The Little Way - Section 5 "Daily Practice" (Part 2)

This is the concluding post on St. Therese of Lisieux's "The Little Way". I'm devoting two posts to the fifth and final core element of the "little way" since it is the outflow and overflow of the first four elements. As you can see, when she talks of the little way, she really means it - all of her ways of serving, as seen in this fifth core element of "daily practice" were where she lived in the convent. As I wrote earlier in this series when introducing her, she lived only 24 years and did nothing more than  these simple little acts of love, and yet the impact of that has gone far and wide.

While most of us will not become well known for our small gestures and attitudes of love, we have in Therese an example of how God values the little things done with much love and we can be inspired by this young life to live close to Him and attentive to ways in which we can wash His feet by small acts of love wherever God has placed us. Often we look far and wide for ways to serve Jesus while missing the small acts of self-giving love that present themselves to us daily...

The following are more stories of how Therese expressed the love of God in her small world:

"Do everything to give pleasure to Jesus...I try to do everything to give pleasure to Our Lord...A spiritual feast of gentle joyful love is all I can set before my Sisters; I do not know of any other, and want to follow the example of St. Paul, rejoicing with all who rejoice. I know he wept with those who week, and my feasts are not always without their share of tears, but I always try to turn them into smiles, for 'the Lord loveth the cheerful giver'."

"Love others as Jesus loves them...Jesus made known His will to me at the Last Supper, when He gave His apostles His new commandment: 'Love one another as I have loved you' (Jn 13:34). I set to work to discover how Jesus had loved them. I found that He had not loved them for their natural qualities, for they were ignorant and taken up with earthly things, yet He called them His friends and His brothers and wanted to have them with Him in His Father's Kingdom; He was ready to die on the cross to make this possible...Meditating on these divine words, I saw only too well how very imperfect was my love for my Sisters; I did not really love them as Jesus loves them. I see now that true charity consists in bearing with the faults of those about us, never being surprised by their weaknesses, but edified at the least sign of virtue..."

"Offer the merits of others to Jesus...There was a certain nun who managed to irritate me in everything she did...Not wishing to give way to natural antipathy, I reminded myself that sentiments of charity were not enough; they must find expression, and I set myself to treat her as if I loved her best of all. I prayed for her whenever we met, and offered all her virtues and merits to God. I was sure that Jesus would be delighted at this, for artists always like to have their work praised...
I prayed earnestly for this Sister who had caused me such struggle, but this was not enough for me. I tried to do everything I possibly could for her, and when tempted to answer her sharply I hastened to give her a friendly smile, and talk about something else...
She said to me one day, her face radiant: 'What do you find so attractive in me? Whenever we meet you give me such a gracious smile.'  What attracted me? It was Jesus hidden in the depths of her soul, Jesus who makes attractive even what is most bitter."

"Love in adversity...For a long time I had to kneel during meditation near a Sister who could not stop fidgeting; if it was not with her rosary, it was with goodness know what else...I wanted to turn around and glare at the culprit to make her be quiet, but deep in my heart I felt that the best thing to do was to put up with it patiently for the love of God first of all, and also not to hurt her feelings...In the end I tried to find some way of bearing it peacefully and joyfully, at least in my inmost heart; then I even tried to like this wretched little noise. It was impossible not to hear it, so I turned my whole attention to listening really closely to it as if it were a magnificent concert, and spent the rest of the time offering it to Jesus..."

The Little Way - Section 5 "Daily Practice" (Part 1)

We are now on the fifth and final core element in Therese of Lisieux's "Little Way", which is "Daily Practice of the Little Way of Love". (For the sake of brevity in each post, I will do two posts on this fifth element...)

The four core elements leading up to this that we have covered are:

1. Joyful Humility as a Little Child of God  (here)
2. Bold Confidence in God's Mercy and Loving Kindness  (here)
3. Tranquil Trust in the Actions of God's Limitless Love ( here)
4. Persistence in Prayer as a Simple Raising of the Heart to God ( here)

I believe these four preliminary core elements are the ongoing preparation and tending of the heart for the "daily practice" of loving deeds. They tenderize the heart and open our eyes to be able to see the tiny opportunities that each day holds for us to love others in the most menial, yet meaningful ways. Without joyful childlikeness, bold confidence in God's love, trust in His loving actions, and persistence in simple prayer, we miss seeing the small opportunities

that are around us daily.

John Nelson says in the opening part of this fifth section: "Therese quoted the saying of Saint John of the Cross that the smallest act of pure love is of greater value than all other works put together. Her insight taught her that, while some singular souls are given the means to perform great works, most of us are little, too little to perform great actions...God is drawn to our weakness. He accepts the smallest, the least, act of real love on our part. Then, with a 'love which reaches even unto folly,' He will act for us, in a creative collaboration between the Father and the child, between the Creator and creature."

