Therese of Lisieux - Introduction to the "Little Way"

The format of The Little Way of Saint Therese of Lisieux follows the "core elements of the Little Way"; each main section of the book is about these five elements:

1. Joyful Humility as a Little Child of God
2. Bold Confidence in God's Mercy and Lovingkindness
3. Tranquil Trust in the Actions of God's Limitless Love
4. Persistence in Prayer as a Simple Raising of the Heart to God
5. Daily Practice of the Little Way of Love

I plan to go through one section each week, attempting to capture the essence of each section since there is far too much to include it all in the weekly blog post.

One suggestion that comes to mind for you the reader is that you let the truth of each section "simmer" or "marinade" in your heart and mind for that week, allowing the Spirit of God to help it seep deeply into you - a practice of meditating that can help the integration of the brain, thereby enabling you to know God in the biblical way of knowing which includes both the right and left hemispheres of the brain.

In the Introduction, John Nelson, compiler of the book, says in this about Therese:

"She was tough-minded, direct, devoid of pretense and pretentiousness, matured in practicality and honesty. She had a real sense of fun and humor, even relishing the ridiculous, and her company was cheerful...

"Her life and teaching focus on the roots of our faith in Jesus Christ, who came to call sinners; ate with them; taught them; and called them His little ones. Pope Pius X named Therese as the greatest saint of modern times, but in the eyes of her contemporaries she appeared to live an uneventful, ordinary life as a provincial nun. Nevertheless, within a few decades she became one of the most loved of the saints. It is only little more than a century since she discovered 'a short, direct, new way' to perfection, a 'little way' available to everyone in any state and walk of life...Jesus had given her the inspiration. In His earthly ministry He had urged us to become as little children. Therese understood that little children cannot perform great deeds, but can and do give great love....So she confidently pursued the little way of love of a child of God, saying that everything she did in this way must be possible for any ordinary person like herself."

My prayer is that we will be inspired by this seemingly insignificant young woman to walk in simple daily love to God and those around us with the assurance that the little deeds of love count to Him.

Therese of Lisieux - Core Elements of the "Little Way"

As we anticipate looking soon at Therese of Lisieux's "little way", the following thought comes to me about such a person: she demonstrates that love never fails (I Corinthians 13:8).
Last year I wrote a post on this topic: http://nitasbookclub.blogspot.com/2012/07/most-repellent-and-inexplicable-trait.html

Therese did nothing extraordinary in her short life, but she learned to love and embrace all. She lived the life of Jesus right where she was, loving Him through loving those that He had placed in her life. There are time when I wonder how I can be more active in serving the Lord, forgetting that there are people and situations in my immediate world that I can love and serve in the simplest and most insignificant ways.

I easily forget that the love of God, poured out through me to others, never fails even though I may see no resulting fruit from it. Therese trusted in the love of the Father poured through her to others. Hers was the simplicity of a child.

In the introduction of the book, the core elements of the Little Way are listed:

1. Joyful humility as a little child of God
2. Bold confidence in God's mercy and loving-kindness
3. Tranquil trust in the actions of God limitless love
4. Persistence in prayer as a simple raising of the heart to God
5. Daily practice of the little way of love

The first four elements enable us to see the small things that we can do daily to show the love of God to others...

 

Next Book: The Little Way of St. Therese of Lisieux

Continuing along the lines of prayer and devotion to God and others that I referred to last week in Mother Teresa, I plan to go through the classic, The Little Way of Saint Therese of Lisieux, as our next book. I'll begin this in May. The edition I'm using is this one: (http://www.amazon.com/The-Little-Saint-Therese-Lisieux/dp/0764801996/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1365603740&sr=8-1&keywords=the+little+way+of+saint+therese+of+lisieux)

Some years ago my dad gave me a quote from Mother Teresa that had struck him, and it has always stayed with me: "We do no great things; we do small things with great love." I have since come to realize that Mother Teresa was strongly influenced by Therese of Lisieux who said something along these lines: "I strive, not to do big things for God, but to do everything as an act of love for God."

