The Little Rose and Home-Baked Cookies

We haven’t talked about the Little Flower (Saint Theresa of Lisieux) since the Pandemic of 2020. I think it’s time we talk about her again. Saints are people – just ordinary people who eventually surrender to God’s will alone.

Catholics are encouraged from birth to strive to become saints. Anyone can do it. All you need do is give your all for God’s glory. God gives us Saints to show us the way, to be examples. Saints strive to be Christ-like, to live as He did – in the service of others. Is it fair to expect us to be Christ-like? After all, Christ is perfect. Perfection is a tall order. Saints on the other hand are far from perfect. They stumble, they fall yet keep going. Just as we are bound to fail time and time again. God knows this. Some say He loves us in spite of our imperfections and shortcomings. I think He loves us because we are not perfect. He created us in His image. It is this spirit of pushing forward through the most difficult moments of life that God is most visible – His image shines in us.

Marie-Francoise-Theresa Martin was born on January 2, 1873. She was baptized two days later. No one expected this frail, sickly small baby to survive. Yet she did. God gave Theresa a special gift – she was incredibly stubborn. Often such characteristics are not seen as gifts but rather obstacles. Had Theresa not been stubborn at birth, she might have died much sooner than she did. Although she only lived 24 years, she taught us the importance of loving others and that all is possible through that love. Hers was not an easy life. She struggled with self-doubt and depression. It was only after giving up and surrendering to God’s will alone that she found the inner peace. Theresa once said “My heart was filled with charity. I forgot myself to please others and; in doing so, became happy myself.”

Today happiness seems to be so fleeting. In this what’s in it for me world, we rush from one disappointment to the next. It need not be like that. So often during Mass I find myself weeping – with joy. And that sense of His hand in my life fills me with a sense of happiness unlike anything else. I know the joy that awaits in heaven. Between now and then, I ask that my hands be used for His glory. My life be used for His praise. That I can stand as His witness and a light in the darkness.

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Today is Home Baked Cookie Day. What better way is there to show my guys how much I love them than with fresh baked cookies?

Best Ever Chocolate-Chocolate Chip Cookies
1 cup Butter
1 cup Brown Sugar
1/4 cup Sugar
2 Eggs
1 (3.4 oz) package Instant Chocolate Pudding
1 teaspoon Vanilla
1 teaspoon Baking Soda
1/4 teaspoon Salt
2-1/4 cups Flour
12 oz Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips

Heat oven to 350-degrees. Lightly grease cookies sheets, set aside.

Mix butter and both sugars together until creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, mix well between additions. Add dry pudding mix and vanilla to creamed mixture.

In another bowl, sift together flour, baking soda and salt. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients. Mix until combined. Fold in the chocolate chips.

With a cookie scoop, scoop out dough onto prepared cookie sheets. Place 1 sheet at a time into heated oven, bake about 10 minutes for soft cookies, 12 minutes for a crisp cookie. Let cookies cool on pan for 2 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.

Repeat with each tray of cookies. Makes 3-1/2 dozen Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies.

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Let my prayer come before You;
incline Your ear to my call for help.