What we must do is strive for holiness in our everyday lives and place our trust in God. Her “Little Way” reminds us that anyone can become a saint, whether they are a garbage truck driver, a sales clerk at a retail store, or even a retired grandparent. Thérèse never left the Carmelite monastery, didn’t become a martyr, and would have been lost to history if it weren’t for her autobiography. But should you cease to raise your foot, you will be left for long on the earth. From the top of the ladder He looks lovingly upon you, and soon, touched by your fruitless efforts, He will Himself come down, and, taking you in His Arms, will carry you to His Kingdom never again to leave Him. This nine day Novena is an excellent way to prepare for the the feast day of Saint Therese of the Child Jesus, one of the greatest saints of the modern era. Always keep lifting your foot to climb the ladder of holiness, and do not imagine that you can mount even the first step. It is all in vain, and at each renewed effort he falls. He had no interest in reading it, believing it was just. In his desire to reach the top of the stairs to find his mother, he lifts his little foot to climb the first step. While there, the reverend mother presented him with a copy of the Little Flower's autobiography. You make me think of a little child that is learning to stand but does not yet know how to walk. This is sometimes difficult, but God never refuses the first grace-courage for self-conquest and if the soul correspond to that grace, she at once finds herself in God’s sunlight.įrequently she would recall the image of a little child and how we should be that child, trusting in our loving Father, always striving for Heaven, even when we make mistakes. This “Little Way,” consisted in performing “little virtues,” not seeking grandiose sacrifices to God, but little acts of holiness. I must bear with myself and my many imperfections but I will seek out a means of getting to Heaven by a little way-very short and very straight, a little way that is wholly new. I concluded that God would not inspire desires which could not be realized, and that I may aspire to sanctity in spite of my littleness. Thérèse trusted in God and believed that it was in her “littleness” that she could become a saint.

St therese little flower autobiography