Why The Story of Your Souls?

For those who aren't familiar with the precious saint in Heaven, St. Therese of Lisieux, you should be. She's amazing. Under the direction of her Mother Superior (also, her biological sister, Pauline), she wrote an autobiography called, The Story Of A Soul.

Saint Therese encouraged souls to live in a little way (hereby known as The Little Way. Clever, eh?). She knew she would do no great deeds for Our Lord. Few are called to. Of course there are great saints who lead armies, write Summas (what? You haven't yet?), lead nations, lead Holy Mother Church, but most of us aren't called to that. 

The Little Way is an image that tries to capture Therese's understanding of being a disciple of Our Lord, of seeking holiness of life in the ordinary and the everyday. She based her little way on two fundamental convictions: first, God shows love by mercy and forgiveness, and second, she could not be perfect in following Our Lord. Therese translated The Little Way in terms of a commitment to the tasks and to the people we meet in our everyday lives - giving these things all our, simply for the love of Our Lord. 

In living out her life of faith she sensed that everything that she was able to accomplish came from the generous love of God in her life. She was convinced that at the end of her life she would go to God with empty hands. Why? Because all was accomplished in union with God.

So, that, dear friends, is why I half-way plagiarized the name of a famous saint's book - our family has clung to the way of life that St. Therese teaches. 

We do every little task for the love of God. In fact, as we begin each day with our girls, we come up with the day's rules. The very first one is always, without fail, "Do everything we do today, for the love of God." 

It's kind of hard to be uncharitable to one's husband when you have on the forefront of your mind that you're being rude and short for the love of God. Wait, what? (Please note: do not ask Mr. B how many times I am rude and short to him in a week. It is never. Never, I say.)

We're not famous. We're not brilliant (though I contend Mr. B is, he's just pretty quiet about it most of the time). We're not wealthy. We're not called to great works.  We go to school, go to work, clean the bathrooms, wash the dishes, fold the laundry, wipe a face, hold a hand, get up repeatedly in the middle of the night, wake up early, and even say our prayers when we don't want to, simply because these things please Our Lord.

St. Catherine of Siena (who I am sure is a great bud of St. Therese up in Heaven!) once said, "If you are what you should be, you will set the whole world ablaze."

Mr. B is called to be a Catholic husband, a Catholic father, a Catholic student, and eventually, a Catholic lawyer. He does all he does to be the best of those he can be. He grows in holiness through doing the best he can at all of these, and doing so FOR the love of Our Lord. He offers up every annoyance, sacrifice, hardship, and pain of being those things, along with all joys and triumphs. And it is through that, that we pray for his eventual sainthood.

I'm called to be a Catholic wife, a Catholic mother, a Catholic homemaker. I do it with love (failing time and time again!). I pray that doing so in the Little Way leads me to Heaven.

Don't think your children get out of this, either! St. Therese was only 24 when she died. Children are called to obey parents and be students and good sisters or brothers. They can live The Little Way just as easily as adults!

And since I'm trying to dutifully live out The Little Way, I should probably get off the computer and feed my clamoring children dinner. 

St. Therese, pray of us!

source for The Little Way explanation: http://www.romancatholicism.org/therese2.htm