The Little Way of St. Thérèse
Dear Parishioners,
Happy Festival Weekend! I hope you come by St. Bart’s and support our outreach to the community. I’m excited that this year we have an OLODP information and prayer booth! You can learn about our Family of Parishes there and ask for a prayer. The rosary makers made over 300 rosaries for us to give out, and I am very grateful for this outreach effort. A huge thank you to everyone who agreed to volunteer with set up, or donations, or running the festival, or clean up! Special thanks to Ken Radziwon, Jerry Yox, and Bill Mauntel for organizing and running the whole operation.
I’m also excited to point out the great work that the Evangelization team has been up to. Check out the Adult Faith Formation page, Children & Families Ministries page, and the Providence Youth page for the many faith formation and fellowship offerings that are in store this Fall. I invite you to consider where God may be calling you to participate in these opportunities, and consider doing so as part of our OLODP Year of Unity.
Since my trip to France, I’ve been pondering the wisdom of St. Thérèse, and this week I suggest thinking a little more about her “little way.”
Did you know? St. Thérèse, who died at 24 years old, is the youngest Doctor of the Church.
St. Thérèse tells us that closeness with God doesn’t come from great works, spectacular deeds, or extraordinary actions. Instead, we get closer to God by performing consistent, everyday actions with great love. If you think about it, there’s a lot of wisdom here. If we get really good at the things we do every day, we can make our lives significantly better. Consider this: a majority of our life is repeated. We get up, brush our teeth, get ready for the day, go to work, work, come home from work, follow our evening routine, etc. It's actually pretty heroic to do the ordinary actions of our days and weeks with the greatest love that we can. Cleaning, weeding, mowing, washing, folding… all of these chores are ways in which we bring light to darkness and bring order to chaos, each and every day. Let’s be faithful to these little things in imitation of St. Thérèse’s little way.
Along these lines, there are lots of ways in which we can implement St. Thérèse’s little way in our parishes. Things like taking good care of the linens, making sure that the sacristies are orderly and painted, that clutter doesn’t collect in the closets, that weeds get pulled, and shrubs stay trimmed; these are all ways to bring our parishes closer to Heaven. Along these lines, the office is working on a maintenance work order form, which I expect will be ready soon. You’ll be able to easily report maintenance issues on your phone from anywhere on our campuses. That way you can help us take better care of our properties, and we can communicate with volunteers more effectively.
Lastly, on a personal note, I am now completely finished with my Master’s in Psychology. This should give me a little more time to spend chatting and also give me more time for sleep, which is important. I’m very grateful for what I’ve learned, but now I am happy to have more time to spend on things other than school.
Yours in Christ, with Mary,
Fr. Henry Hoffmann
