• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Catholic Review

Catholic Review

Inspiring the Archdiocese of Baltimore

Menu
  • Home
  • News
        • Local News
        • World News
        • Vatican News
        • Obituaries
        • Featured Video
        • En Español
        • Sports News
        • Official Clergy Assignments
        • Schools News
  • Commentary
        • Contributors
          • Question Corner
          • George Weigel
          • Effie Caldarola
          • John Garvey
          • Father Ed Dougherty, M.M.
          • Guest Commentary
        • CR Columnists
          • Archbishop William E. Lori
          • Rita Buettner
          • Christopher Gunty
          • George Matysek Jr.
          • Father Joseph Breighner
          • Father Collin Poston
          • Robyn Barberry
          • Hanael Bianchi
          • Amen Columns
  • Entertainment
        • Events
        • Movie & Television Reviews
        • Arts & Culture
        • Books
        • Recipes
  • About Us
        • Contact Us
        • Our History
        • Meet Our Staff
        • Photos to own
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
        • CR Media platforms
        • Electronic Edition
  • Advertising
  • Shop
        • Purchase Photos
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
  • CR Radio
  • News Tips
  • Subscribe

Lessons to learn from St. Therese’s little way

September 30, 2022
By Rita Buettner
Catholic Review
Filed Under: Blog, Commentary, Open Window

Like earthly friends, saints come into our lives in different ways and for different reasons. St. Therese of Lisieux is one of those who’s been a friend for so long that I can hardly point to a time I didn’t know her.

When we were growing up, my parents had a red hardback book that told the story of St. Therese simply and beautifully. I remember sitting and reading and marveling at this little girl who felt so drawn to Jesus. She knew she wanted to join a convent as a cloistered sister, and she asked and asked until she was given permission.

The idea of knowing what you want to do with that much certainty was astounding to me as a child. I was in awe of St. Therese and how she knew her calling with absolute clarity.

Young St. Therese wished she could be like St. Joan of Arc. But she came to see that she had a different role. Over the years, I’ve come to appreciate how St. Therese inspires us to be true to ourselves, true to the people God wants us to be. She doesn’t urge us to stretch ourselves or work ourselves to exhaustion. She tells us to talk to God, look inside ourselves, and focus on being our best self.

“The splendor of the rose and the whiteness of the lily do not rob the little violet of its scent nor the daisy of its simple charm,” she says. “If every tiny flower wanted to be a rose, spring would lose its loveliness.”

Being a violet can be appealing in a world that often celebrates the flashier roses. And St. Therese’s greatest gift to me might be her emphasis on “the little way.”

Sometimes it’s hard to see purpose and ministry in packing the same lunches day after day or loading the dishwasher for the zillionth time or waiting in traffic on the way to pick a child up from school.

But St. Therese would nudge us to take on those little actions and see the value and the holiness in that service.

Those aren’t nuisances or interferences with life. Those are our life. Those are our vocation. We are called to fill the dish with birdseed or race to drop off the forgotten laptop at school or lug the groceries in from the car.

Our role is spending time making a dinner that only half the family eats or wiping up the soup that spilled on the floor.

Our purpose is filling out yet another tedious school form and then another and another.

We are called to make the bed and go to the orthodontist and ask again and again whether everyone has finished their homework.

But we are called to do it with holiness, embracing it as our work—service to others. We can find joy and God in even the smallest actions if we remember why we take them on.

“Remember that nothing is small in the eyes of God,” St. Therese says. “Do all that you do with love.”

Doing everything with love sounds simple at times and impossible at others. I still grumble and wish the dishwasher would load itself. But I also appreciate St. Therese’s reminder that the little things are the big things, and that we can find holiness in the work that’s right in front of us.

Also listen to this 2021 Catholic Review Radio interview about the “Little Way” and the parents of St. Therese:

CatholicReview · May 23, 2021 | The Spirituality of the Little Way/Parents of a Saint

Copyright © 2022 Catholic Review Media

Print Print

Primary Sidebar

Rita Buettner

Rita Buettner is a wife, working mother and author of the Catholic Review's Open Window blog. She and her husband adopted their two sons from China, and Rita often writes about topics concerning adoption, family and faith.

Rita also writes The Domestic Church, a featured column in the Catholic Review. Her writing has been honored by the Catholic Press Association, the Maryland-Delaware-D.C. Press Association and the Associated Church Press.

View all posts from this author

| Recent Commentary |

An invitation from God

‘Annunciation’: Salvation and the words of the air

Fully entering into the Triduum

Question Corner: Jesus became man so I could become God?

The mental health crisis crosses all boundaries and ages

| Recent Local News |

Catholic Charities’ William J. McCarthy Jr. named Loyola’s Business Leader of the Year

Sister Joan Cooper, O.S.F., dies at 94

Pathfinders: Five Archdiocese of Baltimore women who made history

Sister Elizabeth Ellen Kane, O.S.F., dies at 81

RADIO INTERVIEW: Dining with the Saints

| Catholic Review Radio |

CatholicReview · Catholic Review Radio

Footer

Our Vision

Real Life. Real Faith. 

Catholic Review Media communicates the Gospel and its impact on people’s lives in the Archdiocese of Baltimore and beyond.

Our Mission

Catholic Review Media provides intergenerational communications that inform, teach, inspire and engage Catholics and all of good will in the mission of Christ through diverse forms of media.

Contact

Catholic Review
320 Cathedral Street
Baltimore, MD 21201
443-524-3150
mail@CatholicReview.org

 

Social Media

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Recent

  • Pope, World Council of Churches’ leaders talk about war, divisions
  • Pre-Vatican II Mass was formed by ‘clericalization,’ says papal preacher
  • Memorial to modern Christian martyrs opens in Rome
  • Human composting, alkaline hydrolysis not acceptable for burial, say U.S. bishops
  • Pope advances sainthood causes of six candidates
  • Retired Milwaukee priest barred from hearing confessions over support of Delaware ‘repeal of seal’ law
  • Suspect pleads not guilty in murder of LA Auxiliary Bishop O’Connell
  • Avoid polarizing debate, promote healthy scientific discussion, pope says
  • CRS, USAID help Ethiopia ‘at a time of great need’ amid devastating drought

Search

Membership

Catholic Press Association of the United States and Canada

Maryland-Delaware-DC Press Association

The Associated Church Press

© 2023 CATHOLIC REVIEW MEDIA, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED