Sunday Saint

When I was 7 years old and receiving my First Communion, my mother gave me
a gift of a holy card of St. Therese of the Child Jesus.  It was a lovely card and I
was so happy to receive it. My mother then told me the special significance of the
card and the Saint it portrayed.

When she was receiving her First Communion, her mother (my nanny) gave her a
holy card like the one she gave me.  Nanny said that when she was a young girl of
about 8 years old, she adopted St. Therese as her saint.  She would pray to her
every night and had pictures of her in her bedroom. Everything good that happened
in her life, Nanny felt came from her devotion to St. Therese.  So she decided when
she had daughters of her own that St. Therese would become the patron saint of the
women in the Donahue family.  So when my mother and her two sisters reached the
age to receive their First Communion, Nanny would give them a holy card of
St. Therese and tell them the story of how she became the patron saint of the Donahue
women.

I have always loved to read about saints and angels so I started to read everything I
could about St. Therese. I read about her life and her call to serve God.  How she talked
about serving God in "the little way". It wasn't necessary to do big things which would
bring you attention and applause but it was enough to do small things that might go
unnoticed by most but not by God. I have always thought of that in my life.  I may not be
able to do large grandiose acts for God but I try to do what I can even if they are small
acts to some people.  Bigger is not always better, sometimes the smallest act
(for example; a smile at a stranger) can make the biggest difference in someone's day.

I know in my heart that the One who should notice my small acts does and that gives
me joy.

I have no daughters to pass the legacy of St. Therese, patron saint of the Donahue
women, on to but I have sons and dils to whom I have shared my story and now
when I think of and pray to St. Therese every night, I call her the patron saint of the
family Donahue which I believe she would be quite happy about.