Lent: Saints & Virtue: Week THREE

Week TWO: March 8-14

Quick Bio: St.Thérèse was born in 1873 and “from the age of three, …began to refuse nothing of what God asked of [her]”. Her mother passed away when St. Therese was only four years old. St.Thérèse entered the convent at the age of fifteen (requesting permission from the Pope). Four of her sisters also became nuns. St.Thérèse died at the age of twenty four.

Docility is the virtue of teachableness.
Docility in the context of our Faith is receptivity; openness to the prompting of the Holy Spirit; openness to receiving gifts from God (and deepening our relationship with Him) and openness to understanding and accepting the Teachings of the Catholic Church.

Docility often conveys weakness or submission in our culture: the docile person is oppressed or taken advantage of. The definition of docility is more accurately the willingness to be taught.

We must be teachable even if we can’t see the lesson- we grow closer to Him through our open ended “yes, Lord!”: and that receptivity to follow Him, is holiness.

Being docile to the Holy Spirit teaches us how to pray, guides us in what we do and say; helps us to overcome frustration, worry and anger.

Docility helps us to accept interruptions with Grace, be open to God’s Will and offers the opportunity to show love and mercy and to magnify God.

Learning from St. Thérèse:

St. Thérèse models DOCILITY for us. She is not discouraged by her littleness, but sees it as all the more reason for Jesus to help her.

Instead of being discouraged by our faults, weaknesses and failings, we can choose to see them as opportunities to learn, grow and practice virtue; relying more fervently on Him.

St. Thérèse was docile; she was “humble and small in the Arms of God, fully conscious of her weakness and confident to the point of audacity in the Goodness of the Father”.

She understood that the weaker we are (and the more aware we are of our littleness), the more readily Jesus picks us up in His Arms. Our littleness attracts His Mercy and our confidence in His Love (and Mercy) for us is what opens His Arms to us.

”I too, would like to find an elevator to lift me up to Jesus for I am too little to climb the rough staircase of perfection. The elevator which must raise me to the Heavens is Your Arms, O Jesus…I must necessarily remain small.”

Consider:

What are my biggest weaknesses, struggles, faults and failings?

How can I surrender these to God and rely more wholeheartedly on Him?

Prayer Prompt:

When I’m anxious or overwhelmed because things aren’t going the way I’d like, I can pray: