Some Saintly Insights into the “Little Way”

Servant of God, Leonie Martin (sister of St. Therese)

‘The Lord is the keeper of little ones: I was little and he delivered me.’

– Psalm 116:6

When people hear of the “Little Way,” they generally think of (Little) St. Therese. This is understandable, considering the profound role she has played, and will continue to play, in making this doctrine better known, i.e. the doctrine of confident and complete abandonment to Merciful Love.

But it is important to know that St. Therese is only one of many “little souls” (or the “littlest ones,” as she desired to be). There are a number of other “little ones,” that, like St. Therese, have much to teach us. This post is devoted to them. Let us consider their wisdom:

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“Our deeds are not the best claim to merit before God. God inspires the thought and gives the strength. Our true Title to the Divine favour is the Blood of Christ, to which we have the right through our own destitution and humbly acknowledged frailty.”

– Dom Pius de Hemptinne, d. 1907 (p. 139, ‘A Disciple of Dom Marmion’)

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+ “And to make Jesus more promptly realize my desire [to become a religious], I treated Him as a little child treats her mother until she obtains what she wants. I tormented Jesus. How weary He must have grown of hearing me! But was it not He Himself who was inspiring this ardent desire of giving myself to Him, wholly and without reserve? Did He not really wish that I should importune Him in this way?”

– Sr. Gertrude Mary, d. 1908 (An extraordinary French mystic, who has often been compared to St. Therese.)

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+  “I wish to stay small, so that I can have the audacity to believe that I will not go to Purgatory.  I ask my Jesus that He Himself prepare me for His arrival.”

– Servant of God, Leonie Martin, sister of St. Therese, d. 1941

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“I will suffer joyously since Jesus wills it; I will not seek calm and tranquillity, but let Jesus do around me whatever He pleases. I shall be faithful to the practice of virtue, even in the smallest things; for example, I shall be silent when I wish to speak, and speak when I would like to keep silence. May Jesus bless me, guide me, and enlighten me!”

– Servant of God, Sr. Benigna Consolata, d. 1916

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“Love is the soul of every life of prayer and of every good work.”

– Ven. Concepcion Cabrera de Armida, d. 1937

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“Never let yourself be depressed by the thought of your wretchedness. The great
St. Paul said: ‘Where sin abounded, grace did more abound.’ So it seems to me that the weakest, even the most sinful person has the greatest right to hope. By forgetting self and casting herself into the arms of God, she glorifies Him more than by any self-examination and self-reproach, which keep her attention fixed on her own defects though she possesses a Saviour within her Who is always willing to purify her.”

– Bl. Elizabeth of the Trinity (soon to be declared a Saint!)

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“I have only to ask; I hear the humble and trustful prayer of little ones.”

– Our Lady to Pere Lamy (p. 95, ‘Pere Lamy’)

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