Carmelite homily for Friday, April 3, 2020 – Lectionary 255 (John 10:31-42)
All this week in these Gospel passages we’ve had a lot of turmoil. And today the religious leaders are calling Jesus ‘a blasphemer’ – a capital offense – and the pick up rocks to kill him. He doesn’t make much of a defense; instead, he walks through their midst and goes to Bethany. Saint John of the Cross writes, “It is great wisdom to know how to be silent. Look at neither the remarks nor the deeds nor the lives of others.” Yes, the religious leaders should be doing this to Jesus. And Jesus is modelling this to the religious leaders by just walking through their midst. He’s not condemning them despite their condemnations of him. Maybe that’s the lesson here – to love our neighbor, love our enemies, condemn no one, return a blessing instead – to live and love like Jesus.
Carmelite homily for Thursday, April 2, 2020 – Lectionary 254 (John 8:51-59)
Saint John of the Cross wrote a commentary on his poem, The Dark Night, called The Ascent of Mount Carmel. There are forty chapters in two books and there are forty days of Lent. It’s a perfect Lenten practice. What is he trying to accomplish in The Ascent of Mount Carmel, but freedom! To free us from ourselves, our self-righteousness, our sinfulness, our pride. Saint John off the Cross writes, “It makes little difference whether a bird is tied by a thin thread or by a cord.” That’s what John is trying to do – cut the cords, cut the ropes, but cut even the thin threads that tie us. I think that so well ties in with all these Gospels we have in this season and it ties in well with our hearts.
Evangelization and Contemplation: the Gifts of Pope Francis and Saint Teresa by Rev. Tracy O’Sullivan, O.Carm. | Dorrance Publishing Co., 2019
Seeing a world in desperate need for evangelization, especially in his work as a long-time inner city pastor, Father Tracy begins with the call for a new evangelization seen in Pope Francis’ 2013 encyclical, Evangelii gaudium (the Joy of the Gospel) and similar-themed documents from Pope Paul VI (Evangelii nuntiandi) and Pope John Paul II (Redemptoris missio). All these documents call the Church to not only proclaim the Good News (old evangelization) but through the Gospel to transform the world (new evangelization). But how do we get there? Father Tracy says that the answer is prayer.
Using Saint Teresa of Avila’s book on prayer, The Interior Castle, Tracy sees that the journey of personal interior transformation proceeds from simple prayer (Interior Mansions 1 thru 3) to contemplation (Interior Mansions 4 thru 7) which leads us to more God-centered and less ego-centered ministry. Our ego-driven needs can easily thwart the lofty call for world transformation (new evangelization) and so these documents are, in fact, a call to contemplation. Teresa herself says, “This is the reason for prayer, my daughters, the purpose of this spiritual marriage: the birth always of good works, good works” (Interior Castle, 7.4.6). This contemplative-based ministry is the transformative evangelization that Pope Francis (and his predecessors) calls us to in the new evangelization. Let me try to schematize this:
Then using the writings of Thomas Merton (Trappist spiritual writer) and Rowan Williams (Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury, emeritus) Tracy illustrates how contemplative evangelization (new evangelization) is lived and proclaimed. Archbishop Williams, in a Vatican address, says, Evangelization, old and new, must be rooted in a profound confidence that we have a distinctive human destiny to show and share with the world…The humanity of Christ’s redeeming work is a contemplative humanity.”
This call of Rowan Williams is the call of Father Tracy in Evangelization and Contemplation, and by artfully using Saint Teresa of Avila Tracy adds a Carmelite roadmap. I think the subtitle of Father Tracy’s book should be amended to read the Gifts of Pope Francis and Saint Teresa and Father Tracy.
Carmelite homily for Wednesday, April 1, 2020 – Lectionary 253 (John 8:31-42)
In today’s Gospel there’s still more upset. This time the issue is freedom versus slavery. The Pharisees claim to be free because they’re children of Abraham, and Jesus says they’re slaves. They get upset. It’s not just an external freedom Jesus is talking about. It’s an internal freedom. Here’s what Saint John of the Cross says, “Freedom cannot abide in an enslaved heart; rather, it abides in a liberated heart, a child’s heart.” That’s where true freedom is. This is the freedom Jesus offers; the freedom Jesus teaches; the freedom Jesus gives.
