Faith-Fidelity-St Teresa of Jesus

HOMILY WEEK 28 02 – Year I

Genuine Religion – an Inner Healing Journey of Faith:

Memorial of St. Teresa of Jesus (Avila)

(Rm 1:16-25; Ps 19; Lk 11:37-41)

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One of the best compliments I have ever received came from the late Verna Vandale, former director of Guadalupe House in Saskatoon. She once shared with me how, although Indigenous, she grew up in Southern Saskatchewan “on the white side” without her language or culture, so people sometimes called her an “apple.” She told me I was just the opposite – white on the outside, but red on the inside!

Both the readings today and the memorial we celebrate invite us into a genuine life of faith based on inner integrity rather than external observances.

I would think all of us have, at one time or another, broken some social rule, expectation or taboo, to our shame and embarrassment. In today’s gospel, Luke has Jesus actually intentionally violating the stringent Jewish religious custom of washing hands up to the elbow before eating, to teach the Pharisees an important lesson – they were relying way too much on these external rules, and ignoring the much more important requirement of genuine faith – inner integrity based on self-awareness and healing of one’s negative attitudes.

During a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, I witnessed some of that externalism that bothered Jesus so much: a man very publicly wrapping a leather thong around his arm in an airport to pray; a family bringing their own kosher food onto an airplane to eat, and a rabbi struggling to place an amulet over a man’s cap at the Western Wall. All these are good practices in themselves, but when they supplant the more difficult task of faith – naming our inner defects of character like greed, false pride and stubborn self-will, we run the risk of falling into that externalism Jesus found all too prevalent.

As the Messiah, Jesus had a two-fold mission – to redeem and to sanctify; to forgive us and to heal us. Genuine faith and religion, then, does not consist of observing external rules, but rather, admitting our sins and coming to Jesus for his forgiveness, and then going deeper – becoming aware of our sinfulness (that which makes us sin – our painful emotions and negative attitudes) and coming to Jesus for healing of those defects of character. Then we can be free to express our inner freedom, integrity and holiness through external actions that will be more credible.

This is what the Jewish religious leaders lacked, which is why Jesus called them hypocrites and liars. We need to examine ourselves today as well – can we see our inner shadow? and as the saying goes, “Name it, claim it, don’t blame it, tame it and we can then aim it” or help others, having experienced forgiveness and healing (salvation) ourselves first.

This can be a very humbling experience. I can think back over my whole life of ministry, and name five persons (three religious sisters and two brother Oblate priests) whom I have offended, upset and hurt by my deeply-rooted tendency to control, the last incident being less than two months ago. True, I have improved a lot, but that journey towards inner healing and integrity takes time, prayer and some diligent effort.

Ron Rolheiser offers some help here, based on St. John of the Cross. Rather than focus on our defects of character and trying to eliminate them, it is more effective to focus on the opposite virtues or gifts of the Holy Spirit, and try to “grow them.” That makes sense, as Jesus wants to give us the Holy Spirit, and that Spirit, rather than yank out our defects, will slowly but surely fill us with such security in being loved by God they will be pushed out without our even noticing (often, others will notice our growth before we do).

Today the Church honors St. Teresa of Jesus who had to deal with perhaps the opposite religious problem in her day, religious laxity. Teresa was born in Avila, Spain, on Mar 28, 1515. Of the many women who exercised leadership roles in the Church, Teresa must surely be considered among the greatest. When she entered the Carmelite convent, some thought Teresa was a spoiled young woman with an unremarkable prayer life, but she soon advanced in prayer and the spiritual life, experiencing visions and hearing voices. Dissatisfied with the laxity she perceived among the religious, she determined to institute reforms and established St Joseph’s Convent where enclosure and a strict rule prevailed. With the assistance of Peter of Alcantara and John of the Cross, she became a reformer and succeeded in founding the reformed (Discalced) Carmelite order of nuns and friars.

There was much resistance and pushback from even her own order. After the chapter in 1575 and for the next five years, every effort was made to destroy Teresa’s reforms and many of her followers (including John of the Cross) were imprisoned and cruelly treated. At length, in 1580 and with the support of King Philip II, the Discalced Carmelites were made independent and St. Teresa was able to found more new convents.

Teresa wrote several works considered classics of spiritual literature, including The Way of Perfectionand The Interior Castle. A great mystic and strong, intelligent and active leader, Theresa was canonized in 1622 and in 1970 became the first woman to be declared a Doctor of the Church. She is patron of Spain. She died, worn out by her efforts, on October 15, 1582.

The other readings add some important elements to today’s liturgy. In his letter to the Romans, St. Paul reminds us both of the power of the Word of God for salvation, and the role of creation as the first bible or revelation (“God’s eternal power and divine nature … have been understood and seen through the things he has made”). Psalm 19 poetically agrees as “the heavens are telling the glory of God; and the firmament (creation) proclaims his handiwork.”

This is very encouraging for Lucie Leduc, director of the Star of the North Retreat Centre in St. Albert and me. We are both dreaming of creating a lay institute focused on both the Word of God and care of creation. Perhaps this passage may one day serve as a foundational biblical base for such a venture.

The Eucharist brings together creation, the Word and heart-felt faith. We listen to God speak to us; use gifts of creation that are transformed into the body and blood of Jesus, and are mandated to go out and live that faith from the heart through love. May our celebration today help us find God in creation, experience him through his Word, and empower us to live out our faith with heartfelt love.