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I recently taught a four-week course on St. Augustine’s Confessions to a group of mostly retired adults at a local parish. While re-reading St. Augustine’s writings in preparation for the course, I was simultaneously reading Fr. Joseph Spence’s Living the Little Way: Six Keys to the Spirituality of St. Thérèse. This unplanned process of reading both books at the same time helped me realize the similarities between these two great Doctors of the Universal Catholic Church.
I had previously not given much thought to the similarities between these two holy saints who lived centuries apart. Yet, reading Fr. Spence’s brief but insightful book while also reviewing Augustine’s Confessions illuminated the fact that, although St. Augustine is a giant of a saint while St. Thérèse is known for her “little way,” both discovered the key to holiness; ultimately embracing it (and living it) with tremendous zeal.
The Magnitude of St. Augustine
Living during the late 4th century and early 5th century, St. Augustine of Hippo is known as the last of the great Patristic Fathers and the first of the Medieval Fathers. His towering intellect and mastery of the Latin language catapulted him out of the provincial town of Thagaste into the Imperial Roman Court at Milan.
Throughout his life, Augustine proved to be an extraordinary philosopher, psychologist, theologian, and rhetorician. In fact, from the time of his conversion in 386 AD until his death in 430 AD, the mighty convert and saint wrote more than five million words, comprised of letters, sermons, hymns, and books. The remaining collection of these writings fills more than fourteen volumes. (Outler, 2002)
Sir Isaac Newton once wrote, “If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants.” Many of the great saints who came after St. Augustine consider Augustine’s shoulders to be those upon which they stood.
The Littleness of St. Therese of Lisieux
In contrast to the “largeness” of St. Augustine, St. Thérèse of Lisieux, also a Doctor of the Church, is known for her littleness. Born January 2, 1873, as the youngest of the Martin children, Thérèse was accustomed to being the smallest. In his book, Fr. Spence admits that her older sisters treated Thérèse as the baby of the family until her death, and that Thérèse identified herself with the role. However, it was during her years in the Carmel of Lisieux when Thérèse began to recognize her littleness as her path toward holiness. As Fr. Spence observes, while pursuing this path of “littleness; abandonment to God’s will; confidence, trust, and hope in God…”, Thérèse discovers the key to holiness and determines to live it to the full.
Conversion Through Grace
St. Augustine’s dramatic conversion is among the most well-known of conversion stories. From his writings, we learn of his salaciously sinful past, his pursuit of truth, and the agony he experienced in the garden as he wrestled with his willful grip upon the habit of sin before finally giving himself to God. Augustine states that he “was sick and tormented, reproaching myself more bitterly than ever,” yet still tightly held by the chain of sin and temptation. Only after much prayerful battle, Augustine admits that “instantly…there was infused in my heart something like the light of full certainty and all the gloom vanished away.” In that moment, Augustine’s conversion of heart was complete.
Likewise, St. Thérèse writes about her immediate conversion, also attributing it to God’s grace. Although her childhood sinfulness was not as publicly scandalous as Augustine’s, Thérèse acknowledges that her childish selfishness and over-sensitivity wearied (and at times exasperated) her family. Yet, on Christmas 1886, during a moment in which the family braced itself in anticipation of another of Thérèse’s selfish outbursts, Thérèse says that “Jesus…changed the night of my soul into rays of light. …The work that I had been unable to do in ten years was done by Jesus in one instant.” Notably, the “little” saint also states that since “that night I have never been defeated in any combat, but rather walked from victory to victory, beginning, so to speak, ‘to run as a giant!’” (Ps. 18:6). (Thérèse of Lisieux, 2005)
The Giant Becomes Small and the Little Becomes Great—Embracing the Key to Holiness
Through his conversion, St. Augustine developed a humility that allowed him to discover and experience love—the love that he had been seeking since his adolescent years. For St. Thérèse, conversion also meant the discovery of love. As she developed her “little way,” she discovered that her true vocation is love, lived out through little acts of self-sacrifice. Whether she was “holding back a reply, rendering little services without any recognition,” or not resting her back upon her chair, she performed every task with great love (Thérèse of Lisieux, 2005). In fact, as Fr. Spence points out in his book, so great was her love for the Lord that she carved the phrase, “Jesus is my only love!” into the wood of the frame of the door of her cell.
As Jesus tells us, love is the greatest commandment. It is also the key to growing in communion with Him. Both St. Augustine of Hippo and St. Thérèse of Lisieux discovered this truth, embraced it, and they have given us a model for living it within our own lives.
Fr. Spence’s book, Living the Little Way: Six Keys to the Spirituality of St. Thérèse helps us to discern what this vocation of love, lived out through small, daily acts of charity, might look like within our own lives. By allowing St. Thérèse to “speak for herself,” Fr. Spence introduces the reader to a holy saint who suffered, a saint who trusted in Jesus and Mary, and a saint who offers practical steps for growing in holiness.
What an unexpected gift it was to read Fr. Spence’s book while re-reading St. Augustine’s Confessions. Doing so allowed me to see the profound connection between these two saints who might otherwise appear dissimilar. The significant connection shared by these two Doctors of the Church is a conversion through grace that leads to a vocation of love. May we all seek to follow this little way that leads to great love.
