Yesterday was the feast day of one of my favorite saints: St. Therese of Lisieux. So in her honor, we had a feast of cupcakes! I found this simple idea of rose-topped cupcakes on the blog "Catholic Cuisine," and I was happy to find a fun (and easy) way to remind my kids of St. Therese's sweet love of Jesus and her heroic life of sacrifice. The more I read about St. Therese's spirituality, the more drawn I am to it and the more I pray that the Lord will give me the grace to fully live it. St. Therese makes "the little way" of loving Jesus and loving others sound so easy, but I am finding it to be SO HARD! I keep re-reading the profound book about her spirituality called "Joy in Suffering" by Bishop Noser, and I know deep down that it is what God is calling my soul to embrace, but I am just so weak. When I read about the myriad ways she finds joy in suffering, my heart exclaims: "Yes!--that's it, that's what I'm going to do!" and then I try to do it...and fail...over and over again. I am thankful that our God is patient and full of mercy. So I will just keep picking myself off the ground, dust off the "knees" of my soul, and try again. St. Therese, pray for me to live the Little Way!
For just a taste of St. Therese's spirituality, here's a paragraph from the book I mentioned above:
Having such an almost boundless confidence in the tender love of her heavenly Father, St. Therese surrendered herself entirely to Him. By "abandonment" she understood the embracing beforehand, blindly and with joy and enthusiasm, of all that it pleased God to send her, no matter how great the suffering involved. Her life was like a blank sheet of paper at the bottom of which she affixed her signature and then placed it in the hands of God, to let Him write thereon all that might please Him, accepting in advance, with joy, whatever He would write, not knowing what it might be, but convinced it would be only for His glory and her own spiritual good. "The good God," she said, "wills that I surrender myself like a very wee child who does not trouble himself as to what will be done with him." In her illness St. Therese confessed: "I am now sick and I shall never recover. But I am at peace. For a long time past I have not belonged to myself; I am wholly surrendered to Jesus. If it please Him, I am content to have my suffering prolonged for years... Ever since I have given up ALL self-seeking, I lead the happiest life possible." (page 58)
St. Therese, pray for us to have your childlike faith and trust in God,
and such boundless, contagious JOY like you and my sweet son Nathanael have! :)
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