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My Favorite Saint: St. Therese of Lisieux

26th Sunday in Ordinary Time — Year B

This upcoming week, on October 1, we will celebrate the feast of St. Therese of Lisieux. I would like to share with you a few reflections about my favorite saint.

St. Therese of Lisieux once said “To be like a child means not worry about anything.” In this one sentence is her whole philosophy of life—her whole path to sanctity. Entrust yourself to God. Do not worry about anything because God loves you. He will take care of everything that you need. When you discover this, your heart will overflow with authentic peace.

Once, when St. Therese was in the novitiate in Lisieux, her mother superior told her: “Therese, this afternoon please clean under the stairs.” When St. Therese went with her broom to clean, she discovered a few huge spiders waiting for her. St. Therese had a strong fear of spiders. She wrote in the story of her life that, when she was confronted with this fear, she prayed and gave Jesus everything, including her fear of spiders. Then she forced herself to clean out the spiders’ webs from under the stairs. What was important in this situation? St. Therese felt fear, and immediately she gave this fear to Jesus. And she did what she had to do . . . with Jesus.

Every person has different fears in their hearts. But Therese reminds us that, rather than letting these fears be a weakness in our lives, we can turn then into gifts by offering them to Jesus and letting him take care of the rest.

Yours in Christ,
Father Arthur

Readings for the 26th Sunday in Ordinary Time: Lectionary 137