(In the quotes below, keep in mind that Therese was living in a convent so most of her interaction with others was with her fellow-sisters...)

"Love must act...a love that does not prove itself in action is not enough...Jesus teaches me to 'give to everyone that asketh thee; and of him that taketh away thy goods, ask them not again.' It is much harder to give to all who ask than to offer our services spontaneously; nor is it so hard to comply with a friendly request, but if we happen to be asked in a tactless way, we are at once up in arms, unless we are rooted in perfect charity. We find countless excuses, and only after we have made it quite clear to the Sister that she is lacking in courtesy do we condescend to grant her request as a favor..."

"The truly poor are happy...I used to think I was detached from everything, but now...I realize how imperfect I am. If, for example, I find my brushes all over the place when starting to paint, or if a ruler or penknife has disappeared, I have to take strong hold of myself to resist demanding them back with asperity. As I really need them, there is no harm in asking...if I do so in all humility...I am only acting like the poor who hold out their hands for alms and are not surprised if they are refused because nobody owes them anything...The joy of the truly poor in spirit is beyond all compare...
I can't always carry out these words of the Gospel (Matt. 5:40,41) to the letter; there are bound to be times when I have to refuse my Sisters something. But when we are deeply rooted in charity, we can always find a way to refuse so charmingly that our refusal gives more pleasure than the gift would have done."

"God loves others through us...I know that whenever I am charitable, it is Jesus alone who is acting through me, and that the more closely I unite myself to Him, the more I will be able to love my Sisters. Should the devil draw my attention to the faults of any one of them when I am seeking to increase this love in my heart, I call to mind at once her virtues and her good intentions. I tell myself that though I have seen her fall once, there are probably a great many other occasions on which she has won victories which, in her humility, she has kept to herself. What may appear to me to be a fault may even be an act of virtue because of her intention; and as I have experienced this for myself, I have little difficulty in persuading myself that this is indeed the case."

I will complete this section in a couple of days... 
 

The Little Way - Section 4 "Persistence in Prayer"

There are five core elements in St. Therese's "little way". This week we will touch on the fourth core element: "Persistence in Prayer as a Simple Raising of the Heart to God".  The first three elements are here and here and here.

In the introduction to this chapter, John Nelson says of Therese: "...her prayer life was often arid and dry and not, as one might surmise from her writings and sayings, full of consolation. This only made her more determined to persist in her simple raising of the heart to God, her many glances toward Heaven. Therese also greatly loved and valued - and was assisted by - community prayer...Each way of prayer, personal and community, supports and sustains the other. Together they make concrete the universal love and praise of God."

"Prayer unites the soul with God...prayer for me is simply a raising of the heart, a simple glance towards Heaven, an expression of love and gratitude in the midst of trial as well as in times of joy; in a word, it is something noble and supernatural expanding my so

ul, and uniting it to God..." 

"Meditate on the Gospel...during meditation I am sustained above all else by the Gospels. They supply my poor soul's every need, and they are always yielding up to me new lights and mysterious hidden meanings...I have never heard Him (Jesus) speak, and yet I know He is within my soul....He is guiding and inspiring me..."

"Love draws us to pray for others...If fire and iron were endowed with reason, and the iron were to say, 'Draw me,' surely this would prove that it wanted to be so identified with the fire as to share its very substance...I want Jesus so to draw me into the flames of His love, so as to make me one with Himself, that He may live and act in me. I feel that the more the fire of love inflames my heart...the more swiftly those who are around me will run 'in the sweet odor of the Beloved.'" 

"Throw straws on the fire of love...When we are in darkness, in dryness, there is no wood within our reach, but surely we are obliged at least to throw little bits of straw on the fire. Jesus is quite powerful enough to keep the fire going by Himself, yet He is glad when we add a little fuel...and then He throws a great deal of wood on the fire; we do not see it but we feel the strength of Love's heat... when I feel nothing...then is the moment to look for small occasions, nothings that give Jesus more pleasure than the empire of the world, more even than martyrdom...For example, a smile, a friendly word, when I would much prefer to say nothing at all or look bored, etc...It is not to make my crown, to gain merits, but to give pleasure to Jesus...When I find no occasions, at least I want to keep telling Him that I love Him; it's not difficult and it keeps the fire going..."
 
