This is a very remarkable passage from St. Therese's autobiography, Story of a Soul. This passage contains some very valuable insights with regard to the varying degrees of strength found in individual souls. Some persons are weaker than others and have not the grace to carry burdens as great as others carry. This touches on another aspect of our spiritual weaknesses. It also provides a good defense of the Catholic doctrine of Predestination - a much too large topic for me to address right now; so if you don't understand how exactly the following has to do with Predestination, don't worry; you should still be able to get a great deal of valuable insight out of this passage.
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I
often asked myself why God had preferences, why all souls did not receive an
equal measure of grace. I was filled with wonder when I saw extraordinary
favours showered on great sinners like St. Paul, St. Augustine, St. Mary
Magdalen, and many others, whom He forced, so to speak, to receive His grace.
In reading the lives of the Saints I was surprised to see that there were
certain privileged souls, whom Our Lord favoured from the cradle to the grave,
allowing no obstacle in their path which might keep them from mounting towards
Him, permitting no sin to soil the spotless brightness of their baptismal robe.
And again it puzzled me why so many poor savages should die without having even
heard the name of God.
Our
Lord has deigned to explain this mystery to me. He showed me the book of nature,
and I understood that every flower created by Him is beautiful, that the
brilliance of the rose and the whiteness of the lily do not lessen the perfume
of the violet or the sweet simplicity of the daisy. I understood that if all
the lowly flowers wished to be roses, nature would lose its springtide beauty,
and the fields would no longer be enamelled with lovely hues. And so it is in
the world of souls, Our Lord’s living garden. He has been pleased to create
great Saints who may be compared to the lily and the rose, but He has also
created lesser ones, who must be content to be daisies or simple violets
flowering at His Feet, and whose mission it is to gladden His Divine Eyes when
He deigns to look down on them. And the more gladly they do His Will the
greater is their perfection.
I
understood this also, that God’s Love is made manifest as well in a simple soul
which does not resist His grace as in one more highly endowed. In fact, the
characteristic of love being self-abasement, if all souls resembled the holy
Doctors who have illuminated the Church, it seems that God in coming to them
would not stoop low enough. But He has created the little child, who knows
nothing and can but utter feeble cries, and the poor savage who has only the
natural law to guide him, and it is to their hearts that He deigns to stoop.
These are the field flowers whose simplicity charms Him; and by His
condescension to them Our Saviour shows His infinite greatness. As the sun
shines both on the cedar and on the floweret, so the Divine Sun illumines every
soul, great and small, and all correspond to His care—just as in nature the
seasons are so disposed that on the appointed day the humblest daisy shall
unfold its petals.
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