Quote of the day, 13 March: St. Thérèse and Pope Francis
One of the most important insights of Thérèse for the benefit of the entire People of God is her “little way”, the path of trust and love, also known as the way of spiritual childhood. Everyone can follow this way, whatever their age or state in life. It is the way that the heavenly Father reveals to the little ones (cf. Mt 11:25).
In the Story of a Soul, [Cf. Ms C, 2v–3r] Thérèse tells how she discovered the little way: “I can, then, in spite of my littleness, aspire to holiness. It is impossible for me to grow up, and so I must bear with myself such as I am, with all my imperfections. But I want to seek out a means of going to heaven by a little way, a way that is very straight, very short, and totally new”.
To describe that way, she uses the image of an elevator: “the elevator which must raise me to heaven is your arms, O Jesus! And for this, I had no need to grow up, but rather I had to remain little and become this more and more”. Little, incapable of being confident in herself, and yet firmly secure in the loving power of the Lord’s arms.
This is the “sweet way of love” [Cf. Ms A, 84v] that Jesus sets before the little and the poor, before everyone. It is the way of true happiness. In place of a Pelagian notion of holiness [Cf. Apostolic Exhortation Gaudete et Exsultate (19 March 2018), 47–62], individualistic and elitist, more ascetic than mystical, that primarily emphasizes human effort, Therese always stresses the primacy of God’s work, his gift of grace. As a result, she could say: “I always feel, however, the same bold confidence of becoming a great saint, because I don’t count on my merits, since I have none, but I trust in him who is Virtue and Holiness. God alone, content with my weak efforts, will raise me to himself and make me a saint, clothing me in his infinite merits” [Ms A, 32r].
Pope Francis
C’est la confiance, nos. 14–17
Apostolic Exhortation on Confidence in the Merciful Love of God
15 October 2023
Note: With St. Thérèse and the entire Carmelite family, we recall the eleventh anniversary of the election of Pope Francis on 13 March 2013.
Francis 2023, C’est la confiance, Apostolic Exhortation, 15 October, Vatican.va, viewed 11 March 2026, https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/apost_exhortations/documents/20231015-santateresa-delbambinogesu.html.
Featured image: Photo of St. Thérèse and the community, taken by her sister Céline on Easter Monday, 1895. Photo of Pope Francis taken on 27 April 2014 in St. Peter’s Square. Image credits: Wikimedia Commons (Public domain) and Jeffrey Bruno/Aleteia via Flickr (Some rights reserved)
#confidence #love #PopeFrancis #StThereseOfLisieux #trust