"The Little Way of St. Therese": Full Text of the Homily by Rev. Brillis
Kerala.
Below is the full text of the homily delivered by Rev. Brillis Mathew on 1 October 2024 on the Feast of St. Therese of Lisieux at St. Therese Church, Kainakari, Kerala, India.
Dearly beloved in Christ Jesus, Reverend Parish Priest, Sisters, all of you celebrating the Feast of St Therese, families, parents and little children,
I am really happy and grateful to stand before you this day. This place, its character and fragrance, and the sisters here remind us of the many blessings we have received as St. Therese herself said she would gather roses in heaven and shower on us children.
During my childhood, her feast day was the day children used to receive Holy Communion for the first time. I too was one among them and I remember with love the sisters who prepared us, to name a few, Sr. Thereseola and Sr. Jusa. They were the ones from whom I heard of St. Therese for the first time. In those days, when I heard about this saint, because of the absence of Google Maps and lack of much geographical knowledge, I never even knew where she was from.
Later, I was blessed to study more about St. Therese and to pray to her. Now I remember, it was 21 years back, that I first visited the place where St. Therese lived and died, Lisieux in France. This place is situated two and a half hours from Paris. Since then, many times I have been able to visit the Convent in Lisieux. I thank God for this.
Several things come to our mind when we think of St. Therese today. In 1873, she was born in a place called Alencon, which is two and a half hours drive away from Paris, as the ninth child of Louis and Zellie Martin. Four of their children died in infancy. Then they had five daughters, all of whom grew up to join the convent. Today, there is a big heavenly community who join us as we celebrate this feast. St. Therese was the youngest among them.
In 1897, Therese died. This saint had lived only for 24 years. In those days, there was a tradition that whenever a religious sister died (I don’t know whether that tradition still exists), a write-up of her life should be shared with other convents. This responsibility was entrusted to one of the sisters by the Mother Superior. It might be around the year 1895 or 1896. Since Therese was seriously ill from the age of 20, the sisters spoke among themselves, "What would we write about this nun? She has not done anything in her life". We cannot say it was gossip, however, this was their assessment about her.
However, 100 years later, 900 books have been written about her. Today, 127 years after her death, many more have been written. This is the fact of a saint about whom was said, what could even be written? In 1925, 30 years after her death, it was Pope Pius XI who canonized Therese to sainthood.
Our convent has some significance. I wish to study the history of this convent. It was two years after her canonization, in 1927, this convent in Kainary was established and named after her. In those days, we did not have any internet connection or so to get informed. Hence, I don’t know how this church was named after this saint. Still, I think, it has some special significance.
St. Therese didn't live a long life. It's not important how long we live but how well we live. She travelled very little in her life. The distance from her house to her convent is almost the same as the distance from here to Kainary school. The longest journey in her life was to Rome. The distance from Paris to Rome is around 1600 Kilometres. Today it will be almost a 16-hour drive, say from here to Bombay. That was the distance she travelled with her father, mother, and sister.
Something significant happened on that journey. The journey is depicted in the book written by St. Therese, titled “The Story of a Soul”. In Malayalam, it is named, ‘Navamalika’. This book has been the one translated into the most number of languages, that is more than 70 languages. This is an account that dates back to around 20 years. Maybe it has been translated to more by now. The book explains her time in Rome. She was running around in the Colosseum with a lot of zeal. She met the Pope and expressed her desire to join the convent. She was 15. Hence before she turned 16, she entered the Convent and began her religious life.
Most of the time, we have an idea of saints as people who do great things, building huge buildings and establishing many charitable organizations. On the other hand, St. Therese was a child playing and dancing, laughing and making others laugh. For this, she is rightly known as the Modern Saint or rather the “Ageless Saint”, I think, called by Pope St. John Paul II. A saint who never ages. Her life and message are always timely. Probably, in the Church, never has there been a saint who is so loved and who loves so much.
We might think, did a saint like her who was very playful and joyful have any struggles or was life easy for her? No. She was a girl child who lost her mother at the age of four. Her elder sisters left for the Convent, leaving her dad. Her father was simultaneously both father and mother to her. Therese loved her father so much. It would be wonderful, if you could visit her house. She has left many fond memories there, and written beautiful things. She loved her father a lot. When she joined the convent, he was very sad, almost heartbroken and maddening. That made her even more sad. Since she entered a cloistered life, it was not permitted for her to visit home often even if your parents go sick. Today, too cloistered life is such a one. Once we enter, probably, till the funeral, we would be there inside.
St. Therese recounts, "In those days of great sufferings and sorrows, we were moving along the way of perfection, not by walking, but by running and flying!” That means she was accepting so much suffering! People used to ask her, how she could be so joyful. There are many quotes from St. Therese.
Once Therese was put in charge of the formation of sisters and there too she was so cheerful and joyful, that the nuns began to ask, “Does she really have any suffering in her life?” Before elevators were invented, St Therese had already declared years ago, “I will go to Heaven in an elevator, I cannot go by a hard road, but only by a straight path”.