The following is a brief biography of Therese (http://www.littleflower.org/abouttherese/learn/LifeStory.asp) who lived to be only 24 years old and lived her short life hidden away in a convent; yet she powerfully influenced many well-known and little known people over the years since her death: 

"Therese Martin was the last of nine children born to Louis and Zelie Martin on January 2, 1873, in Alencon, France... 

"At the age of 14, on Christmas Eve in 1886, Therese had a conversion that transformed her life. From then on, her powerful energy and sensitive spirit were turned toward love, instead of keeping herself happy. At 15, she entered the Carmelite convent in Lisieux to give her whole life to God. She took the religious name Sister Therese of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face. Living a hidden, simple life of prayer, she was gifted with great intimacy with God. Through sickness and dark nights of doubt and fear, she remained faithful to God, rooted in His merciful love. After a long struggle with tuberculosis, she died on September 30, 1897, at the age of 24. Her last words were the story of her life: 'My God, I love You!'

"The world came to know Therese through her autobiography, "Story of a Soul". She described her life as a "little way of spiritual childhood." She lived each day with an unshakable confidence in God's love. "What matters in life," she wrote, "is not great deeds, but great love." Therese lived and taught a spirituality of attending to everyone and everything well and with love. She believed that just as a child becomes enamored with what is before her, we should also have a childlike focus and totally attentive love. Therese's spirituality is of doing the ordinary, with extraordinary love.

"Her inspiration and powerful presence from heaven touched many people very quickly...'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.' Roses have been described and experienced as Saint Therese's signature. Countless millions have been touched by her intercession and imitate her 'little way.' She has been acclaimed 'the greatest saint of modern times.'" 

In the weeks left in April, I will share little thoughts about Therese and quotes by her. I think we'll discover how she practiced loving God and others in the most down-to-earth ways that are within the reach of all of us!

Prayer from Mother Teresa

The following is a prayer from Mother Teresa that her Sisters of Charity used in caring for the sick and poor and dying. I found this recently and was struck by it:

Dearest Lord, may I see you today and every day in the person of your sick, and, whilst nursing them, minister unto you.

Though you hide yourself behind the unattractive disguise of the irritable, the exacting, the unreasonable, may I still recognize you, and say: "Jesus, my patient, how sweet it is to serve you."

Lord, give me this seeing faith, then my work will never be monotonous. I will ever find joy in humoring the fancies and gratifying the wishes of all poor sufferers.

O beloved sick, how doubly dear you are to me, when you personify Christ; and what a privilege is mine to be allowed to tend you.

Sweetest Lord, make me appreciative of the dignity of my high vocation, and its many responsibilities. Never permit me to disgrace it by giving way to coldness, unkindness, or impatience.

And O God, while you are Jesus, my patient, deign also to be to me a patient Jesus, bearing with my faults, looking only to my intention, which is to love and serve you in the person of each of your sick.

Lord, increase my faith, bless my efforts and work, now and forevermore. Amen.

Accepting God's Pace - "One Millimeter per Month"

In reference once again to Dr. Curt Thompson and his study of the human brain and our walk with God, I am quoting a portion from a recent article of his which can be found at  http://www.beingknown.com/2011/11/one-millimeter-per-month/:

"When I was in medical school, we learned that if a nerve is severed, it can begin to regenerate, but only at the rate of about 1 millimeter per month, depending on how serious and extensive the injury is. Some injuries can repair more quickly, up to 1 millimeter per day...Imagine how long it will take for a damaged nerve in a hand to return to health. Or worse, what about someone who has a stroke and has thousands of nerves killed or traumatized in a matter of minutes? Even more complicated, what about the neurological implications of relationships that have been traumatized in innumerable ways that seem beyond repair? What has any of this to do with God’s pace?

