Understanding the "Little Way": Therese's Gift to the Church

by ALOYSIUS REGO OCD

Aloysius Rego is a member of the Carmelite community in Varroville, Sydney. He is the author of Holiness For All: Themes from St Thérèse of Lisieux, forthcoming this summer with Teresian Press. In this article, an abridged version of an extract from that book, he gives a masterly introduction to the 'Little Way' of Thérèse - its origin, its spirituality, and its encouraging message for us all.

Many people have heard of Thérèse's spirituality, often referred to as the 'Little Way'. But the very notion of a 'Little Way' gives rise to a number of questions: Why did Thérèse feel the need to discover an alternative spirituality, a new 'way'? What led her to finding it? How did she come to fashion her own 'Little Way'?

An impossible goal?

From a young age, Thérèse wanted to be a saint. And for her, holiness meant total availability to Jesus - it meant giving Jesus ALL. Yet it seemed an impossible goal. In her autobiography, Story of a Soul, she writes: 'Alas! I have always noticed that when I compared myself to the saints, there is between them and me the same difference that exists between a mountain whose summit is lost in the clouds and the obscure grain of sand trampled underfoot by passers-by' (SS, p. 207).

So, what was Thérèse going to do? Give up? NO! On the contrary, she reasoned in this way: 'Instead of becoming discouraged, I said to myself: God cannot inspire unrealisable desires. I can, then, in spite of my littleness, aspire to holiness' (SS, p. 207). We note, here, both her confidence that God will find a way - a means proportioned to her nature - for her to attain her goal; and also that she is aware of her 'littleness' - her weakness and her powerlessness.


A spiritual elevator

Having now accepted the reality of her situation, Thérèse decided to fashion her own way to the goal of holiness. She says: 'I want to seek out a means of going to heaven by a little way, a way that is very straight, very short, and totally new' (SS, p. 207). Here, Thérèse discloses the characteristics of her 'Little Way'. It is:
'straight' - there are no bends in the road, no sharp turns, no possibility of getting lost; as such, it is the surest and least arduous way to one's goal;
'short' - it is the quickest way;
'new' - it has not been tried before; it is not in existence as far as she is aware.
Accordingly, Thérèse is going to be a trail-blazer ('new') who discovers the quickest ('short') and surest ('straight') way to her goal (heaven, or holiness).

Thérèse has now defined her 'way' - but what is it going to be like in practice? As she ponders this, the image that comes into her mind is that of an elevator or lift - a new technological invention in her day, which she had experienced during a visit to Paris. The elevator fulfils exactly the characteristics she desires for her new way: 'straight', 'short', 'new'! And so, she reflects: 'We are living now in an age of inventions, and we no longer have to take the trouble of climbing stairs, for, in the homes of the rich, an elevator has replaced these very successfully. I wanted to find an elevator which would raise me to Jesus, for I am too small to climb the rough stairway of perfection' (SS, p. 207). Thérèse wants her 'Little Way' to be like the elevator: unlike the winding stairway, it can take one to the top, straight to the destination, and with minimum effort.


The arms of Jesus

She then began to search for this 'spiritual' elevator that 'would raise [her] to Jesus'. As so often, when Thérèse had a problem or sought an answer to a difficulty, she turned to the word of God for light. She recounts: 'I searched, then, in the Scriptures for some sign of this elevator, the object of my desires, and I read these words coming from the mouth of Eternal Wisdom: "Whoever is a LITTLE ONE, let him come to me." And so I succeeded. I felt I had found what I was looking for' (SS, p. 208).

In these words from Proverbs (9:4), Thérèse recognised that it was she, the 'little one', who was being addressed - she felt herself personally called. However, she was not satisfied with this illumination alone: she still needed to know what would happen if she responded to the call to come to Jesus. And so she continued reading. She says: 'But wanting to know, O my God, what You would do to the very little one who answered Your call, I continued my search and this is what I discovered: "As one whom a mother caresses, so will I comfort you; you shall be carried at the breasts, and upon the knees they shall caress you"' (SS, p. 208).

Finally, in this passage from Isaiah (66:13.12), Thérèse realised that if she responded to the call, she would be raised to a profound intimacy with Jesus. He is the one who promises to raise the 'little one' who comes to him, like a mother who caresses her little child at her breast. 'Ah!' she exclaims, 'never did words more tender and more melodious come to give joy to my soul. The elevator which must raise me to heaven is Your arms, O Jesus!' (SS, p. 208). Here, then, is the answer: the arms of Jesus are to be her spiritual 'elevator' that will lift her to him. Thérèse exclaims: 'And for this I had no need to grow up, but rather I had to remain little and become this more and more' (SS, p. 208).


