Can a thimble hold the whole of the ocean?
One of my favorite stories of St. Therese of Liseux that I remember most is when her sister showed her sanctity of each soul through a thimble.
As a little child, Therese was trying to understand how it was possible for both a great saint and an ordinary little soul to be happy in heaven. Wouldn’t the great saint be happier, because he or she was filled with so much more holiness? Her sister grabbed a drinking glass and a thimble and filled them both with water. She asked Therese which was fuller. Therese admitted that they were both filled to the brim. Their capacity had been reached, and neither the thimble nor the glass could hold a drop more. So it is, Therese’s sister explained, with our souls. Our calling in life is not to be greater than others, but to be filled to the brim with Christ.
Sitting here this morning as the sun slowly brightens the sky, I think of this story. There is no doubt that in comparison to a giant like St. Therese, filled to the brim of her 5,000 gallon tower, I am barely a thimble. I can’t and probable will never come close to who St. Therese is. I don’t fret that in one bit. I remember this story and the last line of the “Litany of Humility” – “That others may become holier than I, provided that I may become as holy as I should, Jesus grant me the grace to desire it.”
So, can a thimble hold the ocean? Maybe not in human terms. But, in God’s grace, just a drop of that grace is bigger, deeper and more powerful than all the oceans combined. By opening one’s heart to let God fill it with all the grace you can handle, your ‘thimble’ becomes the holder of all the oceans of mercy and grace of God.
Make this prayer part of your daily day. That God may fill your soul with all of His grace that you can handle whether your holder is a thimble, shot glass, cup or barrel. Let God full you. Be excited of being full to your brim of grace. Then, tip it out upon all the souls your meet. Let that thimble be filled with the ocean.