October – the Month of the Rosary, St. Therese of the Child Jesus, and Mary

 It is fitting to begin the month of the Rosary with the memorial feast of St. Therese of the Child Jesus.  Because praying the Rosary draws us closer to Jesus as Mary was so close to him. The Rosary guides us closer to Jesus through the perspective of his mother, Mary.

There is no other human being as close to Jesus as Mary is. After all, she is the mother, who let him grow in her womb, gave birth to him, and raised him together with her husband, Joseph. And, she followed him all the way to the Cross. Therefore, Mary is a model disciple of her son, Jesus, though she is his mother.

Not just because she is the mother to him but because of her perfect humility and obedience to God’s will, reflected in her words in Luke 1:38, 48, she is always one with her son, Jesus. Though it is not written anywhere in the canonical Gospels, but as mentioned in the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola and by St. Pope John Paul II, Jesus visited Mary first upon his Resurrection. Furthermore, Mary followed him into heaven to be reunited with him there, after his Ascension through her Assumption into heaven, as the Queen of Heaven. She is the first human to be with Jesus in heaven, and we are to follow her path to be with him, Christ the King, in heaven. It was all possible because of Mary’s exceptional humility, which enables her to be obedient to God and His will for her.

St. Therese of the Child Jesus is also known for her extraordinary humility as she lived a life of spiritual childhood. She lived according to the spirit of Jesus’s words in Matthew 18:3, the child-like innocence is a necessary condition to enter his Kingdom, as true humility reflects such innocence. For St. Therese, “childhood” is not about an egoistic demanding child. Rather, her spiritual childhood means to like a life of child-like innocence. By this innocence, self (ego) becomes as little as possible while the soul is magnified with joy of being blessed by God, just as Mary sung her Magnificat (Luke 1:46-55).

Though she was poor in a worldly sense, she was blessed abundant grace from God through her closeness to Jesus. And it was all possible, because of her spiritual childhood. Because of this, she made her self so little in order to draw herself closer to Jesus and to be blessed with what the world cannot give but only God, reflecting Jesus’ words on the Beatitudes in Matthew 5:3, as well as in Luke 6:20.

In order to be closer to Jesus, we must deny ourselves, as he has taught for the first condition of the discipleship (Matthew 16:24//Mark 8:34//Luke 9:23). And, St. Therese’s spiritual childhood life begins with denying ourselves. It is to see ourselves as nothing in relation to Jesus. And, this enables us to be obedient to his command – God’s command.

The First Reading for her memorial feast, Job 19:21-27, reflects Job’s struggle with God in his relation to Him, as Job’s problem with his suffering had a lot to do with his large ego, which made him rather self-righteous, typical to the perfectionists. The Gospel Reading, Luke 10:1-12, on the other hand, reminds that we truly need to deny our egos – we really practice self-denial  - to be sent out on mission as Jesus’ apostles. In other words, we must be like St. Therese of the Child Jesus, living a life of spiritual childhood of self-denial for innocence and obedience. And, only living a life of spiritual childhood qualifies us to proclaim that the Kingdom is at hand (Luke 10:9).

The spiritual childhood of St. Therese is not about striving to be spiritually perfect and righteous. Such an effort may make us like Job. Instead, it is to deny ourselves in order to draw ourselves and to be drawn closer to Jesus to have our souls be magnified with joy.

Yes, there is a juxtaposition of St. Therese’s spiritual childhood to Mary being the handmaid of God.

Let us keep this in mind during the month of the Rosary and whenever we pray the Rosary.