My apologies for uploading late this week.

I had a problem with my laptop and it took me more

than 3 days to fix it. By His grace I was able to and I am very grateful.
This week’s blog is about my favorite saint, St. Therese of Lisieux (a.k.a. The Little Flower, and
St. Therese of the Child Jesus). I was familiar with her name, but I only got to know her more
when I read the wonderful book written by Fr. Jacques Philippe—The Way of Trust and Love.
God sent the book to me during those times when the storms in my life seem to be insufferable
and I do not know what to make of them. St. Therese through Fr. Jacques made me see my
sufferings as something that I can use to strengthen my faith in God, and that I can trust in
God’s Divine Providence.
Before anything else, allow me to share St. Therese’ brief background. Her name is Therese
Martin. She was born on January 2, 1873 to Louis and Zelie Martin, and she grew up at Alencon
and then Lisieux, in northern France. She was the youngest of nine children and it was said that
she suffered a lot during her childhood. Her mother died of breast cancer at the age of four, then
at the age of ten, she had a serious sickness which was cured by the smile of the Virgin Mary.
When she was 14, on Christmas night 1886, she had a conversion that enabled her to enter the
Carmelite convent at the age of 15. At the age of 24, she died on September 30,1897 of
tuberculosis.
I do not know everything about St. Therese, but I will be discussing a few points about what I
know about her teachings. Basically, these principles made me choose her as my Patron Saint:
1. The call for holiness is for everyone. This is the “little way” St. Therese is particularly
known for. She believed that “holiness is not an exceptional path, but a call to all
Christians, from which nobody can be excluded. Even the weakest and most wretched of
men can answer the call to holiness”. She also said that, “God could not inspire us with
desires that were unrealizable”. Perhaps, to many holiness seems unattainable if not
impossible. But she urges us to put up with our imperfections. She further emphasized
that it is Jesus’ arms that will lift us up to Heaven. That we do not need to grow up, on
the contrary, we need to stay little, to become more and more little.
2. To stay little is to stay humble. Humility is “receiving everything from God in trust, prayer
and simplicity”. It is “consenting to receive everything necessary from God’s hand, day
by day, without worrying about either the past or the future”. It also means “recognizing
everything good and beautiful in my life (my qualities, the good I can do, and so on), as a
gift from God”. Finally, it is “to accept ourselves as we are, to love ourselves as we are”.
3. The path of littleness is the path of trust. Total trust in God’s goodness and faithfulness
is at the center of holiness. St. Therese said that, “What offends Jesus, what wounds his
heart, is lack of trust.”
4. We nourish our trust in God by prayer and studying God’s word. “We have to make time
for a heart-to-heart conversation with God. God does not ask us to pray ‘well’ but he
does invite us to pray without getting tired of it or becoming discouraged.” St. Therese
also emphasized about the Gospel, that it is “always new, a new light. We get shut up
inside our habits, routines, mistrustfulness, mediocre aims, and lukewarmness; in the
face of all of that, the Gospel is always a new word.”
5. We should never doubt God’s forgiveness. We should not only ask for forgiveness, but
also receive it and believe in it. We should do all we can to avoid sin, and when aware of
having sinned, we should tell God we are sorry and ask him to forgive us. To do that, it is
 good to go to confession regularly, at least once a month if possible. We should always
do this with boundless trust in God’s mercy. There are no limits to God’s forgiveness.
6. We should live one day at a time. A necessary expression of trust is self-abandonment
in the present moment. Abandonment is “not to go endlessly over the past, but leave it
entirely to God and his mercy. Not to torment ourselves about tomorrow, but entrust it to
his Providence”. St. Therese urges us to “live today as we should, according to the paths
of the Kingdom, in trust and simplicity, seeking God and abandoning ourselves to him”.
And God will take care of the rest.
7. Gratitude should be our way of life. “The more trust we have, the more we thank God for
the way our lives are going, even if plenty of things aren’t exactly as we would like, the
more we will advance in holiness. If we give thanks for what we have already received,
we will receive a lot more, and in the end we’ll see our hearts being filled to overflowing.”
8. Every trial is a trial of faith, hope, and love. We are invited to respond by deciding to
have faith: “I believe! I continue to trust God! Even though I can’t see, even though I
don’t feel anything, even though appearances are against it, I decide to believe. I will
believe that God is faithful, that he will not let me fall, that he can draw something
positive out of everything that is happening to me.” Every trial is also a trial of hope. It
can become a path of life, for Christ has risen from the dead and is present everywhere,
sowing the seeds of new life in every situation. Even in those that seem most negative
and most desperate, God is present. The answer we’re invited to give is: “I’m counting
on the Lord, I’m expecting help from him. That doesn’t mean I’m not going to apply all
the human resources available, but at the deepest level I abandon myself into God’s
hands, and it is in him that I hope”. Every trial is a trial of love: “In every trial there is also
a certain purification of love: love for God, love for ourselves, or love for our neighbor.
It’s not to destroy love, but so that love becomes deeper, truer, more evangelical and,
basically, happier”.
Most of the thoughts I gathered were from the book of Fr. Jacques. I believe that the eight
points summarize the main points of the book and the teaching of St. Therese. By the way, as I
was writing this blog entry, I have come to read that St. Therese also consecrated herself to the
Blessed Virgin. In a way, I felt that everything in my life is always leading to the Mama Mary. All
these leadings of course only lead me closest to Christ, her Son.
I hope this article inspired you to trust in God like a child. Do not ever forget that you are His
child, and you have God as your Father.
Lastly, before I end, I hope you have your Patron Saint by now. If you still haven’t, pray about it,
I am sure you have one of your own, a companion that Jesus gave you as you go along you
journey home.

“I wish to spend my Heaven in doing good on earth.”

“Trust works miracles.”
P.S. Please follow my blog or hit like if this article has helped you in a way. Thank you and God
bless!