Man's Call To Salvation

"Our Lord does not look so much at the greatness of our actions, nor even at their difficulty, but at the love with which we do them."

This was the idea that Therese taught her charges when she served as novice mistress. For Therese, to answer uncomplainingly a call which interrupted her work or play, to be sociable when she preferred to be alone, to be kind and charitable in all things to those whom she wanted to avoid, to be detached from those whose company she preferred - these seemed to be the only gift she could give God. The act of self-denial was her "little way" of showing her love of God. Even when she was still very young,she did kind deeds for everyone. She prepared for her First Communion by making many little sacrifice. She explained this "little way"by comparing deeds to flowers. "The world of souls is Jesus' garden,"she said. "Some flowers like lilies and roses are grandiose;others like daisies and violets are small ones. But all give joy to God."

Therese stated,"Jesus deigned to teach me this mystery. He set before me the book of nature. I understood how all the flowers He has created are beautiful, how the splendor of the rose and the whiteness of the lily do not take away the perfume of the little violet or the delightful simplicity of the daisy. I understood that if all the flowers wanted to be rose, nature would lose her springtime beauty, and the fields would no longer be checked out with little wild flowers."

Then she added, "Perfection consists in doing His Will, in being what He wills us to be."

Therese's entrance to the Carmelite convent was delayed by several obstacles, the greatest of which was her young age. Therese accepted the delay and learned a great lesson in patience.

Therese wanted to save souls and to help priest save souls by prayer, sacrifice and suffering. Shortly before her death, her mission became clear to her. She said,"...I feel that my mission is... to make others love God as I do, to teach others my little way. I want to spend my Heaven in doing good upon earth..."

During her canonization, Pope Pius XI stated, "Without going beyond the common order of things in her way of life, she followed out and fulfilled her vocation with such alacrity, generosity and constancy that she reached a heroic degree of virtue."