I Must Reach the Arena
As the result of excavations the centre is nothing but a mass of rubbish, and an insurmountable barrier guards the entrance; in any case no one dare penetrate into the midst of these dangerous ruins. But was it possible to be in Rome and not go down to the real Coliseum? No, indeed! And I no longer listened to the guide’s explanations: one thought only filled my mind—I must reach the arena.
Story of a Soul by Saint Thérèse of Lisieux
My son became energized at this part of the story. We both were listening before bed as a little girl from France was traveling to the Eternal City.
“She is going to meet with Pope Leo XIII!” my son Leo let out, breaking the still crisp air of our October evening.
“Yes, she is.” I quietly replied as I let the scene play in my mind of this little girl bypassing barricades to reach the arena of the Colossium. A warm up before her perhaps most important meeting.
When my son Leo and I began listening to bed time stories, I looked to the lives of the saints. There was Ignatius of Loyola taking his pilgrimage to the Holy Land and Josemaria Escriva escaping behind enemy lines by ascending the Pyrenees, but my son wanted the one with the “Prayers of the Flowers”.
This little saint from Lisieux had long been in my periphery. A French carmelite nun who came centuries after our own great Saint Teresa of Avila. She wasn’t anything like her fellow canonized country woman, Joan of Arc. She seemed to be nothing more than good branding for the woman’s group at our old French colony parish here in the Americas.
But my boy has been listening to her story on repeat and after a few listens through the story of her soul, we have both grown in our appreciation for this little doctor of the Church.
In this short episode alone, recalling her entrance into the greatest arena in history, it felt to me as though she could have been friends with Teddy. The Man in the Arena would have seen that even a child could be one who dares greatly.
Look at the masses no longer living lives of quiet desperation, but now broadcasting their deepest desires to be someone worth remembering. How few in our time focus with a single thought of mind, to abandon life’s tour guides and dare descend into the dangerous ruins of life to discover, to discern, to dedicate, and make complete the answer to one’s calling.
Saint Thérèse of Lisieux, ora pro nobis!
Until next week,
-Steven
PS. We are listening to Story of a Soul on the Hallow app. Not an affiliate or sponsored by them, but I would recommend it!