John of the Cross Archives

Both Parts Needed

A homily for the 30th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Cycle A) on Matthew 22:34-40 on the “Greatest Commandment”

Both Parts Needed

As Religious Education classes let out, the youngsters came and said, “We have a question, Father Greg.” And youngsters never ask the priest a question. So, sure, shoot.

And they said, “In the greatest commandment, (which is today’s gospel, by the way, you should love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, strength, mind, and body, and you shall love your neighbor as yourself) which is more important, Father Greg? The first part or the second part?”

And I thought about it a moment and I said, “Probably the second part, because we have to deal with each other every day, where God is in heaven, God is away, God is invisible. It’s how we deal with each other that’s important. Besides, in Romans, Paul, Saint Paul in Romans, only mentions the second part.”

So I said, “The answer, the more important, is the second part: Love your neighbor as yourself.” And they looked at me and said, “You’re wrong. Our teacher says it’s the first part.” And they all ran off.

And so after I’ve been thinking about it a while, I think Saint John of the Cross and Jesus have the right answer. It’s both parts.

Saint John of the Cross says, “Uh, who of us can really love God with all our strength, all our mind, all our soul, our body, our strength, all of it? None of us. We’re incapable of that. We all fall short. And then who of us can love our neighbor as ourselves? We all fall short. And yet it’s the commandment.”

So, he says they play off of each other. It’s in the love of neighbor that our love of God grows. And in the love of God, our love of neighbor grows. It’s like a spiral. I love my neighbor a bit more, and that allows me to love God a bit more, which allows me to love my neighbor a bit more, and that allows me to love God a bit more.

It spirals closer and closer to the fullness of loving God and the fullness of loving neighbor. We approach it. I don’t think in this life we can ever get there. Even though it’s a commandment, we can’t get there.

But John of the Cross, I think, gives us the best schema for doing this, to approach, to grow. And I think, adding to John of the Cross, the higher we get in this, the more Christ-like we are, the more divine we are. This greatest commandment is the commandment that brings us to heaven.

Give a Name; Get a Name

A Homily for the 21st Sunday in Ordinary Time (Matthew 16:13-20)

When you read the Carmelite mystical saints, they all have their individual name for Jesus, and it’s not just Jesus. For example, Saint Teresa of Avila calls him my friend, my friend Jesus. Friend is her term. Saint John of the Cross, the term he uses mostly is my beloved. My beloved Jesus, my beloved. Or Saint Therese of Lisieux, the little flower, always says, “My Jesus,” never Jesus, “My Jesus.” They’re terms of intimacy, they’re terms of relationship, how they understand Jesus.

In today’s gospel, Jesus asks the apostles, “Who do you say that I am? Who do they say that I am?” Some of them say, “Well, you’re John the Baptist, or you’re one of the prophets.” And Simon says, “You are the Christ.” And Jesus smiles. Because now that is Simon’s term for Jesus, the Christ, which means the Messiah or the anointed one. That’s Simon’s term for Jesus.

As we saw, Teresa has a different term, John of the Cross has a different term, Therese of Lisieux has a different term. What term do you have for Jesus? It’s based on your relationship with Jesus. What do you call Jesus?

Now, that’s one side of the coin. The other side is now, Jesus turns to Simon and says, and gives him a name, “You are now Peter, the rock, the foundation.” So, the naming goes both ways. We name Jesus, and Jesus names us. So, the uh caveat here maybe, what does Jesus see? What does he base his name for us on? It could be pretty, or it could be pretty awful. You are . . .

Triple-crossed

A homily for the Third Sunday in Lent

A number of years ago, I used to do mass for a cloistered Carmelite group of nuns. They had a big pilgrim day once a month, I’d always do that mass. When I was being reassigned, they did a little farewell for me. Gave me a card. Then they gave me this gift a cross. Kind of pretty, like a Bishop’s cross.

It had a hook at the top for putting the chain. Priests don’t wear a bishop’s cross. But I looked at it and said, what? A priest needs another cross. You know, priest get crosses all the time. Yet, I got another cross, but I put it on my bookshelves and there it stayed. And every now and then I would just grab it and dusted because it would get dusty.

One time when I did that, I noticed the top or the chain goes rotated. So I said, well, this is different. You know, it should be. So I rotated it and all of a sudden it sprung open. The cross sprung open. Oh, it’s got a secret compartment. This is cool. So I opened it and inside there’s another cross.

So I looked at that and I pulled that cross out and I’ve now have two crosses, the ornate exterior cross and the simple interior cross. But I notice that it has writing, very tiny writing so I scrutinized it terribly. And it said ex lignum Crucis domini nostri Jesu Cristo. That means in Latin from the wood of the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.

So I look in the center and sure enough, there’s another cross, a very tiny cross in the very center, made out of the wood of the true cross. Now this is getting really cool. I don’t think the sisters knew what they gave me. They probably regifted something that they got just to me, and it sat there for years.

The wood of the True Cross. Well, I think this is how we should do life, and our examination of life in ourselves is the more we look, the deeper we can go. And that’s what I think our readings call us. To go deeper, we have Jesus saying, you know that the Gentile blood was mixed, that their sacrifices by pilot were they guilty or the tower they fell, and people died, were the guilty.

And Jesus is saying, no, it doesn’t work that way. But oftentimes people very infantantly, infantiley say God works that way. If you’re good, God rewards you. If you’re bad, God punishes you, and Jesus is good. Beyond that, it’s a two year old mentality dealing with their parents. God is more than a parent of a two year old. But oftentimes if we think no God is that. God should reward us or punish us, it’s justice.

