liturgical living // How Sweet is the Way of Love!

Alrighhhttt.... SO. Our Feast of the Archangels was good! It was a grace-filled day and good. The day after was rough. Hidden graces that I have no awareness of whatsoever may have been hanging around but I spied nada. 

It's funny how that can happen sometimes. Admittedly, I felt pretty defeated yesterday, while I was riding a fluffy cloud of blackberry cobbler with those wonderful Archangels all through just the night before!

But, it happens!

At the end of the day, I couldn't be more thankful for sweet St. Therese on the rougher of days. She brings simplicity back to my rambled mess of a brain and heart. She redirects me and tells me it's all going to be okay.

"...how sweet is the way of love! No doubt, we are liable to fall, to fail in constancy, but love knows how to draw profit from everything. It quickly consumes anything that may be displeasing to Jesus, leaving only a humble and profound peace at the bottom of our heart."

-St.Therese of Lisieux

See what she did there? Simple. The way of love! So beautiful and so simple. Reminding us that we are sure to fall and fail in constancy (I can assure you both of these things happened yesterday!). Reminding me that in light of the love I have in my heart for my family and for my Lord, profit can and will be drawn.

But she doesn't just stop there!

That bit on humility - pretty sure I was chewing on a large slice of humble cobbler last night and will continue to do so all day today too. Pretty sure! And all for good reason! All to keep perspective. All to redirect my heart to home and to begin again today.

Sweetly and simply moving forward - erring on the side of love. The place where He meets our efforts and makes them good again.

Oh, dear St. Therese. I heart you tons!

So, in light of her loveliness and ability to always give me needed perspective on a good or bad day I'll be making a sweet dessert to celebrate her feast later this evening. I'm thinking a simple and little one-layer white cake with some white frosting for her purity and goodness topped with strawberries. The plan is to try to form a rose with the yummy red fruit. I'll let you know how that turns out!

On that note, what will you be doing to celebrate this lovely saint? Remember, no small gesture is too small for this beautiful friend of ours!

A cross, some dust, and some sweetness

"Jesus offers you the cross, a very heavy cross, and you are afraid of not being able to carry it without giving way. Why? Our Beloved Himself fell three times on the way to Calvary, and why should we not imitate Him?"

~St. Therese of Lisieux

Oh, sweet, sweet St. Therese! How sweet you always are! Thank you for reminding me of how He loves even our littlest attempts at carrying our crosses.

There a few things circling my little brain but for now I'm leaving you with the goodness of St. Therese and a picture of a prayer pillow cross that we got for Linus on his first birthday. Linus will play with it some, while Bigfoot loves to play Mass here and there with it. Look forward to see how they use it in the years to come!

This is my Holy Lens project insta-photo for today. Cross is the word and since there is some good ole dust (you know, the indoor dirt that flies and settles on everything and anything under your roof?) all over the coffee table, I'm also linking up with Cari for Theme Thursday. It's been awhile since I've joined Theme Thursday. Good to be back!

In spite of my extreme littleness I still dare to gaze upon the Divine Sun, the Sun of Love, and my heart feels within it all the aspirations of an Eagle. -St. Thérèse of Lisieux

"For me, prayer is an upward leap of the heart, an untroubled glance towards heaven, a cry of gratitude and love which I utter from the depths of sorrow as well as from the heights of joy. It has a supernatural grandeur which expands the soul and unites it with God. I say an Our Father or a Hail Mary when I feel so spiritually barren that I cannot summon up a single worth while thought. These two prayers fill me with rapture and feed and satisfy my soul." — St. Thérèse of Lisieux, The Story of a Soul. (New York: Double Day, 2001) 140

"You know, Mother, that I have always wanted to be become a saint. Unfortunately when I have compared myself with the saints, I have always found that there is the same difference between the saints and me as there is between a mountain whose summit is lost in the clouds and a humble grain of sand trodden underfoot by passersby. Instead of being discouraged, I told myself: God would not make me wish for something impossible and so, in spite of my littleness, I can aim at being a saint. It is impossible for me to grow bigger, so I put up with myself as I am, with all my countless faults. But I will look for some means of going to heaven by a little way which is very short and very straight, a little way that is quite new[...] It is your arms, Jesus, which are the lift to carry me to heaven, And so there is no need for me to grow up. In fact, just the opposite: I must stay little and become less and less." –St. Thérèse of Lisieux, The Story of a Soul. (New York: Double Day, 2001), 113.

"I had wondered for a long time why God had preferences and why all souls did not receive an equal amount of grace [...] Jesus saw fit to enlighten me about this mystery. He set the book of nature before me and I saw that all the flowers He has created are lovely. The splendour of the rose and whiteness of the lily do not rob the little violet of its scent nor the daisy of its simple charm. I realised that if every tiny flower wanted to be a rose, spring would lose its loveliness and there would be no wild flowers to make the meadows gay. It is just the same in the world of souls — which is the garden of Jesus. He has created the great saints who are like the lilies and the roses, but He has also created much lesser saints and they must be content to be the daisies or the violets which rejoice His eyes whenever He glances down. Perfection consists in doing His will, in being that which He wants us to be." -St. Therese of Lisieux