Simplicity

20 June 2011 

I have not finished reading the biography of St. Therese of Lisieux, but I cannot wait to share how beautiful the book is. It is actually a letter to her sister, hence when we read it, we will also feel the intimacy that St. Therese felt when she wrote this to her sister.

The strongest impression that I feel every time I read the book is the simplicity. Even as a little girl, St. Therese’s mind is always on God. She walked with her father to have a Visit to the Blessed Sacrament every afternoon, she sat and listened to her sister preparing her for her first communion, she rejoiced every Sunday and every feasts day, and she felt the vocation to be a Carmelite nun in such a young age.

When I read the book, I was amazed by how the family of St. Therese was really centred in God. Her  sister’s first communion was also a great joy for St. Therese. When she was sick, her father sent another sister to go for pilgrimage to Our Lady of Victory, but even before her sister left, St. Therese cried out for her sister and her sister knelt before the statue of Our Lady of Victory and prayed to Our Lady. At that moment, Our Lady appeared to St. Therese and St. Therese was cured.

Hmmph...I think I can’t really put my thoughts from this book into words. There are only two words: beautiful and simplicity. When I read that book, I imagine the life hundred years ago and a whole family really lived a life full of devotion. I imagine the little girls did not plug in earphone to their ears and ignore their parents. I imagine that Sunday was a BIG DAY not because it’s a school holiday, but because the whole family was going to Holy Mass together. Bible and spiritual readings are friends for the whole family, not TV series or facebook. The ambition of the little girl was not to grow up and marry rich guy that can take care of her, but to achieve SANCTITY.

However, the world has evolved and there are different needs in this modern society, but still I believe that nothing can replace the inner call to want to be close to God and to always please God. There are positive and negative sides of this fast-paced and well-connected world, but God’s goodness is absolute. In the midst of this hectic world, there’s always a room to have a retreat, to step back and enter a private room in our mind which is reserved only for ourselves and God. Life is simple, there’s no complication in this life if we are not attached to the world even though we live in this world. 

A big challenge, huh? J No worries... God’s grace is powerful!! Hehehehe... and we have the Sacraments, the special channel of grace, that will help us to reach sanctity :)