And if God is not just and it’s like, that’s not God, and who feels like God is what is God? God is nothing. God is dead. John of the cross says that that when we realize or we feel the image of God is incomplete or lacking or infantile and we throw it away, it’s as if God died. But what God is doing is that go deeper and look deeper, and you’ll find another cross, a deeper cross, you’ll find a deeper reality.

That’s the call. And so that’s what he’s even saying with the parable of the fig tree is it’s not just about produce, it’s about life. Let this fig tree live and then it will produce. But we can still say, but it’s not enough. Like if God is omniscient and all loving, why does evil exist? Why do bad things happen to good people?

I just can’t, why do children have cancer? This can’t be God. God can’t allow that. That kind of God is doesn’t exist. God will die according to Saint John of the cross again and again. It’s not God. I just feels that way. It’s your simplistic way of looking at God. And if we look even deeper, we see reality.

The real cross, the true cross in our lives. In God that I think it’s all about. Can we cut through the cross? How can we cut through fear? Can we cut through pain? Can we cut through abandonment? Can we cut through betrayal and love anyway, like Jesus on the cross says father, forgive them. They know not what they do.

Can we do that? That is Christlike love. That is divine love. That’s what we’re called to be. Divine love people. And that’s what I think Jesus calls us to in this gospel, not infantile images of God or infantile images of why evil exists, but a deep, rich knowing that God can even turn, as Saint Paul says to the good for those who love him.

Consider and Do That

Carmelite homily for Friday (Week 12), June 26, 2020 – Lectionary 375 (Matthew 8:1-4)

In the Second Book of Kings we have Elisha – he’s the prophet living on Mount Carmel, successor of the Prophet Elijah – and Naaman, a Syrian commander, comes to be cured of leprosy. And so Elisha says, ‘Go wash yourself in the Jordan River.’ And Naaman is all upset, ‘I could’ve done this at home; I expected to do something big.’ But his servants so, ‘no, do it’ and he’s cured of his leprosy. Something small. And in today’s Gospel a leper comes to Jesus and says, ‘if you want to you can heal me.’ And Jesus says, ‘I do want it; stretch out your hand.’ And the guy does and he’s healed. It’s a small thing. It’s a big thing – leprosy – but the cures are small: just do what you’re told. John of the Cross writes, “What does it profit to give God one thing if he asks you for another. Consider what God wants and do it.” I think that’s the lesson of today’s Gospel: not to to the big thing, or the small thing, or your own thing. Consider what God wants you to do and do that. You’ll be cured.

Announcing Beauty

Carmelite homily for Wednesday, June 24, 2020 – Lectionary 371 (Luke 1:57-66) – the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist

I was a teacher at one of our high schools and I was asked to be a chaperone on the student trip to Europe. After the trip was over I stayed in Europe and went to visit Straubing in Germany, which was the founding house of the United States Carmelites, to spend the rest of the summer there. And when I arrived it was this day – the Nativity of John the Baptist. And I walked into the church expecting it to be empty and it was packed with people, and the choir was singing, and there was incense, and it was sheer beauty. And that’s always been my understanding since that that’s what John the Baptist does. He’s a precursor of the Lord; he’s the announcer of the Lord; he’s the one who says, ‘Behold the Lamb of God.’ He points out beauty. Carmel, as you know, means ‘Garden of God.’ It is a beautiful garden. That’s always been my understanding of John the Baptist. He brings us into, points at, shows us beauty. Let’s live in beauty this day.

Do You Love Me?

Carmelite homily for Friday (Easter V), May 29, 2020 – Lectionary 301 (John 21:15-19)

Today we have a Resurrection Gospel. It’s the well-known scene on the shores of the Sea of Galilee. The disciples have come in after a miraculous draught of fish. And afterwards, Jesus asks Simon three questions – do you love me? do you love me? do you love me? He doesn’t ask questions like, ‘Simon, why did you doubt when I told you to walk on water?’ or ‘Simon, why did you fall asleep in the garden?’ or ‘Simon, why did you deny me in the courtyard?’ or ‘Simon, where were you when I was on the Cross?’ No, no accusations, just simple questions. Saint John of the Cross writes, “At the evening of life you will be examined in love.” Just like Simon Peter in today’s Gospel, I think those questions will be asked of us. Do you love me? Do you love me? Do you love me?

To Grieve and Rejoice Properly

Carmelite homily for Friday (Easter VI), May 22, 2020 – Lectionary 295 (John 16:20-23)

In today’s Gospel Jesus tells the disciples, they will grieve and then they will rejoice. And he uses a metaphor of a woman in labor. When she’s in labor, all she knows is the labor and the pain, and once she’s given birth, all she knows is the joy and the gladness. Saint John of the Cross writes, “Human beings know not how to rejoice properly nor how to grieve properly.” I think he’s getting at what Jesus is getting at in today’s Gospel. We just see the moment – the pain of the moment or the joy of the moment. We don’t see the bigger pictures or plans of what God has in store. That’s the call of today’s Gospel: to trust God when we want to rejoice; to trust God when we want to grieve; to trust God that it will all work out to God’s plan.

Adversities

Carmelite homily for Thursday (Easter VI), May 21, 2020 – Lectionary 294 (John 16:16-20)

In today’s Gospel Jesus tells the disciples, ‘in a little while you will not see me and you will mourn; and in a little while you will see me and you will rejoice.’ We know what is the mourning, what is the rejoicing – it’s the crucifixion; it’s the resurrection. But they didn’t know. But I think they’re called to trust and we’re called to trust. Saint John of the Cross writes, “See that you are not saddened by the adversities of this world for you do not see the good that they bring.” I think that’s exactly what Jesus is telling us and telling the disciples in today’s Gospel – to trust God, to trust him, to trust.

Neither the Remarks nor the Deeds nor the Lives

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.

Ropes, Cords, and Threads

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.