Saturday of the Twenty-Sixth Week in Ordinary Time. Year II (St Therese of the Child Jesus, Virgin, Doctor.) Job 42:1-3,5-6,12-17; Luke 9:51-56
Did you know that Marie-Francoise-Therese Martin was only four when her mother died of cancer? Well, now you do. This was why the family moved to Lisieux, where she later entered the convent and became a Camelite nun at the age of 15. Did you also know that she died at the age of 24, after battling with Tuberculosis? But what’s so special about Therese of the Child Jesus? After all, she lived and died without much renown, until her memoirs were published, and it became the spark that set off chains of miracles, conversions, cures, and apparitions. She was canonised by Pope Pius XI in 1925, and declared a doctor of the church by Pope John Paul II in 1997.
Friends, in the life of St. Therese of the Child Jesus, we learn that physical weakness cannot prevent exploiting daily opportunities of grace. We too mustn’t wait till we’re ordained priests, or professed sisters. We can’t wait till we attend universities of Divinity; Therese became a Doctor of the Church with her simple memoirs. We too must take out time each day, see the little opportunities here and there, look past fear and secular boundaries, and respond to God’s invitation to be saints. This is the little way. This is how we inscribe our names in heaven.
St Therese of the Child Jesus, pray for us. God bless your day ahead.
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