“I bless Thee, O Father, because Thou hast hidden these things from the wise and the prudent, and hast revealed them to little ones.”
St. John of the Cross in his Canticle of the Soul: I had no guide, no light, save that which burned within my heart, and yet this love did guide my way, more surely than the noonday sun, unto the place where waited One Who knew me well.
St. Therese tells us:
There was a look of Heaven on Father’s noble face, and I felt sure his
heart was filled with peace. I sat down beside him, not saying a word, but
there were tears in my eyes. He looked at me more tenderly than I can express,
pressed my head to his heart and said: “What is it, Little Queen? Tell me.” Then,
to hide what he was feeling too, he rose and walked slowly up and down, still
holding me all the while close to his heart. Through my tears I told him about
Carmel and my longing to enter soon, and then he too began to weep, but never
said a word against my vocation, only that I was still rather young to make
such a serious decision. When I insisted and gave him all my reasons, his
upright, generous heart was soon convinced. We went on walking for a long time;
my heart grew light again, and Father dried his tears, talking to me just like
a Saint. Going to a low stone wall, he showed me some little white flowers,
like very small lilies; then he picked one of them and gave it to me, explaining
how carefully God had brought it to blossom and preserved it till that day. So
striking was the resemblance between the little flower and little Therese that
it seemed as if I were listening to the story of my own life. I took the flower
as if it were some relic, noticing that when Father had tried to pluck it, the
roots had come out too, but quite undamaged, as though destined to start
life again in some other and more
fertile soil. Father was doing just the same for me, by letting me be
transplanted to Mount Carmel from the lovely valley which had been the scene of
my life’s first steps. I fastened the little flower onto a picture of Our Lady
of Victories; the Child Jesus seemed to hold it in His hand, and so it has
remained, except that now the stalk is broken near the root. I am sure that
this is God’s way of telling me that it will not be long before He severs the
roots of His little flower, and that she will not be left on earth to fade. (The Story of a Soul: The Autobiography of
St. Therese of Lisieux, Tan Publishing, 1997)
Prayer: Last words of
St. Therese: My God, I love Thee.
My thoughts: Being
a parent isn’t easy. We tend to believe that our children are just that, ours,
and yet they are not. They are a gift from God, and we are to guide them along
the path that God has chosen for them. It isn’t always easy to let a child go
to follow his dream, be it a vocation as St. Therese had to the Carmelites, or a
move to a far away country to pursue a career, or to enter into a life of marriage
and commitment to another person. We see by the action of St. Therese’s father
that we have nothing to fear if we have placed our children into God’s hands:
although they have been torn from the fertile soil of our homes, they will be
transplanted carefully and lovingly to bring beauty and love into the world
where God places them. We must remember this for ourselves as well. God may
well move us about as He sees fit: new town, new job, or maybe even a new
health status. He will pull us out by the roots, but He will lovingly
transplant us in the way He needs. We must trust as St. Therese trusted, and
believe that we will never “be left on earth to fade.”
1 comment:
Beautiful!
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