“Holiness consists simply in doing God’s will and being exactly what He wants us to be” (St. Therese of the Child Jesus).
With her characteristic simplicity, St. Therese hits the nail on the head once again. One does not need great theological knowledge or to read countless books to walk the path of holiness. Rather, it is a matter of seeking and fulfilling God’s will daily and allowing oneself to be guided by the Holy Spirit. We are familiar with Jesus’s exclamation: “I thank thee, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to the little ones” (Mt 11:25).
These words show us that the Christian faith can be practiced by all people, regardless of their intellectual capacity. There may be those who have received from the Lord the task of instructing others and therefore need more theological and spiritual knowledge, but the fundamental message on how to attain holiness remains accessible to all.
This is how our Father intended it! On this path, we are shaped, for fulfilling God’s will leaves deep traces on our soul. Day by day, God’s grace becomes effective, healing and liberating our soul, which suffers so much for having strayed from our Father and for the homelessness that this entails. In God’s will, however, the soul finds its home again, even during earthly life. There, God’s will is the immeasurable bliss for all angels and saints, and in each one, what God, in His love, planned him to be, has become a full reality.
However, this reality begins here, in our earthly life, as St. Therese teaches us. The following advice of hers can help us on our path to holiness: “Jesus does not ask us to perform great deeds, but only abandonment and gratitude.”