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The call to follow Jesus is not something generic - each call within the Church has a very specific nature. Is it possible to find a pattern, a model on which &od built and which He wished to continue in the Church in calling #other to leave 'oretto and follow Him into the slums? #other has always seen her own vocation as being patterned after that of her patroness, )t. Therese of 'isieu. But
Deskripsi Asli:
Judul Asli
08 St[1]. Therese and Mother Two Lives One Thirst (Ingles)
The call to follow Jesus is not something generic - each call within the Church has a very specific nature. Is it possible to find a pattern, a model on which &od built and which He wished to continue in the Church in calling #other to leave 'oretto and follow Him into the slums? #other has always seen her own vocation as being patterned after that of her patroness, )t. Therese of 'isieu. But
The call to follow Jesus is not something generic - each call within the Church has a very specific nature. Is it possible to find a pattern, a model on which &od built and which He wished to continue in the Church in calling #other to leave 'oretto and follow Him into the slums? #other has always seen her own vocation as being patterned after that of her patroness, )t. Therese of 'isieu. But
Jesus original call of the Twelve to follow Him and belong to Him will always stand as the pattern for every vocation, a model for all those who are called to follow Jesus in a special way. And yet our call to follow Him in love and service is not something generic each call within the Church has a very specific nature. t is the call to follow Jesus, as the Twelve, but in a very particular way to render a particular service to the !ody of Christ, and to do so in a particular spirit. n loo"ing at #others call $and our own as #Cs%, is it possible to find a pattern, a model on which &od built and which He wished to continue in the Church in calling #other to leave 'oretto and follow Him into the slums( s there only the general model of the Apostles who sold all to follow Jesus, or is there some very specific spirit and mission which in &ods mind was already the pattern for His call of #other and of those who would one day follow her( The first clue, surely, we have from #other herself, who has always seen her own vocation as being patterned after that of her patroness, )t. Therese of 'isieu*. !ut if indeed in &ods mind there is a real connection between the two calls, then it must be something deep and substantial, well beyond a common name and a sense of devotion. The first connection apparent to everyone is #others admiration and imitation of )t. Thereses +'ittle ,ay.- !ut even this is not enough to claim her as a pattern for #others vocation, nor to claim that #other and the )ociety are to be a continuation of her spirit in the world. The +'ittle ,ay,- both for #other and )t. Therese, is the fruit of something else, the e*pression of roots that are deep and hidden, yet without which the +'ittle ,ay- could always be something +nice,- but never important enough to be an essential part of their vocation. ,hat then are the roots of the +'ittle ,ay-( ,hat are the roots of )t. Thereses vocation, and dare we claim they are the same as #others( The root of #others vocation is something "nown to all it was the experience of esus! T"irst for "er lo#e on the train to .ar/eeling, and the call to satiate that Thirst in those who most echoed it the poorest of the poor. 0verything else springs from that e*perience, both the )pirit and the #ission of the )ociety are contained in that e*perience and bear fruit only in connection with it. There is no other reason for #other or the )ociety to go into the slums, if not that she and we have been deeply touched by the e*perience and conviction of Jesus daily Thirst for our love, and the desire to satiate Him there where He Thirsts most. !ut what of )t. Therese( f there is any real connection with #other and the )ociety it must begin in the common e*perience of Jesus Thirst. A superficial loo" at the life of the 'ittle 1lower would bring the conclusion that there is no such connection, no such common e*perience. ,ho has ever heard of the Thirst of Jesus being mentioned in relation to the life or spirituality of the 'ittle 1lower( And yet the connection is there... n her autobiography alone, )t. Therese spea"s not once, but eleven times of Jesus Thirst2 And she spea"s of His Thirst in #others same language, describing it as a +thirst for love and for souls.- ,hat is important is not only the fact that )t. Therese does indeed spea" of her own personal e*perience of Jesus Thirst, but above all $"ere she places it in the story of her life. The initial e*perience, which will stay with her all of her life, too" place as part of her +conversion- after the Christmas grace of 3445. The victory over selfishness $the famous episode of the shoes on the staircase on Christmas 0ve% opened her heart to a new relationship with Jesus6 and the first and greatest sign of that new intimacy was this une*pected and overwhelming e*perience of Jesus Thirst. )he saw this e*perience as part of her conversion, and as the doorway and foundation to the rest of her life. The 'ittle 1lowers e*perience occurred on a )unday as she ga7ed on a picture of Jesus Crucified. 8ears later she would write that the cry of Jesus Thirst had penetrated her soul in that moment, and that the words + Thirst- had +set aflame in me a lively and un%no$n ardor- of love. + wanted to satiate my !eloved,- she writes, +and felt &'self devoured by His same thirst for souls.- 1urther on she continues, + seemed to hear Jesus saying to me as to the )amaritan9 :&ive #e to drin"6 and the more gave Him to drin" the more the thirst of my soul grew...