Teresa of Avila Archives

Positive Leadership

A homily for Christ the King Sunday

When I was newly ordained, I was assigned to a parish in New Jersey. I thought I’d be assigned to a high school. So I was really surprised. But everyone said, oh, you’re going to be with Father Peter. Father Peter is excellent. They oftentimes say your first pastor, when you’re newly ordained, will teach you more about how to do the work of a priest than anything in the seminary.

And so everyone said, you are with the best. Well, I turned out, I was with the best. Father Peter was an excellent mentor, an excellent coach, an excellent example, an excellent teacher, and just an all around great guy. Perfect guy to have as your first pastor as this great teacher. Today we celebrate the feast of Christ the King.

What does that mean? We’re Americans, and kings are less and less in the world anyway. I interpret it as Christ the leader. That’s what it really means. Christ the great leader. And I use this example of great leader, Father Peter. Years ago, I took a course in the business school on management, leadership, management, and they were talking about positive leadership models and there are four that they were talking about authentic, charismatic servant and transformational and a good leader does all of those.

And that’s what I think Father Peter was. He was he did all of those. He was authentic, true to himself. Boy, he knew himself charismatic. He. He just inspired people to do the work of a parish servant. He was the servant of the people and transformational. I think he really transformed the parish to be a spectacular, cutting edge parish.

That’s what I think we see in today’s gospel. Jesus is on trial before Pilate. They’ve dragged him before Pilate, but he he starts to engage Pilate in this great discourse. And you could see he’s being authentic. And he knows who Pilate is, too. He’s being charismatic. Know pilot is reacting to him positively. He’s being the servant servant of the people, and he’s being transformational.

He’s trying to inspire Pontius Pilate. So this is what I think is the key to understanding this feast of Christ the King. It’s not Jesus lording it over us. It’s Jesus transforming us and inspiring us and serving us and telling us to be authentic. And on this feast day, maybe we are called to be leaders ourselves. I think that’s what Jesus does to the apostles, does to everyone in the gospel.

He beats. He inspires them to be leaders, not followers. Saint Teresa of Avila says, for all who follow Christ, if they do not want to get lost, must walk along the path he trod. He trod the paths of leadership, of being servant, authentic, charismatic transformational. That’s the call of this feast for us to be those same, that same, those same, that same kind of leader.

That’s the call of today’s feast.

Storm Warning

A homily for the 33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

In the deanery I belonged to a young priest was being assigned to a new parish, so I said I’d help him move, and by the time I got there all his boxes were packed. So we drove it to the new place. I’m helping them unpack and as im opening a box filled with black shirts, next box black shirt, next box, black shirts, next box black shirts, black pants on and on.

And finally I said, “wheres your like day off clothes?”. And he says, well I never take a day off? The parishioners loved him because all he did was work. He was there for them. They called in the middle of the night or hospital middle of the night, or anointing in the middle. He was there, always there. They just thought he was the greatest priest ever.

And they were shocked when he had a nervous breakdown. And how could the best priest ever have a nervous breakdown? In my own analysis, he was hiding behind priesthood. You know, he wasn’t. He wasn’t revealing himself. He was just living the role. He wasn’t true. He was safe. In today’s gospel, Jesus talks about when the Son of Man comes, the sun will be darker, the moon will be darkened.

Stars will fall. I think that’s all a metaphor for the inside that is in turmoil. That the Son of Man doesn’t come to cause turmoil. He’s causing it. He wants to soothe turmoil, to make us like deep, rich, living, abundant human beings. But that takes a lot of change. And I think that young priest was hiding because people want more than just to be admired.

They want friends. They want relationships. We want intimacy. We just do. But that takes risk. And it’s easier just to hide. Hide behind a role or hide behind a bottle or hide behind anything. And the Son of Man is going to push us forward. Teresa of Avila likens spirituality, which I think spiritually is our spirit coming fully alive.

She says in her great magnum opus, The Interior of Castle, “we consider our soul to be like a castle made entirely out of diamond, a Paradise where the Lord finds his delight”. But we have to examine the castle, move into that castle, study that castle, move deeper and deeper into the castle to find the Lord and to find ourselves.

That castle is me. The castle is you. That’s the call. Is to. To know yourself. To learn ourselves. Because the Son of Man comes not to cause turmoil, but to bring life and life in abundance. That young priest came out of his nervous breakdown, taking a day off. All of a sudden having friends instead of just admirers. I think being a much deeper, richer person.

That’s the call of today’s gospel. Not for storms. But storms that lead to calm richness, fullness, abundance.