"Jesus supplies moment to moment...the fact that I often fall asleep during meditation, or while making my thanksgiving should appall me. Well, I am not appalled; I bear in mind that little children are just as pleasing to their parents asleep as awake; that doctors put their patients asleep while they perform operations; and that after all, 'the Lord knoweth our frame. He remembereth that we are but dust.' (Psalm 52:14)"

"Merely a sigh, a prayer of the heart...Matthew 9:37,38  Is Jesus not all-powerful?...Why then does Jesus say, 'Pray ye the Lord of the harvest that he send forth laborers'? Why? Surely because Jesus has so incomprehensible a love for us that He wants us to have a share with Him in the salvation of souls. He wants to do nothing without us. The Creator of the universe waits for the prayer of a poor little soul to save other souls redeemed like itself at the price of all His blood...Here are Jesus' words, '...ask Me for laborers and I shall send them, I await only a prayer, a sigh from your heart.'"

The Little Way - Section 3 "Tranquil Trust"

(I was delighted to read in the compiler's opening remarks in this chapter that St. Therese did not share the common view of God as a severe judge requiring appeasement of His justice. "Many of Therese's companions...offered themselves and their penances to God's justice, seeking to join Christ and imitate Him in deflecting punishment from sinners...She (Therese) was led to understand and stress the intense love which Jesus shows forth for us from the Cross, through which He reveals the God who is our Father having all the love, patience, forbearance and yearnings of a good parent. God is not vengeful and overbearing; He has only love, He is Love, for His children...")

The third core element in Therese of Lisieux's "little way" is "Tranquil Trust in the Actions of God's Limitless Love." (The first two that we have touched on are "Joyful Humility as a Little Child of God", and "Bold Confidence in God's Mercy and Loving Kindness".)

"Only trust will bring love...Ah! do let us stay very far from all that is brilliant, let us love our littlenss, love to feel nothing, then we shall be poor in spirit, and Jesus will come for us, far off as we are, He will transform us in love's flames...Oh! how I wish I could make you realize what I mean!...It is trust, and nothing but trust, that must bring us to Love....Fear brings us only to Justice."

"He loves us even to folly...the one crime charged against Jesus by Herod was that He was mad!...and I agree with him!...Yes, it was folly to seek the poor little hearts of mortals to make them His thrones, He the King of Glory, who is throned above the Cherubim! He whose presence is mightier than the heavens can contain! Our Beloved was mad to come down to earth seeking sinners to make them His friends, His intimates, to make them like unto Himself..."

"To keep Jesus' word - that is the sole condition of our happiness, the proof of our love for Him. But what is this word?...It seems to me that Jesus' word is Himself, Jesus, the Word, the Word of God...We know then what the word is that we must keep. We do not, like Pilate, ask Jesus, 'What is truth?' We possess Truth, we keep Jesus in our hearts!"

"Our God, our heart's Guest...'We know not what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself asks for us with unspeakable groanings" (Romans 8:26). So all we have to do is deliver up our souls, abandon it to our great God. What does it matter then if it is without any exteriorly brilliant gifts, since within, the King of Kings stands brilliant in all His glory!"

"Love lives in us...How marvelously our spouse calls us! Think! We did not dare even to look at ourselves, so utterly dull and unadorned we felt: and Jesus calls us. He wants to gaze on us at leisure, but He is not alone, with Him come the other two Persons of the Blessed Trinity to take possession of our soul...Jesus promised it long ago when He was on the point of ascending to His Father and our Father. He said with tenderness unutterable: 'If anyone love Me, he will keep My word and My Father will love him and We will come to him and will make our abode with him.'"

The Little Way - Section 2 "Bold Confidence"

The second core element in the "little way" of St. Therese of Lisieux is "Bold Confidence in God's Mercy and Lovingkindness". The following are portions of this section of the book: 

"I know what to believe about His mercy and Love...I have only to glance at the Gospels; at once this fragrance from the life of Jesus reaches me, and I know which way to run; to the lowest, not the highest place!...I have heard what He said to Mary Magdalene, to the woman taken in adultery, and to the Samaritan woman. No one can make me frightened any more, because I know what to believe about His mercy and love; I know that in a twinkling of an eye all those thousands of sins would be consumed as a drop of water cast into a blazing fire."

"God is even kinder than you think...He is satisfied with a look, a sigh of love...I have realized that all one has to do is take Jesus by the heart."

"The smallest thing is precious to Him...He makes Himself poor that we may be able to do Him charity; He stretches out His hand to us like a beggar, that...when He appears in His glory, He may be able to utter and we to hear the loving words, 'Come, blessed of my Father; for I was hungry, and you gave me to eat; I was thirsty and you gave Me to drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was in prison, sick, and you came to Me.' It was Jesus Himself who uttered those words, it is He who wants our love, begs for it. He puts Himself, so to say, at our mercy. He wills to take nothing unless we give it to Him, and the smallest thing is precious in His divine eyes."

"Be simple with the good God...He has long forgotten your infidelities, only your desires for perfection are present to give joy to His heart...For those who love Him and, after each discourteous act, cast themselves into His arms and ask pardon, Jesus is vibrant with joy. He says to His angels what the prodigal son's father said to His servants: 'Put on him the first robe, put the ring on his hand, and let us make merry.'"

