The Little Way Is the Whole Job
Peter Buckley and Mark O'Donnell look at Pope Leo XIV's France trip — the Paris Mass of about 800,000 and priests hearing confessions in the street — as public courage for a faith that will always live under pressure. They then take Case Keenum's third-string Monday-night win and St. Thérèse of Lisieux's Little Way as the same ordinary path: encourage one another into the sacraments, stop calculating impact, and do the work in front of you well, because God is love.
Notes
- Pope Leo XIV's France trip put the faith in public: a Paris Mass on the order of 800,000, and priests hearing confessions in alcoves and on the street.
- The U.S. already has signs of Catholic revival. Africa has been booming. Europe, especially France, had been written off. This trip says France is not finished.
- The faith will always be in a minority. Public Mass and public confession matter because they give courage to people watching from a distance who thought they were alone.
- Occasional public reinforcements like France are the Holy Spirit keeping His word, not proof that the downward cultural pressure has gone away.
- The culture feels worse in part because cameras are everywhere. Misery that used to stay local is now broadcast. You still control your reaction, and that is where the faith helps.
- Coming back is not complicated. You do not need a tribunal. You can walk into a confession you have avoided for five, ten, or twenty years.
- Case Keenum, a journeyman quarterback, wins a Monday-nighter after two quarterbacks go down. Coaches trusted him, family was in the stands, teammates celebrated together.
- The apostolic version of that locker room is encouragement: the retreat, the rosary, the sacraments. For men especially, encouragement is how love actually looks.
- Halloween costumes favor St. George and St. Sebastian. St. Thérèse entered at 15, died at 24, wrote under obedience, and looked inconsequential. Her Little Way is the opposite of a world that only talks to you if your swim time is good enough.
- Doing a task with love means doing it well, completely, and on time. St. Josemaría Escrivá later picked up the same theme: God is love, and a relationship with Him is what you actually need.