Saint Teresa of Avila Archives - Page 2 of 7

They Think They’re the Christ!

Carmelite homily for Sunday, March 10, 2024 – Lectionary 32 (John 3:14-21) – Fourth Sunday of Lent

When I was joining the Carmelites I thought that I should learn a little bit more about the Order I’m joining. So I picked up the works of Teresa of Avila, a big name in the Carmelite Order. But soon I threw the book on the ground saying, “this woman thinks she is the Christ. I cannot believe they canonized her!” So then I went to the next big figure in the Carmelites, Saint John of the Cross. I start reading him. And I throw the book on the ground. I cannot believe that this man thinks he is the Christ. I cannot believe they canonized him. But they’re on to something. In today’s gospel, Nicodemus comes to Jesus quietly and at night, to learn from him. And we get that famous line, John 3:16, “God so loved the world that he sent us his only Son, not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him.” We kind of think it is a Get Out of Jail card. You just play “I have faith in Jesus and I’m home free.” No, I think God has an agenda besides getting out of jail free with Jesus. God’s agenda is to turn us into Jesus. To turn us into the Christ. Teresa of Avila is right. John of the Cross is right. We have this famous quotation of Teresa of Avila – you’ve heard it before – Christ has no body now on earth but yours. I think that’s what she’s trying to convey. That’s what Jesus is trying to convey to Nicodemus. “Christ has no body now on earth but yours. No hands, no feet on earth but yours. Yours are they eyes with which he looks compassion on this world. Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good. Yours are the hands with which he blesses all the world. Yours are the hands, yours are the feet, yours are the eyes, you are his body. Christ has no body now on earth but yours. No hands, no feet on earth but yours. Yours are the eyes with which he looks compassion on this world. Christ has no body now on earth but yours.” I think that’s the key here. That when our thoughts are like Jesus’, when our actions are like Jesus’, our compassion is like Jesus’, our love is like Jesus’, our forgiveness is like Jesus’, our actions and deeds are like Jesus’, the more they are, the more indistinguishable they are from Jesus, then we are the Christ. Christ is us on earth now today. Teresa is right. John is right. Jesus is right when talking to Nicodemus. That’s the call of life. That’s the call of the Father sending his Son. That’s the call of today’s gospel.

Seventy Times Seven

Carmelite homily for Tuesday, March 5, 2024 – Lectionary 238 (Matthew 18:21-35).

In today’s Gospel Simon asks a really good question, “How many times do I have to forgive my brother? As many as seven?” And Jesus answers, “Seventy times seven.” What’s going on here; first off, when the woman is anointing Jesus’ feet and the Pharisee says, “Uh, if he knew what kind of woman this is he wouldn’t let this happen.” And so Jesus lets the Pharisee have it, but then he closes with, “Besides, she is forgiven much for she loves much.” I think there’s a tie, there’s an intrinsic tie between love and forgiveness. So when Simon is asking this question about his brother, and his brother happens to be Andrew by the way, is there love lost there, is there love missing? As Saint Teresa of Avila says, “If we fail in love of our neighbor, we are lost…beg our Lord to give us this perfect love of neighbor.” That’s really what’s at stake here, not forgiveness but love of neighbor.

Our Father – Backwards

Carmelite Homily for Tuesday of the First Week of Lent, February 20, 2024 – Lectionary 225 (Matthew 6:7-15).

A few years ago my spiritual director gave me a task: to say the “Our Father” backwards. Not word by word backwards, that would be pointless, but phrase by phrase backwards, so that the meaning of those phrases can take on new life. Because we can whip through the “Our Father” in seven seconds, and none of those phrases have any meaning at that speed. Today in the Gospel Jesus gives us the “Our Father” – Matthew’s Gospel. And there is such value in here. For example, Saint Teresa of Avila, in her book, The Way of Perfection, says that just in those two words. She says, “In two words, Our Father, you fill our hands completely.” And she riffs for chapters on just those two words, Our Father. Tying it to the Prodigal Son; tying it be being brothers and sisters, tying it to that the son is always forgiven, tying it to if that’s our father what other titles or what other nobility do we need? She goes on and on in those two words. So that’s my task for you today: try to say the “Our Father” phrase by phrase backwards. Let me try it. Amen. Lead my not into evil. Deliver from temptation. As I forgive those who trespass against me, forgive me my trespasses. Give me my daily bread. Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done. Or – thy will be done, thy kingdom come. We’re doing this backwards. Our Father in heaven. Our Father. Amen.

Or Everything is Doomed

Carmelite homily for Ash Wednesday, February 14, 2024 – Lectionary 219 (Matthew 6:1-6,16-18)

Humility doesn’t mean being smarmy and allow people to walk all over you or to treat you like a doormat. No! Humility means not being controlled by your ego. That’s what we see in today’s Gospel. When you pray, don’t pray in front of everybody so everyone says, ‘look how holy she is.’ Or when you give gifts or donations don’t blow a trumpet or call attention to it so everyone says, ‘look how, how generous he is.’ Or when you’re fasting don’t look all beaten up so everyone can say, ‘look how god-focused she is.’ No, that’s all ego. The idea is to not let ego control this, but to let love control this, God control this, the other control this, your heart control this. This is the call for Ash Wednesday. Saint Teresa of Avila writes, “If there is no progress in humility, everything is going to be doomed.” Let’s make that the focus for this Lent – progress in humility. Which means simply, don’t be controlled by your ego, be controlled by love.

