Joy in Suffering (mini) Book Club — Day 6: St. Therese's "Armor of God"

We continue our 9-day book club, reading the book Joy in Suffering.

📖 Day 6: St. Therese's "Armor of God" 🌹

If you don’t already have the book, you can find the readings online for free here:

🔗 https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Joy_in_Suffering/Sixth_Day

What was your favorite quote or takeaway from today’s reading? Share in the comments below!

MY TAKEAWAYS

💬 Day 6 begins beautifully by explaining how St. Thérèse's fortitude cannot be explained by "mere natural courage" or even by the infused virtue of fortitude. Rather, “by constant prayer and fidelity to grace she gradually disposed herself for the fulness of the gift of fortitude, so that in due time she yielded without hesitation, though not without intense suffering, to the promptings of the Holy Spirit.” The Gift of Fortitude inclines one to submit "promptly, joyfully, and spontaneously" to God's will even when it requires enduring great suffering, such as a martyr’s death.  Furthermore, she also took no credit for her patience. “It is not MY patience. People do not understand. It is Jesus who does all, and I…I do nothing but be weak and little." This first meditation contains a crucial clarification of her "thirst" for suffering: "I could never ask greater sufferings of God... if I were to ask for them, they would be my own, and I should have to bear them all alone; and I have never been able to do anything by myself". She further explained, "How utterly impossible it is to put such feelings into oneself! It is the Holy Ghost who blows where He will, who gives them to us. Her "thirst" (as described on Day 1.3) was not a "self-willed" request, but an acceptance of what God sent, knowing He would also send the Gift of Fortitude to help her bear it.

The Gift of Fortitude served as St. Thérèse's “breastplate”, while in the next meditation, it was her trust and confidence in God that served as her "Helmet". She had so much confidence in God that she wrote, “How could my trust have any bounds?" She even saw weakness as a "grace”. “She explained, “When in the morning we feel no courage or strength... it is really a grace” for then this is an opportunity for “relying on Jesus alone…He helps us without seeming to do so." Our emptiness invites Him to fill us up. In times of trial, when Heaven seemed silent or sent new pains, she "pushed her confidence to the uttermost bounds," and even despite feeling that “for the moment I should not be able to bear more…I have no fear, for if my sufferings increase, God will increase my patience.” Her "rule" was: "We can never have too much confidence in the good God... We shall receive from Him quite as much as we hope for". Moreover, she knew that “beyond the somber clouds the Beloved Sun still shines". Lastly, one of my favorite quotes from this meditation (6.2) on Confidence in God was how St. Thérèse sweetly responded to disappointments and new sufferings: “When Heaven seemed to turn a deaf ear to her entreaties for relief and sent her instead new physical and mental pains, she playfully remarked: ‘I believe they want to see how far my trust may extend.’”

Finally, her "Shield" of Unreserved, Childlike Abandonment to God served as a means to “extinguish all the fiery darts of the most wicked one” (Ephesians 6:16, Douay-Rheims). "The good God," she said, "wills that I surrender myself like a very wee child who does not trouble himself as to what will be done with him." She practiced childlike this abandonment by “accepting in advance, with joy and gladness, whatever He would [send her], not knowing what it might be, but convinced it would be only for His glory and her own spiritual good.“

She used two beautiful metaphors to illustrate this Childlike Abandonment to God’s will further:

1) The Blank Sheet: She was a "blank sheet of paper," signing her name at the bottom and letting God "write thereon all that might please Him".

2) The Little Ball: She was Jesus' "little plaything," a "little ball”. "I told Him not to treat me like a costly toy that children are content to look at without venturing to touch, but as He would a little ball...that He might… toss about, pierce, leave in a corner or else press to His Heart".

In one of her many poems, she wrote how safe and at peace she felt surrendering all to God:

Safe in His arms Divine, near His Sacred Face, Resting upon His Heart, of the storm I have no fear;

However, this abandonment did not mean that she was idle or passive; she was always alert and attentive to God as she rested “upon His Heart”. She said, "I sleep, but my heart watcheth!… sleeping on Thy Heart I smile forever more, And tender words of love I whisper over and over."

The best example of her detachment from her own will and complete abandonment to (and uniformity with) God’s will was when she said, “…if Jesus offered me my choice, I would choose nothing. I want only what He wills”.

This was her secret to happiness. "Ever since I have given up ALL self-seeking, I lead the happiest life possible!".

As so beautifully said in the Novena Prayer:

Dear St. Therese…pray for me, that I may realize how much I, too, could do and bear for the love of God...

…Help me to understand more fully something of the loving tenderness of the Heart of my heavenly Father, who deigns to abide in my own soul always, that I may be filled with a boundless trust in Him, knowing that we can never have too much confidence in Him if we are in real earnest about loving Him and seeking to give Him joy in everything.

…Above all, obtain for me abandonment—a childlike, boundless, unreserved trustful, blind and loving abandonment springing from a deep conviction of God's great love for me. I, too, wish to give up ALL self-seeking…May all that pleases God also be pleasing to me! May I accept it unconditionally and without question, beforehand, knowing that it can only be for my good!

