Feria VI infra Hebdomadam XVI post Octavam Pentecostes – In festo S. Teresiæ a Jesu Infante, Virg. – III. classis
On this day, the Church places before us two texts which seem to answer one another across the centuries: the prophecy of Isaiah, in which the Lord speaks of His people as nourished and comforted like a child upon its mother’s breast (Is. 66:12–14), and the Gospel wherein Christ proclaims that only the childlike shall enter the Kingdom of Heaven (Mt. 18:1–4).
It is no wonder that Holy Church joins these readings to the feast of St. Thérèse of Lisieux, the Virgin who lived and died in the “Little Way” of spiritual childhood.
“As one whom his mother comforteth” (Isaiah 66:13)
The prophet’s words unfold with maternal tenderness: God promises to extend peace as a river and to console Jerusalem’s children in His bosom. St. Augustine sees in this image the eternal rest prepared for the faithful:
“As a mother nourishes her child, not by merit of the infant, but out of sheer love, so does God pour forth His sweetness upon us, that we might grow strong in Him.” (Augustine, Enarr. in Ps. 131)
St. Gregory the Great reads Jerusalem here as the Church, who feeds her children not with earthly milk, but with the Word and Sacraments:
“By the bosom of Jerusalem is signified the hidden mystery of the Church, in which the faithful, warmed and nourished, grow unto the stature of Christ.” (Hom. in Evang. 17)
Thus, the prophecy is already maternal, already eucharistic, already hinting at the simplicity by which souls are to be fed—not through grandeur, but through humble dependence.
“Unless you be converted, and become as little children…” (Matthew 18:3)
When the Apostles ask, “Who is the greatest?”, Our Lord answers by placing a child before them. The Fathers agree that this is not a counsel to ignorance, but to humility.
St. John Chrysostom comments:
“The child is free from vainglory, from the burning desire of honor; so must he be who would be first in the Kingdom of Heaven.” (Hom. in Matt. 58)
St. Hilary of Poitiers likewise observes:
“The child believes, loves, hopes, and clings to his father. Such must we be toward God, if we would inherit His Kingdom.” (In Matt. 18)
Christ teaches that littleness, not greatness, is the path to glory.
The Little Way of St. Thérèse
In these Scriptures, St. Thérèse found her vocation. She saw herself as the little child of the Gospel, carried upon the divine arms, too weak to climb the stairs of perfection, but content to be lifted by Love. She wrote:
“To remain little is to recognize one’s nothingness, to expect everything from the good God as a little child expects everything from its father.”
Her sanctity lay not in great deeds, but in the hidden surrender of a child—smiling amid obscurity, embracing weakness as the place where God’s strength abides.
Isaiah spoke of comfort flowing from Jerusalem’s bosom; the Gospel spoke of becoming as children; Thérèse lived both, resting in the maternal embrace of Holy Church and teaching us to descend in order to ascend.
A Practical Resolution
In our age of striving, achievement, and spiritual pride, the Little Way calls us back to evangelical humility. Let us resolve:
- To renounce the desire for spiritual greatness in the eyes of men.
- To accept our littleness before God without discouragement.
- To live daily dependence, not upon our works, but upon His mercy.
For to be childlike is not to be less Christian, but to live the Gospel most purely. As St. Ambrose declared:
“Unless we become small in our own eyes, we cannot be great in God’s sight.” (De Officiis I.36)
Closing Prayer
O God, who didst inflame the heart of St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus with the fire of Thy love, grant that we, walking in the way of her spiritual childhood, may so trust in Thee as beloved children, that we may enter into Thy Kingdom with joy. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.