Yesterday, October 1st, was the feast day of St. Therese of Liseux. She is known lovingly as "The Little Flower" and had such an inspirational humility about her striving for sainthood that many women and men seek to emulate.
In the Catholic faith, we look to the saints as inspiration for how to live our lives, a sort of blueprint or map towards the ultimate goal of Heavenly unifiction with Christ our Light, God Our Father, and the Blessed Mother Mary. We don't worship the saints but rather pray for their guiding intercession from their Heavenly home.
St. Therese herself is known for having a great devotion to St. Joan of Arc "-- depicting her in plays and reading excessively about her. It’s ironic that these two saints were canonized almost exactly within five years of each other, especially given that Joan died several hundred years before Thérèse. St. Joan of Arc was canonized on May 16, 1920, and St. Thérèse of Lisieux was canonized on May 17, 1925."
Joan of Arc had a profound influence on Therese throughout her life, and Therese, in her poems and plays, presented Joan as one who both inspired and followed the way Therese was discovering of littleness, confidence, and love.
When Therese was a little girl, her study of Joan’s adventures brought her a sudden illumination of her own vocation.
At age 22, in 1895, she recounts:
"When reading the accounts of the patriotic deeds of French heroines, especially the Venerable JOAN OF ARC, I had a great desire to imitate them; and it seemed I felt within me the same burning zeal with which they were animated, the same heavenly inspiration. Then I received a grace which I have always looked upon as one of the greatest in my life because at that age I wasn’t receiving the lights I’m now receiving when I am flooded with them. I considered that I was born for glory and when I searched out the means of attaining it, God inspired in me the sentiments I have just described. He made me understand my own glory would not be evident to the eyes of mortals, that it would consist in becoming a great saint!"
Just like St. Therese, it is important to look up to the saints to model our lives after their virtues. Her inspiration for striving to be like St. Joan of Arc inspires me and I look up to the both of them to intercede for me as I strive for sainthood. Who are some of your saintly inspirations?
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