Carmelites Archives - Father Greg

More Awarenesses

A homily for the 25th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Back when I was in the seminary, the seminary had a big renovation and everything was put in storage. Pictures, paintings, statues, furniture. Lamps. Everything. When it was done, the prior asked me if I could put all that stuff back. So I’m walking around, oh the cross would look good here at the painting would look good here, the statue would look good here, the lamp would look good there.

And I was kind of happy with my work. A bunch of Franciscans came to see the newly renovated building. Some the prior asked me to take them around. And I’m showing them all the work I had done. I put the crucifix here. I put the statue there. I put this painting here. I put this lamp there.

And the prior of that community interrupted to say. Did anybody work on this project but you? It’s sounded that bed. It was all about me and giving attention to me and all of every. That’s what ego does. Ego is about me, mine. I look at me, all eyes on me. Give me the attention. But it really is.

You don’t see much when you’re controlled by ego. Because all you’re looking at is yourself. And I think that’s my interpretation of today’s gospel when Jesus says, if you will put yourself first, which is ego, edo, ego, me, mine, mine. You’re not going to see much. You’re going to be the last because you miss so much, because your eyes are only on you.

If you put yourself last, which means put your ego down, step aside. You’ll see more. You’ll connect more you’ll relate more. You’ll have a broader awareness, broader perspective. When you put yourself last, you become more of the first. Teresa of Avila says, May the Lord be praised, who freed me from myself? I think what she’s saying is the same thing.

Freed from myself means freed from me. I, my, freed from my ego. Or at least it’s not as much controlling so that I can connect to you, to God, to nature, to life, to others. To be more aware. To be more connected. That’s what today’s gospel and Teresa of Avila are about.

Open for Filling

In the baptismal right after the baby or the adult is baptized, then their ear is touched, their lips are touched, and the priest or the deacon says, Ephphatha, be opened. And what does that do? Why is that part of the baptismal right? This be opened? In today’s gospel, the deaf man is given this same right, the same word by Jesus, Ephphatha, be opened.

What does it do? And in the gospel his ears would be opened. His tongue would be opened. So he could talk. But I think in the baptismal right, it’s that our heart is open, our mind is open, our soul is open so that we can receive grace, we can receive love. We can receive the Holy Spirit. We can receive of God’s plenitude that the heart is open.

But what closes the heart? I think what closes the heart is me, my ego. You know, my stubbornness or my selfishness or my self-righteousness, all this stuff. But this is the way it’s supposed to be here. This is the way it should be, or this is the way I wanted. These are the things that occlude the heart. Close off the heart, block the heart.

And so I think this Ephphatha is for a lifetime of opening the heart more and more to receive everything from God. So that’s why in the baptismal right as water is poured, as oil is poured. This word is said, Ephphatha, to receive grace and goodness, just like water being poured over you, like oil being poured over you.

Saint Teresa of Avila says, let us never cease to believe that even in this life, God gives the hundred fold. It’s true. God gives the 100 fold. But we’re closing it off. We’re the ones blocking it. So I think the idea is, Ephphatha, be open so that as God gives the 100 fold, we can receive 100 fold. Ephphatha, be open.

God Save Us

A Homily for the 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

Gregory dies and he finds himself in the presence of the devil. Oops. And the devil says, do you want a tour? So Mary says, sure. They go up to a room and there’s screaming and torturing sounds and hollering. Gregory says, what did they do? And the devil says, well, these are Baptists who drink beer. They go to the next room for torturing sounds.

And what did they do? Oh, these are Jews who ate bacon. And they go to the next room. What did they do? And he says these are Catholics who ate meat on Friday. And then they go to the next room. What did they do? And the devil says, oh, these are Episcopalians who ate their main course with their salad fork.

I don’t mean to offend anybody with this joke, but it’s a kind of this is what’s going on in today’s gospel. The pointlessness of these rules. Unless these rules go somewhere. Mark gives us these, all these cleanliness rules about beds and cups and utensils and and Jesus says, but that’s not where cleanliness comes from, because these things have to go somewhere.

