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"Amen I say to you, unless you turn and become like little children, you will not enter into the kingdom of Heaven." (Matt. 18:3.) To become as little children, here is the necessary condition for sanctity. The Lord Himself said it and His word is true. He insisted on it more than once to show the importance of His teaching; He confirmed it by His example, His acts, His preference for the humble and the meek. "Let the little children to come unto Me, and do not hinder them, for of such is the kingdom of God." (Mark 10:14.) Only those who by grace become as little children or even remain infants in spirit, are sure of salvation, walking along the "little way", the only road that will take them there. This is a condition for all; the Divine Master makes no distinction, but withholds the promise of glory from those who will not submit to it. "Amen I say to you, whoever does not accept the kingdom of God as a little child will not enter into it." (Mark 10:15.) All the Saints have trudged this unique way, even those who have dazzled us by the splendor of the extraordinary and the miraculous, and who, at first sight, seem to have soared in one masterly flight beyond the confines indicated for the acquiring of sanctity. "He who is the least among you, he is the greatest." (Luke 9:48.) The prodigious, the miraculous, are not necessarily sanctity, they constitute rather a danger than a passport to Heaven. If the Saints have crossed the threshold of that small narrow gate, it is only because they made themselves small. If it were not thus, the Church would not canonize her Saints, because instead of showing us their example as an encouragement, they would frighten us in our mediocrity and would kill the confidence and hope in our hearts, of ever imitating them. On the contrary, the Church wants to confirm us in the assurance of succeeding in doing at least something, provided we have a firm desire, and she points out the way to us: the "little way" intended by Our Lord and so clearly demonstrated in the Gospels. What, therefore, is this "little way" and in what manner did Sister Theresa Margaret carry out Our Lord's precept? To start on the "little way" means to think and act as little children do and to run to our Heavenly Father just as a child runs to his earthly parent.[1] And what a Father God is! He loves us so dearly that, not content with giving us life, He comes and makes His abode with us. "If anyone love Me ... My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him." (John 14:23.) God is thus in touch with all the smallest details of our lives. "Yes, the very hairs of your head are all numbered." (Luke 12:7.) He so loves us as to make even our weakness a pretext for calling us to Him. "If anyone is small let him come to me." (Prov.) "As one whom the mother caresseth, so will I comfort you. You shall be carried at the breasts; upon the knees they shall caress you." (Is. 66:12-13.) He made Himself like unto us, so that He would love us with a human heart, capable of comprehending and feeling all our needs and to satisfy them in an infinitely more perfect way than any human father could. His love is infinite goodness; He is infinite in compassion, sweetness, mercy, generosity and power; what other love could vie with this? Let us think over the words of Jesus: "Call none your father upon earth, for one is your Father Who is in Heaven". Mindful of this, Sister Theresa Margaret called the Lord "Her good Father full of love and goodness". She read this love in the beauties of nature, the sight of the sky, the birds and the flowers which made her at times break into song. She was afraid her voice might be heard beyond the garden, so she would desist, murmuring: "All these growing things remind us to love their Creator. In them God speaks". Talking of the love of God always made her heart leap; her face, her whole being betrayed the strength of that feeling which, with the efforts she made to conceal it from others, left her at times deprived of her strength. We read in the convent Memoirs, "She used to become so full of fervor, that the carmine would rush to her cheeks in a burning glow, to leave her the next minute as pale as death". One day, while talking with one of the Sisters about her favorite topic, she fell back exhausted from the very vehemence of her emotions. She then confided to the Sister that she had an irresistible longing to unite herself to "Him" and, fearing that others should see her martyrdom, she implored her Lord: "My God let me keep my secret inviolate". At other times she would, like a child, break into a song, recounting her love in verses she had composed, clearly showing her thirst for the "perfect union" of the consummation of love. She suffered at the thought that a great number of men ignore and despise the infinite love of God, and she offered herself as a victim and a holocaust of love for the ingratitude of sinners to the great loving Heart of Jesus. During the Spiritual Exercises of 1768, she wrote: "My God, I only wish to become a perfect copy of Thee, nothing else. Because Thy life was a hidden one of humility, love and sacrifice, so must mine be, since Thou knowest that I desire nothing else but to become a victim of the Sacred Heart, entirely consumed in the fire of Thy Divine love". It was the same desire that, at her Clothing in 1765, induced her to ask that the Name of the Sacred Heart of Jesus be added to her name. Profoundly humble, she felt like a small child incapable of ascending the mountain of sanctity unaided. Therefore she cast herself into the loving arms of her Father, abandoning herself to His mercy and strength. "Abandon yourself for love," she said, "abandon yourself with love, abandon yourself to the love of Jesus Christ, because His love wishes to rule us and we of ourselves know not how to behave." St. Theresa of the Child Jesus once wrote to her Sister Celine: "It seems to me that God has no need of years to accomplish His work of love in a soul, one ray from His Heart can in one instant cause it to break into bloom for all eternity". The little child is so sure of his father's love, that far from questioning what is done to him, he takes everything that is given him naturally and forgets the dangerous playthings that have been removed by the wise parent. "Always live according to the will of Divine Providence", she wrote, "and receive equally from it either