THE SCIENCE OF LOVE  
A Study in the Teachings of Therese of Lisieux
by John C. H. Wu

13. The Logic of Love  

I confess that at times I am astonished by some of the lightning-like flashes of St. Therese's insight. But no one could be more astonished than herself. "Since I have taken up my position in the arms of Jesus, I am like a watchman observing the enemy from the highest tower of a fortress. Nothing escapes me; often I am astonished at seeing so clearly."[58]

Hers is a humility that is not only felt by the heart but founded upon the solid knowledge of her own nothingness apart from her Lover. She felt and thought with constant reference to God. Her vision was so clear that she had to resort to parables. Here is one of them that a Sister has scribbled down for us :

She often spoke to me of a well-known toy with which she had amused herself when a child. This was the kaleidoscope, shaped like a small telescope, through which, as it is made to revolve, one perceives an endless variety of pretty, colored figures.

"This toy," she said, "excited my admiration, and for a long time I wondered what could produce so charming a phenomenon. One day, however, a careful examination showed that it consisted simply of tiny bits of paper and cloth scattered inside. Further scrutiny revealed three mirrors inside the tube, and the problem was solved. It became for me the illustration of a great truth.

"So long as our actions, even the most trivial, remain within love's kaleidoscope, the Blessed Trinity, figured by the three mirrors, imparts to them a wonderful brightness and beauty. The eyepiece is Jesus Christ, and He, looking from outside through Himself into the kaleidoscope, finds all our work perfect. But, should we leave that ineffable abode of love, He would see nothing but the worthless chaff of worthless deeds."[59]

Love opened the eyes of little Therese to new truths and new reasons for loving Jesus. She was not such a great sinner as Magdalen, and, logically speaking, she did not need as much forgiveness from God as Magdalen. But does it follow that she loved Him the less? No, on the contrary, she loved Him all the more. Love has its own logic that mathematicians have no notion of.

"I love Him," she reasoned, "because He has forgiven me, not much, but all."[60] "He has forgiven me beforehand the sins which I could have committed."[61]

She seems to know by intuition what very few theologians have arrived at by their long-winded reasonings. St. Thomas Aquinas had, indeed, pointed out that it is "also a divine benefit that God should keep a man from sins, just as He forgives his past sins."[62] St. Augustine had also confessed, "I put it down to Your grace and mercy that You melted the ice of my sins; I put it down to Your grace also all the sins that I did not, that I could not, commit."[63] But little Therese went a step further than these great lights of the Church! She spoke, not in terms of "also," but in terms of "all the more"; and she gave us a very simple illustration of this deep truth:

Let us suppose that the son of a very clever doctor, stumbling over a stone on the road, falls and breaks his leg. His father hastens to his aid, and binds up the fractured limb with all the skill at his command. When cured, the son shows the utmost gratitude . . . and with good reason.

But, on the other hand, suppose that the father, knowing that a large stone lies on his son's path, anticipates the danger, and, unseen by anyone, hastens to remove it. Unconscious of the accident from which such tender forethought has saved him, the son will not show any mark of gratitude for it, or feel the same love for his father as he would have done had he been cured of some grievous wound. But if he came to learn the whole truth, would he not love his father all the more?[64]

I can imagine Jesus putting His hand gently on her shoulder and saying, "The truth is that you, My dear child, love Me, and want to love Me as I have never been loved before; and you are never at a loss to find reasons in justification of your love. What a subtle logician love has made of My little child!"
 

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