“She said: ‘I think I am happy for having made this sacrifice for Jesus. I was eager to give Him my hair.’ When making this answer, Thérèse has tears in her eyes.” (Saint Therese of Lisieux).
I have always assumed that the Saints made sacrifices because it was easier for them to make sacrifices than it ever would be for a sinful soul like mine to make sacrifices.
I reasoned things in this way…
The Blessed Virgin was conceived without sin. She lived and died without sin. Therefore, she would not sin because she was conceived without sin.
However, upon reflection it has become apparent to me that there is so much more to it than that. After all, if Christ – who is God Himself – was sinless and yet tempted in the desert for forty days and nights (and tempted for all the days of His Earthly life) surely His Blessed Mother would have been tempted as well. After all, she is a mirror of God Himself.
And what greater soul would there be to tempt than a SINLESS soul? After all, if the Blessed Virgin were tempted into sin then all of humanity would have been lost because the Son of Man would not be conceived in the womb of a sinful soul, but only in the womb of a sinless one.
And just as the Blessed Virgin made sacrifices that were HARD and DIFFICULT and caused her pain, so too did the saints.
I recently read the account of Saint Therese of Lisieux cutting her hair as a sacrifice to God and it made me re-think all of my excuses about why great sacrifices are the province of the Saints and not of me…
“At the ceremony of the reception of the Habit, a strand of hair was cut symbolically from the postulant’s head. Thérèse had long hair, and it fell in long strands over her shoulders. According to the custom of this time, the novice was to have her hair cut off a few months later. Because this operation was being put off, Thérèse asked for it herself. Mother Agnes testified: “We had not cut her hair after the reception of the Habit because she was too young. But a short time afterwards she insisted to obtain this permission and it was finally given to her. She then came looking for me to perform the operation, but I wasn’t happy. ‘You are too young, wait, we don’t know what will happen.’ Finally, I gave in to her insistence, thinking I would please her. I was wrong. She looked silently on the magnificent head of hair that had fallen into my hands, and, when I asked her what she was thinking, she said: ‘I think I am happy for having made this sacrifice for Jesus. I was eager to give Him my hair.’ When making this answer, Thérèse has tears in her eyes.”
And it is upon those tears that I reflect. You see, I realise today that the sacrifices of the Saints were HARD. They were really really hard. And they cried many many tears when making those sacrifices out of love for God.
And I have been reflecting on the difficulty of those sacrifices and on the pain in those tears. And it seems to me today that I should have cried many more tears in my life so far… Many many more tears…
For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.
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