Prayer with Saint Therese — The Little Way

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Saint Therese of Lisieux, you were a Carmelite nun who died at twenty-four, having spent your short life behind the walls of a small French convent. You did nothing the world considered great. You wrote no theological treatises. You preached no sermons. You converted no continents. And yet you became a Doctor of the Church, one of only four women so honored in two thousand years. You became the patroness of the missions, even though you never left France. You became, in the eyes of millions, one of the most beloved saints of the modern era. Because you discovered the Little Way. The Little Way is the gospel of small things. Not great heroic acts. The cup of water given for love. The smile to the difficult sister. The dish washed without complaint. The annoying noise endured in silence. The patience with the elderly nun who tried everyone's nerves. Each small act, done with great love, became a step toward sanctity. Saint Therese, teach me the Little Way tonight. I have been waiting for the great opportunity to be holy. The dramatic conversion. The mission to the foreign land. The spiritual experience that would change everything. I have looked past the small opportunities right in front of me. The kindness to my spouse. The patience with my child. The smile at the cashier. The prayer for the driver who cut me off in traffic. Show me, Therese, that the path to heaven is paved with these small stones. Each one matters. Each one is real. Each one, offered to Jesus, becomes precious in His hands. You said, I prefer the monotony of obscure sacrifice to all ecstasies. The monotony of obscure sacrifice. The unremarkable faithfulness. The doing of duty when no one is watching. The little kindness offered to the person who will never repay it. Help me embrace this, Therese. To stop waiting for the spectacular and start receiving the ordinary as the field of holiness it is. You also said, My vocation is love. Not works. Not knowledge. Not gifts. Love. To love within the body of Christ, however hidden the role. To be the heart of the Church, the love that animates everything else. Let me find my vocation in love too. Whatever I am called to do, let love be the why. You promised, after your death, to spend your heaven doing good on earth. To let fall a shower of roses. Send some roses my way tonight, Therese. Small signs of your intercession. Small graces. Small mercies. I close with your own night prayer. O my God, I love You above all things, with my whole heart and soul, because You are all good and worthy of all love. I love my neighbor as myself for the love of You. I forgive all who have injured me, and I ask pardon of all whom I have injured. Amen. Saint Therese of the Child Jesus, intercede for me. Teach me the Little Way. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.