St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus, Virgin, Doctor

“I give praise to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned you have revealed them to the childlike.  Yes, Father, such has been your gracious will."  ~Matthew 11:25

"'What we ask of him is to work for his glory, to love him and to make him loved.' (St. Thérèse of Lisieux)

"The way [St. Thérèse] took to reach this ideal of life is not that of the great undertakings reserved for the few, but on the contrary, a way within everyone's reach, the 'little way', a path of trust and total self-abandonment to the Lord's grace. It is not a prosaic way, as if it were less demanding. It is in fact a demanding reality, as the Gospel always is. But it is a way in which one is imbued with a sense of trusting abandonment to divine mercy, which makes even the most rigorous spiritual commitment light.

"Because of this way in which she receives everything as 'grace', because she puts her relationship with Christ and her choice of love at the centre of everything, because of the place she gives to the ardent impulses of the heart on her spiritual journey, Thérèse of Lisieux is a saint who remains young despite the passing years, and she is held up as an eminent model and guide on the path of Christians, as we approach the third millennium."

~Bl. John Paul II, 10/19/97 Homily, Proclamation of St. Thérèse as a Doctor of the Church

Thank you, dear St. Thérèse, for revealing to us the little way.  With you may we always pray:  "O Jesus, may I one day die of Your love."  Amen.