Patroness of Foreign Missions and of Aviators
- October 1st
St. Theresa, often called the Little Flower, was the youngest of the five daughters born to Louis and Zelie Martin. She was a very lively, lovable little girl, whose father called her his “little queen.” Yet she was quite sensitive and touchy, and in the story she wrote of her life, she tells how the Infant Jesus helped her overcome this defect.
It was Theresa’s great desire to enter the Carmelite convent where two of her sisters were already nuns. But since she was only fifteen, permission was not granted. Theresa felt sure that Jesus wanted her to spend her life loving Him alone, so she kept praying and asking to be admitted. She even dared to ask the Pope himself to grant her heart’s desire. And finally she was allowed to enter.
Although she was only fifteen, St. Theresa did not expect to be babied. “Obedience, prayer and sacrifice” were her program. She had a thirst to suffer for the love of God, and she had the spiritual courage of real heroine. “May Jesus make me a martyr of the heart or of the body-or even better, both!” she wrote, and she meant it. Whenever she suffered from the bitter cold in her plain cell or whenever she was humiliated, she would offer her pain to her beloved Jesus and hide it under a smile. She called herself Jesus’ little ball, and told Him to do with her whatever He pleased.
St. Theresa was very humble, and she called her great confidence in God her “little way” to sanctity. She always had a burning desire to become a saint and wanted to find a “short cut,” an “elevator” to take her quickly to sanctity. So she looked in the Holy Bible, and found the words, “Whoever is a little one, let him come to me.” When she lay dying, she could say: “I have never given the good God anything but love, and it is with love that He will repay. After my death, I will let fall a shower of roses. I will spend my Heaven doing good upon earth.”
St. Theresa taught us her LITTLE WAY. Yes, it is a small and yet a great thing to offer Jesus the flowers of our little sacrifices moment by moment.
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