Only in Silence

Carmelite homily for Lectionary 466 – Saturday, October 12, 2019

In today’s Gospel Jesus has the line, “Blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it.”  How can you hear the word of God, though?  Saint John of the Cross says, “God spoke only one Word, his Son, in eternal silence; and only in silence can that word be heard.”  So practice a little – just a little, a minute, two minutes – of silence.  Turn off the phone, turn off the TV, turn off the iPad, turn off the noise; just for two minutes.  See what you hear!

Greatest Commandment

Carmelite homily for Lectionary 461 – Monday, October 7, 2019

In today’s Gospel passage we have the well-known Greatest Commandment — love the Lord your God with all your strength, soul, mind and body, and love your neighbor as yourself. Saint John of the Cross puts these two halves together brilliantly. He says, “As love of neighbor grows so does love of God; and as love of God grows so does love of neighbor.” It’s a spiral; that the two halves of this Greatest Commandment work together to bring us to ever greater and greater heights of love.