Today the Church remembers St. Teresa of Avila, a doctor of the Church. The priest is able to choose the readings for the day from several sources in the Lectionary. I have chosen the following from the “Common of Doctors” options of the Lectionary.
First reading: The Book of Wisdom Chapter 7
7 Therefore I prayed, and prudence was given me; I pleaded and the spirit of Wisdom came to me.
8 I preferred her to scepter and throne, And deemed riches nothing in comparison with her,
9 nor did I liken any priceless gem to her; Because all gold, in view of her, is a little sand, and before her, silver is to be accounted mire.
10 Beyond health and comeliness I loved her, And I chose to have her rather than the light, because the splendor of her never yields to sleep…
15 Now God grant I speak suitably and value these endowments at their worth: For he is the guide of Wisdom and the director of the wise.
16 or both we and our words are in his hand, as well as all prudence and knowledge of crafts.
Second reading: 2 Timothy Chapter 4
1 I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingly power:
2 proclaim the word; be persistent whether it is convenient or inconvenient; convince, reprimand, encourage through all patience and teaching.
3 For the time will come when people will not tolerate sound doctrine but, following their own desires and insatiable curiosity, will accumulate teachers
4 and will stop listening to the truth and will be diverted to myths.
5 But you, be self-possessed in all circumstances; put up with hardship; perform the work of an evangelist; fulfill your ministry.
Gospel: Matthew Chapter 23
8 As for you, do not be called 'Rabbi.' You have but one teacher, and you are all brothers.
9 Call no one on earth your father; you have but one Father in heaven.
10 Do not be called 'Master'; you have but one master, the Messiah.
11 The greatest among you must be your servant.
12 Whoever exalts himself will be humbled; but whoever humbles himself will be exalted.
Cyber-Homily:
The photograph presented with this posting is of Bernini’s sculpture of St. Teresa in ecstasy. Ecstasy? If you look at her face, it doesn’t look very enjoyable, this ecstasy…does it? Caught up in flames, with a looming angel ready to pierce her with an arrow, the Saint looks pained and exhausted. Why would the artist portray this “moment” in the life of the sainted doctor with this image? This is meant to represent the Love of God moment? The ecstasy of the spirit can be thought of as “bitter-sweet” in the terms of human appearance. (Since you are reading this posting on the internet, it will be easy for you to make a brief digression if you are not familiar with the life of the Saint. Click here to read some background information.)
Saint Teresa responded to her love ecstasy with God in a strange way: she began immediately to try to reform everyone so that they could experience this same “burning love.” The Saint’s community rejected her for it. Her own Sisters plotted against her. Why? I’m certain we could give many answers to that question. I think it’s fair to say that the Sisters had grown comfortable in their ways even if those ways were not leading them to the same encounter with God that Teresa has experienced. Teresa however seemed to want to raise the spiritual level of the community and bring it more in line with the revelation she was given. Was that the correct approach? The Church canonized her and declared her a Doctor of the Church, but does that certify her approach as ideal? Let’s investigate…
Her desire to reform her community brought a life of struggle for her. On the one hand, it is easy to imagine that in her zeal she would try to reform the community in an effort to “teach” the other Sisters to find God as she had. On the other hand, one wonders how imposing a forced change of lifestyle will lead someone to the intimately unique encounter with God. If Teresa was a saint and doctor of the Church can we not assume that it was God’s will to reform the community? But if it was God’s will, why was it met with such opposition? Why did she suffer outwardly as a result of it? Why did the community not recognize that she was making an effort to “teach” the way to ecstasy in God? Why the struggle?
Let’s look back at the readings chosen for today again to see if we can understand this struggle. In the first reading we experience the love relationship between God’s special “thinking creature” (mankind) and Wisdom---the Spirit of knowledge and truth and beauty (one could say that Wisdom is God’s own heart). The speaker’s relationship with her (Wisdom) is spoken of in the vein of Gottfried’s Tristan and Isolt. Once the speaker finds the beauty of Wisdom, he chooses her over any earthly pleasure. Union with Wisdom is all the speaker desires now. Love at first sight, you might say. The speaker and Wisdom now come together and form the wise one who in-turn places himself in the total control of God (who after all is the director of Wisdom to begin with). The speaker is experiencing his first ecstasies of love with Wisdom…the burning fire of God’s presence. He wants nothing on earth but her. He wants to spend his life immersed in the pool of love with his beloved Wisdom. Sounds perfect, right? Very romantic…very Tristan! …very Teresa too.
