Remembering little ways square

We all have a  favorite Saint.  Some we connect with more with than another, and there are Saints that just touches our hearts.  While I have a favorite Saint, I’ve noticed that my daughter has gravitated towards to Saint Terese of Lisieux, “The Little Flower.”

Now I have to admit that I know of her story but I have not read deep into it.  However, my daughter’s interest in her, and Father Robert’s Barron mention of her in his Catholicism series has me really interested.  

 While I’m sort of behind on my spiritual reading, I have yet to read her story, The Story of a Soul her story touches me and I can really see why my little girl adores her. 

 
Sacrifice to Self

 

Saint Terese life teaches us so much. She loved God with all her heart and really wanted to become a saint. But she knew she couldn’t do it in a huge way. Finding inspiration through scripture she received her answer. 

  • Remain little.  It was not through huge leaps and bounds that was going to carry her to heaven, it was remaining little. Everyday she performed little sacrifices that was between he and God. She didn’t complain. 
  • Sacrifice of self.  One of the biggest sacrifices she made that went unnoticed was her agreeing to stay a  novice. That means that she would always have to ask permission to do anything. Her sisters were in the same order as her, so the other nuns feared that the Martin family would take over. 
  • Offering up suffering.   Even though she had dry spells through prayer and suffered greatly do to her illness, she offered up her suffering to God. 

 [Tweet ““Trust and trust alone should lead us to love” ― Thérèse de Lisieux”]

 

Her Lessons

 

Saint Terese taught us that we could do little things to show our love for God and  for one another. 

As an adult we can sometimes feel overwhelmed with all we have (and want) to do., but feel unable to do it all. 

Not every one of us could fly Halfway around the globe to feed the hungry, we don’t have to–there are those who are hungry right around us. 

We don’t have to go to some remote place to teach the faith, we can re-evangalize our families. 

Saint Terese reminds us that it is in the little things that we can do matters. We all have talents that are different from each other. We all weren’t meant to be heavy theologians or Mystics, but we all come into our faith with the talents that God has given us.   A beautiful quote reminds us of this:

“I understood that every flower created by Him is beautiful, that the brilliance of the rose and the whiteness of the lily do not lessen the perfume of the violet or the sweet simplicity of the daisy. I understood that if all the lowly flowers wished to be roses, nature would no longer be enamelled with lovely hues. And so it is in the world of souls, Our lord’s living garden.” 
― Thérèse de Lisieux

 [Tweet ““It’s true, I suffer a great deal–but do I suffer well? That is the question.” ― Thérèse de Lisieux”]

 
Personal Reminders

 

What I love the most about her is the personal reminder for myself to do little things as well.  Being a stay at home mom, I sometimes feel like I’m not doing anything with the talent that I was given.  There are days where I would feel like my “schooling” was not being put to use.

While I’m homeschooling, I am reminded that my talent is being properly used, and while I’m not out in the world making huge amounts of money, I’m doing things here, in my home that matters greatly.

Like Saint Terese and her little ways, parenthood is a series of small sacrifices.  You find yourself giving up a lot of things that you either liked to do, or give the last of any item to your kids–and you do this without complaining (at least most of the time).

 

 [Tweet ““Without love, deeds, even the most brilliant, count as nothing.” ― Thérèse de Lisieux”]

 

I truly appreciate Saint Terese message and I’m very thankful that this Little Flower touched my daughter’s heart.  Since my daughter has peaked my interest in her, I know I’ll be reading her book very soon.

Have you read Story of a Soul?  Do you try doing little things?

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