bite-size wisdom: St. Therese, "the Little Flower"

Since Our Lord is in heaven

I can only follow him by the traces of light and fragrance

which he has left behind him.

But as soon as I open the Holy Gospels, I breathe the perfume

exhaled by the life of Jesus,

and I know which way to run.

It is not to the highest place

but to the lowest that I hasten.

-St. Therese of Lisieux, Manuscript B, Story of a Soul

quoted in Therese of Lisieux: In My Own Words (Liguori Press)

Feast Day: October 1st

"When you are invited by anyone to a marriage feast, do not sit down in a place of honor, lest a more eminent man than you be invited by him; and he who invited you both will come and say to you, 'Give place to this man,' and then you will begin with shame to take the lowest place. But when you are invited, go and sit in the lowest place, so that when your host comes he may say to you, 'Friend, go up higher'; then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at table with you. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled,

and he who humbles himself will be exalted."

(Luke 14:8-11)