Memorial of Saint
Thérèse of the Child Jesus, Virgin and Doctor of the Church
(Job 9:1-12.14-16; Luke 9:57-62)
In the first reading Job asks, “How can a man be
justified before God?” He is quite aware that humanly speaking it is
impossible, that human beings show ingratitude every time they veer from doing
God’s will. But all is not lost. St. Thérèse shows us that there is still hope
for us whether we are great sinners or almost saints.
St. Thérèse wanted to do great things for Christ,
specifically to work in the missions.
But she was restricted from acting like Mother Teresa of Calcutta
because of her status as a nun. Nevertheless,
she was able to see that doing great things is not necessary for
justification. Indeed, by itself being a
missionary, a philanthropist or anything else will not merit
justification. One has to throw oneself
on the mercy of Christ to be justified. This
is done by conforming oneself to Christ in the everyday matters of life.
We can so conform ourselves to Christ by following what
has become known as St. Thérèse “little way.”
We will get up every morning and dedicate the day to him. We will honor Christ in every person we meet. And we will pray with Christ to the Father for
the forgiveness of our sins.
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