“Our weakness is essential in our relationship with God.”- Mary Katherine Deschamp states in “Embracing the Little Way of St. Therese’”at blessedisshe.net. Striking a cord deep within me because I find myself believing that I am strong enough to accomplish Our Lord’s work and mine independently. Then, it is made abundantly clear that I am not. I am weak.
I find I have grit and determination, which I have developed over time. I can possibly can even push through certain tough and trying situations. Ultimately, I must let go of my will and use my grit to rely on God in order to do His will and contribute my all through Him. The term grit is a newer term but old mentality simply describing that idea that pushing through the tough times actually makes us stronger and more able to handle difficult situations in the future. Hence, we develop grit over time. We grasp our weakness in these times, regardless of whether we are able to push through. When we experience our own weakness we understand and learn how completely we depend on God for everything.
Deschamp says later in her article, “The weaker” (and I would argue, lower) “we are the more space there is for God to work in us and thorough us…I want Christ to fill every part of me.” This idea resounds so beautifully to me but the reality of it is, that at this very moment, I am not there yet. There are still places of me that I am having a hard time loving and handing over to Christ. I know in my mind that He is the ultimate artist and shaper of our lives, but curiously I still desire control over some areas of me and my life. I am not sure that it is any particular part of me, however, I am hanging on to my ‘all’.
My mind says ‘I’ still need ‘some’ when in reality I need nothing other than Christ. He sustains me, supplying for and nurturing all my needs. When He rests in me, my soul quiets. Peace, love, and joy abound in me which is unmistakably His. He is all I require, all I need. If only my mind could embrace this entirely. I am little. He is all. It is imperative that I surrender my all and my littleness to allow Him to be all through me. I am nothing without God who loves me and desires only the best for me and those I love.
I fundamentally need to trust in this love and surrender all that I am for Our Lord. When I yield, Christ can dwell in every part of me and all that I do, in each and every moment of the day. His love will fill me and allow me to say yes with love and joy. He will guide me on His path to holiness, my efforts will be blessed, and graces will abound because He is all.
I allow Him to be my all. All is enough. God is enough. I need to seek nothing aside from Him, His love, and His way. The way of love, the way of holiness, the way to Heaven, where our bodies and earthliness will be no more and our desires curbed. God will suffice. Our souls will be completely satisfied and seek no more. I must rest in Him.
Mary Katherine Deschamp also reflects on the fact that “She wanted to do something great for the Lord.”- Isn’t that how we all feel, our deepest burning desire is to carry out those little, often unnoticed, things the Lord asks of us. We are all capable of doing great things for the Lord through the Lord, but do we carry them out? Do we use our grit to rely on Him and push through to finish all He asks of us? Do we embrace our weakness and allow Him to make us strong? He strengthens us with His mighty grace and love. God renews us with His mercy and sacraments, and guides us on the path He has chosen for us and us alone.
Our Heavenly Father places friends and mentors, holy men and women on our paths that help us to see the way and navigate life’s obstacles. When we learn to turn to Him for guidance and His grace, the grace to do as He asks of us with great love, joy, and obedience to His will, we are no longer rickety. He imparts His magnificent love in our hearts when hand over our hearts and wills. He can achieve great things with us, through us, and in us when we cooperate and participate in His great plan. He uses our hearts, our hands, and our lives to serve Him and draw others to Him. He uses our littleness, our meekness, to evoke feeling from the depths of others souls.
God tugs those people we encounter into His heart, in order to allow them to truly touch Him and relish a taste of His love for them in the world, where love is so conditional and skewed. He actually uses our feebleness and infirmities to make His love real because we know and reveal that His love stands firm, We are unshakable when we travel this journey with Him. A journey of faith and love. A journey of ‘Yes, Lords’. A journey He created for us that we must choose each day. Today I say, ‘Yes!’ ‘Yes I will serve You and give You my all, all that I am and wish to be. You are the Creator and Director. You have my yes, Lord!
Today I give Him my weakness, the area of my life that I most struggle to trust Him in.
Call to Act: What is that area for you? Where do you need to turn your life, your all, over to the Lord? Where do you tend to attempt to take control and leave the Lord by the wayside? Take it to prayer. Ask Him to reveal to you where He is asking you to rely on Him. And then use that grit, sister, to push through and give it to the Lord. Work to take care of all He asks, even when it is showing your weakness.
St. Therese’, pray for us that we might bring others closer to our heavenly Father in our small proclamations of love. Pray for us to concede to His will so that we might become fully who He created us to be. Beg Him to allow us to embrace our littleness, so that the greatness of the Lord will shine. “Just so your light must shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father.” (Matthew 15:16). We ask this through Jesus Christ Our Lord and Savior. Amen.
Saint Therese of Lisieux
St. Therese, also known as the Little Flower, was born in France in 1873. She is a fairly modern saint, as far as saints are concerned. She asked the Pope for permission to enter the Carmelite order herself on pilgrimage to Rome! She entered the order at the young age of 14. She is known for living her ‘little way’, trying her best to please God with all her little sacrifices through the day. Her simple ways are discussed in her published journal called “Story of a Soul.” Both of her parents are saints as well, Saints Zelie and Louis Martin. She died at the young age of 24 after a great deal of suffering. Read more about her here.
https://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=105