This weekend the Church of Saint Teresa celebrated the feast day of our patroness, Saint Therese of Lisieux for her feast day falls on October 1.
She is a saint after my own heart for she was well aware of her own imperfections and limitations but offered wholeheartedly to Jesus her littleness and poverty.
Saint Therese is the originator of "The Little Way" which, 138 years later, we are able to imitate and offer up whatever little we have in simplicity and love, knowing God is pleased even with the minuteness of the gift.
A young of girl of 15 who knew exactly what she wanted, she entered the cloistered Carmelite community in Lisieux, but barely before a decade was up, she died of tuberculosis at the tender age of 24, suffering greatly the last 18 months of her life.
I like that she was girly girl - over-sensitive, needy and weepy - and yet, it was her child-like love for Jesus that was her strength: she was trusting and obedient in everything she did and became known as The Little Flower of Jesus.
Despite her youth and simplicity, Saint Therese is one of 33 Doctors of the Church, and one of three woman, the other two being Saint Teresa of Avila and Saint Catherine of Siena, all recognized for having contributed significantly to theology or doctrine.
Hers is a spirituality that is easy to relate to and aspire toward: “Miss no single opportunity of making some small sacrifice, here by a smiling look, there by a kindly word; always doing the smallest right and doing it all for love.”
One of my favourite quotes of hers is: "I will spend my heaven doing good on earth." Simple yet so profound.
I used to wonder how a cloistered nun who did not live very long became the co-patron saint of missionaries (with Saint Francis Xavier) until I read that it was her desire to be a missionary but because of ill health, she was unable to do anything about it except pray for her missionary brothers and sisters in the far corners of the world.
She reminds me that the desires God plants in our hearts may not always take the conventional route, that there may be obstacles, physical limitations, but we should not give up, and instead, get creative.
Dreams become reality only when we refuse to let them die, but at the same time, remain open to new possibilities of making them happen.
So when life gets overwhelming and you feel like you are at a dead end, ask for the courage and creativity of the young Saint Therese and imitate her Little Way.
Little by little, you will find a way.
She is a saint after my own heart for she was well aware of her own imperfections and limitations but offered wholeheartedly to Jesus her littleness and poverty.
Saint Therese is the originator of "The Little Way" which, 138 years later, we are able to imitate and offer up whatever little we have in simplicity and love, knowing God is pleased even with the minuteness of the gift.
A young of girl of 15 who knew exactly what she wanted, she entered the cloistered Carmelite community in Lisieux, but barely before a decade was up, she died of tuberculosis at the tender age of 24, suffering greatly the last 18 months of her life.
I like that she was girly girl - over-sensitive, needy and weepy - and yet, it was her child-like love for Jesus that was her strength: she was trusting and obedient in everything she did and became known as The Little Flower of Jesus.
Despite her youth and simplicity, Saint Therese is one of 33 Doctors of the Church, and one of three woman, the other two being Saint Teresa of Avila and Saint Catherine of Siena, all recognized for having contributed significantly to theology or doctrine.
Hers is a spirituality that is easy to relate to and aspire toward: “Miss no single opportunity of making some small sacrifice, here by a smiling look, there by a kindly word; always doing the smallest right and doing it all for love.”
One of my favourite quotes of hers is: "I will spend my heaven doing good on earth." Simple yet so profound.
I used to wonder how a cloistered nun who did not live very long became the co-patron saint of missionaries (with Saint Francis Xavier) until I read that it was her desire to be a missionary but because of ill health, she was unable to do anything about it except pray for her missionary brothers and sisters in the far corners of the world.
She reminds me that the desires God plants in our hearts may not always take the conventional route, that there may be obstacles, physical limitations, but we should not give up, and instead, get creative.
Dreams become reality only when we refuse to let them die, but at the same time, remain open to new possibilities of making them happen.
So when life gets overwhelming and you feel like you are at a dead end, ask for the courage and creativity of the young Saint Therese and imitate her Little Way.
Little by little, you will find a way.
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