consolations or sufferings, peace or turbulence, health or illness. Ask nothing, refuse nothing, but always be ready to do and to suffer anything that comes from this same Providence." Nevertheless, it did not prevent her from manifesting to Him her necessities and desires with the simplicity of a child. This faith was so lively in her that she seemed to obtain almost instantly anything she chose to ask for, either for herself or for others. She would marvel at the divine goodness of God Who seemed to grant her every little thing she desired. She would talk quite openly about this thinking, in her humility and innocence, that everyone had the same ability and experience and that she was in no way different from others. Hence she thanked God Who in His infinite mercy and compassion, deigned to hear her prayers. "Leave it to God," she would advise the Sisters, and do not doubt that He will console you; trust in Him and what is there to fear? If God has promised to grant us that which we ask for, have faith. He is with us and He loves us, it is impossible that He would forsake us." "At the same time," she added: "you must banish from your hearts all attachments and selfish desires, awaiting in humility and patience the answer from God. Let us be tranquil whatever the result is; you may be sure it will be what is best for us, because He always disposes things for our ultimate benefit. Let God act; may He, Who only wishes our good, ever be praised. Woe to us, if He should always give us what we ask for!" Littleness is the characteristic of the child who runs to his father for refuge just because he feels himself small and weak. In the "little way" of spiritual infancy the first thing to do is to make yourself little before God, with true humility; you must therefore know the depth of your own unworthiness and yet find in this humiliating picture a motive for sincere gladness. Knowing her impotence for good, the soul will not be disturbed by her many falls, and she will rise stronger, because more humble from past experience. "My weakness constitutes my strength," Saint Theresa of the Child Jesus used to say, "what does it matter if I fall frequently? By this I know the depth of my weakness and so can profit by it." "My God, Thou seest what I am capable of, if Thou dost not, carry me in Thine arms." Like all loving souls, at times Sister Theresa Margaret had to feel the grief of some minor fault which had escaped from her through human frailty; at such times she would turn all the more to God, "Lord and Father most merciful, I have acted through being what I am. Be Thou what Thou art, triumph over my wretchedness with Thy infinite omnipotence and compassion. Lord, I wish to live in hope of Thee and of my ultimate salvation." The "little way" leads to sanctity because it is Love's way, and all we have to do down here is to love Jesus and save souls for Him, so that He can be eternally loved. Who does not know that love is the prerogative of the child? He is only love and he is all love. In the "little way" one must suffer and yet be glad for love; practice love, desire only and always love; love must feed you and direct you in all the virtues. "With love," says Sister Theresa Margaret, "you must render love for love; therefore, if God has loved us and loves us so much, no matter how great our unworthiness, what must we do to even the balance? Make every effort to be like Him in humility, meekness and gentleness." To be like Jesus, here is sanctity, the fruit of love. In fact, out of love is born desire, the effort or rather the impetus towards the loved one, and how much greater seems the excellency of the thing beloved as our desire to possess it increases. The effect of desire is therefore union; the lover makes every effort to remove any obstacles that might keep him from this possession, and in studying to become pleasing to the beloved one, he seeks to follow all the desires of the other, to correct any divergence of thought or life, so that he will form eventually only one heart with Him. At the beginning of her religious life, Sister Theresa Margaret made her program: to meditate, contemplate and imitate the Sacred Heart of Jesus in sweetness and simplicity; to neither live nor breathe if not to love God with all her strength and to direct every action of hers to attain a perfect union with God. "The mirror we have to consult to arrive at divine union is Jesus Christ," Sister Theresa Margaret used to say, "because no one can obtain it except by the merits of Christ Crucified. Mindful of the words of the Gospel, 'No one can come to the Father, except by Me', this God and Father is all, He is the beginning of everything, and this love is the same God. "To possess this God, in Whom everything exists and Who is therefore all goodness, no effort should seem too hard to us; one must not turn back because one has encountered difficulties, but embrace bitterness and any cross with prompt obedience. With these means, which are really Christ's, it is not difficult to reach God and walk in love. Furthermore, if we hope to find God, the road is sure; we must acquire humility of heart and a simple spirit, remembering that only those who fight gain the victory. But courage, we shall not lack grace nor help from the Heart of God Who wishes us all to be Saints." The Heart of God -- how well she had understood God's desire to love and to be loved by men! "Deus caritas est, Deus caritas est," she would go along ejaculating almost as if in ecstasy, and she was so enamored of the Heart of Jesus that it was the living flame of her life from which she drew the virtues and perfection possible to Saints. To the loving desires of that tender Heart she responded with the generosity of martyrdom: martyrdom of love transformed into heroism of a will that she immolated each day as something too earthly and sensitive. She thus succeeded in impressing on her soul a veritable resemblance to her Divine Spouse which was the greatest proof of her love. It was only just that the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, which at its birth was misunderstood and opposed, should triumph at the price of martyrdom. Being divine, God Himself immolated His victims, Margaret Mary Alacoque and Theresa Margaret of the Sacred Heart, and for this He used no other weapons but the gentle flames of His Heart. 1. Martin, The Little Way of Spiritual Life. |
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