and judgment. Both were taught by the LORD to come to Him with trust and confidence instead of fear. Both kept journals that were published after death. Both suffered and died from tuberculosis at an early age. I recently read that St. Therese appeared to comfort St. Faustina in a dream, in answer to prayer, at a time when St. Faustina was struggling with difficult trials in religious life.
In some ways St. Therese, about whom I learned and whom I came to love early in my life because she is my Mom's favorite saint, is associated in my mind with two things from which I recoil in horror and most want to avoid and escape: 1. living a life characterized by ordinariness and mundane chores; 2. Intense physical suffering sometimes accompanied by spiritual and emotional suffering as well. My desire is to live a long, healthy life, active in using my various gifts in Church ministry until the very end, and I really struggle with the mystery of suffering.
Personally I have always sought to avoid and escape mundane chores that seem to take so much time and energy from being able to utilize all our gifts and talents and accomplish more significant things. So I have chosen to live a celibate single life free from most domestic responsibilities in order to pursue ways to use my God given gifts of music, teaching and writing in my career in the secular world and my ministries in the Church. I am a faithful pro-life Catholic and not a radical feminist, but my primary feminist issue is that throughout the centuries women have too often been relegated to a place behind the sink, the stove, the broom and the file cabinets instead of being allowed and encouraged to make use of our intellect, gifts, talents and "feminine genius" in society and in the Church. I thank God that times have greatly changed in the Church and in the world so that we women have been given and encouraged to utilize many more opportunities. So it is difficult for me to accept the idea of being satisfied with doing mundane chores within the walls of either a home or a convent or monastery and offering them to God. However, in accepting this "little way" St. Therese, whose life would ordinarily have remained obscure, was given a way to help others develop a close personal relationship with the LORD and become holy, and during her life time God gave St. Therese the insight to realize that her journal and her "little way" would make a significant impact in the lives of many others. Typical of God's paradoxes, this simple nun who was relatively obscure during her lifetime has become of our most renown saints.
It was good to know (from the many books my Mom read about her) that St. Therese had a personal desire for priesthood, but she was obedient to God and to the Church and allowed God to mold that desire into a ministry of prayer for and correspondence (by letters) with priests and missionaries. St. Therese continues, as she promised, to spend her heaven doing good on earth, ministering to priests and missionaries, and she is known as a patron saint of the missions, along with St. Francis Xavier. Many priests and missionaries have testified to her intercession and her assistance in their lives and vocation.
St. Therese had periods of physical, spiritual and emotional suffering at different times of her life, especially in her final illness of great suffering with tuberculosis. Her trust in God was sorely tested and was not a "Pollyanna" form of trust. She is an example of great perseverance in times of suffering not only physically but with also with accompanying spiritual dryness and darkness. Hers was an enduring faith, a courageous faith, a trust that withstood many battles and conquered her circumstances and trials. She never abandoned God or her "little way" even when she experienced feelings of being abandoned, and the LORD helped her to remain strong spiritually as her physical body was wasting away.
Although there are specific readings designated for the liturgy for the Memorial of St. Therese of Lisieux, this year/cycle the readings of the day in Ordinary Time are very appropriate for our consideration of the life, trials and spirituality of St. Therese.
In the first reading from Job 19:21-27 Job expresses a wish to record his struggles in writing, which St. Therese did in her journal that became the book THE STORY OF A SOUL. Like Job St. Therese could say "my inmost being is consumed with longing", for she had great longing for God. In the midst of great suffering and temptation to lose faith St. Therese fought against temptation by acts of faith and trust, as Job said "But for me, I know that my Redeemer lives" and that one day she, like Job, would see God. Like the psalmist in Psalm 27 St. Therese held on to the belief that she would see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living and continued to seek the Presence of the LORD for Whom she longed. Throughout her life, even in death, she was an excellent example of waiting for the LORD with courage.
No matter what our station in life is--whether we are blessed with opportunities to demonstrate great talent and experience recognition in this life, or if our lives are characterized mainly by doing many little things out of love for God and people--it is our love for God and for people and our allowing the LORD through His Holy Spirit to lead us and to make us holy that really matters. We can be inspired by St. Therese's great love for God that flowed out into her love for people, her longing for Him and her determination to use every experience in her life to demonstrate love for God. As we seek to follow the LORD our faith will be tested in many ways, but although we are often frustrated and baffled because God's ways are not our ways, we will experience His faithfulness, and the LORD will help us persevere in trusting Him.
A great saint! Thank you for your reflection.
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