THE LITTLE WAY CAN BE THE HOLY WAY
St. Therese Lisieux, known as “The Little Flower”, the last woman to be declared a “Doctor of the Church” taught us a very simple but profoundly sublime doctrine of holiness. It is the following: we are all called to be saints, as Jesus said: “Be holy as your heavenly Father is holy.” However, this holiness does not consist in doing great things, but rather in doing the ordinary things of our daily life with an extraordinary holiness. The smallest action carried out with purity of intention and intense love, has infinite value in the eyes of God.
Put in other words, God can choose the little people of the world, who have only little to offer, but who have GREAT hearts, and God can work marvels, truly miracles in them. Examples of this are many!
1. THE WIDOW’S MITE. A poor widow offered a few insignificant coins in the temple, but with great love and purity of intention. It was this woman that Jesus praised. Not the powerful and rich that threw in huge sums with pride!
2. THE LITTLE BOY WITH THE 5 LOAVES AND 2 FISH. The people were hungry, without food, and without means to provide for their food, and Jesus’ heart was moved to compassion for this flock without nourishment. The little boy, gave the little that he had— five loaves and two fish— with that “Little” Jesus accomplished a miracle of the multiplication of the loaves, feeding thousands and even left-overs!
3. WIDOW IN TIME OF ELIJAH THE PROPHET. She gave the little oil and flour that she had for the prophet, and God multiplied the food beyond imagining until the end of the drought! God can work miracles with little people, with little things, but have enormous hearts!
4. GIDEON AND THE VICTORY. God chose the insignificant Gideon and a few men of good will to conquer an enormous and ferocious enemy army. Why? The reason was simple! The small Gideon trusted in the powerful God to do the work and the Almighty Lord conquered!
5. DAVID AND GOLIATH. The small and insignificant Shepherd-boy, David, challenged the tall, muscular, experienced, blood-thirsty, ruthless and powerful Philistine, Goliath. David utilized a slingshot and stone to confront the giant who had an enormous sword, shield and arm-bearer to protect him. The “small one ” conquered and annihilated the giant because he trusted in God rather than in men. “Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth.”
6. FATIMA CHILDREN AND MARY. The Mother of God chose to appear to the most insignificant “little ones” of the world to transmit the most important message. Jacinta, Francisco, Lucia— simple Shepherd children— Mary chose to reveal to the world the importance of prayer, penance, the Rosary, the value of the soul, and eternal life. Jesus marvelled and praised the Father for having revealed the mysteries of God to the mere little ones!
7. MOTHER TERESA OF CALCUTTA. Small in stature, unassuming in appearance, physically weak for years before she died, God chose the small Mother Teresa of Calcutta to carry out one of the most important missions in the modern world: to recognize that Jesus indeed is truly present in “The poorest of the poor.” Hungry, thirsty, naked, foreigner, sick and in prison– whatever you did it to the least of my brothers, you did it to me. God chooses the humble of the world to confuse the proud. As Mary proclaimed in her Magnificat, “He has cast down the mighty from their thrones, but has lifted up the lowly.”
8. BREAD AND WINE. Jesus decided to use the simple elements of bread and wine and to make a radical, sublime, ineffable transformation! With the words of Jesus that the priest repeats in every Mass, “Take and eat this is my Body; take and drink this is my Blood, ” the most powerful transformation takes place! God, Jesus, the second Person of the Blessed Trinity, descends from heaven to the altar and into human hearts! God can take small people with small things but with enormous hearts, to accomplish the greatest miracles! This is the “miracle of miracles” and done in such a simple way!
9. MARY MOST HOLY. God chose the humble servant of the Lord, from the anawim (the poor of Yahweh) to realize the INCARNATION. God became man through the humble and faithful “Yes” of Mary. “The Almighty has done great things for me and holy is his name.”
10. YOU AND ME! Most of us are small people, unknown by most of the world, not having made headlines in the news or TV yesterday, today, and probably not tomorrow! Nonetheless, if we have purity of intention, holiness of life, trust in Jesus and Mary, a bold confidence as read in the Diary of St Faustina, and we are willing to open our hearts to God, then He can take our littleness and transform it into miracles beyond the wildest of our dreams! God takes small people with little to offer but with GREAT hearts to accomplish great miracles. He is waiting for you!
