There were problems in the early Christian community. The widows of the Greeks complained they weren’t getting the same amount of food as the widows of the Hebrews. And so the apostles say, let’s get deacons, and they can serve. Deacons were formed, instituted, because there was division to heal the division. And I think that’s the call of everyone is to heal the division.
In today’s gospel, the disciples of John the Baptist come to Jesus and say, are you the one who we know for another? And Jesus says, report what you see, that the blind see the deaf hear the lame walk. And I think that’s what Christians do. Oftentimes the community, we don’t want to see each other’s viewpoint. There’s division. We don’t want to hear each other’s arguments or even listen.
We don’t want to walk the extra mile with our brother or sister, but we’re called to be one in Christ, to see the viewpoint, to hear the arguments. To walk the extra mile. Saint Teresa of Avila says, “look for Christ our Lord in everyone. And then you will have respect and reverence for all”. I think that’s the key to being Christlike.
Christ says blind, see deaf. Hear lame walk. And when we see Christ in one another, it’s the same thing. We hear one another. We walk with one another. We listen to one another.
When the Carmelites first came to the United States, they settled in Kansas of all places, because there was a big German speaking community, and they took new vocations. But the new vocations were Americans. A lot of them were like Irish American, and they spoke a different language, English is a different food. They had different customs, they had different mannerisms.
And the Germans were starting to get outvoted, outnumbered. So one night all the Germans left the community, taking the sacristy, taking the money box, taking the library, and they just disappear, leaving all the English speakers to wake up in the morning. Where did everybody go? Where is everything? And the Germans settled in Texas. Where there was a German speaking community, last for quite a few years.
But then all of a sudden a big drought and Texas had everyone left, leaving the Carmelites there. They had nothing to do, no flock anymore. They came back to Kansas, of all things, ironically. You know, to bother heads and return. Some of them wouldn’t. And they went to Vienna, some of them because they spoke German and founded the Carmelite house in Vienna.
And I mentioned this because it’s that disparity, you know, when there’s a difference, when people get outvoted or outnumbered or outclassed or outgunned or outspent, and then there’s disparity and then there’s unhappiness and I think we see that in today’s gospel where we have Lazarus, who’s poor, the dogs are licking his wounds. He lives in the street.
And then we have the rich man in this parable who doesn’t even see that Lazarus is there. And when they both die, that gulf continues and gap continues. And the rich man still doesn’t even see Lazarus. Just orders Abraham to tell Lazarus, bring me some water. And I think that we have to keep that in mind always. That when there’s a difference, when things start to move more and more and more and more and more and more vertical, it gets out of hand.
People are unhappy. Reform is due. In St. Teresa’s time she became a nun in a convent called incarnation, where noble women could have, be nuns, but bring their servants, bring their food, and poor ones lived like in a closet. And so when she reformed, she said, no, all will be equal. And her famous line is, “in this house, all are friends, all are load, all are helped, all our held dear”.
She’s taking this great vertical situation in incarnate Incarnation convent and making it horizontal. And I think that’s the warning of today’s gospel. And I think it’s the warning of today’s society where the rich get richer and richer. I hear Microsoft is hiring some new employees at $100 million a year. It’s like the rich man. And where are, are we the Lazarus. We’ve got to be careful because this is where things start to fall apart. Just like in today’s parable, we’ve always got to to be working to keep things horizontal. I think Teresa of Avila taught that. I think that’s what Jesus is preaching about, that in this house, all are friends, all are loved, all are helped, all are held dear.
Got a message through Facebook. When I opened it, it said “your page is in violation of Facebook’s standards and will be deleted unless you click here”. So I clicked here and it took me to a site and log in to your Facebook page. And I realized, oh, it’s a phishing expedition. It’s a scam. But boy was it well crafted.
Beautiful logo, Facebook logo, everything. And I admired it. Even though it was nefarious. I admired it because it was so well crafted. And this is what I think is going on in today’s gospel. In this parable of the man, you’re about to be fired. So he takes, invoices to the creditors and changes the number so people are indebted to him and will take him into their houses.
And Jesus says, you got to admire the crafty manager. You got to admire him. But don’t be like him because his life is just way too narrow. There’s an Italian saying A pickpocket only sees pockets, and that’s true. But life is more than pocket. You can put together a great crafty way of finding pockets. That could be admirable, but the invitation for life is not just more pockets, more money, more something narrow.
