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.