Carmelite homily for Tuesday, March 31, 2020 – Lectionary 252 (John 8:21-30)
In today’s Gospel the Pharisees come to Jesus with yet more gripes and they ask, ‘who are you?’ And he says, ‘I’ve told you from the beginning and I have a lot to teach you.’ But he doesn’t teach them in the passage. Why? Maybe because we’re not listening. But maybe because Saint Therese knows, “He instructs without the noise of words.” What does that mean? Maybe example. What does that mean? Maybe love. What does that mean? Compassion. What does that mean? Humane life. What does that mean? Living deeply in Jesus.
Carmelite homily for Monday, March 30, 2020 – Lectionary 251 (John 8:1-11)
In her work, The Way of Perfection, Teresa of Avila talks about perfection. And she’s condemning how the sisters can be looking at each other and then reporting to the prioress all the faults. Here’s what she has to say about that behavior, “Let us understand, my daughters, that true perfection consists in love of God and love of neighbor. All that is in the Rule and Constitutions serve for nothing else than to be a means towards keeping these commandments with ever greater perfection. So let each one look to herself only. And as to the breaches and faults of the sisters, keep silence. For perfection consists of love of God and love of neighbor; whereas, perfectionism comes from the devil.” And today we have all these people bringing this woman caught in adultery to Jesus. All pointing fingers at her. And Jesus, though he’s writing on the ground, is actually pointing fingers at them, telling them, ‘be silent.’ And when he looks up, they’re gone. It’s silent. Maybe we should’ve started there.
Carmelite homily for Sunday, March 29, 2020 – Lectionary 34 (John 11:1-45)
We know Saint Therese because of her autobiography, A Story of a Soul, but she also would write to priests. That was her mission – to support priests – especially the newly-ordained who went out on mission. One wrote to her with scruples and feelings of inadequacy and she replies to him, “Do not waste these days of sunshine hiding in the dark of fear and anxiety.” Great advice – for everybody. Today we have Lazarus coming out of the tomb. And I think we need to come out of the tomb also. Because our tombs are oftentimes fear and anxiety. Why do I always have to have the last word? Fear and anxiety. Why do I have to control everybody around me? Fear and anxiety. Why do I have to …. Fear and anxiety. Jesus tells Lazarus, “Come out!” and he tells us, “Come out! And be unbound!” from fear and anxiety.
Carmelite homily for Saturday, March 28, 2020 – Lectionary 249 (John 7:40-53)
This is a great week for Gospel passages. Now we everybody upset because of authority. Who has the authority here? Who is in control here? Who has the power here? That’s what we see in today’s Gospel passage. John of the Cross may have a different way. He writes, “The soul that journeys to God without shaking off its cares or quieting its appetites is like the one who drags a cart uphill.” If your life is an uphill drag maybe a different solution?
Carmelite homily for Friday, March 27, 2020 – Lectionary 248 (John 7:1-2,25-30)
In today’s Gospel there’s a lot of upset. Jesus has to go to Jerusalem, but in secret. The people are murmuring. The religious leaders want to arrest him. Lots of upset. Is there a lot of upset in your life? Maybe John of the Cross has a solution. He writes, “Crucified inwardly and outwardly with Christ and you will live in this life with fullness and satisfaction.” Isn’t that a great substitute for upset – fullness and satisfaction? But to be crucified with Christ means to put all that aside. Let it go to the Cross. And you live apart from all that. Even Saint Paul says, “I have been crucified to the world and the world to me” (in Galatians). Same idea. A good topic, a good path for Lent.
Carmelite homily for Thursday, March 26, 2020 – Lectionary 247 (John 5:31-47)
In today’s Gospel everyone wants proof, or they want testimony, or they want evidence, but faith doesn’t work that way. Saint John of the Cross writes, “To reach union with the wisdom of God, one must advance by unknowing, rather than knowing.” I think that’s what Jesus is trying to communicate in today’s passage. And what Jesus is trying to communicate to us. If we expect to know everything, all evidence, all testimony in place, we’ll get nowhere. We need to advance by a deeper path – unknowing.