We can see the real greatness of St. Therese on the evening of 30 September 1897, when she dies. That day, looking at the Cross, she said “My God I love you, Jesus I love you.” Pope Benedict reminds us that she is not a small person in the Church but one among the only four women Doctors of the Church. It was in 1997, that Pope John Paul II declared her a Doctor of the Church. He pointed, “She discovered and taught us the Science of Love”. Her life was full of this love: “My God, I love you”.
In 1939, twelve years after her death, Pope Pius X1 declared her as the “Patroness of Missionaries”. She is a saint who used to say, I want to spend my Heaven doing good on earth. In the Acts of the Apostles, we read about Jesus. In Acts 10, there is a beautiful verse that I like whenever I read - ‘Jesus, who went about doing good’.
Many times, we think of taking an eternal rest in heaven after our earthly suffering. On the other hand, St. Therese thinks differently. She recounts, “ I will spend my Heaven doing good on Earth”. We can consider St. Therese as an active saint, still doing good on Earth. Whenever we pray, we get an immediate answer. There is a very famous and efficacious prayer to her that many have attributed miracles to, at difficult moments: “Little Therese, in this hour, show thy power.” Just a single line, but it is a powerful prayer that can do wonders.
We listened in today’s Gospel, on how Therese became a saint. Jesus says in the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 18, only if you become small like little children you will be able to enter the kingdom of Heaven. There is a hymn that we sing often 'How big one needs to become to be so small ' It can also be understood as ' How small one needs to become to be so big '. In the life of St. Therese, she was small. In the Gospel of John 3:30, we read the words of St. John the Baptist, ‘He must grow greater, I must grow less’. This Word of Jesus was made flesh in her life.
In 1974, Archbishop Fulton J Sheen, Servant of God from America said, “We all agree that we live in very troubled times. We all have problems both in our personal lives and in the world like wars and so on. What is the solution, the answer to these problems? “We have to become saints”. We have a solution to these problems only if we become saints. So, like St.Therese, we are also called by God to become saints.
Saint Pope John Paul II encouraged young people in the year 2000, “Don't be afraid to be saints of the New Millennium.” We do not have to be canonized for this. When we bear difficulties and trials cheerfully, when we do small things for the sake of Jesus, we have a great reward in Heaven. Our God is a God of small things as the title of the book goes. The Lord looks at small things, sometimes a smile. But when we do it joyfully and with great love, we will also become saints in Heaven. None of us are born saints. We are not immaculate and neither are our parents. But, life will sanctify us and make us saints, when we bear trials joyfully like St. Therese.
At her death bed, St Therese thought of what advice to give her sisters and she wrote, “Whenever I can I do my very best to be cheerful.” Why? She quotes the Word of God, 2 Corinthians 9:7, “ God loves a cheerful giver”. Loving means giving fully and cheerfully. Thus, St. Therese became a great saint for us. Today also, we have many saints around us, in our society who do this, but we do not come to know. Similarly, many people take up their sufferings courageously and die.
Let me conclude my homily with an incident that happened in my life, when I was working in an American Parish. I have been a priest for only 7 years. Several incidents have happened in my life. This particular incident happened one and a half years back. It was 8 am and I had just finished celebrating Holy Mass. I was about to go for breakfast, when I received an urgent call asking me to go and assist a dying person in a home. I quickly enquired if Holy Communion could be received and when affirmed, made the necessary arrangements and hurried to the place.
It was a very beautiful house, and they were a rich family. When I entered a very graceful lady was sitting there, she greeted me. I quickly enquired where the sick person was but she calmed me down, offered me tea or coffee, and spoke to me for the next half an hour. Soon I realised that she was the lady I had come to minister to. Later, we were joined by her 2 children who were doctors.
After I gave her Holy Communion, a light lit up on her face, she looked up and said, "Jesus, I love you, Now I am ready to come." It was a moment of emotion for me as well. She had cancer but she hardly looked sick. I left the house thinking she would have one or more months to live. The next day, I received the news that she died. There was a big funeral and I was so privileged to attend it.
How many of us can say what this lady said? " Jesus I love you, I am ready to come. " With all the comforts, her husband at her side, with all the wealth, she could say that. This is what St. Therese also said. So, like her, we come across several saints in our lives as well. We can also try to become saints, entering through the “Little Way” of St Therese. Jesus says in Mathew7:13-14, the way to heaven is narrow. Let us pray during this Mass to enter the Kingdom of Heaven along that path.
Like St. Therese we can ask Jesus to give us the grace to love him more and more, to grow in this love daily and to do small things with love for his sake. Then, we will also be able to say like St. Therese: “One day, I will also shower roses of Grace from Heaven. With all the saints, I will also praise and glorify God and attain the Kingdom which God made me for.” During today’s Mass, we can pray for this grace.