Jesus is inviting us to life and fullness of life and love and deep relationship and a relationship with God and redemption. This is the invitation, not pockets. And that’s what I think Teresa of Avila say when she says
“There are more tears shed over answered prayers than unanswered prayers”, because oftentimes our prayers are like, I want bigger pockets, more pockets. I want more money. I want more attention. I want more tiny stuff that I think will make me happy. And it doesn’t. And Jesus wants us to be praying for life and relationships and love and big hearts, and not to settle on pockets.
So when our prayer is pocket, yeah, we’re going to cry over it when we realize how narrow that is. Today’s gospel is don’t settle on narrow. Don’t settle on small. Don’t settle on beauty. Don’t settle on pockets. Because you’ve been invited to the immensity.
We know the names King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella because they sent Columbus to America. But what they’d also done is they conquered the Muslims, drove them out of Spain, reunite reuniting the kingdom, and told all the remaining Muslims and Jews become Catholic or, leave. And they instituted purity of blood law that you had to show you didn’t have any Jewish ancestry, Muslim ancestry, to work in the government to be an aristocrat, to become a religious, to become a priest, anything you had to prove purity of bloodline.
It was a very vertical law. Judging you are not worthy because you don’t have pure blood. Here comes Teresa of Avila, founding these new convents of hers. And she. Everyone was welcome. It didn’t matter what their ancestry was. Indigenous from the Americas. Welcome, former Muslims. Welcome people of Jewish blood. Welcome. And you get a lot of trouble. He said there’s a purity of blood law.
She said it doesn’t matter. All are welcome here. She took this vertical law, that was too vertical. And because she was radically horizontal. And I think that’s what today’s gospel is about, being radically horizontal. And Jesus says, try to come in through the narrow key or take the narrow road. Teresa of Avila says, “I don’t see how, Lord, nor do I know how the road that leads to you is narrow.” Because she could see that there are people in all directions who want to be part of the community, want to be united, want to love one another.
Radical horizontality. And that’s why Jesus will say, you will be surprised if you’re rejected. Because if you see the world vertically and of course, positioning yourself, then at the top of the heap superior to all of them. That’s not what Jesus is here for. He says people will come from the east, west, north and south, horizontal directions not coming from the kingdom to the mountaintops, from the summits, from the sky.
No, from the east, west, north. To the banquet. I think that’s the key. That’s why Teresa of Avila cannot see how that’s a narrow road, because that’s how she saw everything. And that’s the call for us to see everything. Not judging, not superior, them inferior, but horizontal. Brothers and sisters. All.
Father Roy tells the story that when he was a new priest. So this is a few years ago, because Father Roy has been 60 years a priest. When he was a new priest, an older priest then in the house was dying. So they were taking turns through the night so the priest wouldn’t die alone. And it was Father Roy’s turn.
So he’s in the easy chair, and he falls asleep. And he wakes up because the guy is calling out to him. And. But the guy is, you know, asks for something, but Roy can’t understand. So he leans. What do you want, father? Another blanket? No, no, no. I fluff up your pillow. No no no. Something to eat?. No, no no.
No water? No. And then the priest, reaches, behind him. Points behind his. Under his pillow. So, Roy reaches under there and there’s a checkbook, and he hands the checkbook to this priest. And the priest takes the checkbook and is holding it like this, and he’s holding the checkbook and dies with it in his hand. And, I’m thinking that’s a terrible story.
But in many ways, we’re all that priest. There’s something that isn’t what we should be holding on to, that we hold on to old grudges or old vanities, or old memories or old hurts or things that that the Lord is constantly saying, let go, let those go, and we don’t want to. We’re going to clutch on to them. It could be our accomplishments, our degrees, our family, all sorts of things that we think are us, and we’re going to hold on to it.
Saint Teresa of Avila says, “Lord, I do not think I can give you everything that you ask.” Even the great Saint Teresa can’t give up everything. She has her checkbook, so she has a checkbook. You have a checkbook. But she is a great saint, she continues the prayer, “but I will allow you to take it.” That is sanctity. That we can’t give up everything. There’s something that’s just too dear to us could be for the positive or the negative. But ask the Lord to take it. In today’s gospel, Jesus says, where your treasure is, there your heart will be. I think that’s the call. Give the Lord all of your treasures. Give the Lord all your words, whatever it is that keeps you from fullness of life and living, and the fullness of this gift, and give that to the Lord. And then the Lord will have your heart. Lord, I do not think I can give you everything that you ask, but I will allow you to take it. Tough prayer, but I think we can do it.
I was driven to the brand new diocesan retreat center. And as we get up there, there’s no one around but just some dogs. So you step out of the car and the driver says, oh those are mean guard dogs. I’m petting these dogs and they’re wagging their tails. And I said, no, they’re friendly dogs. They’re pussycat dogs. Come on out of the car.
He opens his door and the dogs run around the car. He slams the door. He said, I told you. So I took the dogs, put them in the chapel and closed the door. So he could get out of the car. Those two? I was expecting friendly dogs. The dogs gave me friendly dogs. He was expecting mean guard dogs. The dogs gave him mean guard dogs.
I think that’s how life works. And that’s how we work with one another. When I was a schoolteacher. I always expected my students to do great work and great job and get good grades. And you know, they never disappointed me. They always rose to it. I expected good. They gave me good.
And so we extend this to today’s gospel of Jesus. Just knock. It will be opened ask you’ll be given. It’ll be abundant. If dogs deliver. If people deliver, I think God delivers. Just expect God, the universe, creation, everything to deliver. And it will deliver. The door will be opened. The, requests will not be denied. They’ll be answered.
The fullness will be given. It’s the whole universe. From dogs to people and students to God himself, gives what you expect, Saint Teresa of Avila says, “never cease to believe that even in this life, God gives the hundredfold.” That’s what today’s gospel is all about.
Last Thursday, we celebrated a memorial. The Carmelite Martyrs of Compiegne. Compiegne is a cloister in northern France, and during the French Revolution, they were ordered to disband. And they did. They came to Paris, but they formed a community in Paris, and they were found out still living religious life. So they were arrested and ordered executed. And if executions back then were like a big social events where people selling food and jugglers and all sorts of things, people loved executions.
And in come the martyrs. These nuns. And the crowd got silent. What’s going on? Are we executing nuns now? And it’s just was dramatic. They started to sing the song. And as each one was guillotined, there was one less voice until finally the Mother Superior was guillotined and she was killed mid-line. The crowd went home in silence.
And that was the end of the Reign of Terror after the French Revolution. People said, have we come to this? What are we doing? We’re killing nuns now? And they just thought the whole thing out. And I think that’s what we have to do. That’s always the call, is to think our actions out. And is this is really what we want to be doing? To give it deep thought, deep prayer.
In today’s gospel, we have Martha and Mary. Traditionally, they’ve been, seen as Martha is the active one. She’s the one doing ministry. She’s serving Jesus food, and Mary is the contemplative one. She’s sitting at his feet and they’re kind of, Mary is a little upset. And so Jesus says, oh, Mary’s chosen the better part. And oftentimes that’s traditionally said the contemplative life is superior to the active life.
But Teresa of Avila says, no, that actually it’s both. Both have to be operative because we do so much on autopilot or so much without thought. We have to bring our actions into contemplation and contemplation. Then into action. It’s this dynamic going back and forth. And so she looks at this story of Martha, and Mary and says, “To give our Lord perfect hospitality, Martha and Mary must combine.” I think that’s what was happening with that crowd when they said, what are we doing? They thought it out, they prayed it out and they changed. I think that’s the call of today’s gospel. We have to be both contemplative and active. Not one, not the other. Both to give the Lord perfect hospitality, but to give ourselves a good and rich and wonderful life, to give our Lord a perfect hospitality, Martha and Mary must combine.
A homily for the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul
In my previous parish, the rectory there had a big mouse problem. Couldn’t get on top of it. The exterminators couldn’t. So finally my associate brought in two kittens from the shelter and I said, hey, but I live here. Should I have had a voice? He says, well, you can name them. And so I named the Abishag or Abbey, and Ezekiel, Zeke. Because they should have, rectory cats should have Bible names. And after they cleaned up the house, these two little kittens, they grew up and they became house cats. Well, eventually we moved and his parents retired. They wanted cats. So now they have the cats. And it’s been a while since I visited them. But I went to LA for an ordination and I stopped to have dinner with my associate parents, and I said, down before dinner and I’m just talking to them
The cats ignore me completely, ignored me completely. I was just there until I said, Abby, Zeke. And they straighten up and they look at me and they come running across the house, and Zeke jumped on my chest and Abby was there by my knees. And I think they recognize their names and they’re their endearing names. And that’s what they responded to, was their name. In today’s gospel, Jesus says, who do they say that I am? Who do people say that I am? And they give dry answers. Some say you are Elijah, some say you’re John the Baptist, some say you’re one of the prophets. And even Peter says you are the Christ, the son of the living God. These are all dry answers, and I’m wondering if that’s what Jesus is really asking for, like in the John’s Gospel towards the end when he says, Simon, do you love me more than these?
