Carmelite homily for Tuesday (Week 13), June 30, 2020 – Lectionary 378 (Matthew 8:23-27)
Since today’s scripture passage is the same as for February 1 this is a repeat of that homily.
In the Gospel today we have the apostles in a boat with Jesus. A storm comes up; Jesus is sleeping. They wake him up and say, “don’t you care that we’re going to die?!” These storms do come up in our lives. Saint Therese of Lisieux writes, “I knew Jesus was there, sleeping in my boat but the night was so black it was impossible to see him.” I think the invitation here is that no matter how intense the storm is or how black the night is, know that Jesus is there. And relax, be confident, have faith – the invitation today.
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.
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.
Carmelite homily for Friday (Week 12), June 26, 2020 – Lectionary 375 (Matthew 8:1-4)
In the Second Book of Kings we have Elisha – he’s the prophet living on Mount Carmel, successor of the Prophet Elijah – and Naaman, a Syrian commander, comes to be cured of leprosy. And so Elisha says, ‘Go wash yourself in the Jordan River.’ And Naaman is all upset, ‘I could’ve done this at home; I expected to do something big.’ But his servants so, ‘no, do it’ and he’s cured of his leprosy. Something small. And in today’s Gospel a leper comes to Jesus and says, ‘if you want to you can heal me.’ And Jesus says, ‘I do want it; stretch out your hand.’ And the guy does and he’s healed. It’s a small thing. It’s a big thing – leprosy – but the cures are small: just do what you’re told. John of the Cross writes, “What does it profit to give God one thing if he asks you for another. Consider what God wants and do it.” I think that’s the lesson of today’s Gospel: not to to the big thing, or the small thing, or your own thing. Consider what God wants you to do and do that. You’ll be cured.
Carmelite homily for Thursday (Week 12), June 25, 2020 – Lectionary 374 (Matthew 7:21-29)
In today’s Gospel Jesus uses the metaphor of building a house. And to listen to his word is like to build a secure, strong house, and to not listen to his word is to build a flimsy house built on sand which will get washed away. But we’re Carmelites! We’re mendicants which means wandering friars. We’re homeless! That’s our call. Not to build a strong house but to be homeless. Even Mount Carmel, our first foundation, is in ruins. Blessed Titus Brandsma writes, “Carmel is the mountain of flowers and with full hands the children of Carmel have strewn these flowers over all the earth.” That’s how we live in Christ; that’s how we follow the word. We wander everywhere over the earth saying, ‘would you like a flower?’
Carmelite homily for Wednesday, June 24, 2020 – Lectionary 371 (Luke 1:57-66) – the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist
I was a teacher at one of our high schools and I was asked to be a chaperone on the student trip to Europe. After the trip was over I stayed in Europe and went to visit Straubing in Germany, which was the founding house of the United States Carmelites, to spend the rest of the summer there. And when I arrived it was this day – the Nativity of John the Baptist. And I walked into the church expecting it to be empty and it was packed with people, and the choir was singing, and there was incense, and it was sheer beauty. And that’s always been my understanding since that that’s what John the Baptist does. He’s a precursor of the Lord; he’s the announcer of the Lord; he’s the one who says, ‘Behold the Lamb of God.’ He points out beauty. Carmel, as you know, means ‘Garden of God.’ It is a beautiful garden. That’s always been my understanding of John the Baptist. He brings us into, points at, shows us beauty. Let’s live in beauty this day.
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.”
Carmelite homily for Monday (Week 12), June 22, 2020 – Lectionary 371 (Matthew 7:1-5)
In today’s Gospel Jesus warns us not to judge others and the measure we measure out will be measured back to us. And he gives us the good example of why look at the speck in your brother’s eye and miss the plank in your own. But what’s the point? I think it’s to make life rich and rewarding instead of picking at each other and bringing each other down, building each other up. Saint Therese of Lisieux, who lived in a difficult Carmel, says, “A kind word or an amiable smile is often enough to make a sad soul bloom.” That’s our purpose; that’s our mission – to make a sad soul bloom. Instead of cutting them down or trampling them, make the sad soul – make all souls – bloom. That’s our vision; that’s our duty; that’s our mission.
a commentary by Gregory Houck, O.Carm. – Friday, June 5, 2020
We are living in racially-charged times and race has become a ‘front burner’ issue with protests and even rioting throughout the United States in response to the killing of an African-American, George Floyd, by a policeman in Minneapolis; this on the heels of other recent racially-charged events in New York, Georgia and Kentucky. What is the Carmelite response?
First, some history. Spain of the 1500s, after driving out the Moors (Muslims) and the Jews from the land, put in Purity of Blood laws throughout the Spanish empire. Not only did a person had to be a natural-born white European to
become a priest,
become a nun,
be a member of the aristocracy,
teach in a university,
to hold any government position,
but that person had to also show that his/her parents and grandparents also had ‘pure blood.’ This prevented anyone of Jewish, Muslim, or native American ancestry from having any kind of employment, any kind of power or even a family anywhere in Spanish lands.
Yes, those were racially-charged times. In the middle of that Saint Teresa of Avila founded her first reformed Carmelite convent in 1568. She told the sisters that they would not follow the Purity of Blood laws when admitting new members to the Order. Some of those sisters, and much of Spain, were not happy with Teresa. Some accused her of being a lawbreaker or a free-thinker; and some plotted to have her arrested and locked up. She did not flinch – even when the Spanish Inquisition began looking into her policies. This is the Carmelite response – to support any oppressed minority and work against oppression but also to empower and include them fully.
This inclusive policy did not begin with Saint Teresa though. On Mount Carmel in the 1200s the first Carmelites were formed from a mishmash of nationalities and cultures and, yes, races; pushed together onto Mount Carmel by war. In those racially-charged times, those first Carmelites worked through all those issues and all those differences forming one Order and made it work. From its founding and throughout an 800-year history, this is the Carmelite way. Today, we too can work through this and make it work!
