Saint Teresa of Avila Archives

Publicly Acknowledged Spiritual Leaders

The parable of the 10 wise virgins and the 10 foolish virgins (Matthew 25:1-13) is more a tale of 20 foolish persons. This is a homily for the thirty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time (Cycle A).

When I was in college, Pope John Paul II was on a tour of the United States and was coming to Chicago. So a bunch of students rented a bus and came up to Chicago to greet the Pope and attend his outdoor mass in Grant Park. And it was a cool experience.

The bus parked on Lakeshore Drive and the pilgrims all walked up Lakeshore Drive, which was closed, to the park. And we stood around and stood around and stood around and stood around and stood around. The Pope was long delayed. And so people started to sit on the grass. And then others said, “Well, I have some food here,” because it was approaching lunchtime. The Pope was hours late. So people pulling out lunches and sharing their lunches. And it seemed like there was plenty of food to give everyone something.

Now, this is what I would expect of a Christian assembly where supplies are running low: “Let’s all pull our resources and share.” This is what’s not going on in today’s gospel. I think we have the 10 wise virgins, I’ll call them maidens, and the 10 foolish. I think they’re all foolish. We have 20 foolish because the 10 who brought the extra flasks aren’t sharing. What kind of bridesmaids are they? And then the foolish ones, of course, were unprepared. So we have everyone is acting substandardly in this parable.

What all it would take was maybe a little leadership. That’s what this parable calls for. Someone to take leadership. There are many different ways to solve this dilemma. You could solve it by saying, “Let’s all put all the oil together and only keep one lamp lit. When the bridegroom comes, we’ll share the oil. There’ll be time and then light all the lamps and everyone can go in.”

Or they could say, another solution would be, “Well, let’s just have one lamp for every other bridesmaid. We can do this. Who’s going to keep us out from not having enough lamps going?” That would be a solution.

Or another solution is “Everybody put out your lamps except for one and we’ll keep that lamp going. And when the bridegroom comes, we’ll all light our lamps.” There are many different solutions. Why isn’t anybody thinking of them? Because there’s no leaders among the 20 foolish bridesmaids or the maidens. And I think that’s the call here.

In the church today, especially, where the church could be in crisis, where the church can be polarized, where the church is in argument, we need wisdom. We need good leadership.

When I was a novice, we had classes in many different subjects. And there was a Maryknoll priest who gave us some classes and he would always say, “As soon as you become a novice, you are a publicly acknowledged spiritual leader.” And we all looked at each other. “Who, me? I’m just beginning.” But he would say, “No, as soon as you put on the habit, you are a publicly acknowledged spiritual leader.” And I hope we all grew into that.

That’s what these foolish maidens, foolish bridesmaids, they need to grow into leadership. They need to be acknowledged spiritual leaders. Saint Teresa of Avila says, “God accords great favor with anyone placed with good companions.” I would say, considering today’s parable, God accords great favor with anyone placed with good and wise leaders. God bless.

To Learn the Language of Heaven

The Beatitudes (Matthew 5:3-10) are the language of heaven. And we’re here to learn this language. This is a homily for the Solemnity of All Saints.

Yesterday, the prospective adopter of the last two kittens stopped by to visit with them. We had a bunch of cats here, trapped them, had them fixed, vaccinated, dewormed, etc., ready for adoption. And then two other abandoned cats—kittens—joined them. So these are the last two.

Well, she came into the room they were in, and they were sleeping in the sun. But as soon as they opened their eyes and saw her, they wanted to panic. They wanted—their eyes got big, and they wanted to jump and run away. But she kind of just soothingly said to me, “Talk to me.” And she’d look at them and close her eyes slowly and open them slowly, but continue talking to me.

And the cats calmed down, and their eyes started to close, and close some more. And she was talking, and look at them and close her eyes. And the way she held her body, and they closed their eyes and they fell back asleep. It was amazing. And then she went up to pet them. And I said, “How did you do that?” And she goes, “I speak their language.”

I think that is exactly what’s going on in today’s Gospel. We have this beginning of the Sermon of the Mount where Jesus says, “This is what his followers should be like. This is what they should do. This is what they should think.” And it begins with the Beatitudes. And this is the Gospel chosen for the Solemnity of All Saints.

And I say, this is the language saints speak. It may not be word language; it may be doing language. Like the adopter didn’t use any words, it was gestures of peacefulness and love and warmth. And the cats responded. And that’s what I think the Beatitudes are: peacefulness and humanity and warmth.

And so this is the language of heaven, and this is why I think we’re here, is to learn the language of heaven. To be poor in spirit means not to be controlled by stuff, to comfort the mourners, and to be humble, to be meek, not always putting myself first, to hunger and thirst for righteousness, for justice, for fairness.

