Photo by Nick Castelli on Unsplash

One of my favourite Catholic saints is Ste.Thérèse de Lisieux. She is powerful. Perhaps you know her, she is quite popular amongst Catholic circles. She has helped many people, including me, with her intercession. She was a Carmelite nun that seemed to have lived a very ordinary life in the convent, but was full of faith, had humble confidence in God, and lived out heroic charity.

My devotion to her grew this fall. She saw me everyday! I passed Ste.Thérèse’s parish in Ottawa on my way to work. I walked by her statue and was reminded of her powerful intercession every day.

During this season, I also read I Believe in Love. It’s a retreat-based book based on the teachings of Ste. Thérèse. It contains faithful truths to encourage us in our own mission. The author shares Ste.Thérèse’s spirituality and inserts similar wisdom from other saints. One statement about the Blessed Virgin Mary led me to deeper reflection: “All her glory was within.” Ste.Thérèse was full of a deep and rich interior life, mimicking that of Our Lady. Yes, she was cloistered, but she lived an amazing interior life with the Lord.

This reminds me that our interior life is the often-overlooked and key ingredient to the work of mission. It is ironic that Ste.Thérèse is a patron saint of mission. But how can it be when we learn her spirituality? Her example teaches us that we don’t have to be on the frontlines of ministry to partake in a grand mission. We can be a parent, a doctor, a construction worker, and even a Carmelite, cloistered nun, and still carry out our daily tasks with a great glory from within. An interior life is vitally integral and acutely important to the work or mission God has us presently participating.

Ste.Thérèse encourages me to find that interior glory in my personal prayer time. Join me in finding that glory from within. It’s a hidden apostolate that will colour our active one. I believe it has the power to transform whatever we do, the seemingly ordinary into something extraordinary. If Ste.Thérèse can do it, so can we—by God’s great and available grace.

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