Tuesday, October 1, 2024

Memorial of Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus, virgin and Doctor of the Church

(Job 3:1-3.11-17.20-23; Luke 9:51-56)

St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus has been acclaimed far more illustriously than anyone who knew her would have imagined.  She lived most of her life in a small town in Francie.  The last part she spent in a Carmel praying night and day.  Yet she has been named the patroness of missionaries, the patroness of France, and a Doctor of the Church!  How did this come about?

Thérèse expressed a desire to be a missionary nun in Hanoi Vietnam.  However, her tuberculosis condition prohibited her from volunteering herself.  Instead, she devoted herself to praying for missionaries throughout the world.  She tells the story of her inner life in her autobiography, The Story of a Soul.  The book is filled with such profound spiritual insights that she is considered a Master of Theology.  What is more, her life of prayer and self-sacrifice has made her an exemplar of Christian life.

Thérèse makes us aware of the humbling truth that we too can become saints.  We do not need a degree in theology, much less to be ordained to live a gospel-centered life as she did.  But we need to pray for the grace to be humble, patient, and, of course, caring of others.

Tuesday, September 24, 2024

Tuesday of the Twenty-fifth Week in Ordinary Time

(Proverbs 21:1-6.10-13; Luke 8:19-21)

“The Lord is kind and merciful” one of the psalms says.  God’s people are to imitate these qualities. The Book of Proverbs can be seen as their text with Jesus as their great teacher.

Humility, the virtue of thinking less of oneself and more of others, is vital to the task.  So, today’s passage from Proverbs says that “haughty eyes and a proud heart” lead to sin.  Attention to the needs of others leads to both mercy and kindness.  So, we read that one is not to shut his or her “ear to the cry of the poor.”

Long ago, children watching on TV “The Mickey Mouse Club” were told that proverbs make them “better Mouseketeers.”  It did not have to be said, but it is true, that a good Mouseketeer is also a healthy child of God.