Our postmodern world is full of self-conscious people, hungry for fulfillment. Like so many saints, Thérèse sought to serve others, to forget herself in quiet acts of love. She is one of the great examples of the gospel paradox, that we gain our life by losing it.
Preoccupation with self separates us from God and from one another. When we forget ourselves and serve others, we become practitioners of the "Little Way."