This can be summed up by the way she lived her life. St. Thérèse de Lisieux grew up in an ordinary family. Amidst the sorrowful realities of the loss of her mother and then of each of her older sisters joining a religious order, she consistently experienced some sense of loss. Because of these realities and her dependence on Christ, she discerned her call to religious life at the tender age of 16. Even though she was very young and it was not a norm to accept someone of that age in most religious orders, she sought permission from the bishop and even requested permission from the Pope to enter early. With much prayer and the Lord’s divine will at play, she was accepted.

In the silence of the convent, she experienced many struggles, both with some of the sisters and with her declining health, which would eventually lead to her early death. St. Thérèse, after struggling with tuberculosis, would succumb to the disease at the age of 24. Within her community she was known to be a saintly woman, and it was through her short yet very profound experience of the convent, that she wrote The Little Way of Love. This would become a masterpiece that would change much of the centuries to follow, for it presented a way to sanctity that not many would have thought possible.

Many of us would generally say that we could never be saints. St. Thérèse thought the same thing. She thought about her littleness and compared it to the great saints like St. Teresa of Avila, whom she aspired to be like, and St. John of the Cross. These “titans” among the saints who helped in the post-reformation of the Church and would bring spiritual insights unseen in their time were too big. She would describe feeling like a little bird and saw those amazing saints of the past as great eagles. Hence, she thought there would be no way to be a saint like them, and thus in prayer and union with our Lord, the Lord would reveal to her the little way of love. It is rooted in this fact: we are too weak and little, and thus I need God to make me big; I need God to lift me up and lead me to the greatness He desires for me. 

This, I would say, is not so different from previous saints, in that all depended on God of course, but what this brought to light in a more contemporary way, was that I needed to begin with my “smallness” before God. In other words, I had to recognize my finitude before Him and allow Him to work in my life. This led to the reality of the Little Way of Love. For in our smallness, we then must begin this path of sanctity, with God’s grace, in the most simple and smallest acts of love in my life. Sanctity was not just associated with amazing acts of heroism and great acts of love and sacrifice. Holiness is achieved beginning with the smallest acts of love in my life. Consequently, I did not have to despair in that I am so far away from these great big saints, but I have hope of still being a saint amidst the acts of love in my daily life with all that I do. Whether it be at work, in school, while shopping for food, or playing sports, I can act in a holy way in all these places with the smallest and simplest acts of love.

Even though some may think this is obvious, how many of us act in this manner? This is what made St. Thérèse such a wonderful saint and doctor of the Church for our time. For she lived it out fully within the cloister of the convent walls. Unseen, unknown, and yet full of the Spirit of God which led her to great holiness. This is one of the many reasons I have come to have a great love for St. Thérèse. She reminded me that sanctity begins now. Doing all things with great love. May we live in this manner, for sanctity, and most importantly heaven is never too far away. Always remembering, “the world is thy ship, not thy home.”