Carmelite homily for Friday, November 29, 2019 – Lectionary 507
One of Teresa of Avila’s best-known images is that of water. She writes, “It seems the garden can be watered in four ways; you may draw water from a well, or by means of a water wheel, or it may flow from a river or stream, or the water may be provided by a great deal of rain.” What she is talking about is prayer; and the love and the life that comes from prayer. You notice that each of those is easier and easier. You can haul water from the well. Or easier yet, from a water wheel. Or easier yet, irrigation from a river. Or easiest of all, rain. The more we pray, the more we live, the more we love, the more our garden grows. So Jesus talks about the fig in springtime when it’s just opening. But I think the goal is not to just recognize when it’s opening, but to bring it to full bloom and to full harvest, in his love and in his life.