Carmelite homily for Thursday (Week 12), June 25, 2020 – Lectionary 374 (Matthew 7:21-29)
In today’s Gospel Jesus uses the metaphor of building a house. And to listen to his word is like to build a secure, strong house, and to not listen to his word is to build a flimsy house built on sand which will get washed away. But we’re Carmelites! We’re mendicants which means wandering friars. We’re homeless! That’s our call. Not to build a strong house but to be homeless. Even Mount Carmel, our first foundation, is in ruins. Blessed Titus Brandsma writes, “Carmel is the mountain of flowers and with full hands the children of Carmel have strewn these flowers over all the earth.” That’s how we live in Christ; that’s how we follow the word. We wander everywhere over the earth saying, ‘would you like a flower?’