That’s the language of heaven: to be merciful, to be purified or dedicated heart, to be peacemakers, and to be persecuted even for the sake of righteousness, standing up for the right. This is the language we’re here to learn. This is the language of the saints.

It’s like when you go to a foreign country, if you don’t speak the language, it’s going to be a lot harder. If we don’t speak the language of heaven, it’s going to be a lot harder. But it’s—if we can learn to be merciful. The world: “no, no mercy.” The world: “no peace.” The world: “always it’s me first.” The world: “no meekness, no humility.” The world: “look out for number one.” It’s not the language of saints.

So it’s like going to a foreign country and speaking the language. We fit right in. We move right in. We walk securely and peaceably. Are we worried about this? I don’t think so. Saint Teresa of Avila says—it’s a great line—“Do not let your sins cause you to despair, for God can make saints out of the greatest sinners.” All God is doing is teaching us how to speak the language of heaven. Happy All Saints Day!

All That Glimmers

A homily for the 23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle A, Matthew 1st 8:15-20

I asked Siri on my phone, “How many people are there on the planet?” And she said, “There are 8 billion 100 million people on the planet.” And I just smiled because I say, all those people and no two are compatible. It’s like God made us so there’s going to be friction, because I actually think it’s in the friction that we grow. We learn patience, we learn forgiveness, we learn generosity, we learn love.

In today’s Gospel, Matthew’s Gospel, we have: when there is friction, what do you do? You know, you go talk to the person — first step. If it doesn’t work, then you bring another person with you. If that doesn’t work, then you bring witnesses with you. If that doesn’t work, then you tell it to the whole church. What is Jesus — really, what is Matthew — telling us? It’s important to preserve the relationship. It is important. And so, at the end, if that doesn’t work, Jesus says in Matthew’s Gospel — really, Matthew says — treat them as you shun them, as you would a foreigner or a tax collector. But we know that’s what Jesus did to foreigners and what he did to tax collectors. He embraced them and brought them into his company. Even then, it says, preserve the relationship, because it’s in the relationship we grow.

This crossed my Facebook feed, and I think this fills in very well with what Jesus would say when he says, when somebody does you wrong, turn the other cheek, love them anyway, don’t answer fire for fire or wrong for wrong. This crossed my Facebook feed, and it’s this week, and it’s very, very good.

This ruined a good part of my afternoon. It did happen at the café, but I don’t tell Karen stories, so you’re not going to get that part. But here’s the thing that I want to focus on. After I got done today, I was sort of having a conversation with myself, being like, “Gosh, like, I can’t believe how much this is bothering me.” But then that reminded me of something — something that I live by. And that is to do my best to never be that person who ruins someone else’s day. To not be the stranger who was mean to someone walking down the street. To not give a judging look to someone wearing their new hat that they were already self-conscious about. To not be the thing that is keeping somebody up at night replaying a scenario that happened earlier in the day that they’re upset about. To instead be the glimmers.

I think this takes it one step further than today’s Gospel. Don’t be that person that starts it. Don’t be that person that causes the friction, that causes the tension. Don’t be that person. I think it fits very well with Jesus — all through the Gospels, the same. Saint Teresa of Ávila says the same. She takes it that one step further also. She writes, “Look for Christ our Lord in everyone, and you will then have respect and reverence for all.” So I think that’s the secret, and that’s the bottom line, and that’s the point of today’s Gospel and all the Gospels: the friction, the tension, is because we’re just seeing our point of view or our sensitivity, our ego. Don’t be that person. As the guy in the video said, be all that glimmers instead.

Give a Name; Get a Name

A Homily for the 21st Sunday in Ordinary Time (Matthew 16:13-20)

When you read the Carmelite mystical saints, they all have their individual name for Jesus, and it’s not just Jesus. For example, Saint Teresa of Avila calls him my friend, my friend Jesus. Friend is her term. Saint John of the Cross, the term he uses mostly is my beloved. My beloved Jesus, my beloved. Or Saint Therese of Lisieux, the little flower, always says, “My Jesus,” never Jesus, “My Jesus.” They’re terms of intimacy, they’re terms of relationship, how they understand Jesus.

In today’s gospel, Jesus asks the apostles, “Who do you say that I am? Who do they say that I am?” Some of them say, “Well, you’re John the Baptist, or you’re one of the prophets.” And Simon says, “You are the Christ.” And Jesus smiles. Because now that is Simon’s term for Jesus, the Christ, which means the Messiah or the anointed one. That’s Simon’s term for Jesus.

As we saw, Teresa has a different term, John of the Cross has a different term, Therese of Lisieux has a different term. What term do you have for Jesus? It’s based on your relationship with Jesus. What do you call Jesus?

