Over the intersection of
Woodward Avenue and Twelve Mile Road, in retro-hip but foreclosure-riddled
Royal Oak, Michigan, looms the Charity Crucifixion Tower
of the National Shrine of the Little Flower. Father Charles
E. Coughlin commissioned the 90-foot landmark in 1928, three
years after founding the parish, in response to a cross
burning by the Ku Klux Klan, then active in nearby Berkley.
The church is one of the first in the world dedicated to
St. Therese of Lisieux, the Little Flower, whose "Little
Way" of spirituality has been a source of inspiration
to millions.
Shrine’s patroness was born Marie-Françoise-Therese
Martin in 1873 in Alençon, France, the youngest of
Louis and Zelie (Guerin) Martin’s five children, all
daughters, who survived to adulthood. The family moved to
Lisieux in 1877, after her mother’s death. Loss, illness
and wild emotions beset Therese throughout her short life,
but her simple philosophy of love of neighbor and abandonment
to God never faltered.
She entered a Carmelite convent at the age of 15. Craving
sainthood, she knew her impending life of poverty and obedience
would preclude heroic works:
Love proves itself by deeds, so how am I to show my love?
Great deeds are forbidden me. The only way I can prove my
love is by scattering flowers and these flowers are every
little sacrifice, every glance and word, and the doing of
the least actions for love.
Therese took every opportunity to sacrifice while living
among the Carmelites. She was gracious with those in the
community who treated her shabbily. She ate the worst leftovers
without complaining. She once took responsibility for a
broken vase that was not her doing. Therese’s autobiography,
Story of a Soul, illustrates the virtue of these and other
small and unrecognized acts of charity.
In this she serves as something of a foil to her fellow
Doctor of the Church, St. Augustine of Hippo. Augustine
includes among his writings an expose of the evil of large-scale
yet unrecognized acts of plunder. The evil of large-scale
yet unrecognized acts of plunder? Even petty theft is universally
regarded as an intrinsic injustice, so why would a theologian
of Augustine’s stature waste his time belaboring the
obvious injustice of plunder? Well, it’s not so obvious
when it comes to State plunder, as this provocative passage
from Augustine’s The City of God demonstrates:
Without justice, what are kingdoms but great robber bands?
What are robber bands but small kingdoms? The band is itself
made up of men, is ruled by the command of a leader, and
is held together by a social pact. Plunder is divided in
accordance with an agreed upon law. If this evil increases
by the inclusion of dissolute men to the extent that it
takes over territory, establishes headquarters, occupies
cities, and subdues peoples, it publicly assumes the title
of kingdom!
A fitting and true response was once given to Alexander
the Great by an apprehended pirate. When asked by the king
what he thought he was doing by infesting the sea, he replied
with noble insolence, "What do you think you are doing
by infesting the whole world? Because I do it with one puny
boat, I am called a pirate; because you do it with a great
fleet, you are called an emperor."
One wonders what sneering contempt the apprehended pirate
might direct at our modern day Emperor; for when it comes
to "infesting the whole world," not even an enthusiastic
cosmopolitan like Alexander the Great can hold a candle
to the President of the United States. POTUS, with his 575,000
troops and 700 military bases in 130 countries encircling
the globe, truly bestrides the whole world like a colossus.
Neither considerations of Judeo-Christian morality, Constitutional
constraint nor simple human decency impinge on POTUS’
maniacal quest for Full Spectrum Dominance. POTUS alone
has used nuclear weapons on civilian populations. POTUS
kidnaps and tortures. POTUS detains without charges. POTUS’
interminable military adventures have killed, maimed or
left homeless millions. Irony is lost on POTUS. POTUS now
presumes to wage war on terrorism.
Universality is the hallmark of morality. But POTUS holds
universality in contempt, even while paying lip service
to morality. If POTUS’ empire "creates its own
reality," it necessarily creates its own morality.
The double standards ensue. As Joseph Sobran once noted:
"Americans who think America should behave like other
countries are ‘isolationists,’ whereas other
countries that behave like the U.S. are ‘rogue nations.’"
To be sure, when any other nation’s leader acts like
POTUS, POTUS acts horrified.
Unlike Augustine, Therese never wrote anything political
in her life. Dying of tuberculosis at 24, she promised she’d
spend her "heaven doing good on earth." With POTUS
inflicting so much death and destruction on earth, might
not the "shower of roses" she promised to let
fall after her death entail something beyond small favors
granted her petitioners? Might it not include a sign imparting
the wisdom of the bold passage authored by her fellow Doctor
of the Church above – a wake-up call to a people hopelessly
adrift in a culture bereft of its moorings? Finally, might
this sign not manifest itself somewhere in or on that beautiful
Royal Oak church dedicated to her memory?
The National Shrine of the Little Flower is constructed
of limestone and granite from Indiana and Massachusetts,
with randomly placed stones from various U.S. states and
territories. State and territory names and flowers are carved
into these stones to honor the men and women from around
the country who helped build the church through their donations.
The picture below shows the south wall of the church, facing
12 Mile Road, with the limestone and granite and several
state stones in view:
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