Yesterday I was again at St. Mary’s Convent in Wantage, presiding at Mass, and they were keeping the celebration of St. Therese of Lisieux. St. Therese was a French Carmelite nun, who died in 1897 at the age of only 24, and who became a Doctor of the Church – which is a very grand thing indeed, indicating a person whose theological teaching and holiness has had a significant impact on the Christian faith. Almost every day of the year it seems there is some saint or other being remembered, some more important, some less. The Communion of Saints (of which we are a part!!) are there to inspire us with their stories.
The trouble is that half the time their stories are so grand and mighty in faith that we can only look in wonder and feel thoroughly inadequate in comparison.
This Sunday we have the last of our Harvest festivals in the benefice. As we try our best to have a Harvest celebration in every church, this season lasts around a month. It gives me plenty of time to reflect on the meaning and importance of harvest – literally and metaphorically; whether for those working on the land, or those who are generally stuck behind a desk; for those who often have mud or grass or manure on their boots, and also those who never venture off tarmac or concrete and who wrinkle their noses in disgust at “country” smells.
The question I find myself asking for those of us who are not literally working the land is this: what is the harvest of this year for me? What have I done, achieved, made, created? What have I brought to fruition? Who helped me in that? And I want to pause and give thanks – to the people who helped me, and most of all to God who gave me the skills and time and opportunity and resources and help of others to make that harvest possible.
Which brings me back to St. Therese. What great deed did she do to become a Doctor of the Church, on a level with St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Augustine of Hippo, and other truly famous saints? There have only ever been four women in Christian history to achieve this formal status: St. Hildegard of Bingen (died 1179), St. Catherine of Siena (died 1380), St. Theresa of Avila (died 1582), and St. Therese of Lisieux.
St. Therese was famed for her Little Way. Her life was outwardly unremarkable, and she lived in great humility and simplicity, training other novices and doing many menial tasks. However, it was her interior faith, and her conviction that doing the small and very ordinary things in life with extraordinary love, inspired by Christ’s humility and mercy, that has inspired Christians worldwide. She highlighted suffering’s redemptive value, seeing in her chronic illness and suffering a sharing in Christ’s love for the healing of the world, and her theology stressed always God’s love and mercy over any judgement, bringing a message of hope which was and remains accessible to all.
Her teaching could be summarised as, “What matters in life is not great deeds but great love.”
Some years ago I came across a song called Little Things with Great Love, by the group Porter’s Gate. It’s still on YouTube.
As you consider the harvest of this past year and look to what you will sow and plant for this year, hoping for the harvest to come, may St. Therese’s message of love and simplicity bring you peace and hope, especially in the face of anxiety about achievement and worldly success.
Revd. Talisker