St. Therese of Lisieux, The Story of a Soul, and Our Work

This year, the traditional observance of the Feast of St. Therese of Lisieux falls on one of our usual blog post days. So let's re-read a post from the past the helps us appreciate: The Little Flower herself; and important spiritual work she left us, The Story of a Soul; how she and her writing can help us in our daily work. (Ignore the first sentence reference to "yesterday." But do pay attention to what follows.)

...we celebrate the feast of St Therese of Lisieux, aka "The Little Flower." It's one of my favorite feast days, having read her The Story of a Soul. I highly recommend it to all of you. You will understand what a dimunitive cloistered Carmelite nun who died at the age of 24 in the 19th century can teach us Catholic men about work.

In the event that you've allowed "The "Little Flower" sobriquet to sway you to thinking of St Therese in a kind of sweet, sentimental way, as so many do, "Fuggetaboudit!" Pope St John Paul II named her a Doctor of the Church where she takes her place next to such manly spiritual figures as St John Chrysostom, St Thomas Aquinas, and St Robert Bellarmine. She may have been short in stature, but that's no reason to sell her short.

Read "The Story of a Soul" and you will learn what her "Little Way" really means. Sounds kind of quaint, but the only thing "Little" about it is it's emphasis on the ordinary thoughts, words, and actions of daily life. As we've discussed many times in previous posts, this is usually where the rubber meets the road for most of us regular folks as we try to live good and holy lives in this world. The reason that's the case is simply that most of us haven't been called on to perform great deeds on the world stage, or write immortal words that will be read by subsequent generations, or face death if we don't deny Our Lord. (At least so far that's not the case here in the U.S.)

Read her words and you'll find her "Little Way" to be one of mortification, self-denial, and self-control. It challenges our self-will, self-love, and our typical love of ease and comfort. Are you willing to take on that challenge?

Once you read and meditate on the words contained in "The Story of a Soul," you'll understand the influence the Little Way of St Therese has had on all our posts where we talk about finding opportunities for mortification in our daily work. And that's where St Therese and her daily life as a cloistered life as a nun intersects with our daily work.

Most of us work each day far from the limelight. No one cares what we think about politics or military affairs. We're not setting economic policy, leading a giant multinational corporation, or opining about any of these items in the media. We live more or less "hidden" lives, invisible to the eyes of the world. Yet every thought, word, and action of every day of our lives will determine whether or not we get to Heaven. In addition, we will likely influence the lives of others, not only those of family and friends, but also those with whom we come in contact at work.

Given these undeniable facts, what sort of behavior do you suppose would more likely assist us in our journey to Heaven: self-denial or self-indulgence? Would we more likely influence others in a positive way - in a manner that helps them in their journey to Heaven - if our thoughts, words, and actions exhibit self-will, self-love, and a love of ease and comfort?

Discover the real Little Flower and you'll find her to be an impressive, courageous and challenging example for us men as we go about our business every day. It will be well-worth your time.