Brief Background:

St. Thérèse of Lisieux, known as “The Little Flower,” was a French Carmelite nun who died at only 24 years old. She is known for her “Little Way”—doing small, ordinary things with great love and trust in God. Although she never traveled to the missions, her deep prayer and love for missionaries led the Church to name her co-patroness of the missions, alongside St. Francis Xavier.

REFLECTION:

Yesterday, I was at a meeting with some of our pastors, and a lot of our conversation turned toward our Catholic schools and finances. We talked about how expensive it is to run our schools, how enrollment is changing, how we need more support, and, of course, how we need money to continue the mission.

And as I sat there listening, this thought came into my mind: Can we really not do anything unless we have the money? And then I started thinking about the missionaries who came before us. How did they do it?

They didn't come with huge bank accounts. They didn't have development offices, fundraising campaigns, strategic plans, or all the resources we have today. Many of them came with very little. Yet they built churches. They started schools. They formed communities. They evangelized. And today, we are sitting in what their faith built.

Then I read today's Gospel, and I had to laugh a little because Jesus sends out the seventy-two and tells them: “Carry no money bag, no sack, no sandals.” Basically, Jesus says: Go—and don't wait until you have everything.

Jesus isn't saying money doesn't matter. Of course it does. We have bills to pay. We need to take care of our employees. We need to maintain our churches and schools. We have to be responsible stewards. But Jesus is reminding us that resources can support the mission, but resources can never become the mission.

Today we celebrate St. Thérèse of Lisieux, and she understood this beautifully. Thérèse wanted to be a missionary. She wanted to travel throughout the world proclaiming Jesus. But she never did. She entered a Carmelite monastery and lived a very simple, hidden life. She died at only twenty-four years old.

And yet today she is one of the patron saints of missionaries. Why? Because Thérèse discovered that you don't have to do something big to do something great for God.

Her “Little Way” was about doing small things with tremendous love and, above all, trusting God. She wrote that “confidence and nothing but confidence” must lead us to Love.

Maybe that's what Jesus is telling us today. The harvest is abundant. Notice: Jesus doesn't say, “The resources are abundant.” He says, “The harvest is abundant.”

Sometimes we wait. When we have enough money, then we'll do it. When we have enough people, then we'll start. When everything is organized, then we'll go. When everything is perfect, then we'll begin. But Jesus says simply: “Go on your way.”

And maybe St. Thérèse whispers to us today: You don't have to be big. You don't have to have everything. Just trust. Just love. Just begin. Because the missionaries before us didn't wait until they had everything. They went.

Thérèse didn't wait until she could travel the world. She loved. And Job, even when everything seemed to be taken away from him, could still say: “I know that my Redeemer lives.”

Maybe that's the faith we need again. Yes, let's raise the money. Let's plan. Let's be responsible. But let's never believe that God's mission depends entirely upon what is in our bank account. Because long before we had all of this, we had the Gospel. And apparently, that was enough to begin.