Now, that’s one side of the coin. The other side is now, Jesus turns to Simon and says, and gives him a name, “You are now Peter, the rock, the foundation.” So, the naming goes both ways. We name Jesus, and Jesus names us. So, the uh caveat here maybe, what does Jesus see? What does he base his name for us on? It could be pretty, or it could be pretty awful. You are . . .

Bridesmaids, Please Sit Down!

A homily for the 14th Sunday in Ordinary Time

It was the Friday and Father Ron retired to the parish, said to me, can you do tonight’s rehearsal? I got a wedding tomorrow. Rehearsal tonight. I don’t have the energy for it. I said, sure, I’ll do it. Well, it turned out it was a little chaotic. Get them all seated for a 6:00 rehearsal and the doors of the church open, and they all jump up.

Bridesmaids, bride and groom to greet. Uncle Fred let’s say. Because they had invited everybody to the rehearsal. I get them seated again. I get on the microphone. Please sit down. They ignored me, I had to go back there, bring them back. Sit them about to start the rehearsal a second time. The doors of the church open aunt Mabel, and they all go running back. There to greet and, please sit down. Bridesmaids sit down. They ignored me, I had to go back there, bring them to the front, about to start the rehearsal. It happens a third time and I’m getting married. And I said I can’t get married because all theyll remember is the Priest got mad. So I’m thinking, what can I do? And I said, I have to reprogram myself.

What I think I did was I, allocated an hour and a half for the rehearsal. That’s what it normally takes. I’m going to give these people to 10 p.m., and if they’re still not rehearsing, then I’ll get mad because that’s four hours instead of an hour and a half. Well, we got the rehearsal done and before 10 p.m., but I realized then it’s not out there that anxiety comes from. It’s not out there that anger, it’s in here or it’s in here. And by Reprograming, everything worked up because as soon as I said till 10 p.m., peace fell upon me, calm washed over me. Today in the gospel, Jesus sent out the 72 and he tells them, when you enter some place, say, peace upon this household. He’s sending them out on a peace mission, but he’s telling them how to do this.

Don’t take all this extra stuff you’re going to worry about. Don’t take food. Don’t take knapsack. Don’t take staff. Don’t take extra sandals. Just go. Don’t worry about that stuff. And then if they’re not peaceable people, they’re just leave. Don’t worry about them. He’s teaching them how to be at peace themselves. So that they then can bestow peace upon these households in this peace mission of today’s gospel.

St. Teresa of Avila says, and it’s her her grasp of peace, “for a soul surrendered into God’s hands doesn’t care whether they say good or evil about it”. That’s the key of today’s gospel. Surrender yourself. Surrender all that stuff you worry about. Surrender what your people are going to say about you, or think about you or laugh at you. Surrender that all into God’s hands and then you won’t care. You will be at peace. That’s the call of today’s gospel.

Your God-given Superpower

A homily for the second Sunday of Ordinary Time

When I was newly ordained, I lived with the pastor, Father Peter Byrth, great guy. I’ve talked about him before in these videos. He was an alcoholic, and he would tell you that I’m betraying his confidence and it was just tearing him apart and killing him. So eventually he started the 12 steps and walked those steps so successfully he became a speaker in great demand.

It was kind of cool because sometimes at dinner table he would bring like Hollywood people and Broadway people. I’m not going to mention their names. Keep their confidence. And it was always the coolest. He was a huge, popular and powerful speaker. And the thing that was eating him up the most. The thing that was killing him now has become his superpower.

And I think that’s what’s going on in today’s gospel. We have the wedding feast at Cana. Jesus’ first miracle. And they’ve run out of wine. So he tells them the jugs by the door for ceremonial washing. Take those. What were those used for? Those were used for foot washing. That’s the water they’re using. It’s like going to the water in your toilet tank. Take that or use that water. It’s water that they would never use. Surely there were springs. Surely there was well water. Why would he use that water? To show that that’s what he does. He transforms even the things we’re running from to glory. And we see that again and again in Saint Paul. That in your weakness is my strength, or in your weakness is my glory.

Jesus’s first miracle. Turning water into wine. Turning like toilet water into wine. Now we jump to the end of John’s gospel. Jesus’s last miracle. The gift of his body and blood. The last supper. And it begins with back at those jokes he knows. Washing the disciples feet. Using that same water. And they’re trying to stop him. And so there’s some tie that that’s what our life should be.

Stop running from our weaknesses. Stop running from our sinfulness. Stop running. Period. And face yourself and embrace yourself. And God will use these things to become our superpower. He takes bread and wine, simple things, and transforms them now into this super gift. His body and blood. This is the call of John’s Gospel is to take our weakness, take our problems, take the things we don’t want to admit to ourselves, and let God turn those into our superpower to heal the world.

