My mom recently lent me a book called "Love in the Heart of the Church: The Mission of Therese of Lisieux." I'm only a few chapters in, but I have already stumbled upon a gem of a passage that really spoke to my heart:
I am a child of the Church, and the Church is a Queen since she is your Spouse, O Divine King of kings... What this child asks for is Love. She knows only one thing: to love you O Jesus. Astounding works are forbidden to her; she cannot preach the Gospel (like a priest), shed her blood (like a missionary); but what does it matter since her brothers work in her stead and she, a little child, stays very close to the throne of the King and Queen. She loves in her borthers' place while they do the fighting. But how will she prove her love since love is proved by works? Well, the little child will strew flowers, she will perfume the royal throne with their sweet scents and she will sing in her silvery tones the canticle of love.
Yes, my Beloved, this is how my life will be consumed. I have no other means of proving my love for you other than that of strewing flowers, that is, not allowing one little sacrifice to escape, not one look, one word, profiting by all the smallest things and doing them through love. I desire to suffer for love and even to rejoice through love; and in this way I shall strew flowers before Your throne. I shall not come upon one without unpetalling it for You. While I am strewing my flowers, I shall sing, for how could one cry while doing such a joyous action? I shall sing even when I must gather my flowers in the midst of thorns, and my song will be all the more melodious in proportion to the length and sharpness of the thorns.
O Jesus, of what use will my flowers be to You? Ah! I know very will that this fragrant shower, these fragile, worthless petals, these songs of love from the littlest of hearts will charm You. Yes, these nothings will please You. They will bring a smile to the Church Triumphant (the souls in heaven). She will gather up my flowers unpetalled through love and have them pass through Your own divine hands, O Jesus. And this Church in heaven, desirous of playing with her little child, will cast these flowers, which are now infinitely valuable because of Your divine touch, upon the Church Suffering (the souls in purgatory) in order to extinguish its flames, and upon the Church Militant (the souls on earth) in order to gain victory for it.
This passage reminds me that any action done with love, no matter how small, can be like a flower given to Jesus, and can have infinite value to Him and to many other souls. How I wish I could remember that truth when I lose patience with a child, or grumble about getting up to nurse my baby, or get irritated with my husband over some small thing... Oh, St. Therese, please intercede for me to help me learn your "Little Way" of loving joyfully at all times!!! Like a child running to give wildflowers to her daddy, I want my hands to be filled with flowers of love and sacrifice, hoping it will make my Heavenly Father smile.
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