And he says, yes, Lord, you know I love you. I’m wondering if that’s the name he wants, if that’s the name he’s looking for, and that’s the name he’s preached. And that’s what his message to us is; love. This comes from Saint Teresa of Avila, from her like Book of Reflection. It’s called the soliloquies, “Since my beloved is for me and I for my beloved, who will be able to separate two fires so enkindled? For the two fires have become one.
I think that’s Teresa’s term for who do people say that I am? Teresa of Avila says my beloved. I think that’s what Jesus is looking for. From us, this loving relationship of hearts enkindled, hearts joined, hearts inseparable, had cannot be separated because the two have become one.
Today we are celebrating Corpus Christi. Corpus Christi means the body of Christ. Oftentimes, the feast is called the Body and blood of Christ. We celebrate the Eucharist today. And oftentimes when I hear the words Corpus Christi, I think of Corpus Christi procession. It’s the day for processions where after mass. Oftentimes the Eucharist is put into a monstrance, and the monstrance is walked around inside the church or outside the church, or through the neighborhood or through the parking lot.
It’s a day of processions, and I think that’s a great thing. It’s the first thing that comes to mind, and it’s a great thing because oftentimes we want to make the Eucharist like something static out there, separate to be awed and to be, worshipped out there. And no, it’s meant to be dynamic and changing. And so to have a procession is exactly what the Eucharist is about, from going from one place to another place.
And even when we receive, at mass. We always start in the pew and we head towards the altar. We don’t head towards the back or towards the side, or the Eucharist doesn’t come to us. We walk to the altar representing our journey to fullness or our journey to heaven.
Saint Edith Stein, also called Saint Teresa Benedict of the Cross, was a critic of Naziism and the political conditions of Europe. She was a Jewish convert to Catholicism, became a Carmelite nun. And so she was rounded up and sent to Auschwitz eventually to die there. And she’s a martyr, considered a martyr in the church today. Here’s what she has to say about the Eucharist. Living in the Eucharistic way means coming out of one cell, out of the narrowness of one’s life, and growing into the immensity of life in Christ. That’s why I like this image of procession, of coming out of the narrowness of one’s life and growing into the immensity of life in Christ.
I don’t think we should be celebrating processions, that kind of procession only today. This feast of Corpus Christi. But every day, to grow more and more out of my narrowness and into the immensity of Christ.
It’s surprising how often people come in to talk to the priest, and they’re upset because their children or their family or some relative or a spouse has stopped going to church, and they kind of beat themselves up saying, what did I do wrong? Did I not catechize them enough? Traine them enough? Did I not example enough? And I said, well, there’s nothing you can do more.
That’s what I answered. There’s nothing you can do more because now it’s up to God, because what you can do is you’re teaching, the faith, the catechetical faith, the content of the faith. But it’s up to God to make it a living faith. And that requires God to touch that person. When God touches that person, it’s not a chatecital faith, like a book faith, on paper, faith, a dry faith. It becomes a living faith. And that’s how I interpret Trinity Sunday. Trinity Sunday is about the touch of God. And it depends on what we’ve got going in our life. How God touches us. Sometimes God touches us to inspire us, to move us forward, to like a mighty wind on the Pentecost, to blast us out of our fear, out of ourselves.
And that we call Holy Spirit. Or sometimes God touches us with, tenderness and mercy, touches our wounds, and invites us to touch wounds. It’s compassion. It’s empathy. It’s one who like us. And we call it the son. Jesus the Christ. And that’s the call ethic of the gospels, is to be a more and more like Christ, more empathetic, more compassionate, more hopeful, more selfless love.
And sometimes God touches us with, like, great support. But God holds us up when things are, direst or when things are darkest, when things are hard. And that’s the father. That’s the touch of the father. You know, people could say, well, that’s just modalism. But I think that’s when God, the Trinity becomes alive. It’s a modal way of thinking of God.
It’s God touching us and God on earth and inspiring us, turning us from paper, faith, dry faith to living faith. And we move forward from there. Here’s a quotation from Saint Therese. of Lesieux a Carmelite about 100 years ago. Her autobiography is called story of a soul. She’s sometimes described as the greatest saint of modern times, and the quotation goes, the night was so black I didn’t see, but I knew Jesus was there in my boat. That’s touch. That’s trinity.
