A Taste of the Spirituality of the Little Way
1 October 2023, Feast of St Therese of the Child Jesus
Reading the personal journal I have kept since high school I found out that in 1982 I have actually copied some lines that struck me while reading the book “The Story of a Soul” recommended to me by my friend and batchmate Julius Kei Kato. The following lines are therefore what St Therese of the Child Jesus wrote in her journal one day, somehow describing at the same time summarizing her own spirituality of the little way.
“I care now about one thing only – to love you my Jesus.”
“Love proves itself by deeds. So how am I to show my love? Well, I will scatter flowers, perfuming the divine throne with their fragrance, and I’ll sweetly sing my hymns of love. Yes, my Beloved, that is how I’ll spend my short life. The only way I can prove my love is by scattering flowers and those flowers are every little sacrifice, every glance and word, and the doing of the least of actions for love. I wish both to suffer and find joy through love. Thus will I scatter my flowers. I will never find one without plucking its petals for you and I shall sing, sing without ceasing even if I have to gather my roses from the midst of thorns. And the larger and sharper the thorns, the sweeter my song will be.”
(Excerpts from “The Story of a Soul” – Autobiography of St Therese of Lisieux)
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