October 1, 2026
Memorial of Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus, Virgin and Doctor of the Church
Gospel: Lk 10:1-12 or Mt 18:1-5

Today is Thursday of the Twenty-Sixth Week in Ordinary Time. The Church celebrates the Memorial of Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus. In the Chinese mission territories, because Saint Thérèse is the Patroness of the Missions, this feast is usually celebrated with the rank of a Feast or Solemnity. However, it should be noted that in the General Roman Calendar, the Memorial of Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus is an obligatory memorial. The recently published Roman Missal tells us: Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus (Thérèse Martin, 1873–1897) was born in Alencon. At the age of fifteen, she entered the Carmel of Lisieux, joining her two sisters. Although she died of tuberculosis at the age of twenty-four, such was the influence of her spiritual writings and her “little way” that Pope Saint John Paul II declared her a Doctor of the Church in 1997. She is also the Patroness of the Missions and, together with Saint Joan of Arc, Co-Patroness of France.

Today, in regions where this feast is celebrated as an obligatory memorial, the Gospel is taken from Luke, which recounts Jesus sending out the seventy-two disciples and His instructions to them. In regions where it is celebrated with the rank of a Feast or Solemnity, the Gospel is from Matthew, which recounts Jesus’ discourse on the Kingdom of Heaven. I would like to take this opportunity to offer some reflections.

We often see vast farmlands. When these fields bear abundant fruit, we frequently complain that the owner of the land is not diligent enough, failing to send more laborers to harvest the crops. We often view the current state of the Church according to our own understanding. In our eyes, preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom to all creatures seems to be the responsibility of the clergy, and seems to have nothing to do with us. But today, Jesus uses things we commonly see in our daily lives to help us rediscover our own vocation.

When we encounter God in our lives, He sows the seed of faith in our hearts. When, in the sacred love of Christ, we are cleansed of original sin in the water from Christ’s sacred side through Baptism, we draw abundant grace from that water. The seed God has sown in our hearts is fully nourished by the living water flowing from Christ’s side. When we begin a new life in Christ through Baptism, the infinitely merciful Christ sends forth His Holy Spirit upon us. Through the anointing of the Holy Spirit, and in His infinite love, we share in the eternal divine life of Christ together with all our brothers and sisters who have received the Spirit. As we are anointed with the Holy Spirit, the seed sown by God in our hearts slowly sprouts, grows, and begins to bear fruit.

In Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus, we see the fruit of God’s word in her heart: she always followed Jesus Christ, making herself as pure and humble as a little child. Through prayer and contemplation, she assisted the Church—built by our Lord Jesus Christ upon the rock of Peter—to continue fulfilling her missionary mission. She generously obeyed God’s call, faithfully lived out her vocation until her death, and her writings, Story of a Soul, are the best proof of this.

O God, who open your Kingdom to those who are humble and to little ones, lead us to follow trustingly in the little way of Saint Thérèse, so that through her intercession we may see your eternal glory revealed. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever.

©Totus Tuus 2026
Cum Approbatione Ecclesiastica