Faith Like a Child: Learning From St. Thérèse’s ‘Little Way’

Walking up to the Basilica of St. Thérèse in Lisieux, I couldn’t help but feel as small as a child compared to the vast building. Upon entering, I felt as if I could be anywhere in the world; the artwork seemed to encompass all cultures and times, emphasizing Thérèse’s role as co-patroness of missions (meaning that, along with St. Francis Xavier, Thérèse is the saint you pray to for mission-related requests). Although she spent most of her life in a convent, the Church bestowed the title on Thérèse because of her immense desire to spread the Gospel to all corners of the earth.

Another way the Catholic Church honors Thérèse’s desire to be a missionary is by allowing her relics to travel on tour all over the world. I had the pleasure of visiting the relics and watching as thousands of pilgrims poured into a quaint Carmelite monastery in Lafayette, LA, to bring their intentions to Thérèse. In her autobiography, “Story of a Soul,” Thérèse writes,

“Without leaving the shelter of your arms or even turning my head, I will distribute your treasures to the souls who come to me asking for food.”

I could not help but think of these words as I watched the pilgrims approach her relics with their intentions. It seemed that the image Thérèse had described was coming true before my eyes. As this scene shows, Thérèse is beloved by many, and I believe this is largely because her spirituality is relatable.

I did not always have a devotion to St. Thérèse, but as I dove deeper into her works, I realized that her spirituality is one I could not only embrace but also live out daily. Thérèse had a secret, a key to holiness, which she calls her Little Way, and it comes from the heart of the Gospel message. In particular, it emulates a line from the Gospel of Mark: “Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the Kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it” (Mark 10:15).

As Christians, we have a duty to receive the Kingdom like children. But many of us have lost the sense of what it is to be a child, or, if we have had a difficult childhood, may never have known it at all.

Thérèse had a childhood fraught with hardships, anxieties, and illness, the most difficult being losing her mother, Zélie, to breast cancer when she was just 4 years old. Despite these trials, Thérèse took the good things of her childhood and used them as a foundation to become more “childlike” as she grew older and to establish her Little Way.

Thérèse’s Little Way is a blueprint for understanding how to receive the Kingdom like a child. When her sister Pauline asked what the Little Way is, Thérèse answered, “It is the way of spiritual childhood, the way of trust and absolute surrender.”

Thérèse shows us that spiritual childhood consists in embracing our baptismal roles as sons and daughters of God. When properly formed, a child does not question their place in their father’s home but simply trusts that they belong. To receive the Kingdom like a child, we must trust that we belong there. This takes surrender and trust in God’s merciful love.

This may seem like an insurmountable task, and initially, Thérèse felt that way. She thought of all the great saints who had come before her and wondered how she, too, could ascend those spiritual mountaintops. Living in the age of invention, Thérèse made a clever analogy, likening Jesus’ mercy to a spiritual elevator.

She writes in her autobiography:

“The elevator which must raise me to heaven is Your arms, O Jesus! And for this I had no need to grow up, but rather I had to remain little and become this more and more.”

When the day draws long, and I think of my many failures, and the Little Way seems a long way off, I remind myself to remain little. Often I return to these words from Thérèse:

“I always feel, however, the same bold confidence of becoming a great saint because I don’t count on my own merits, since I have none, but I trust in Him who is Virtue and Holiness.”

Thérèse has taught me the way of spiritual childhood, a way of complete trust in our heavenly Father. Through that bold confidence in God’s mercy, Thérèse has not only entered the Kingdom but has become one of the greatest saints of modern times, a missionary of his mercy to us weary pilgrims in every corner of the earth.