Father Greg

Four Waters

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.

Gratitude

Carmelite homily for Thursday, November 28, 2019 | Thanksgiving Day | Lectionary 945

Note: This post is a rerun from November 13th, since the Gospel passage, Luke 17:11-19, is the same passage for today.

In today’s Gospel we have the well-known story of the ten lepers who come to Jesus for healing. And he does it! But only one returns. And he asks, “Where are the other nine?” Well, the other nine may say, “I didn’t ask for leprosy, why should I say thanks? I didn’t do this to myself.” Therese reminds us, though, “Prayer is a cry of gratitude and love in the midst of trial as well as in joy.” That may be hard to remember, hard to implement, hard to do – just like the nine who wandered away. But it is true, “Prayer is a cry of gratitude and love in the midst of trial as well as in joy.” Let’s try to remember that.

Our Actions, Our Love

Carmelite homily for Wednesday, November 27, 2019 – Lectionary 505

In today’s Gospel Jesus warns us that they will haul us before kings and governors and into prisons, but not to prepare a defense beforehand for he will give us a wisdom with which to speak. I think that wisdom is our actions. That’s what Saint Elizabeth of the Trinity says, “By our actions we tell him of our love.” That is our defense – our actions, our love. “By our actions we tell him of our love.”

All in God’s Hands

Carmelite homily for Tuesday, November 26, 2019 – Lectionary 504

Note: This post is a rerun from Sunday, November 17th, since the Gospel passage, Luke 21:5-11, is the same passage for today.

In today’s Gospel we some super-heavy-duty and scary end of the world scenarios where nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom and there’ll be earthquakes and plagues and omens in the sky and people will arrest you and haul you before judges. And Jesus says “do not be terrified.” I think John of the Cross says the same thing. He says, “If the whole world should crumble and come to an end and all things go wrong, endure all with tranquility and with peaceful equanimity.” Why? Because it’s all in God’s hands. No matter what happens – today, in your life, in the world, at the end of the world – endure all with tranquility and peaceful equanimity. Great advice.

God is Pleased

Carmelite homily for Lectionary 503 | Monday, November 25, 2019

Webster’s Dictionary defines ‘mite’ as any small thing – m i t e – mite. Oftentimes a little bug is called a mite, any small thing. So today’s story, from Luke’s Gospel, is called ‘The Widow’s Mite.’ It represents the two copper coins she throws into the Temple Treasury. And Jesus praises her for this mite, this tiny, little offering. I think John of the Cross summarizes this very well when he writes, “God is more pleased by one work however small done secretly, than a thousand done with the desire that people know of them.” That’s why Jesus praises this widow. That’s why Jesus praises us – humility and not self-aggrandizement, but God-aggrandizement, other-aggrandizement, focus on God, focus on other. That’s the call of this very simple Gospel.

How To Be King

Carmelite homily for Lectionary 162 | Christ the King | Sunday, November 24, 2019

In the Gospel today we have a very interesting image of Jesus as Christ the King – Jesus suffering on the Cross. Yes, Pilate does put the sign ‘The King of the Jews’ over his head, but Jesus suffering on the Cross is Kingship. Therese – Therese of Lisieux – says, “You will not arrive at what you desire by your own path or even by high contemplation but only by a great humility and surrender of the heart.” That’s what we see with Jesus on the Cross: great humility, great surrender, great peace. This is Kingship in the Church. This is the call of today’s feast.

Doing Good on Earth

Carmelite homily for Lectionary 502 | Saturday, November 23, 2019

This is a Re-Post from Sunday, November 10, 2019, because today’s Gospel, Luke 20:27-40, is the same passage proclaimed that Sunday.

One of the best known lines of Saint Therese of Lisieux is “I will spend my heaven doing good on earth.” This could be the problem in today’s Gospel when the Sadducees come to Jesus with this hypothetical case of a woman who marries seven successive husbands. And in the end, whose wife with she be? And Jesus says it’s not like that at all. I think Therese knows that too. Heaven is not about being – whose wife will she be – it’s about doing. In fact, life is about doing, not about being. I oftentimes tell couples about to be married, “it’s not enough be married, you’ve got to do married.” And I say that to our seminarians, “it’s not enough to be a priest, you’ve got to do priest.” And I think that’s the key everywhere because that’s how God acts. God is not a being; God is a doing – redeeming us, saving us, guiding us, loving us. That’s the key that, I think, Therese captured. And that’s the Little Way. Do – it’s not enough to be – do good. “I will spend my heaven doing good on earth.” And let us do our earth doing good on earth.

To Go To God

Carmelite homily for Lectionary 501 | Friday, November 22, 2019

This is a Re-Post from Saturday, November 9, 2019, because the Gospel that day was also the ‘Cleansing of the Temple.’

In today’s Gospel we have the ‘Cleansing of the Temple’ where Jesus overturned the money tables, and drove out the money changers and the animal handlers – to purify the Temple. I think Jesus does the same thing to this Temple, to our hearts, and our souls. And why? John of the Cross says, “The soul must empty itself of all that is not God in order to go to God.” With that in mind, let us ask Jesus to do to this Temple what he did to that Temple on that day.

Holding Up the Mirror

Carmelite homily for Lectionary 500 | Presentation of Mary | Thursday, November 21, 2019

Today we celebrate the feast of the Presentation of Mary in the Temple. Blessed Titus Brandsma says, “Mary is the mirror in which we should ever watch ourselves; the mother whom her children ought to resemble more and more.” When we look at Mary we see woman of faith, woman of trust, woman of prayer, woman of nurturing, woman of loyalty, woman of life. And when we hold that to ourselves; when that’s our mirror where we see ourselves, I think, when the Lord comes, unlike in today’s Gospel when there’s a lament over Jerusalem, the Lord will not lament us because we will resemble his mother. Mary is the mirror in which we ought to watch ourselves; the mother whom her children ought to resemble more and more. Let us hold up that mirror.

God Gives the Hundredfold

Carmelite homily for Lectionary 499 | Wednesday, November 20, 2019

In today’s Gospel we have the retelling of the coin parable. This is in Luke’s Gospel where each servant is given one coin and when the master returns they present the one coin. And the first says, “I’ve earned ten,” and the second says, “I’ve earned five,” and the third says, “I’ve buried it and put it in a handkerchief.” It doesn’t matter what coins you get because, I think Saint Teresa of Avila tells us, “Never cease to believe that even in this life God gives the hundredfold.” If we work with God, no matter what coins we get – one or ten – even in this life God gives the hundredfold.