- )he called the e*perience of His Thirst t"e &ost precious gift and channel of His love. ;otice well that she says that the more she attempted to satiate His Thirst, the more her own thirst grew. Here is an important lesson for us that Jesus Thirst is not /ust a conviction on paper, but something that needs to be e*perienced and lived in order to become a real source of conversion for us, as for )t. Therese. ,e are reminded also that His Thirst within us, and our thirst for Him, is something alive, something that can and must (ro$ within us through the years, as it did for the 'ittle 1lower. #y penetration of the mystery of Jesus Thirst for my love, and my own thirst for Him in return, should be greater now than when was called, greater now than it was last year, or even last month. The great sign of this hidden e*perience of Jesus Thirst, an e*perience which no one outside of ourselves can ever detect, is precisely our own growth in thirst for Jesus, as the 'ittle 1lower herself discovered. ,e see it clearly in her life and her writings a constantly increasing thirst for Jesus and for Him alone. t is enough to consider that in the brief pages of her autobiography, Jesus name appears over <== times2 And who can deny that the single most noticeable characteristic of #other, more so even than her charity or 7eal, is precisely her t"irst for esus. !ut can we honestly say that the e*perience of Jesus Thirst was as important for )t. Therese as it was for #other( ,as it not rather /ust a beautiful but passing grace among so many others in the 'ittle 1lowers life( 'et us listen to her own words, which #other could so easily affirm as well9 +1rom that day on, the cry of Jesus Thirst on the Cross resounded constantl' in my heart ...- 1rom then on, she lived that mystery ceaselessly. The second place where )t. Therese spea"s of the Thirst of Jesus is at the beginning of +#anuscript !,- the section where she e*plains the discovery of her personal vocation in the Church. +Jesus doesnt need our wor",- she writes, +)ut onl' our lo#e, for this same &od is not afraid to beg a bit of water from the )amaritan. He thirsted ... but in saying :&ive #e to drin" it was the love of His poor creature that the Creator of the universe was as"ing. He thirsted for love...- )een in the light of these words, the 'ittle 1lowers, and #others, vocation in the Church becomes perfectly clear and logical. !ecause they share the common roots of a common e*perience of Jesus Thirst, they share as well a common vocation in responding to that Thirst. f they have been given the grace of e*periencing that Thirst, it was, in &ods mind, in view of giving them also the vocation of satiating that Thirst. f Jesus Thirsts for love, then lo#e &ust )e t"eir #ocation. n one of her most famous lines, )t. Therese /oyfully declares after receiving this grace of understanding9 +#y vocation is 'ove. n the heart of the Church, my #other, will be 'ove...- t is important to see, not only for )t. Therese, but also for #other and the )ociety as well, that the fruit of the e*perience of Jesus Thirst is the vocation to 'ove. They are not two separate graces one flows necessarily from the other, and onl' from the other. ,ithout the e*perience of Jesus Thirst, the vocation to 'ove, to )e Lo#e in t"e *"urc" is without sense and without force. His Thirst for love is the sole reason for Thereses vocation. That Thirst is the sole reason for #others vocation as well. As the 'ittle 1lower $and here is the second ma/or connection%, #other and the )ociety have also been called to +be love in the Church.- ,hat greater gift could there be( This discovery should be /ust as overwhelming for us as it was for the 'ittle 1lower9 our place is in the heart of the Church, and in the heart of the Church $e are to )e Lo#e+ That is our sole function, our sole aim, our sole reason for e*istence. >urs is the only society in the Church with this aim, the only )ociety that has been officially called T> !0 '>?0 in the Church and in the world. >ur very name is witness to our vocation, and our lives in turn must be witness to our name. We exist to ,uenc" t"e T"irst of -o. for lo#e. ;o other saint ever claimed that e*cept the 'ittle 1lower. ;o other )ociety but ours can claim that today. How great then is our privilege, and how great our responsibility. n the light of all we have seen, we can at last proceed to loo" at the +'ittle ,ay- in )t. Therese and in #other6 "nowing now that this third $and most obvious% area of connection between them is not merely superficial, but has a real deep foundation. ,hy is the +'ittle ,ay- of such importance to )t. Therese and to #other $and conse@uently to us%( t is much more than merely preferring one spiritual way over another, of choosing one path to &od instead of another. The +'ittle ,ay- is the logical and necessary e*pression of the vocation to @uench the Thirst of &od for love, nothing more, nothing less. .oing the little things out of love is our vocation, and provides the constant means of living it out. Those little things have no value in themselves, but they ta"e on a surpassing value by reason of the love with which they are done, and for which they are the channels. The +'ittle ,ay- allows us to have the living of our vocation to love al$a's $it"in our reac". As a contemplative, )t. Therese lived the +'ittle ,ay- within the confines of the cloister, and she defined it as doing little things with great love. #other and the )ociety are to live the +'ittle ,ay- not only in community, to satiate Jesus not only through prayer, but by serving His Thirst in the poor as well6 and #other defines this as .oin( t"e "u&)le $or%s of t"e Societ'. How important, how beautiful and essential those humble wor"s of love become when seen as the necessary e*pression of our vocation to 'ove. n summing up, it should be clear what &od in His loving plan has done. He has saved the revelation of His Thirst for these times when the cry of Jesus Thirst in the world was never more pressing, when the vocation to love was never more urgent or important. He began by giving this grace to )t. Therese, who was to live it silently and hiddenly, as Jesus in ;a7areth. !ut as Jesus hidden life was to prepare His public life, so the inner and hidden communication of this grace to the Church through the 'ittle 1lower, was to prepare the public and visible e*pression of the same charism and vocation in the person of #other and through the )ociety. The original pattern of call in )t. Therese, which &od has retraced in the soul of #other, is to be a perpetual pattern for the entire )ociety and all its future generations. 'et us recall the three basic elements9 t"e experience of esus! T"irst, t"e #ocation to )e Lo#e, an. t"e /Little Wa'0 of "u&)le $or%s. And let us as" )t. Therese to intercede for us, as she has so evidently for #other, the grace of being penetrated through and through by the mystery of Jesus Thirst for love that for us as for her, His cry of Thirst may +resound constantly in our hearts.-
Book Review - The Heartfulness Way: Heart-Based Meditations For Spiritual Transformation by Kamlesh D Patel and Joshua Pollock - Prabuddha Bharata November 2018