“Jesus said, “Let the LITTLE children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”
Matthew 19:14
“I feel my mission is soon to begin, to make others love God as I do, to teach others my ‘LITTLE way.’ I will spend my Heaven in doing good upon earth.”
Saint Therese of Lisieux
I know these words from Our Lord and one of his most well known Saints are primarily directed at our own personal spiritual journeys, but I think they can also help shed light on the dangerous realities we face in our current political climate. I realize some may object to me using their words, which are primarily directed to the individual, to apply to the social and political realms, but I cannot help but note that the spirit behind these holy ones’ words seem to be at odds with the spirit of our current political climate.
Which means there is a problem with the climate.
In this aforementioned climate, we seem to want go in the opposite of the direction Jesus and Therese propose. Instead of little, we want to go BIG.
We want big stimulus.
We want to do “big and bold” things in the words of our elected representatives.
In my view, “big” entities are gaining control of our lives, empowered by our new Administration, and it is not a good thing. Big Tech, big national government, Wall Street, big cities, Big Military, Big Retail (i.e. Wal-Mart, Amazon) and Big Education (i.e. public schools and teachers unions) are the prime examples that come to my mind. The interests of these groups seem to be determine the direction we go in.
Who is getting hurt in our current climate that wants to go big in everything?
Small, Main Street business.
Private schools.
Rural states.
The little guy.
If we keep going this way, we will be totally under the control of big entities, and it will feel like living in a Communist state. We will be at their beck and call in terms of our livelihoods and our ability to speak.
Going big is not the answer to our current problems in my opinion. We should rather look to the example of Our Lord and His Saint who encourage us to “go small.”
How do we do that? Make government smaller. Empower the individual. Empower the family. Focus on the smaller, yet most important, units of our society and build up from there. Do not run society top down, rather go from the down up.
This way, the “little” way, is the way to go to make a prosperous, virtuous society. I hope we can turn things around and go in that direction instead of the one we are going in before it is too late.
Saint Therese of Lisieux, pray for us.