"It is good to feel weak...I have my weaknesses also, but I rejoice in them...(sometimes) I will be tormented by a foolish thing I said or did. Then I enter into myself, and I say, 'Alas, I am still at the same place as I was formerly! But I tell myself this with great gentleness and without any sadness! It is so good to feel that one is weak and little!"

In response to the affirmation of God's pleasure over her by another servant of God, Therese says: "Full sail on the sea of confident love...For a long time I had felt sure that our Lord was more tender than any mother, and I had sounded the depths of more than one mother's heart. I know from experience that a mother is always ready to forgive her child's little involuntary faults. No rebuke could have touched me half as much as a single kiss from you. Such is my nature that fear only keeps me back, while under the sway of love I not only advance - I fly!"

Lord, make real to us Your unchanging mercy and love so that we, as much beloved children, will not fear but rather be confident in such love. May we discover that Your gracious embrace of us does more to motivate us to good works than harsh rebukes which we sometimes have believed is Your way. May we no longer be frightened because we "know what to believe about Your mercy and love."

The Little Way - Section 1 "Joyful Humility"

This particular edition compiles many of St. Therese's writings and sayings: (http://www.amazon.com/The-Little-Saint-Therese-Lisieux/dp/0764801996/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1367353446&sr=8-7&keywords=the+little+way+of+st.+therese+of+lisieux).

The way that I'll cover each of the five main sections of this book is primarily by quoting her words as recorded here. As I've been going through it, I'm deeply blessed and challenged by the words of this young woman. One of the things that most appeals to me about this "little way" is that it puts the issue of loving God and loving people within the reach of every person. May you be encouraged by these words - often sincere followers of Jesus do seemingly insignificant things for others but are not aware of how much the Father values and treasures these small things done with sincere love.

Section One is about the first core element of the Little Way: "Joyful Humility as a Little Child".

"Remain as a little child before our Father...a little child expects everything from its father; it is to be disquieted about nothing, and not to be set on gaining our living...To be little is not attributing to oneself the virtues that one practices, not believing oneself capable of anything, but to recognize that God places this treasure in the hands of His little child to be used when necessary; but it remains always God's treasure. Finally, it is not to become discouraged over one's faults, for children fall often, but they are too little to hurt themselves very much.

"To be His, one must be small...small as a drop of dew...good for nothing, save to give a few moments' refreshment to a flower of the fields which today is and tomorrow is no more...it is not intellect or talents that Jesus has come upon earth to seek. He became the Flower of the fields solely to show us how He loves simplicity...What a privilege to be called to so high a mission!...but to respond to it how simple one must remain."

In speaking of the small child and of those with none of the advantages of an "advanced culture", Therese says that "Love shines out through little souls...it is to hearts such as these that He stoops. What delights Him is the simplicity of these flowers of the field, and by stooping so low to them, He shows how infinitely great He is...

"In utter littleness, gaze upon Love...I long to fly and imitate the eagles, but all I can do is flutter my small wings. I am not strong enough to fly...Must I die of sorrow at finding myself so helpless? Never!...Surrendering myself with daring confidence, I shall simply stay gazing at my Sun until I die...and should the Star of Love be blotted out by heavy clouds so that nothing but the night of this life seems to exist, then will be the time for perfect joy, the moment to push my confidence to the furthest bounds; I shall take good care to stay just where I am, quiet certain that beyond the somber clouds my beloved Sun is shining still!

"Lose your nothingness in His all...You must not forget Jesus is All, so you must lose your little nothingness in His infinite All...she (speaking of herself) is weak, very weak; everyday she experiences it afresh; but Jesus delights to teach her the science of glorying in one's infirmities (2 Cor. 12:5); that is a great grace, and I beg Jesus to teach it to you, for in it alone is found peace and rest for the heart...For my part I know no other means to arrive at perfection save love...Love, how evidently our heart is made for that!"

Warning of acquiring virtues and then allowing that to cause us to rely on our own strength, Therese speaks of "Realizing my nothingness more...I have the right of doing stupid things up until my death, if I am humble and if I remain little. Look at little children: they never stop breaking things, tearing things, falling down, and they do this even while loving their parents very, very much. When I fall in this way, it makes me realize my nothingness more, and I say to myself: What would I do, and what would I become if I were to rely upon my own strength?"

Dear Lord, thank You that You were always childlike as a Man - humbly trusting, depending, looking to Your Father for everything, receiving His love and loving Him and others with that love. Come by Your Spirit and make us increasingly like You in childlike trust and humility, able to accept our ongoing failings and the making of messes in our attempts to love and serve you and others...