St Therese of the Child Jesus
Isaiah 66:10-14 / 1 Cor 13:4-13 / Matthew 18:1-5
How our country got its name is rather interesting and amusing.
History has it that when Sang Nila Utama landed on this island, he saw a strange-looking animal and it ran off.
Upon inquiry, he was told it was a lion and in his language, it was called “Singa” so he called this “Singapura” which means “lion city”.
(A joke about this is that if he had seen a large prawn, he would have called this country “Tempura”.)
As Singapore the “Lion City” developed and progressed, the image has also evolved.
Singapore is still the “Lion City” but it has also acquired other names and the well-known one is “Garden City”, because of the greenery in our country.
Our city state is often described as “clean and green” and so indeed it is, and hence, “Garden City” is quite appropriate.
As in a garden, we can see plants, shrubs, trees and vegetation of various kinds.
Yes, we will see a lot of greenery, and yet we may miss out the most obvious greenery.
We may notice and admire all the flowers and plants, all the shrubs and trees, but we will take the grass for granted.
The grass is like the backdrop of the whole greenery. And they are so inconspicuous and plain that we hardly notice them.
In fact, we step on the grass and we wipe soiled things on the grass. We seem to ill-treat the grass!
There is hardly any recognition given to grass except the saying that when elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers.
But the 1st reading did give some prominence to the grass when it said: At the sight, your heart will rejoice and your bones flourish like the grass.
Even in its lowly and down-trodden state, grass is a symbol of the strong will for life.
Even after a bush-fire, the first signs of life in the razed land will be the appearance of grass.
We don’t know where they come from, but it seems that we cannot get rid of the grass.
Today our parish celebrates the feast of our patron saint, St. Therese of the Child Jesus. Her actual feast day is on 1st Oct.
She has been called the “greatest saint in modern times” (Pope Pius X), but it can be certain that she wouldn’t want to be known as such.
In fact, ever since she entered the Carmelite convent in Lisieux, she never left the convent.
Two words can be used to describe her life as a Carmelite nun – obscurity and oblivion.
Even that great spiritual classic “The Story of a Soul” which is her autobiography, it was not written on her own accord but in obedience to her superior’s orders.
In her life-time, she was like the plain grass in her convent.
She wasn’t among those who were like the flowers or plants or shrubs.
She didn’t do great things, but she did little things with great love.
And if we were to meet her now, she would introduce herself as “Little Therese” instead of St. Therese.
And her humble, little and simple spirituality flourished like grass after her death.
It was like the same imagery that the 1st reading gave when it said: Your bones will flourish like the grass.
In the gospel Jesus said that the one who makes himself as little as a little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
Being little is actually a very great challenge. Even St. Therese had to remind herself with these words : I must remain little.
In our “Garden city” the admiration goes to the pretty flowers and plants, literally as well as figuratively.
Because people are also a bit like flowers and plants – they want to stand out and win the praise and admiration of others.
But the flowers will bloom and fade away. Plants will wither and die.
But it is the plain and lowly and humble grass that will continue to flourish.
Grass is like the carpet of the garden that softens the ground.
In our “Garden city” St. Therese has shown us what we should be.
We should be like the lowly grass that carpets the “Garden city” and softens it with love.
We are called to be like St. Therese – little, humble and lowly.
By being that, we can turn our city into a garden of love.