Francois Jamart OCD, St. Thérèse of Lisieux.
The French Carmelite Saint Thérèse of Lisieux is affectionately known as the Little Flower. Named a Doctor of the Universal Church by Saint Pope John Paul II in 1997, she joined the formidable ranks of Hildegard of Bingen, Catherine of Siena, and Teresa of Ávila as an authentic teacher of the faith. Her little way of spiritual childhood, as it is called, continues to inspire men and women from all walks of life in the Science of Divine Love.
The Complete Spiritual Doctrine of St. Thérèse of Lisieux by Rev. François Jamart OCD, published in 1958, was one of the first, and still considered, definitive guides to the Little Flower’s thought. In plain language, Father François covers both Thérèse’s teachings and the biographical details of her short life illuminating her stated vocation to be love in the heart of the Church.
Thérèse writes that trusting even to audacity in the goodness of God is an interior disposition, which makes us humble and little in his sight. In turn, this child-like trust that expects reception and attention is most pleasing to God. Like a little boy or girl raising its eyes and arms in hope of being lifted up, it looks into the Face of Love itself for guidance.
To abandon ourselves to God is to hand over the entirety of our lives to his loving care. For God, our Father, takes a lively interest in the smallest details of our personal world. Nothing is trivial to the One who seeks our growth and happiness. Surrendering therefore to God is the greatest act of faith and of the greatest practical consequence.
“The proper characteristic of love is that it stoops down… it must stoop down even to nothingness and transform that nothingness into fire” says the Little Flower. Accordingly, “The best rule [for living] is that we should follow what love inspires us to do from moment to moment, with the sole desire of pleasing the good Lord in everything he asks of us.”
If Christianity is concerned with the excellence and salvation of the human person, humble surrender to God is the first step on the road to that blessed end. In asking God to come close and lead me, I am magnified, strengthened, and made more luminous, like a small child in a Father’s arms, by the gift of his smiling presence.
At that time the disciples approached Jesus and said, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” He called a child over, placed it in their midst, and said, “Amen, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 8:1-4)