LuciChristopher

A homily for the 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time

I was helping out in a parish, and the sacristant, a guy named Lou, was always grumpy, and every time he’d come in there, he’d be grumping at this or grumping at that one time early in the morning at morning mass. I came in, took my coat off, put it on the counter, and he grabbed it and said, “were you born in a barn? Don’t you know how to hang up a coat?” And I looked at him because I did not have my coffee yet and said, Lou, what is a short for Lucifer? And I thought, oh, I’m going to get it now. And he started to laugh, and he said, no one’s ever called him Lucifer before. And he thought it was funny.

So he said, we’re going out for breakfast. He had a very interesting history. How he got that name was he was left at the doorstep of a convent as a newborn, and he was crying. The garbageman heard him, woke up the nuns. They brought him in. It was the feast of Saint Lucy in December. So the nuns gave him the name, Lou.

That’s how he got it. Kind of interesting. And from then on, he always was friendly with me. And, But my. That’s my thinking is Lucifer. Lucifer means to carry light. And Lucifer is the chief of the archangels. He was brilliant and light, and he carried light. But what light did he carry? His own light. And that’s, that’s the problem.

He wanted to promote himself and promote, He would be the chief. He would be the center. He would be the Lucifer. And that’s not what we’re Christians to be. We’re not to be Lucifer. We’re to be like Christopher. Christopher means to carry Christ. Lucifer means to carry light or the feminine. Christine or Christopher is the call here.

in today’s gospel, James and John come to Jesus and say we want to be first and second. We want to sit on your first. So that’s putting themselves forward, making their light. They want their light to shine forth. And I think that’s always a problem we end up being when we promote our own light, we end up being Lucifer. We need to promote Christ’s light to be Christ in the world today.

Saint John of the cross, his best known poem is called The Dark Night and it begins with these words. “One dark night, fired by love’s urgent longings. Ah the sheer grace I went out unseen, my house being now all stilled.” What he’s getting at there is. His house is stilled. It’s that promoting one’s self, promoting one’s light.

Promoting is still now. And he can go out to promote Christ, to do the work of Christ, to be Christ in the world today. That’s where I think James and John went awry. Why Jesus wouldn’t give them that position. Their job is not to be Johniffer or Jamesiffer or Lucifer. It’s to be Christopher or the feminine Christine to promote Christ.

It’s our job. Thanks, Christopher.

Coffee vs. Great Coffee

A homily for the 28th Sunday in Ordinary time

One the weekend, we had a mission appeal speaker, a priest from Colombia was going to speak at all the masses, raise money for his mission in Colombia, spoke good English. He gets up on Saturday morning, comes in the kitchen. I just made coffee and he grabs a mug, grabs the pot, pours a cup of coffee, takes one sip, walks over to the kitchen sink and throws it in and looks at me and says, You Americans never roast your coffee enough.

So what he did is he took the kitchen out of the cupboard. A can of, Maxwell House and I like the coffee. And he put it like in a frying pan. Just poured it right in a frying pan, put it on the stove using a spatula. Turned it over quickly to finish roasting it. The whole kitchen smelled like coffee.

And then while still hot he put it in the basket and brewed another pot of coffee.

Handed me a cup.

Boy, was it good. Excellent coffee. Same coffee I’ve been drinking, but it had been transformed to an extraordinary cup of coffee. In today’s gospel, the rich young man comes to Jesus and says, what must I do? And Jesus says, everything you’re doing is great and looks at him with love.

But says one thing more. Sell everything you have, give to the poor, and come follow me. And the guy leaves dejected. It’s like Jesus said everything you’re doing, it’s a great cup of coffee, but we can really make this really good coffee by just doing this one more thing. That’s what he’s offering. He’s not saying, well, this is the key to heaven, or this is the key to my heart.

It says, no, you’re living a rich life now, but you could even be richer. It can be darker, it can be, wholesome. It can be blacker, like black coffee. Really good. It’s what he’s offering and offers us. Saint Teresa of Avila, a great saint says, “how can we share our gifts lavishly if we do not understand that we are rich?”

She understands we’re rich. But she’ll add the great line right after that. But all we understand is ready cash. That’s what Jesus is saying. Look deeply. Live deeply. Live more richly. Live this life in its fullness. And all it takes is open heart, open generosity, open lives. Do what he asks. And this life, this life will be lavish and rich.

That’s what today’s gospel is all about. Let’s enjoy a cup of coffee.

Weight-Loss Program

A homily for the 26th Sunday in Ordinary Time

I’ve always been a jogger, and a few years ago, quite a few years ago, I decided, let me see if I can do a marathon, get in shape for a marathon. Well, if you’re going to condition yourself for a marathon, that means, like, lose a lot of weight. I had to lose a lot of weight because I, the more weight you carry, the harder it is.

And so I had to shed quite a few pounds to get in shape. That’s my interpretation of today’s gospel, where Jesus says, if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off, or if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. It’s not because sin is the, sinlessness is the goal. No, it’s marathon is the goal. It’s to be conditioned to do this marathon of love.