A homily for the Baptism of the Lord

When I do baptisms for parents of babies to be baptized, they say, I’m going to ask four questions. And so I say, question number one. What is baptism? After all, you’re requesting it. And if they’ve been to R.E. or to Catholic school, one of them will say it’s washing away sin, washing away original sin. So very good.

We get that from Paul’s letter to the Romans. And he Paul says, you know, when you wash up in the morning, you’re washing away dirt. So he looks at that and says, you know, baptism is probably like that is washing away dirt. So it’s going to be a washing away sin. Second question what is baptism? I say, don’t give me the same answer.

And it’s more. And so I give him the hint. What was the first time anyone saw you? Like naked and all wet. In his day they baptized naked. And so the. Well, that was when I was born. Exactly. Paul looks at baptism, says, you know, it must be like a rebirth, a second birth. The first time was into human family.

Second time into God’s family. Very good answer. Then third question. What is baptism? And then they’re looking at me. Now I say, in church we always have these little holy water fonts by the door, because in the ancient world you always had to wash up a bit before you entered. And so it’s the entrance into a building, because you always had a wash in the ancient world.

So Paul looks at that, says, you know, it must be like entering a building. It’s entering the church. And so this is the fourth question. What is baptism? This one really gets some. But again, it’s Paul to the Romans. And he he looked at that and said, you to when they’re plunged into the water and in his day they baptized by submersion, it’s like being put into the grave, and the water represents the dirt going over your head.

But then you come back out. It’s like resurrection. And so he said, baptism is death and resurrection. So what is it? Is it washing away sin? Is it being born into God’s family? Is it entering a building? Entering the church? Is it death and resurrection? It’s all of them. And probably a lot more. And so when we’re celebrating the baptism of Jesus, or, you know, even in his day, they’re saying, why is he being baptized?

Because it is so rich and so wonderful and so deep and so profound. I think our call is to live all this. We enter the church to make the church, you know, our home. We are dead to sin, alive for Christ. We are washed. Sin is washed away. Let’s try to stay sinless. And, it is a new birth.

We’re born again. Every day is a new day. So I think that’s what we celebrate when we celebrate baptism. And when we celebrate the baptism of Jesus.

Storm Warning

A homily for the 33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

In the deanery I belonged to a young priest was being assigned to a new parish, so I said I’d help him move, and by the time I got there all his boxes were packed. So we drove it to the new place. I’m helping them unpack and as im opening a box filled with black shirts, next box black shirt, next box, black shirts, next box black shirts, black pants on and on.

And finally I said, “wheres your like day off clothes?”. And he says, well I never take a day off? The parishioners loved him because all he did was work. He was there for them. They called in the middle of the night or hospital middle of the night, or anointing in the middle. He was there, always there. They just thought he was the greatest priest ever.

And they were shocked when he had a nervous breakdown. And how could the best priest ever have a nervous breakdown? In my own analysis, he was hiding behind priesthood. You know, he wasn’t. He wasn’t revealing himself. He was just living the role. He wasn’t true. He was safe. In today’s gospel, Jesus talks about when the Son of Man comes, the sun will be darker, the moon will be darkened.

Stars will fall. I think that’s all a metaphor for the inside that is in turmoil. That the Son of Man doesn’t come to cause turmoil. He’s causing it. He wants to soothe turmoil, to make us like deep, rich, living, abundant human beings. But that takes a lot of change. And I think that young priest was hiding because people want more than just to be admired.

They want friends. They want relationships. We want intimacy. We just do. But that takes risk. And it’s easier just to hide. Hide behind a role or hide behind a bottle or hide behind anything. And the Son of Man is going to push us forward. Teresa of Avila likens spirituality, which I think spiritually is our spirit coming fully alive.

She says in her great magnum opus, The Interior of Castle, “we consider our soul to be like a castle made entirely out of diamond, a Paradise where the Lord finds his delight”. But we have to examine the castle, move into that castle, study that castle, move deeper and deeper into the castle to find the Lord and to find ourselves.

That castle is me. The castle is you. That’s the call. Is to. To know yourself. To learn ourselves. Because the Son of Man comes not to cause turmoil, but to bring life and life in abundance. That young priest came out of his nervous breakdown, taking a day off. All of a sudden having friends instead of just admirers. I think being a much deeper, richer person.

That’s the call of today’s gospel. Not for storms. But storms that lead to calm richness, fullness, abundance.

With Greatness Done

A homily for the 32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time with the Gospel passage about the Widow’s Mite – Mark 12:38-44

Of all the cards I received at my ordination, I’ve kept a card given to me by my nephew Michael who was six years old at the time. Not because it was the fanciest card of the hundreds of cards received; rather, it was the most loving.

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.