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The Little WayI have always desired to become a saint, but in comparing myself with the saints I have always felt that I am as far removed from them as a grain of sand, trampled underfoot by a passer-by, is from the mountain whose peak is hidden in clouds.
Instead of feeling dismayed by such thoughts, I concluded that God would never inspire a desire that could not be realized, and that despite my littleness I might still aim at being a saint. I said to myself "It is impossible for me to become great, so I must bear with myself and my many imperfections."
But I will search out a means of attaining heaven by a little way-very short and direct, and completely new. We live, after all, in an age of inventions. There are lifts that save us the trouble of climbing stairs.
So I will try and find a lift that will raise me to God, for I am too small to climb the steep stairs of perfection.
I looked in Scripture to find some suggestion of what the lift I wanted might be. I came across these words from the Book of Proverbs: "Whoever is a little one, let that person come to me" (Proverbs 9:4). So I drew near to God, certain that I had discovered what I was looking for. I continued my search and this is what I found: "You shall be carried at the breasts and upon the knees: as one whom the mother caresses, so will I comfort you" (Isaiah 66:12-13).
I have never before been consoled with more tender or sweet words. Jesus, it is your arms then that must be the lift that will raise me to heaven. To reach heaven I do not have to become great. On the contrary I must stay little. I must become even smaller than I am.