You know, love God with all your heart, soul, mind and body and love your neighbor as yourself. This is what were to be conditioned for. Life is not about remaining sinless and whammo! The door opens to heaven. No, life is about love. And whammo, love opens the door to heaven. Not sinlessness, but it gets worse because I was now watching what I was eating and I was being careful about what I ate.

I became fastidious and people, my sisters especially said, you know, Greg, you’ve become like a self-righteous diet nazi who is watching what people are eating. Because I had a watch. And that’s kind of what this is about. This is, you know, pull off that nazi stuff we do to each other criticizing or nitpicking or judging or avoiding. You know, this is the stuff we’re to be plucking out of our lives so that we can run this marathon of love.

Saint Teresa of Avila, great saint, says; “all who follow Christ, if they don’t want to get lost, must walk along the path he trod’. He was on the marathon path, and he asks us to be on the marathon path. To just love and love and love again. And fired with love within. To love and love again. That line also comes from Saint Teresa of Avila.

Your Name is Spouse

Carmelite homily for Monday, June 29, 2020, the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul – Lectionary 591 (Matthew 15:13-19).

Since today’s scripture passage is the same as for February 22 (the Feast of the Chair of Peter) this is a repeat of that homily.

In the Gospel for this Feast of the Chair of Saint Peter, Jesus asks of his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” And they give a bunch of answers and finally Simon says, “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.” And Jesus turns to him and says, “Your name is Peter.” He gives him a special name. But Jesus gives us a special name. Here’s what Saint Teresa of Avila has to write, “To always live in calm desire to rejoice solely in Christ, one’s spouse.” That’s the name Jesus, as we get closer and closer to him, gives us: spouse. So, yes, that’s what we celebrate on this Feast of the Chair of Peter – our espousal.

The Soil is Never Dry

Carmelite homily for Sunday, June 28, 2020 – Lectionary 97 (Matthew 10:37-42)

Today’s Gospel has quite a few harsh passages. ‘If you love your father or mother more than me you’re not worthy of me. If you love your brother or sister more than me you’re not worthy of me. Unless you take up your cross and follow you’re not worthy of me. If you seek to save your life you’ll only lose it.’ What’s going on? What I think Jesus is doing is inviting us to live a little deeper than ego. Ego is about my stuff, my power, my appetites, my wants, my control – me! And he’s trying to get us a little deeper than that. Saint Teresa of Avila, who would agree with this passage yet was very devoted to her family, writes, “If the soil is well-cultivated by trials and persecutions, criticisms and illnesses – for few there must be who reach this stage without them – and it is softened by living in great detachment from self-interest, the water soaks in so deep that one is never dry.” That is the invitation, actually, of today’s Gospel: to live so deep that we are never dry. Let us live there – try to live there – today.

Narrow Road?

Carmelite homily for Tuesday (Week 12), June 23, 2020 – Lectionary 372 (Matthew 7:12-14)

Saint Teresa of Avila writes, “I don’t see how, Lord, nor do I know how the road that leads to you is narrow.” And I agree with her! Even though Jesus says in today’s Gospel, ‘try to enter the narrow gate for the road that leads to destruction is wide.’ Actually, I think, if we try even a little bit of love or try a little bit of acknowledgement of God, God takes over; God guides; God directs. The Holy Spirit fills us with grace. And so how can that be narrow when we’ve got God empowering it, and fueling it, and guiding it? I think Teresa of Avila is right when she writes, “I don’t see how, Lord, nor do I know how the road that leads to you is narrow.”

Seek Yourself in Me, and Me in Yourself

Carmelite homily for Thursday (Easter V), May 28, 2020 – Lectionary 300 (John 17:20-26)

In one of her poems, Saint Teresa of Avila writes, “Soul, you must seek yourself in Me, and in yourself seek Me.” That to find God is a dynamic of seeking yourself in God and seeking God in yourself. That it’s this kind of cycle or spiral of deep introspection into the things of God and into yourself. And the deeper you move into yourself, the closer you are to God; and the closer you are to God, the closer you are to yourself. I think that’s what Jesus is praying for in today’s Gospel when he prays for the Apostles and he says, ‘Father, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.’ Yes, that prayer is for the Apostles, but that prayer is also for us. Let us seek him in ourselves and seek ourselves in him.

Lavishly Rich

Carmelite homily for Wednesday (Easter VI), May 20, 2020 – Lectionary 293 (John 16:12-15)

In today’s Gospel Jesus says that , ‘the Spirit of Truth will take what is Jesus’ and give that to us.’ Giving us that richness, that greatness, to trust the Spirit to give us what Jesus has. This is why, I think, Saint Teresa of Avila can say, “How can we share our gifts lavishly if we do not understand that we are rich?” That’s the call of the Gospel. The Spirit will take is Jesus’ and give to us. But why? So we can give to others, to share lavishly, because we are rich.