"What the story of the brain and nervous system seems to reveal is that God is very serious about the change he is bringing about in this world. And his seriousness translates not only into large, sweeping sea changes (think, the work of William Wilberforce or Martin Luther King, Jr.), but perhaps more often in the most microscopic, detailed spaces such as a single moment of restraint when disciplining a child; confessing a wrong done rather than sweeping it under the rug; or beginning a practice of regular, rhythmic fasting, solitude, or journaling in order to open up channels for God’s spirit to have access to you. None of these latter things listed would seem in and of themselves to change the world. No journalist will cover these events for the Washington Post. But if neurons only grow at the pace mentioned above, it will take lots of practice, and lots of time to coax them to create new networks. If God has made me with neurons, then I can’t change any faster than they can. It will take time and practice for my hoarding and gluttony and consumerism and lust and anxiety and impatience to be transformed. It is less a surprise to find that patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, and gentleness are growing, if surely, then only slowly.

"Now, if I begin to pay attention to this reality, this awareness of God’s comfort with his own pace, perhaps I need not worry so much that I’m not changing quickly enough—more importantly, that others are not changing quickly enough either. And the odd thing is, when I am less worried, I am more likely to be open to the changes I so long for in the first place, especially if I am closely connected with others whose pilgrimages are moving in the same direction."

Accepting Ambiguity in Prayer

This week just a short quote from Greg Boyd on ambiguity:

“We pray as we live: in a sea of ambiguity. This is not because we are fallen but because we are finite. And we are inclined to forget we are finite. We ignore the ambiguity that accompanies our finitude, and thus we claim to know what we can’t know. We reduce the unfathomable complexity of the cosmos to the capacity of our finite minds. When we do this, we invariably end up blaming God or indicting victims. We align ourselves with Job’s ignorant and arrogant friends, with whom God was very angry (Job 42:7).

“We pray best, live best and counsel best when we keep our eyes fixed on the God we know in Jesus Christ, remembering the sea of ambiguity that surrounds every square inch of this precious knowledge.”

Sense of Security: Based on Trust or Certainty?

Following up on the idea I presented last week about the human brain being designed for trust rather than for absolute certainty (http://nitasbookclub.blogspot.com/2013/03/boxing-god-in-until-he-disappears.html), I want to share from one of last year's posts in which I quoted George MacDonald (the man C.S.Lewis gave credit for most influencing him):

"To know God is to be in the secret place of all knowledge; and to trust him changes the whole outlook surrounding mystery and seeming contradictions and unanswered questions from one of doubt or fear or bewilderment to one of hope. The unknown may be some lovely truth in store for us, which we are not yet ready to apprehend. Not to be intellectually certain of a truth does not prevent the heart that loves and obeys that truth from getting the goodness out of it, from drawing life from it because it is loved, not because it is understood."  (from MacDonald's book, "The Lady's Confession")

"Doubts are the messengers of the Living One to rouse the honest heart. They are the first knock at our door of things that are not yet, but have to be, understood...Doubts must precede every deeper assurance. For uncertainties are what we first see when we look into a region hitherto unknown, unexplored, unannexed."   (from the book, "Discovering the Character of God")

A loved child is curious, full of honest questions and has no fear of punishment from the parent; as a consequence he/she grows in understanding. As followers of Jesus, many of us (particularly in the evangelical/charismatic tradition) have been trained by our "christian culture" that we should be absolutely certain about many different doctrines, and in our adherence to doctrinal certainty, we lose childlike curiosity and cease to grow in dynamic understanding of God. We cling to certainty for our sense of security, rather than to trust in the Person of God in Christ Jesus.

There are many "regions hitherto unknown, unexplored, unannexed" that we can venture into without fear when hand in hand with our Father. May the Spirit of Jesus reveal the love of the Father to us in such a way that we dare to trust Him and never stop asking questions and never stop growing!