“What matters in life … is not great deeds, but great love.” – St. Therese of Lisieux, as found in her spiritual masterwork Story of a Soul
St. Therese of Lisieux is a saint of the 20th century. While she was little noticed while living on this earth, she is great in Heaven, St. Therese lived such a humble life that, as she lay dying, one of the sisters in her Carmelite convent said, “What will we write about her? She didn’t do anything!”
She didn’t do – she loved.
That’s the secret of her sanctity. She trusted in the love and mercy of the Lord Jesus, believing that the God who came down from Heaven to become one of us would reach down to the little souls, the weakest of believers, and raise them up to Himself out of love. She imitated the love of the Lord, doing everything with great love, seeking to always act according to the demands of love.
And, in so doing, she consoled the Heart of Jesus, the hearts of her neighbors, and enlarged her own heart enough to become a conduit for the love of the Lord during her earthly life and into her life in heaven.
As the joys of Christmas flow and swirl around us, bringing lights and peace in a very dark, troubled world, let us initiate the Little Flower in humility and loving service. We have the power within each of us to become a steady light by imitating Jesus in our thoughts, actions and especially in our prayers. Like a small Christmas light strung together in a great string, we can brilliantly light The Road of Faith.
“My mission – to make God loved – will begin after my death,” she said. “I will spend my heaven doing good on earth. I will let fall a shower of roses.”
Let us ask her to let fall some of those roses into our own lives and the lives of those we love. Let us pray for her intercession for all of our needs, especially those that seem most difficult or impossible, for the Little Flower is mighty in Heaven.
I’d highly recommend giving “33 Days to Merciful Love” to yourself and someone dear to you as a lesson plan to move toward merciful love which is Jesus. Click here to go to Showmercy.