If they just stay, rules, but they stay the endpoint. If they stay what we focus on, that’s just empty piety. Saint Teresa of Avila says, God save us from empty piety because these things have to change our interior. These rules. Otherwise they’re just a joke. This comes from the Tao Te Ching, written by Lao Tzu, the founder of Daoism.

He says, what are your thoughts? For your thoughts become your words. What are your words for your words become your actions. What your actions for your actions become your habits. What your habits or your habits become your character. What your character for your character becomes your destiny. I think that’s what she’s saying. What Mark is saying in today’s gospel, it would.

Teresa of Avila is saying when she says, God save us from empty piety.

Rebind – Rejoin – Reconnect

Carmelite homily for the Fourth Sunday of Ordinary Time, January 28, 2024 – Lectionary 71 (Mark 1:21-28)

The Greek word for ball is “bollus.” It is where we get our word “ball” from. And if we take a ball and we divide it we have two balls – “di-bollus.” That’s where we get our word “diabolical” from: to divide something; to take a unity and make it two things. This is where we get our word “diabolical” and the shortened form is “devil.” This is the mission of the devil: to separate. And we see this in today’s gospel. Jesus comes into the synagogue. We’re at the beginning of Mark’s Gospel and this is the function of Jesus in Mark’s Gospel: to reconnect. So he goes into the synagogue and there’s a man with an unclean spirit and he drives out that devil. This man is divided; he has two beings in him. And whether we take it literally or metaphorically, this man is divided. And that’s what Jesus’ vision is, is to reconnect, to rejoin. This is the word “religion.” To rebind; that’s what religion means – to reconnect or to rebind. That’s Jesus’ mission throughout the Gospel. Whatever is separated, whether it is by superiority or judgment or sickness or the devil. Anything that separates, Jesus reconnects, recombines.

I think that is the mission of spirituality; that’s the journey of spirituality. In the Spiritual Canticle by Saint John of the Cross we see this culminating unity with God. This complete re-lig-ion with God. In the betrothal verses: “There he gave me his breast. There he taught me a sweet and living knowledge. There I gave myself to him, keeping nothing back. There I promised to be his bride.”

This beautiful marriage rite of two becoming one is how John of the Cross sees our spiritual journey – not only unity with each other, but unity with God. To rebind, re-lig-ion, rejoin. Not to divide, that’s the work of the devil, but to combine, to unify – the work of God.

You, You, Why Do You Persecute Me?

Carmelite Homily for the Feast of the Conversion of Saint Paul, January 25, 2024

Today we are celebrating the Feast of the Conversion of Saint Paul. It begins with these wonderful accounts from the Acts of the Apostles of Paul travelling to Damascus. Suddenly there is a light. Suddenly there is a voice, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” He falls to the ground; he’s blinded. This is all happening on the exterior plane but I think it’s more happening on the interior. Paul had bought into a system of domination, of elitism, of superiority, of judgment – very vertical. He is of an elite tribe, he’s well-trained, he is a Pharisee, he’s impeccable in practice of the Law – vertical. He dominates and he is persecuting those who follow Jesus, whose preaching is very horizontal: love of neighbor, bless those who persecute you, be brothers and sisters, Our Father. I think it all of a sudden makes sense to him. Jesus is right. He had to rethink his life – conversion! That’s the conversion of Saint Paul — rethinking his life. That is why Saint Teresa of Avila calls Saint Paul the greatest of the mystics. Because he had this great change of heart.

That’s maybe what is going to happen to us if we buy into any mis-teaching or misguided embrace of thought: domination or superiority, whether in the family or in politics or in the country or in the church or anywhere. Jesus’ message is so horizontal. And it may require a “You, you, why do you persecute me?” Whenever we are vertical Jesus will call us to live horizontally in his love.