Memorial of Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus, virgin and doctor of the Church
Today begins the first of six days in which the Church will be reading from the Old Testament book of Job. Describing the trials of the protagonist, Job, a pious and upright man, this book faces the mystery of human suffering. Despite significant loss, suffering, and personal anguish, Job retains his humility and trust in God. In today’s first reading, in what seems to be an instant, Job loses his oxen, his sheep, his camels, nearly all of herdsmen and shepherds, and his sons and daughters. Holding fast to his faith, Job responds by saying, “The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” As disciples, how do we respond to suffering?
Appropriately, today is also the Memorial of Saint Therese of the Child Jesus, Carmelite Nun and thirty third Doctor of the Church. This summer I had the opportunity to read a good portion of her autobiography, “The Story of a Soul,” in which St. Therese describes her spirituality with vivid detail and profound simplicity. Facing childhood illnesses that included a continual headache and a coma that would last for hours on end, St. Therese suffered much, and after nine years of living a hidden life as a cloistered nun, St. Therese died of tuberculosis at the age of 24 years old. With so much potential and so much faith, it’s easy to look upon St. Therese’s life with respect to her suffering and early death and ask, “Why?”
I am absolutely amazed by St. Therese’s attitude toward suffering and her understanding of the purpose of suffering. In my favorite quote of her autobiography thus far, St. Therese characterizes the whole of her life by saying, “I knew that to become a Saint, one had to suffer much, always aim at perfection and forget oneself. I saw that one could be a Saint in varying degrees, for we are free to respond to Our Lord’s invitation by doing much or little in our love for Him; to choose, that is, among the sacrifices He asks… I choose everything; my God, I do not want to be a Saint by halves. I am not afraid to suffer for Your sake; I only fear doing my own will, so I give it to You and choose everything You will.” Yes, to be a follower of Christ, we are called to follow Our Lord to the Cross.
The reality of suffering is difficult to understand and is indeed a mystery. In the verses preceding today’s Gospel reading from Luke, the disciples themselves struggle with understanding Jesus’ predicted Passion. In today’s Gospel, as the disciples argue among themselves regarding who was the greatest, Jesus responds by saying, “For the one who is least among all of you is the one who is the greatest.” This paradox reaffirms that we must humble ourselves as disciples. Jesus himself shows us the way by His Cross and His own suffering. Once again, we can also turn to the example of St. Therese who, in her humility, described herself not as having the splendor of the rose, but as the “little flower gathered by Jesus.”
Attending a Healing Mass at Immaculate Conception Parish this past Wednesday, I was faced with two realities as I witnessed individuals receive healing for mental, physical, and spiritual ailments: the reality of suffering and the reality of God. I left with no doubt that Christ was close by- present in both the lives of those suffering and in the healing they received. Today, let us pray for the grace to unite our own sufferings with Christ on the Cross, where we find our hope, our strength, our purpose, and our healing. In humility, may we choose everything He wills for our lives, find peace in His sovereignty, and respond to our trials with the attitude of St. Therese and the words of Job, “blessed be the name of the Lord!” Saint Therese, pray for us. Amen.
-Ryan J. Mahle