The word mortification can sound intimidating.
It can bring to mind saints fasting for days, sleeping on hard floors, or practicing severe penances. But St. Thérèse of Lisieux had a much simpler approach.
She once explained:
"When I speak of mortification, I don't mean the kind of penance practiced by saints...There are great souls who practice every sort of mortification from childhood, but I am not like any of them. All I did was to break my self-will, check a hasty reply, and do little kindnesses without making a fuss about them—and lots of similar things."
That's a very different kind of mortification, and sometimes a more challenging one.
Holding back the irritated response. Doing something for someone when we'd rather not. Giving up our preference without announcing that we've done it. Performing a kindness and resisting the desire to be noticed for it.
These aren't extraordinary acts. In fact, most people around us will never know we've done them. And that was precisely the point of St. Thérèse's "Little Way." She understood that holiness doesn't necessarily require doing great things. It requires surrendering ourselves to God in the little things He places before us.
She explained it beautifully:
"Holiness is not a matter of any one particular method of spirituality: it is a disposition of the heart that makes us small and humble within the arms of God, aware of our weaknesses, but almost rashly confident in His Fatherly goodness."
St. Thérèse quotations excerpted from Mornings with Saint Thérèse.
Thérèse knew her weaknesses. She wasn't pretending they weren't there. But instead of allowing them to discourage her, they made her depend even more completely on God.
That's what makes her Little Way so encouraging. We don't have to wait until we're stronger, more disciplined, or somehow more "holy" to begin. The opportunities are already in front of us—in our marriages, our families, our workplaces, and probably within the first hour after we wake up!
St. Thérèse reminds us that we don't have to wait for an extraordinary opportunity to become holy. We can begin with the next small thing.
Our Small Things Gingham Love Water Bottle carries that same reminder into everyday life. Inspired by St. Thérèse's spirituality of doing small things with great love, it's a simple reminder that even the most ordinary moments can be offered to God. Find yours today at The Catholic Company!
St. Thérèse quotations excerpted from Mornings with Saint Thérèse.
