St Therese writes: "all the Saints will be indebted to each other……who knows the joy we shall experience in beholding the glory of the great saints, and knowing that by a secret disposition of Providence we have contributed there unto...and do you not think that on their side the great saints, seeing what they owe to quite little souls, will love them with an incomparable love? Delightful and surprising will be the friendships found there—I am sure of it. The favoured companion of an Apostle or a great Doctor of the Church will perhaps be a young shepherd lad; and a simple little child may be the intimate friend of a patriarch."We had a beautiful example of this truth tonight at our All Saints' Day Mass. We venerated the relics of Pope St Gregory the Great and Pope St Pius X along with two little girls: the French girl-- Therese Martin and the Italian peasant child Maria Goretti.
This then, makes us ask the question that Therese would have been delighted to ask, "What is great and what is small in God's kingdom?" For the great ones must be small and the small ones must be great and the last must be first and the first must be last and the one who would be greatest among you must be the one who serves and unless you become like a little child you cannot enter the kingdom of heaven.
It must be true then, that Pope St Gregory the Great and Pope St Pius X were also little ones. The two little girls show reveal the marvel that if the two great men were saints, then they must have been little children as well.
This is what is most striking both about Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI. Beneath the pomp and power of the papacy both men have a certain child like quality about them. There is a simplicity and delight in them that mixes the wisdom of age with the innocence of childhood.
For a whole study on a 'great' saint and a 'little' saint check out my book, St Benedict and St Therese--The Little Rule and the Little Way.
3 comments:
'I wish I were more like that. Don't you?'
Yes.
Our Lady sees us all as children, even the Pope. Some children are childlike and some children are childish. And some of us are a mixture of both!! (ie: me)
Oh well, keep trusting in John 3:30.
Strange to think that Jesus becoming greater in any man or woman, leads to a more childlike attitude. I wonder what that tells us about Jesus?
Once, during a time of near despair, I prayed to the little flower Saint and I had an image in my mind of Jesus holding me like a baby who was being nursed. It seemed really weird, but this is one of the ways Jesus thinks of us. Not just as children, but as helpless babes at times. I would love to wholly embrace/accept that God loves me and others in this way, but I still hesitate to approach the Father in such a manner.
What if God the Father is an angry trad that Mary and Jesus have to constantly placate (There. I've said it now, that's really my deep seated fear)? And it's why I've stopped blogging. With an unconfessed fear like that, I'm a fake.
Is that a childish or a childlike terror?
I bet I'm even sinning by thinking like that.
Dear Shadowlands,
The thing that always calms me when I think about God the Father,is that he knit me together in my mother's womb....that he had the idea of me before I was born,that He has a special name for me,and has a purpose for me.Somehow that comforts me.I hope it will comfort you to.I miss your blog....
Thank you A Catholic Comes Home, for your words. I will think about them, tonight.
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