Therese2002 - Reflection 2

SAINT THERESE OF LISIEUX CENTENARY REFLECTIONS
AUSTRALIAN DISCALCED CARMELITES NO. 10

My Vocation is Love

THE SECRETS OF JESUS AND
THE POWER OF LOVE IN THE CHURCH

True love is always concerned with providing for the needs of the person who is loved: just tell me what needs to be done and I will do it; just tell me what you are searching for and I will do whatever I can to help you find it; just give me the message and I will communicate it. The desire to provide for the needs of that other person can lead to a frustrating discovery - we cannot always answer the needs of the person whom we love; we can never be the complete and perfect answer to all that the other person is searching for in their life. Love often leads us to discover our own limitations as we face and try to answer the deep needs of that other person. St. Therese had a similar experience in her desire to answer Jesus. She experienced her limitations but she did not become disheartened. Instead she focused her attention on the real presence of the love that awakened her desires:
No doubt, these three privileges sum up my true vocation: Carmelite, Spouse, Mother, and yet I feel within me other vocations. I feel the vocation of the WARRIOR, THE PRIEST, THE APOSTLE, THE DOCTOR, THE MARTYR. Finally, I feel the need and the desire of carrying out the most heroic deeds for You, O Jesus. I feel within my soul the courage of the Crusader, the Papal Guard, and I would want to die on the field of battle in defense of the Church.
- Story of a Soul, chapter 9
Whenever Therese writes about the love of God she often uses images that speak of overpowering force that cannot be held back: the merciful love of God is a wave within which a person might be lost as a victim of love; the Trinity is an Eternal Fire that consumes with love. Therese lived with a maturing sense of God powerfully reaching out with merciful love in answer to the deepest needs of the world. She experienced herself as being drawn into the action of God loving the world.
We hear this young Carmelite nun, at the end of the 19th Century, writing about her desire to live all the vocations of the Church. Gradually, with the help of St. Paul's words in I Corinthians, Therese came to see that she felt these vocations within her heart because she shared in the power that gave life, direction and meaning to Warriors, Priests, Apostles, Doctors and Martyrs:
Charity gave me the key to my vocation. I understood that if the Church had a body composed of different members, the most necessary and most noble of all could not be lacking to it, and so I understood that the Church had a Heart and that this Heart was BURNING WITH LOVE. I understood it was Love alone that made the Church's members act, that if Love ever became extinct, apostles would not preach the Gospel and martyrs would not shed their blood. I understood that LOVE COMPRISED ALL VOCATIONS, THAT LOVE WAS EVERYTHING, THAT IT EMBRACED ALL TIMES AND PLACES. Then, in the excess of my delirious joy, I cried out: O Jesus, my Love .... my vocation, at last I have found it ....
MY VOCATION IS LOVE! - Story of a Soul, chapter 9
Therese makes a very important connection between her own life and the overall life of the Church. If we were to ask Therese "what is the Church?" what answer would she give? The heart of the Church is LOVE. The Church is kept alive by LOVE. In a great act of love God comes to be with us, and share in our life, in Jesus. All who receive the gift of Jesus' presence, through faith, are drawn together to become the community of believers known as the Church. The Presence of Jesus and His loving work seeks to reach out into the world through the Church. The Church is always meant to be a sign and an instrument of the powerful presence of Jesus loving all the people of the world. This LOVE is the life-giving force that makes all the good works, brave deeds and powerful preaching possible. In answer to the question "what can I do as a Christian?" the starting point must always be love: feed on the love that Jesus has for you and pray for the freedom to respond to the prompting of His Love.
I understand so well that it is only love which makes us acceptable to God that this love is the only good I ambition. Jesus deigned to show me the road that leads to this Divine Furnace, and this road is the surrender of the little child who sleeps without fear in its Father's arms. - Story of a Soul, chapter 9
The market-place has its own rules. If we wish to possess a product then we must have the right amount of money to pay for it. If a performer wants to make a profit then he must show enough skill to be of interest to the people passing by. The market-place teaches us that we cannot gain anything unless we have enough money and we cannot earn what we need unless we have enough skill. We can often be tempted to think about holiness in the same way. Someone might say to us, "Follow the example of the saints…" but how often do we reply, "It was easy for them ... they were saints and I am far from being one! God worked in their lives in a powerful and obvious way and God has never been so obvious in my life!"
Therese knew that the true heart of holiness was not found in powerful gifts or visions or spiritual fame. Once again she turned her mind to the image of a child and the loving Father to uncover the key to holiness. A child feels most at home, and far less self-conscious, when in a loving environment. The child is most fully alive and most fully himself or herself where there is love. Therese knew that we all live in the environment of God's love. God is not a passer-by who will only stop and give us attention if we have certain skills or gifts. God is not a market keeper who will only give us what we want if we have enough to pay. God is a devoted Father always ready to catch us when we jump into His arms, always lovingly fascinated with the small things that we bring to Him, always concerned with our healing whenever we fall. The truth is we can do very little and yet we are loved very much. Each of us is called to receive and surrender to the great love of God. Our small, limited human hearts then become powerful instruments of Jesus' love reaching into the world.
O Jesus! why can't I tell all little souls how unspeakable is Your condescension? I feel that if You found a soul weaker and littler than mine, which is impossible, You would be pleased to grant it still greater favors, provided it abandoned itself with total confidence to Your Infinite Mercy. But why do I desire to communicate Your secrets of Love, O Jesus, for was it not You alone who taught them to me, and can You not reveal them to others? Yes, I know it, and I beg You to do it. I beg You to cast Your Divine Glance upon a great number of little souls. I beg You to choose a legion of little Victims worthy of Your LOVE!
- Story of a Soul, chapter 9
In the song of Mary, the Magnificat, we hear a truth that is often mentioned in the Scriptures. Mary sings that the Lord "looks on His Servant in her lowliness... He casts the mighty from their thrones and raises the lowly ...He fills the starving with good things, sends the rich away empty." St. Therese knew that God particularly favours the small, the lowly and those with the deepest needs. If we feel that we are small with little to offer, or if we sometimes feel that we have achieved little in our lives, then we might find a new source of confidence in the words of St. Therese. God desires to give great love and mercy to the small and the lowly.

A PRAYER WITH EMPTY HANDS

Heavenly Father in answer to our need you gave us life and love through the gift of your Son Jesus. He reached out in love wherever healing love was needed.
1n our emptiness let us receive Jesus and offer Him to you O heavenly Father
and may our emptiness become a channel of your love for the world.
May St. Therese assist us through her prayers. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

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