A Saint for the Masses

Thursday, October 1, 2026

Feast of Saint Thérèse of Lisieux

Dorothy Day, cofounder of the Catholic Worker, had a deep attachment to Thérèse of Lisieux for her “little way” to God, which was open to all, including people living in poverty. Day writes of Thérèse’s widespread appeal:

It was the “worker,” the common man, who first spread her fame by word of mouth. It was the masses who first proclaimed her a saint. It was the “people.” 

When we think of the masses, we think of waves of the sea, of forests, of fields of wheat, all moved by the spirit which blows where it listeth. When we think of the people, we think of the child at school, … the mother working, … the man traveling, the migrant worker, … the soldier, the rich, the bourgeois, the poor in tenements, the destitute man in the street. To a great extent she has made her appeal to all of these.

What was there about her to make such an appeal? Perhaps because she was so much like the rest of us in her ordinariness. In her lifetime there are no miracles recounted, she was just good….

It is the world itself which has canonized her, it is the common people who have taken her to their hearts.

Day describes why Thérèse’s “little way” is so important today:

[Therese] practiced the presence of God and she did all things—all the little things that make up our daily life and contact with others—for [God’s] honor and glory. She did not need much time to expound what she herself called “her little way,” which she said was for all. She wrote her story, and God did the rest. God and the people….

What stands out in her life? Her holiness of course, and the holiness of her entire family. That is not an ordinary thing in this day of post-war materialism [and] delinquency….

With governments becoming stronger and more centralized, the common [person] feels [their] ineffectiveness. When the whole world seems given over to preparedness for war and the show of force, the message of Therese is quite a different one.

She speaks to our condition. Is the atom a small thing? And yet what havoc it has wrought. Is her little way a small contribution to the life of the spirit? It has all the power of the spirit of Christianity behind it. It is an explosive force that can transform our lives and the life of the world, once put into effect….

One can state that this saint, of this day, is releasing a force, a spiritual force, upon the world to counteract that fear and that disaster. We know that one impulse of grace is of infinitely more power than a cobalt bomb. Therese has said, “All is grace.”

She declared, “I will spend my heaven doing good upon earth.” “I will raise up a mighty host of little saints.” “My mission is to make God loved, to make Love loved.”

________________________________________

Jesus Calling Sarah Young

I am your living God, far more abundantly alive than the most vivacious person you know. The human body is wonderfully crafted, but gravity and the inevitable effects of aging weigh it down. Even the most superb athlete cannot maintain his fitness over many decades. Lasting abundant life can be found in Me alone. Do not be anxious about the weakness of your body. Instead, view it as the prelude to My infusing energy into your being.
     As you identify more and more fully with Me. My Life becomes increasingly intertwined with yours. Though the process of aging continues, inwardly you grow strong with the passing years. Those who live close to Me develop an inner aliveness that makes them seem youthful in spite of their years. Let My Life shine through you, as you walk in the Light with Me.

Psalm 139:14 (NLT)
14 Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex!
    Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it.

Additional insight regarding Psalms 139:13-15: God’s character goes into the creation of every person. When you feel worthless or even begin to hate yourself, remember that God’s Spirit is ready and willing to work within you. We should have as much respect for ourselves as our Maker has for us.

Colossians 1:29 (NLT)
29 That’s why I work and struggle so hard, depending on Christ’s mighty power that works within me.

Additional insight regarding Colossians 1:28,29: The word perfect (in 1:28)  means “mature or completed, not “flawless.” Paul wanted to see each believer mature spiritually. Like Paul, we must work wholeheartedly like an athlete, but we should not strive in our own strength alone. We have the power of God’s Spirit working in us. We can learn and grow daily, motivated by love and not by fear or pride, knowing that God gives the energy to become mature.

Additional insight regarding Colossians 1:28,29: Christ’s message is for everyone; so everywhere Paul and Timothy went, they brought the Good news to all who would listen. An effective presentation of the Good News includes warning and teaching. The warning is that without Christ, people are doomed to eternal separation from God. The teaching is that salvation is available through faith in Christ. As Christ works in you, tell others about him, warning and teaching them in love. Whom do you know that needs to hear this message?

1st John 1:7 (NLT)
7 But if we are living in the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin.

Additional insight regarding 1st John 1:7: How does Jesus’ blood cleanse us from all sin? In Old Testament times, believers symbolically transferred their sins to an animal, which they then sacrificed (see a description of this ceremony in Leviticus 4). The animal died in their place to pay for their sins and allow them to continue living in God’s favor. God graciously forgave them because of their faith in him and because they obeyed his commandments concerning the sacrifice. Those sacrifices anticipated the day when Christ would completely remove sin. Real cleansing from sin came with Jesus, “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). Sin, by its very nature, brings death – this is a fact as certain as the laws of gravity. Jesus did not die for his own sins; he had none. Instead, by a transaction that we may never fully understand, he died for the sins of the world. When we commit our life to Christ and thus identify ourselves with him, his death becomes ours. He has paid the penalty for our sins and his blood has purified us. Just as Christ rose from the grave, we rise to a new life of fellowship with him (Romans 6:4 – “We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.”).