Love is the essential thing. Thérèse is always coming back to that point in her writings. The spiritual life (really, all of life) is about love — how we love God, how we love our neighbor.
By Br. Ryan, MIC
Popes just can’t seem to stop talking about little Thérèse!
On Oct. 15, on the liturgical memorial of St. Teresa of Avila, Pope Francis issued an “apostolic exhortation” on St. Thérèse of Lisieux called, “C’est la confiance et rien que la confiance qui doit nous conduire à l’Amour: It is confidence and nothing but confidence that must lead us to Love."
It contains a summary of Thérèse’s main teachings, as well as some general thoughts on how these teachings remain pertinent for us today.
A good friend
I tend to be highly opinionated when it comes to St. Thérèse, because I have spent quite a bit of time studying her life, but also because she did a massive remodel on my spiritual life. So she and I are close. Obviously then, I was excited and curious about what the Holy Father had to say about this good friend of mine.
Pope Francis begins the exhortation by quoting Thérèse’s message of confidence: “It is confidence and nothing but confidence that must lead us to Love” (1). He then goes on to explain that this confidence allows us to trust that God will lead us to Heaven, despite our failings and the nothingness of our works; given our best efforts, we don’t need to worry about our salvation.
As the Pope writes, “[T]he complete confidence that becomes an abandonment in Love sets us free from obsessive calculations, constant worry about the future and fears that take away our peace” (24). Interestingly, this message of confidence dovetails perfectly with what our Lord said to St. Faustina:
My child, know that the greatest obstacles to holiness are discouragement and an exaggerated anxiety (Diary of Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska, 1487).
Thérèse’s confidence
One thing that I wish the Holy Father explained was that Thérèse’s confidence was not blind or unfounded. By that I mean, Thérèse had a pretty good idea about how God wants to be loved (she had memorized the Imitation of Christ!) and she assiduously put that knowledge into practice by living a virtuous and mortified life, following her religious rule with exacting fidelity.
We can’t presumptuously “have confidence” that God will bring us to Heaven if we don’t love Him the way He wants to be loved! Sure, we can be confident that God loves us unconditionally, but we also need to realize that we can seriously prevent God’s love from acting in us by the way we live.
The Pope was right to condemn Pelagianism — we can’t achieve our own salvation! But maybe he should have also mentioned the danger of Quietism — thinking that our salvation doesn’t require our cooperation!
The “Little Way”
Pope Francis also writes about charity in the life of Thérèse. He highlights how, “quietly and unobtrusively,” she was filled with God’s love, and he teaches that we, too, can be filled with God’s love amidst the ordinary circumstances of our lives. This is, in fact, the central message of Thérèse’s “little way.”
Further, the Pope comments on what he calls the “synthetic” contribution of St. Thérèse: the way she points us towards “what is central, essential and indispensable” (49). And what is this essential thing? Francis continues, “the center of Christian morality is charity ... In the end, only love counts” (48).
Love. Love is the essential thing. Thérèse is always coming back to that point in her writings. The spiritual life (really, all of life) is about love — how we love God, how we love our neighbor. It’s not about works. Grand deeds like starting orphanages or performing extreme fasts are worth nothing in the eyes of God if they aren’t motivated by love!
Watch: "Living Divine Mercy" and "Explaining the Faith" on St. Thérèse of Lisieux.
Spread the word
Connected with these ideas about the primacy of charity is what the Pope says about the way Thérèse spread the Gospel. Simply by loving God with her whole heart, Thérèse inspired others to do the same — no “proselytizing” necessary (10). This is a good point for us to remember in our interactions with non-Catholics. Sometimes, God may want us to speak a few words about our faith or invite a friend to Mass or Bible study. But if we don’t recognize, first of all, that our efforts to evangelize must be founded on our own radical love for the Lord, we will probably end up doing more harm than good.
Lastly, the Pope uses Thérèse as an example of moving beyond a “legalistic or moralistic mindset that would ... cause the joy of the Gospel to grow cold.” I have to tease him a little bit here, because little Thérèse herself once said:
"How fortunate we are ... that we have only to put into practice the code of laws which our holy Founders drew up for us at the cost of so much labor and toil!"
Thérèse loved her rules! They were her guide to Heaven. But I agree that she didn’t follow them in a legalistic way. Rather, she saw obedience to her Carmelite rules as a way to love God. In her genius, she synthesized law-following with charity!
Thank you, Pope Francis, for a timely exposition of St. Thérèse’s doctrine. Together, let’s ask that she intercede for us and for the whole Church.
Little Thérèse, pray for us!
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