Now let us look at the second reading. We experience a bit of Teresa here as well. The Apostle Paul is giving advice to his apprentice, Timothy. Scroll up and take a look at the reading. Not exactly the same “swim in the pool of love” idea of the first reading is it? Hmm… The Apostle seems to be ready for a fight. He is a reformer and is training other reformers (at least in this reading from Pauline tradition). There also seems to be a lot of “it’s okay to judge others” going on too. Perplexing. The reading even seems to contradict itself: reprimand AND encourage? Good luck with that. Further, Paul warns about the dangers of accumulating self-possessed teachers and yet is extorting Timothy to become one.
I’ve always found it quite a challenge to sort out our beloved Paul’s advice. Even with all his seemingly schizophrenic waves of theological personality, I have always looked on the Pauline writings as the writings of one who is in love. Love can make you do some strange things when it is between two people. When it is between God and his beloved, watch out because strange and crazy come with the territory. Paul and Teresa were so in love with the love of God that divine madness often came over them. Just like madness comes over anyone in love. Don’t you get a little crazy in love sometimes? Do you fight with your spouse or yell at your children? Why? You love them and cherish them don’t you? Did you love them less when you were yelling? Crazy, crazy love.
When we come to the Gospel reading, we are not given much help in harmonizing the first two readings. Here Jesus is speaking and warning against being thought of as a teacher or master or father. He reminds us that we are all students of the same great teacher…God. We are all “in the same boat” so to speak. The Messiah alone is the teaching Voice of God. So, which advice represents ultimate Divine Authority? I’m sure that your instinct will jump to say that Jesus’ words are it, right? (Let’s not consider, right now, that Jesus too seems to contradict himself sometimes…after all he sends men out to preach.)
If the advice of the Gospel is a Divine Mandate, then doesn’t that make Paul (and Teresa) wrong? (Are you starting to appreciate Bernini’s sculpture more now?) No, it doesn’t mean they are wrong. It means they are in love…and so a little crazy.
I believe we have developed an erroneous understanding of the Scriptures over the centuries. The reasons as to why humanity has developed this erroneous understanding are not important. What is important is that we begin to see the divine Book for what it is and what it is not. First we must acknowledge that the Bible is wrought with---what appears on the surface to be---contradiction. Second, we have to admit that it cannot be a book of absolute law because of the myriad contradictions found in it. If you take all the “rules” and commands” found in the bible and list them (I suspect you could do this with any one particular book in the Bible as well) you will find that many cancel each other out. It’s a bit like posting a sign on the highway that reads: Maximum Speed limit 45mph, Minimum Speed limit 60mph. If you make that sign into law…everybody gets a ticket. The bible is not a book of law, divine or otherwise. The Bible is meant to lead you to Love. It is a guide to love and advice from people of love.
The bible is a diary of love between God and his people. It recounts the ways that God has inflicted his passionate love on us and how we have responded. Each book of the bible is a relationship of love. They do not have to jive. If you try to make all the accounts of scripture form a neat set of absolutes, you will fail…utterly and eternally. If you disagree then please answer me this: What is the proper procedure for falling in love? Also… What are the rules of behavior for being in love? What outward actions are absolute evidence of being in love? Now please tell me what actions, absolutely and in every situation, prove that a person is not in love?
I bet some people are right now trying to come up with definitive answers to those. Good luck! You’ll certainly be entertaining Heaven as you try.
God wants you to love him and he wants to love you. The bible is his love dialogue with his many lovers. It is not law. This is why Paul tells us that law is what creates sin (just before he preaches a list of laws!). The Bible is the ultimate Divine Book because of it’s apparent contradictions. It is meant to be proof that there is no one way to God’s love. It is meant to show that sometimes we make mistakes in trying to attain God’s love. It shows that sometimes we fight (like many couples in love) but we can reconcile and get back to love. It shows that love makes us a little crazy, a little irritated, a little sappy, but wholly content if we let it. It shows that the fire is the craziness; and when you are engulphed in the fire you are swimming in the pool of Eternal Love.
Today, look back at your life. Your life is your Bible. It is your dairy of love with God. Be crazy if you need to be, but be in love with God. Just do one favor for your friendly neighborhood cyber-bishop: Let others be in love with God too. Your way might not be their way. As long as we are not hurting or enslaving each other, we should let Love love.
As far as the question as to whether Teresa’s approach at reform was correct or not… Maybe it was. Maybe it wasn’t. It certainly was not the absolute fool-proof, fits-everybody way. If it was, wouldn’t every Carmelite nun be a Saint and Doctor of the Church? Maybe they are, but we just don’t see it yet.
