Most days before the start of school, I love to stop in our humble chapel at St. Benedict Classical Academy to pray, usually asking God to show me how to be a better person and teacher each day. One day, as I prayed this, Saint Therese’s Little Way came to my mind. We are called to live each moment intentionally to bear fruit in eternity. Author of Abandonment to Divine Providence, Father Jacques-Phillipe, wrote, “If we have abandoned ourselves to God, there is only one rule for us: the duty of the present moment.” There are many little moments in the day where we can grow in virtue and holiness. Each of our daily choices is not as trivial as we may think; each action impacts eternity.
Saint Therese calls her Little Way an elevator to Heaven. This “fast track” to Heaven is simple: ordinary actions with extraordinary love. I often ask my students, “How can you serve one another more this week?” We, too, must become like little children and remember these basic principles. Could we share a listening ear in a conversation we want to escape from? Can we spend extra time with someone who annoys us? Can we thank God for little inconveniences, like losing our keys or being stuck in traffic, for the opportunity to offer up a little suffering to Him? Can we say yes to someone who needs our time, talents, or treasure? These are all opportunities for God’s grace to come to us – to be disciples of the Little Way, quietly obedient to Him in every part of our day, so that the ordinary becomes an extraordinary act of love.
This past summer, my husband and I were married on the feast of Saints Louis and Zelie Martin, Saint Therese’s parents. Their family lived through the heresy of Jansenism, an ideology that left many paralyzed in the hopelessness that they could never achieve holiness and get to Heaven. These holy parents and their Little Flower helped to extinguish this lie. The Martins showed us that extraordinary graces come from ordinary people and places. Thirty out of the thirty-three most influential years in human history were spent quietly and unknown to the rest of the world in the domestic family. As the first married couple to be canonized together, Saints Louis and Zelie showed the world that holiness is possible for anyone, and especially for simple, ordinary people. They showed us that the work is done with loving those right in front of us. Every moment of our day is a gift from God, and in loving Him and our neighbor, we return that gift, drawing us nearer to our eternal home.
AUTHOR: Ellie Luttrell, Grade 2 Teacher
