Memorial of Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus, Virgin and Doctor of the Church
At the beginning of the book of Nehemiah, we hear of how the ruined state of the Temple and holy city had left its impact on Nehemiah’s heart. He cannot hide the sadness that this causes him, and so the king of Persia whom Nehemiah serves asks him what might restore his joy. Nehemiah can only think to ask for time and resources to rebuild those holy places that lay in ruins. In the Gospel, people are drawn to follow Jesus, and Christ reveals the impact of His mission on His heart. The need to build up anew the souls which He loves so much consumes His attention. Thinking about where he will sleep, or even where the remains of relatives will rest, comes second to proclaiming the Kingdom of God.
Today’s saint, Thérèse of the Child Jesus, who lived her brief life as a cloistered Carmelite, is also known as the patroness of the missionary works of the Church. The building up of the Church, the reconciling of sinners with Christ, the needs of her closest neighbors (her sisters in Carmel), consumed this little nun’s heart. She was on fire with proclaiming the Kingdom of God. Yet how did she do it from her small Carmelite house in France? By her love. Saint Thérèse did the littlest of things, even down to picking up a little pin that another sister had dropped, with the intention of having all of her actions be done out of her love for God and her love for her neighbor. Let us ask this powerful intercessor, the Little Flower, to pray for us that we may let the needs of souls touch our hearts too, and that we may dedicate our actions to being done out of love for those souls and for our Lord.