December 2019 - Page 2 of 2

Complete Conversion

Carmelite homily for Friday, December 6, 2019 – Lectionary 179

In her autobiography, A Story of a Soul, Saint Therese talks about her ‘Christmas Conversion.’ She was young – fourteen. But she says it was her “complete conversion.” There was a Therese before and a Therese afterwards. It was sudden. In today’s Gospel we have ‘sudden.’ These blind men are suddenly – and the word is ‘suddenly’ – healed. They can see what they did not see. That’s what Therese had at her ‘Christmas Conversion.’ It was Christmas Eve; she was fourteen, and she said, “I felt charity enter into my soul and the need to forget myself and please others; since then I’ve been happy.” That’s her ‘Christmas Conversion.’ It was a selfish, self-centered, self-oriented, self-motivated, self-aggrandizing Therese before and it was an other-centered, other-helping, other-focused, other-loving Therese after. That’s the call of the Gospel. That’s the call of all of us in Jesus.

Castles in the Air

Carmelite homily for Thursday, December 5, 2019 – Lectionary 178

Feeding the Multitudes

Carmelite homily for Wednesday, December 4, 2019 – Lectionary 177

In today’s Gospel we have the feeding of the multitude where Jesus takes the few loaves and fish and multiplies them and gives them to the many. This is oftentimes called a prefigurement, we say, of the Eucharist where Jesus feeds the multitude. But Therese has an interesting take – Therese of Lisieux – she writes that when she comes to communion, “I invite all the angels and saints to come and conduct a magnificent concert there so that when Jesus descends into my heart he is content to find himself so well-received, and there I am content too.” That’s the call; yes, Jesus feeds us but we feed Jesus with our love, our action, and our heart. We feed the multitude, also.

Be Little and Let Jesus Do the Work

Carmelite homily for Tuesday, December 3, 2019 – Lectionary 176

Saint Therese of Lisieux was looking for some way to articulate her Little Way and she found this passage in the Book of Wisdom: “Whoever is a little one, let him come to me.” And she concludes, “The elevator which will raise me to heaven is your arms, O Jesus, and for this I had no reason to grow up but rather to remain little and to become this more and more.” In today’s Gospel we have this image of becoming childlike and things that are hidden are revealed to the little ones. I think that is Therese’s Little Way. Let Jesus do this. Let Jesus accomplish this. Let Jesus’ grace work through us. Be little, and let Jesus do the work.