The magnificent discovery

This is a magnificent discovery: her littleness, far from being an obstacle to holiness, is its condition! In other words, Thérèse acknowledges that if Jesus is to carry her, then she must have a need to be carried: she must truly be a child who is too weak to walk by herself, and so is totally dependent on him. After all, human parents do not carry their child once it becomes strong enough to walk by itself!

Therefore, in her quest for holiness, Thérèse came to realise that she could not become a saint - she could not come to Jesus - all by herself. On the contrary, the way to attain this goal was to acknowledge her 'littleness' - her powerlessness, weakness and inability - and to become aware of it ever more acutely. In this way, Jesus would come to carry her and bring her to himself. Jesus would make her a saint.

It must be noted here that this talk of 'remaining little' may seem easy and simple to do. Yet, this is not so. As Thérèse would say in her letters, it is something people do not want to do. Why not? Because it is not easy truly to recognise and own the depths of our powerlessness, poverty, misery and dependence. The world puts pressure on us to be independent, to be in control of our life. And this secular attitude can unwittingly slip into our relationship with God, too. The knowledge of our littleness and indigence is not arrived at by our own contrivance; it is a grace granted to those who truly strive 'to give all' to Jesus, and who in the process come to recognise their powerlessness and dependence.


Living the 'Little Way'

Having seen why and how Thérèse came to her discovery, we can now begin to explore the spirituality of the 'Little Way'. A good place to start is by examining why Thérèse called it 'little'. It is simple, in the sense that everyday life, with its humdrum character, is the place where this way to God is lived out. It conjures up the image of a child, aware of its littleness before God, and this powerfully expresses a person's eagerness to receive God's love. It is a short way, removing any imagined distance between God and us. The spirituality of the 'Little Way', if lived conscientiously, keeps us in constant, habitual awareness of our need of God at all times, and of our total dependence on him.


One day, Thérèse explained to her sister Pauline what she meant by 'remaining a little child before God'. She said:
"It is to recognise our nothingness, to expect everything from God as a little child expects everything from its father… To be little is not attributing to oneself the virtues that one practises, believing oneself capable of anything, but to recognise that God places this treasure in the hands of His little child to be used when necessary; but it remains always God's treasure. Finally, it is not to become discouraged over one's faults, for children fall often, but they are too little to hurt themselves very much." (LC, pp. 138-9)

This response from Thérèse expresses her 'Little Way' in a nutshell. It means having an attitude of littleness and humility, recognising our total dependence on God. Most commonly, holiness is associated with conquering one's imperfections; but Thérèse, on the contrary, comes to realise: 'I must bear with myself such as I am with all my imperfections' (SS, p. 207). This attitude of littleness liberates people in their relationship with God, because it gives them rights as children, which adults do not possess. A few weeks before her death, Thérèse said to Pauline:
Look at little children: they never stop breaking things, tearing things, falling down, and they do this even while loving their parents very, very much. When I fall in this way, it makes me realise my nothingness more, and I say to myself: What would I do, and what would I become, if I were to rely upon my own strength? (LC, p. 140)


The riches of poverty

Allied to an attitude of littleness is the disposition of poverty: it leads us to recognise that we own nothing, and to expect everything from God at every instant of our life. Thérèse once confessed to one of her novices: 'I am very poor; it is the good Lord who provides me from moment to moment with the amount of help I need to practise virtue.' Thérèse was happy to acknowledge her poverty because it is no obstacle to loving and serving God. Indeed, she went even further: not only is our poverty not an obstacle to a relationship with God, it actually gives us a hold on Jesus! She writes to her sister Marie:
"Ah! let us remain then very far from all that sparkles, let us love our littleness, let us love to feel nothing, then we shall be poor in spirit, and Jesus will come to look for us, and however far we may be, He will transform us in flames of love..." (LT 197)

A few weeks before her death, Thérèse told Pauline that her own poverty had been a real grace for her, and a source of deep peace: 'We experience such great peace when we're totally poor, when we depend upon no one except God' (LC, p. 137).


All confidence and love

Finally, the 'Little Way' entails having confidence in God - being bold enough to approach him, and to seek his help at every step of the way: 'my way is all confidence and love' (LT 226), she once wrote. And her radical trust in God was confidence in his merciful love. This is the hallmark of Thérèse, and it provides the very last words of her Story of a Soul:
"Yes, I feel it; even though I had on my conscience all the sins that can be committed, I would go, my heart broken with sorrow, and throw myself into Jesus' arms, for I know how much He loves the prodigal child who returns to Him. It is not because God, in His anticipating Mercy, has preserved my soul from mortal sin that I go to Him with confidence and love..." (SS, p. 259)