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Gratitude of Heart

Carmelite homily for Lectionary 144 – Sunday, October 13, 2019

In her autobiography, Story of a Soul, Saint Therese talks about prayer.  She writes, “For me, prayer is an aspiration of the heart, an upward glance toward heaven; with gratitude and love in times of trial and of joy.”  Notice that there are no words to this description of prayer of hers.  In today’s Gospel, we have the lepers coming to Jesus but we have no words from them.  I think oftentimes prayer and gratitude and love aren’t words – they are just heart.  Let us be filled with heart today.  

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11th Hour

Carmelite homily for Lectionary 464 – Thursday, October 10, 2019

Blessed Titus Brandsma was a Dutch Carmelite, arrested by the Nazis and slated to be executed at Dachau. When the nurse came in to give him his lethal injection, he said, “let us pray together” and handed her his rosary.  She said, “I can’t pray.”  He said, “Just do the line, ‘pray for us sinners.’”  That was the last execution she did.  She walked out of the concentration camp never to do that again and pursued instead a life of holiness.  In today’s Gospel, it’s like the 11th hour and the guy is asking for loaves.  It’s actually never the 11th hour.  

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Our Father

Carmelite homily for Lectionary 463 – Wednesday, October 9, 2019

Today the Gospel passage is the “Our Father.”  Saint Teresa of Avila notes that there are seven petitions – you know, like “thy kingdom come” or “give us our bread” or “help us to forgive” – seven petitions to the Our Father.  And she says, it is better to pray one petition mindfully than to pray the Our Father mindlessly.  This comes from The Way of Perfection.  So today, pray one petition of the Our Father instead of the whole Our Father.