Just 2 years ago, on this day, I released my new ministry: St. Therese’s Vision for Disability Giftedness.  By that time, I had fallen in love with a new book on St. Therese’s spirituality by Fr. Michael Gaitley, called 33 Days to Merciful Love. Why did this book speak to me so much? How did it have such a strong effect on me – prompting me to make St. Therese of Lisieux the patron saint of my ministry – anyway?

I could summarize the answer to this question in a really important quote from St. Therese of Lisieux – one that is prominent in this 33 Days devotional: “What a sweet Joy it is to think that God is truly Just, that He takes into account our weakness, that He is perfectly aware of our fragile nature. What should I fear then?”

So why is this quote so important for me personally? Now that I see my brokenness and frustration, the challenges of my past and all the heartbreaks in life, my own sinfulness and difficulties in obtaining virtue…perhaps I just might be tempted to give up the path to holiness. I could say it is impossible to become the saint God has called me to be in Christ.  Yet this devotional book highlighting St. Therese’s spiritually reminds me that it’s in my weakness that God is calling me to holiness – that His grace is always sufficient for me, and that He will never abandon me.  What I need to do is recognize the darkness of this brokenness and reach out to God’s mercy, all the while taking steps towards holiness.  St. Therese of Lisieux provided a wonderful image of this: a child taking a step at the bottom of a staircase with their father at the top.  When this child falls, the father picks them up and lifts them to the top of the steep staircase. It’s interesting for me, especially as a trained educational assistant and disability advocate. This is the same way we help those with disabilities towards success in school. (It’s called scaffolding!)

Find 33 Days to Meriful Love on Amazon.ca Find 33 Days to Merciful Love on Amazon.com

Indeed, I have discovered in this journey that God has called me to holiness only through embracing my weaknesses and challenges. Therefore, I am only well suited to holiness in my little attempts to please God. Even if I am unsuccessful, I trust in the “elevator of the arms of Jesus,” as St. Therese of Lisieux would put it.  From heartbreaking situations and losses like my mom’s death, through shortly thereafter trying to follow her into the teaching profession – unsuccessfully, which eventually led me to discover my call to be an educational assistant and disability advocate – I have learned that apparent failures can become successes in God’s eyes.  He opened doors completely unforeseen to me! I now see that even in my disability-related challenges in childhood – my struggles with academics and my social life, which have followed me into adulthood even though I tried to run from them – God ultimately called me to found this new ministry, St. Therese’s Vision for Disability Giftedness. I want to bring the Good News that Jesus died for each sinner; He wants to give us all new life, each and every day.  I believe that this book, 33 Days to Merciful Love, will help others to have hope in God, especially if they are struggling with holiness and living God’s plan for their lives!

Yes, if we can all receive the Lord’s goodness in faith, in each circumstance of life, we will discover how God works all things for our good.  “All things” includes our deepest heartbreaks, sins, apparent failures, challenges, disabilities, and mental health conditions – as well as our gifts, virtues, joys and successes. This way, we can all proclaim the love of Christ. We can say with St. Paul that in our greatest weakness “His grace is sufficient for me,” even as we ask the Lord to remove the thorn from us. (See 2 Corinthians 12.)

Therefore, on this 2nd anniversary of the release of the St. Therese’s Vision ministry, I personally invite you to go on an adventure for about five weeks. Go through the 33 Days to Merciful Love retreat, which I have been blessed to do again and again.  

In the first week of the retreat, you will discover what true faith is, and how we must hope against hope in God’s good plan for our lives. When all looks bleak and impossible, still we must not despair!  

During the 2nd week, you will learn how St. Therese of Lisieux discovered her Little Way, which is truly a way of Divine Mercy for all of us sinners.

During the 3rd week, you will discover that if you feel weak and broken, you are actually the most suited to make an offering to Merciful Love so that you can become holy. You can live this Little Way of God’s love and mercy – even being filled with God’s compassion when others are rejecting the infinite love He offers.  

Finally, in the 4th week, you’ll look at some of the darkness that you may feel is preventing you from making the Offering and trusting God. When you cannot see the way forward, and when you are sad and depressed, you will get the grace to keep going.  The book closes by reviewing each of the 4 weeks; one day is dedicated to each week, followed by preparation to make the Offering of Merciful Love. It can be done according to St. Therese’s formula, or using the shorter one by Fr. Michael Gaitley. Either way, this is what the retreat has prepared you for!

May Christ richly bless you on this Feast of St. Therese of Lisieux, and the 2nd anniversary of our ministry!

(initial first draft written 13 days earlier on the Feast of St. Joseph of Cupertino, a disabled and broken man who allowed the Lord to call him to become a priest who became a holy priest that will make you both weep and be filled with Joy in the love of Christ Crucified and Risen, Amen!)

By George Ayer

Edited by Taylor Hyatt