Loves Me More

Carmelite Homily for Thursday of the Fifth Week in Ordinary Time, February 8, 2024 – Lectionary 332 (Mark 7:24-30)

There was a young man; life on the streets; no job. A few parishioners decided to help him. They found him a low-income apartment. They found him a job. And he ruined it all. He didn’t show up for work; and he had people living with him and the landlord threw him out. And he said, “Everyone is right; they said that I would never amount to anything.” I said, “And you’re telling me that everybody is making you into this? What does God have to say? And what do you have to say?” I think that’s what is going on in today’s gospel. The Syrophoenician woman comes to Jesus and asks for healing for her daughter and he says, “I do not give food intended for the children to the dogs.” I think that he’s trying to check out what she has bought into. Because everybody called Syrophoenicians ‘dogs.’ They weren’t worth it. And she’s a woman besides, in a male-dominated culture. But he’s treating her like an equal. He’s trying to lift her up. Find out what she’s bought into – what fallacies or what stupidities she’s bought into. He is treating not that way, but like an equal. I think Saint Teresa of Avila says this nicely when she says, “O love, that loves me more than I can love myself, or even understand.” I think that’s what’s going on with this Syrophoenician woman – great love! And that’s what’s going on with Teresa of Avila – great love! And that’s what’s going on with us – great love! So no matter what we think about ourselves, Jesus loves us greatly. Let us respond to that.

Journeying Too

Carmelite Homily for Thursday of the Fourth Week in Ordinary Time, February 1, 2024 – Lectionary 326 (Mark 6:7-13)

In today’s Gospel the disciples are being sent out two by two to do the work of Jesus – to teach, and to heal, and to exorcise as part of the Good News. This is the external mission. They are not aware and we’re not often aware that there is an internal component, almost like a parallel agenda. That this work will change them, deepen them, wizen them, mature them, make them more and more (and make us more and more) like Christ. Saint Teresa of Avila I think knows this when she says, “The feeling remains that God is on the journey too.” Everything is God’s agenda; yes, to do the external work; but, yes, to do the internal change. This is the work of Jesus; this is the work of God. “The feeling remains that God is on the journey too.”

Crazy Busy

Carmelite Homily for Tuesday of the Fourth Week in Ordinary Time, January 30, 2024 – Lectionary 324 (Mark 5:21-43)

One time I was talking with a vocation prospect on the phone who wanted to meet with me so I gave him my schedule. He says, “you’re not busy; you’re crazy busy.” We’ve heard that phrase before – crazy busy. In today’s Gospel Jesus is crazy busy. He’s going to preach to the disciples, the official comes, “can heal my daughter who is home sick,” he goes to follow him, but the woman is very sick says, “if I but touch his cloak I’ll be cured,” he wants to know who did that, the official’s servants come, “your daughter has died,” he goes anyway, there’s this cacophony of ailing, he says, “but she is sleeping,” and they all laugh at him – crazy busy. We can be crazy busy. Jesus stays focused. He’s wearing the Tsit-Tsit, that’s a tassel that reminds a Jewish man to pray and that’s what the woman who is trying to touch – his center of prayer. And then he does heal the daughter. He remains people-centered and God-centered. That’s the call of today’s Gospel. Saint Teresa of Avila says, “What a pity it was to have left you, my Lord, under the pretext of serving you.” Ahh, that could be us. What a pity it is when we have left our families, left our loved ones, under the pretext of work. ‘Dear Abby’ says, “I never met anyone on their death bed who said, ‘I should’ve spent more time at the office.’” Let us remember to be centered on loved ones, centered on prayer, centered on God. So we never say, “What a pity it was to have left you, my Lord, under the pretext of serving you.”

Receiving the Hundredfold

Carmelite Homily for Thursday of 3rd Week of Ordinary Time, January 26 2024 – Lectionary 321

In today’s Gospel we have these parables that I call “Gradualism.” That grain growing slowly, and no one knows how it happens, and harvest comes, and no one knows. It is all gradual. And these are all parables of the spiritual life. Saint Teresa of Avila says “Never cease to believe that even in this life God grants the hundredfold.” But we want the hundredfold now. But I think it is a gradualism, of maturing, and growing, and being inspired, and being ever more wise, ever more loving, ever more like Jesus. That is the call of today’s Gospel of these parables. Yes, the hundredfold, but it is a hundredfold slowly, not a hundredfold in a snap.

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.

Pay a Compliment

Carmelite homily for Monday (Week 14), July 6, 2020 – Lectionary 383 (Matthew 9:18-26)

There’s a quotation from Saint Teresa of Avila that I’ve relied on when the going gets rough. She writes, “When you ask for something difficult you pay God a compliment.” I think that’s what describes what’s going on in today’s Gospel. There’s a lot going on. This man comes to say that his daughter has died, ‘Jesus, can you lay your hands on her and she will live?’ That’s a difficult one. And a woman with twelve years with a hemorrhage asks for healing. That’s a difficult one. Everything in today’s Gospel is difficult. And Jesus does them, showing that with God’s help and God’s grace these things can be done. Now what about the opposite though? I’ll extend Saint Teresa’s thought a little bit. What if God asks you or asks me for something difficult? Do we think ‘this is a burden’ or ‘this is a tragedy’ or ‘this is awful’ or can we say ‘thank you, God, for paying me that compliment’?