Yesterday’s apostolic exhortation on the message of Saint Thérèse of Lisieux is a gem. I love it very much. Original announcements from several months back claimed that this was going to just be an apostolic letter, as with those on, for example, Blaise Pascal and Francis de Sales. In the end, it was upgraded. Just a couple weeks ago, we learned that we were going to be getting an apostolic exhortation, a document exhorting or encouraging and urging the faithful to a particular mode of Christian life in the present time.

In a style largely introduced to the papacy by Pope Francis, the title of the document follows the primary language of the topic. Laudato Si’ is a title in mediaeval Italian, the language of Francis of Assisi. Querida Amazonia is named in Spanish (and very close to Portuguese). Now, we have C’est la Confiance for Thérèse.

Obviously, I highly recommend reading this whole document. It is right up the alley of this blog. But there is one thing I would like to draw attention to. In fact, what I want to highlight is exactly the reason why this document was upgraded to an apostolic exhortation in the first place. Quite simply, Thérèse, the Holy Father is convinced, is the Doctor of the Church par excellence for synthesizing the Gospel down to essentials.

Towards the end of C’est la Confiance, the argument is made. Pope Francis starts by pointing out that, as he has previously taught in his first teaching document Evangelii Gaudium, not everything in the Church’s teaching has the same value. Some things are central. Others are peripheral and derivative from the central message. In fact, the most central thing is love, charity:

Not everything is equally central, because there is an order or hierarchy among the truths of the Church, and “this holds true as much for the dogmas of faith as for the whole corpus of the Church’s teaching, including her moral teaching” [EG 36]. The centre of Christian morality is charity, as our response to the unconditional love of the Trinity. Consequently, “works of love directed towards one’s neighbour are the most perfect manifestation of the interior grace of the Spirit” [EG 37]. In the end, only love counts. (CLC 48)

Those six words are stunning in their simplicity: “In the end, only love counts.” They recall so many of the key phrases of other saints, like John of the Cross, telling us that, in the evening of our life, we will be judged on love. But somehow the Holy Father’s six words are simpler still. We can remove judgment and get the same thing. It’s just “what counts.” We can reduce the flowery image of the evening of life down to “the end.” Then, “the end” and “what counts” take on heightened meaning. Everything is distilled.

Pope Francis points out that Thérèse is a great Doctor of the Church because she sees through all the details to the essential nugget:

The specific contribution that Therese offers us as a saint and a Doctor of the Church is not analytical, along the lines, for example, of Saint Thomas Aquinas. Her contribution is more synthetic, for her genius consists in leading us to what is central, essential and indispensable. By her words and her personal experience she shows that, while it is true that all the Church’s teachings and rules have their importance, their value, their clarity, some are more urgent and more foundational for the Christian life. That is where Therese directed her eyes and her heart. (CLC 49)

I think that, if we read the whole apostolic exhortation with this in mind, we can get a good grasp of why this is a high-level teaching document, even though it is about the message of one saint. We can understand why the “little way” is able to simplify everything else. We can be assured that all the pieces of Thérèse—and Pope Francis does manage to draw out various pieces, even though Thérèse herself focuses on the essential—are not disparate, but rather nearly inseparable aspects of one core message.

The core message itself is about the simplest, most indispensable road of the Gospel. But of course it’s also about the simplest, most indispensable road towards contemplation. As Thérèse says and as Pope Francis quotes her, it must be that when Mary Magdalene poured out tears and washed the feet of the Master, “this Heart of love was not only disposed to pardon her, but to lavish on her the blessings of divine intimacy, to lift her to the highest summits of contemplation” (Letter 247 to l’Abbé Bellière [21 June 1897]; CLC 57). Straight to the heart of the Gospel, straight to the heart of contemplation.

The challenge that the Holy Father issues towards the end is one that, I think, I will be coming back to again and again in my own prayer. We would benefit from reflecting on why Thérèse, what we can be directed to now, in this moment with its particular difficulties, over a century after the saint’s death.

In an age that urges us to focus on our ourselves and our own interests, Therese shows us the beauty of making our lives a gift.

At a time when the most superficial needs and desires are glorified, she testifies to the radicalism of the Gospel.

In an age of individualism, she makes us discover the value of a love that becomes intercession for others.

At a time when human beings are obsessed with grandeur and new forms of power, she points out to us the little way.

In an age that casts aside so many of our brothers and sisters, she teaches us the beauty of concern and responsibility for one another.

At a time of great complexity, she can help us rediscover the importance of simplicity, the absolute primacy of love, trust and abandonment, and thus move beyond a legalistic or moralistic mindset that would fill the Christian life with rules and regulations, and cause the joy of the Gospel to grow cold.

In an age of indifference and self-absorption, Therese inspires us to be missionary disciples, captivated by the attractiveness of Jesus and the Gospel.

I’ll be coming back to this—and the whole of C’est la Confiance, as well as its bits and pieces—much and often, both personally, and here in the blog, I’m sure.

And if you haven’t yet done so, I encourage you to put it on your reading list, however long or short that may be!