The Little Way: Preserving the Wonder and Strength of Spiritual Childhood (St Thérèse)
Saint of the Day, Monday, 5/27/1974
by Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira
The core of the Little Way concept is the idea that the soul possesses innocence in childhood, and therefore a sense of the marvelous that gives it the possibility of flight and reflection, which the person gradually loses over time with spiritual decay.
Therefore, the Little Way is fundamentally about maintaining this spiritual childhood—that is, preserving innocence, honesty, and strength of soul of a heroic child—and keeping it over time until the end. This is based on the idea that each age has unique qualities, and a person gradually accumulates the qualities of all the ages they pass through without losing them.
This is the core of the Little Way.
This core has the following corollary: when a person has a well-developed sense of the marvelous, they find it easier to engage in spiritual life, where things that usually demand great sacrifices can flourish more easily in the presence of wonder and lead the soul to greater fulfillment, sometimes with less sacrifice. Therefore, even for very weak souls, an overwhelming sense of the marvelous can inspire a level of energy they did not have before.
Saint Thérèse uses all this reasoning as the basis for the idea of the Little Way.
General application: Every soul is fragile concerning its own flaws; even those that are not particularly weak. Therefore, all men are small and fragile souls regarding their defects. So, if they significantly develop their sense of the marvelous, they will have the potential to overcome their flaws admirably.
