Friday, October 1, 2010

Pray for the Church and her Mission!

Today is the feast day of St. Therese of the Child Jesus, the French Carmelite who died in 1897 at the age of 24.  Her "Little Way" is a spirituality that attracts many; doing small things with great love is a path to sanctity that we can all follow.  The reading for the Divine Office today is from her autobiography:

Then, nearly ecstatic with the supreme joy in my soul, I proclaimed: O Jesus, my love, at last I have found my calling: my call is love. Certainly I have found my proper place in the Church, and you gave me that very place, my God. In the heart of the Church, my mother, I will be love, and thus I will be all things, as my desire finds its direction.

This young woman, without ever leaving the walls of her cloister, became a Doctor of the Church and patroness of the missions.  Her love and zeal drove her to desire to be all things: she was not satisfied to be "just" a martyr or "just" an apostle or teacher.  St. Therese had the insight to understand that love covers everything:
I knew that one love drove the members of the Church to action, that if this love were ever extinguished, the apostles would have proclaimed the Gospel no longer, the martyrs would have shed their blood no more.
St. Therese is a model for us all.  By doing all tasks as an offering of love to God, she was able to cover the whole world with grace.  By washing the laundry, sweeping the halls, being faithful to even the smallest details, she became a missionary to the nations without traveling any distance.
As contemplative missionaries, we are also love in the heart of the Church. And as the Little Flower reminds us, love is everlasting.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

If all practicing Catholics read the “CATECHISM of the CATHOLIC CHURCH, Second Edition”, and it was used as a Student Text as part of the cirriculum at all Seminaries, Convents, Catholic Universities, 11th & 12th grades Catholic School High Schools, RCIA classes, etc – - – there would be UNITY in the Catholic Church regarding Faith and Morals.
The “CCC 2nd Ed” is a “sure norm for teaching the faith”, and an “Authentic Reference Text” – per Pope John Paul II with an Imprimi Potest by Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger. It was first printed in the US in March 2000.