This month we celebrate two saints that I’m particularly fond of- St. Francis of Assisi and St. Thérèse of Lisieux. As I’m attempting to follow in Jesus’ footsteps in the way of St. Francis and named after St. Thérèse, I can’t pass up the opportunity to share my love of them with you!
Each and every saint is a unique masterpiece of God’s transforming love. And when the Church holds up a person for us to honor as a saint, it’s to remind us of the amazing reality that God desires to also make us holy (yes, us!), to transform us through His love so we can blossom into the people He created us to be. The saints aren’t meant to make us feel small, weak, or insignificant. They’re meant to infuse great hope into our hearts.
There is much more to St. Francis and St. Thérèse than birdbaths and roses. When we look closely at their lives, we see that they both discovered the same treasure: that God was their Father. They knew God as Father not in a vague, general way, but in a very specific and personal way. This was the foundation upon which they built their entire lives.
One of my favorite stories from the life of St. Francis describes the first moment he experienced God’s love for him. As the text recounts, the grace was so powerful that it literally stopped him in his tracks.
“Suddenly he was visited by the Lord who filled his heart with so much tenderness that he was unable to speak or move. He could only feel and hear this marvelous
tenderness; it left him so estranged from any sensation that, as he himself said later,
even if he had been completely cut to pieces, he would not have been able to
move” (The Legend of the Three Companions, Chapter 3).
That is quite a strong description! We aren’t talking about mere sentimentality or wishful thinking- the love of God is real and has the power to transform us. The more Francis opened his heart to this love, the more alive he became. He realized that he could let go and let the Father take care of him in every aspect of his life. This matured into a deep trust in God and a desire to live simply, just like Jesus had lived on earth, embracing a life of radical poverty.
St. Thérèse is often known for her love of God as Father, but it’s good for us to look at her with fresh eyes too. Her confidence in God’s goodness towards her was so solid that eventually this “little flower” grew to be as strong as a mighty oak! No matter what she experienced or felt (and she endured many trials), she clung to her faith in a good, tender, loving Father. She allowed nothing to discourage her, not even her own weakness and sin. She also helped others to do this too. Writing to a priest friend, she said, “you must sail the stormy sea of the world with the abandonment and the love of a child who knows his Father loves him”
(St. Therese, Letters).
What if we lived with this abandonment and love? How might we walk through life differently if we let God be Father to us in a very personal way? There is always more of God waiting for us. If we awaken to the desire within us to know Him more deeply, He will not disappoint us. May St. Francis and St. Thérèse pray for us, that we could open our hearts to know God as our tender Father.
Sr. Therese Marie of the Father, CFR