The Power of the Little Way

Pearl: “For His sake, I have accepted the loss of all things, and I consider them so much rubbish that I may gain Christ and be found in Him.” -Philippians 3:8-9

These words from St. Paul’s letter to the Philippians are very much in line with the life of the saint we remember today: St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus, or the “Little Flower.”

St. Thérèse was raised in Lisieux, France, in the nineteenth century. She entered the Carmelites when she was fifteen and passed away from tuberculosis in 1897 at just twenty-four years of age.

Pope John Paul II declared her a Doctor of the Church in 1997, even though her writings consisted of just one book—her autobiography—which is only 192 pages in length.

Like her life (short yet powerful), her book The Story of a Soul was more than just her autobiography; it lays out how she developed her spirituality, a strategy to love God in all the “Little Ways” of life.

Thérèse believed that she was too small to accomplish great things for God and chose to make small sacrifices to God with great love in everything she did.

She wrote,


This statement reflects her Little Way: seeking holiness by totally surrendering herself to God and having complete trust in His love and mercy.

The simplicity of life that she lived and teaches in her book is more popular in our hectic world today than ever before. It’s a way of life that is very countercultural but very attractive to many people because it brings us the peace, hope, and rest that God freely offers all of us (versus the chaos, despair, and busyness that seem so prevalent in our modern culture).

Now, saying we want to live a simple life with Jesus as our focus is one thing... living it is another.

As St. Thérèse said, we must choose God as our All—our Everything—every day.

There’s a consistency in practicing our faith that’s important if we want to steadily grow in our relationship with Jesus. Without consistently spending time with the Lord (in Mass, in prayer, in Scripture study, in regular confession, and striving to continually learn more about our faith), it’s difficult to grow.

We tend to get complacent and stuck in our spiritual immaturity, but it’s not easy, and it doesn’t happen overnight.

In diaconate formation, we had a retreat given by Father Albert Haase, who was the chaplain at Cedarbrake at the time.

He made a statement that really struck me and fits perfectly into the “Little Way” of St. Thérèse.


Let me repeat that:


In the Gospel, Jesus points out that following His example and living a life where He is more important than anything else is tough, and it takes a commitment that many aren’t prepared to make.

Jesus and His disciples were on a journey, and one said to Him, “I will follow You wherever You go.”

Jesus was like, Oh yeah?
“Foxes have dens and birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to rest His head.”
Do you still want to follow Me?

To another, Jesus said, “Follow Me.”
He replied, “Well uh, oh yeah, Lord, let me go first and bury my father.”
Another said, “I will follow You, Lord, but first let me say farewell to my family.”

Excuses, excuses, excuses... we all have them.

In this Scripture, we see that even those who were actually with Jesus found excuses not to follow Him if things didn’t work out exactly as they expected.

I remember back in high school, a coach once told me, “Excuses are like ears; everybody has them.”

He was right, and unfortunately, that applies to our life of faith as well.

Even those in the Gospel who were asked by Jesus Himself to go and proclaim the Kingdom of God still found excuses to get out of it.

My friends, this world is passing away fast, and we personally are passing away even faster.

Worldly things (even good things) are here today and gone tomorrow, yet in many ways we often make them our gods.

Instead, let us focus our lives on Jesus—the One who is God—following the simple, consistent Little Way to the heart of Jesus that St. Thérèse taught.

Let us truly surrender ourselves to the Lord Jesus (body, mind, and soul) daily, so that soon we may proclaim with all our hearts and truly mean it when we say:


Amen!