📝I look forward to hearing your main takeaway and/or favorite quote from today! Thanks for joining me! 💕

💗My favorite quotes from today:

🌹(1) Her Breastplate: The Gift of Fortitude:

• …by the gift of fortitude one is inclined to submit promptly, joyfully, and spontaneously to even the least indication of the Divine Will also in the matter of suffering.

  
  

• By constant prayer and fidelity to grace she gradually disposed herself for the fulness of the gift of fortitude, so that in due time she yielded without hesitation…

  
  

• "If you faithfully continue to give pleasure to Him in small things, Jesus will feel bound to help you in the greater."

  
  

• It is not MY patience. People do not understand. It is Jesus who does all, and I—I do nothing but be weak and little."

🌹(2) Her Helmet: Confidence in God

• "When in the morning we feel no courage or strength for the practice of virtue, it is really a grace: it is the time to 'lay the axe to the root of the tree,' relying on Jesus alone…. He helps us without seeming to do so."

  
  

• …she playfully remarked: "I believe they want to see how far my trust may extend.

  
  

• I feel that for the moment I should not be able to bear more, but I have no fear, for if my sufferings increase, God will increase my patience…

  
  

• …if the impenetrable clouds come to hide from me the Orb of Love, that would he the moment to push my confidence to the uttermost bounds, taking good care not to quit my post, well knowing that beyond the somber clouds the Beloved Sun still shines. Nay more, that would he the hour of perfect joy." …When He would test my faith and hidden be…

  
  

• We shall receive from Him quite as much as we hope for."

🌹(3) Her Shield: Unreserved, Childlike Abandonment to God

• By abandonment she understood the embracing beforehand blindly and with joy and enthusiasm of all that it pleased God to send her no matter how great the suffering involved.

  
  

• Her life was like a blank sheet of paper, at the bottom of which she affixed her signature and then placed it in the hands of God, to let Him write thereon all that might please Him, accepting in advance, with joy and gladness, whatever He would write, not knowing what it might be, but convinced it would be only for His glory and her own spiritual good.

  
  

• "The good God," she said, "wills that I surrender myself like a very wee child who does not trouble himself as to what will be done with him."

  
  

• Safe in His arms Divine, near His Sacred Face, Resting upon His Heart, of the storm I have no fear

  
  

• …if Jesus offered me my choice, I would choose nothing. I want only what He wills; it is what He does that I love."

  
  

• “Ever since I have given up ALL self-seeking, I lead the happiest life possible!"

Reflection Questions & Action Items

6.1 Her Breastplate: The Gift of Fortitude

Reflection Questions

1. Am I trying to endure suffering on my own, using "mere natural courage”?

2. How did St. Therese gradually dispose herself for the fullness of the Gift of Fortitude?

3. St. Therese said, "I have not yet had a moment's patience! It is not MY patience. People do not understand. It is Jesus who does all, and I—I do nothing but be weak and little." How can I be more “weak and little” when trying to practice virtue?

4. St. Therese said, "If you faithfully continue to give pleasure to Him in small things, Jesus will feel bound to help you in the greater." Am I "faithfully... giv[ing] pleasure to Him in small things" and trusting He will give the grace for the "greater"?

Action Items

1. Today, focus on pleasing God “in small things”…and try not to worry about the future…”Jesus will feel bound to help you in the greater”.

6.2 Her Helmet: Confidence in God

Reflection Questions

1. St. Thérèse's "rule" was that ”We can never have too much confidence in the good God...We shall receive from Him quite as much as we hope for." It reminds us that our lack of confidence may actually limit the grace we receive. How "boundless" is my trust?

2. Do I see my weakness ("no courage or strength") as a disappointment, or as a "grace"—an opportunity for "relying on Jesus alone"?

3. When I am in the "somber clouds" (Day 3.3), do I "push my confidence," or do I give up, believing the Sun is gone?

Action Items

1. Identify one area in your life right now where you "feel no courage or strength."

2. Instead of seeing it as something negative, rejoice in this "grace”.

3. Use this as a opportunity to practice confidence and rely on Jesus alone. Example prayer: "Jesus, I have no strength for this, which is good, because it means I must rely on You alone. I 'hope for' all the strength I need from You."

6.3 Her Shield: Unreserved, Childlike Abandonment to God

Reflection Questions

1. Am I a "blank sheet"? Or do I hand God a "script" with my plans, my desires, and ask Him to "sign off" on it?

2. St. Thérèse identifies the source of all our unhappiness as "self-seeking." Her joy comes from giving up this "self-seeking." How can I start to identify areas of self-seeking in my life?

3. How does giving up "ALL self-seeking" lead to "the happiest life possible"?

Action Items

1. Take a blank sheet of paper. Sign your name at the bottom.

2. Say a short prayer keeping in mind St. Therese’s example: “Her life was like a blank sheet of paper, at the bottom of which she affixed her signature and then placed it in the hands of God, to let Him write thereon all that might please Him, accepting in advance, with joy and gladness, whatever He would write, not knowing what it might be, but convinced it would be only for His glory and her own spiritual good.”