ST. THERESE NOVENA - Sixth Day

THE LITTLE FLOWER: LIGHT AMIDST A CULTURE OF DEATH

NOVENA - SIXTH DAY
Opening Prayer: O my God! I believe in You: strengthen my faith. All my hopes are in You: O secure them. I love You: teach me to love You daily more and more.

WORD: "He has said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Most gladly therefore I will rather glory in my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may rest on me." (1 Cor 12:9)

Reflection: SUFFERING-- THE GLORY OF WEAKNESS

Everything in Thérèse's life, particularly her limitations, became a context for relationship with God and thus integral to her 'Little Way': The years of struggle with her own fragility offered Thérèse a graced conclusion: in one’s weaknesses is God’s strength manifested: "It is enough to realize one's nothingness, and give oneself wholly, like a child, into the arms of the good God. …I rejoice to be little because 'only children, and those who are like them, will be admitted to the heavenly banquet'." Like a mere grain of sand on the beach of a loving God or the little ball that Jesus plays with as he likes, Thérèse’s littleness was made all-the-more acute during her illness. Finite and fragile, she became marvelously free from herself and marvelously free for God, her soul wide open to the invasions of divine love. “The weaker one is, without desires or virtues, the more ready one is for the operations of this consuming and transforming love....”

In the Crucified, Thérèse’s weakness was absorbed in the strength of the Passion of Love. She suffered in union with Jesus, but not in any proud, superhuman manner. She accepts her moments of irritation, her tears and complaints as reflections of her smallness. She has no intention of storming heaven with her heroic credentials clutched tightly in her hand. On the contrary, her hope is to be borne up, with no merit on her part, on the eagle wings of Jesus. She glories in her “complete helplessness,” not for the pain it brings, but because it is a salvific word through which God sanctified her making her a participant in the redemptive work of Christ Crucified. Suffering is a word which spoke God's love to her and through which she speaks her love for God and for souls.

"And suppose God wishes to have you as feeble and powerless as a child? Do you think that would be less worthy in God's eyes? Consent to stumble, or even to fall at every step, to bear your cross feebly; love your weakness. Your soul will draw more profit from that than if, sustained by grace, you vigorously performed heroic deeds which would fill your soul with self-satisfaction and pride." (St. Thérèse)


DAILY PRAYER
O Lord, You have said: Unless you become as little children you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven; grant us, we beg You, so to follow, in humility and simplicity of heart, the footsteps of the Virgin blessed Thérèse, that we may attain to an everlasting reward. Amen.

St. Thérèse, beloved friend, you promised to spend your heaven doing good upon earth. We come before you in our need. We believe that you listen to us and approach God for and with us. You are love in the heart of the Church. You are love in the heart of God. With childlike faith and selfless love, you were ushered in the circle of our Lord's passion, offering us His Holy Face as the key to the mystery of suffering.
O Little Flower, remembering your promise "to do Good upon earth" and to shower down your "roses" on those who invoke you, obtain graces for these intentions which we place before you:
- For those who are sick and suffering, especially those with terminal illnesses
- For all who are burdened by physical and mental affliction, disease, and all forms of addiction
- For all who have lost faith in the Gospel of life, and especially for those whose old age or infirmity temps them to despair
- For all whom society has abandoned; for those who have no one to pray for them, for those who contemplate suicide
- For their families and all who care for them, nurses, doctors and health care workers
- For our political and religious leaders and all with positions of influence,

O St. Thérèse, our sister, obtain for us a strong faith and love to embrace the Risen Lord. May your intercession discourage the enemy and banish from our land the scourge of the Culture of Death. Anchored in prayer, fill us with apostolic zeal to become living witnesses to the Merciful Love of God and the dignity of every human life from conception to natural death. To the Child Jesus, whose Holy Face, radiant with the wounds of his blessed Passion, is our light and our salvation, be glory and honour in this dark night and in the everlasting day. Amen.

1 'Our Father,' 1 'Hail Mary,' 1 'Glory be' in reparation for sins against the gift of life.