Memorial of Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus, Virgin and Doctor of the Church

  Lectionary: 460

At that very moment he rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said,
“I give you praise, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned you have revealed them to the childlike. Yes, Father, such has been your gracious will."

There are two recommended gospel passages for this first day of October, one for the Memorial of Saint Thérèse and the other for the Saturday of the 26th week in Ordinary Time. As it happens, both reflect Jesus's teaching about becoming childlike. 

Thérèse was twenty-four when she died, new to adulthood and still discovering that dimension of human life. The brains of young adults, we now know, are not yet fully mature. They sometimes act impetuously, without thought to the consequences of their behavior. That explains their astonishing courage as athletes and soldiers, and their recklessness with machinery and pharmaceuticals. They may be very impatient with the caution of older adults. But they're sometimes surprised when their older adults listen attentively to them input for they still feel like children, awed and awkward, in their presence. 

Young adults can be very idealistic and are often prey to the simple-mindedness of ideologies. They might be enamored of tyrants whose shallow thoughts and bizarre speculations seem far reaching and profound. 

The young Thérèse was given the responsibilities of older adults, especially as the novice mistress of her community. She was already teaching younger women how to find joy, purpose, and satisfaction within the strict confines of a cloistered community. She shared with these women, who were both "baby sisters" and "budding adults," the practice of becoming childlike. 

There is the paradox of the cross: a young adult aspires to adulthood by becoming childlike. She was learning to respect her intelligence as it matured, with the exciting experience of new insights and old ideas. Teaching young adults old ideas can be like throwing gasoline on a fire. What had been words on a page suddenly catch fire and made sense. As she taught the younger women her enthusiasm for the evangelical life -- within confines of a cloister -- was contagious. We can only imagine how the older sisters might have regarded the goings on in her classroom. 

But her enthusiasm was also channeled by her willingness to be the baby sister to older women. Not all of them were content in their habits. Some had been sent to the convent as a sacrificial offering by their parents, despite their lack of a calling to the cloister. They would never find contentment in that constricted way of life. Others had responded to a real vocation but may have lost the spirit along the way. Reciting final vows doesn't resolve every challenge of faith. The narrow gate does not open to easy street. 

How should we hear Thérèse's doctrine of becoming like children? I think of Shunryu Suzuki's classic Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind. The Buddhist teacher encouraged his students to retain their open curiosity even as they mastered the arts and skills of adulthood. Experts, he said, know what they know and cannot learn new thoughts. Scientists have long observed how brilliant young researchers discover amazing new ideas, but are possessed by the same ideas for the rest of their careers; and. in later life, obstinately oppose newer insights by the next generation. 

Childlikeness is curious, bold, and creative. It is not content with merely consuming entertainment from television or social media. It wants to draw pictures, create songs, or shape mud into pottery. It finds originality in classic works of art and reinterprets them for a new age. It is delighted by the sensations of a human body, which may be discovered in a yoga class. It creates new technologies to express images, sounds, and sensations never imagined before. 

The childlike discover the Spirit of God in ancient religious doctrines, and recognize kinship with prehistoric persons like Abraham, Sarah, and Moses. They are especially eager to meet older people who have never surrendered their childlike abilities. 

The Church canonized Saint Thérèse and recommends her as a "Doctor" for the wisdom of her innocent spirit. 125 years after her death, we are still learning from this very young adult.