Sunday, July 14 2024
15th Sunday During the Year – Year B

1st reading: Amos 7,12-15
Psalm: 84 (85), 9ab.10, 11-12, 13-14
2th reading: Ephesians 1,3-14
Gospel: Mark 6,7-13

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“I was not a prophet nor the son of a prophet; I was a drover, and I took care of the sycamores. But the Lord took hold of me when I was behind the flock”. Thus says the prophet Amos who was in no way inclined to become a prophet. It is by the choice of God, who is sovereign, that Amos becomes a prophet... by God's call. 

What qualities did Abraham have to play the role he played? What qualities did Moses know who was a stutterer, what qualities did David have? What qualifications did Peter have to be the leader of the apostles, he who denied? What qualities did Judah have to be one of the apostles, he who betrayed? What are my qualities to be where I am speaking to you? 

This is not what the Lord looks at: the vocation, the call of God rests on God's choice. And each of us, if we are there, it is because we have been personally called by God, chosen in Christ for something; and something which does not rest primarily on our qualities, on our talents but which rests first on the benevolent design of God. 

And it is by responding to this call that we will be able, like the apostles, to announce the Kingdom, that we will be able, like the apostles, to assume the mission of the Church.

Between Amos and the apostles, there is what Paul makes us understand: “God the Father chose us, in Christ, before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy, immaculate before him, in love.”

Whoever we are, whatever our history, whatever our talents, our skills, our natural gifts, our charismas, first and foremost, we have been called to share the life of God and therefore, to be holy and immaculate ; it is our primary vocation, it is the vocation of every man. Desiring holiness is not immodesty, it is not pride, it is not vanity: it is, on the contrary, humility, because it is accepting what God wants for us, for me. He chose us to be holy.

I don't know how this page of Scripture resonated in Thérèse's life, but it was very early on that holiness became obvious to her. It was very early on that Thérèse wanted to be a saint in response to the love of God that she discovered. 

She says it explicitly, it's at the beginning of manuscript C: 

You know, Mother, I have always wanted to be a saint, but alas! I have always noticed, when I have compared myself to the saints, that there is between them and me the same difference that exists between a mountain whose summit is lost in the heavens and the grain of dark sand trodden under the feet of passers-by ; instead of getting discouraged — characteristic of Thérèse's life: “I will not get discouraged” is one of the resolutions of her first communion retreat — I said to myself: The Good God cannot inspire unrealizable desires, I can therefore despite my smallness aspire to holiness. Ms C 02

“I can therefore, despite my smallness, aspire to holiness.” If I were with children in catechism, I would have them repeat this sentence out loud… But as God calls us to become little children, we are going to do it. I am going to say this sentence again and then invite you to say it with me:

I can therefore, despite my smallness, aspire to holiness. 

The faithful : “I can therefore, despite my smallness, aspire to holiness.” 

This is, ultimately, the treasure that Thérèse wants us to hear: I can, despite my smallness, aspire to holiness... Don't look at your faults, don't look at your qualities. Look at the gift of God! 

Thérèse continues:

Growing up is impossible, I must support myself as I am with all my imperfections; but I want to look for the way to go to Heaven by a very straight, very short little way, a very new little way. We are in a century of inventions, now there is no longer the trouble of climbing the steps of a staircase, among the rich an elevator advantageously replaces it. I would also like to find an elevator to raise me to Jesus, because I am too small to climb the difficult staircase of perfection. So I searched in the holy books for the indication of the elevator, object of my desire […] the elevator which should raise me to Heaven, these are your arms, O Jesus! For this I do not need to grow, on the contrary I must remain small, that I become more and more.

The elevator to Heaven is your arms, O Jesus... But look at how Thérèse immediately “perverts” this image of the elevator, if I may. How does an elevator work? I press the button to call the cabin, I enter the cabin when it is there and I press the button to go to the desired floor. I'm the one who controls the elevator. The arms of Jesus, it is not by pressing the button that they descend, it is not by pressing the button that they raise me: the arms of Jesus are at the disposal of Jesus. It is he who commands them, and for me it is a question of learning to be with Jesus, to remain in his love. Remember what Jesus said to his apostles in the discourse after the Last Supper, in St. John chapter 15: “As the Father has loved me, I also have loved you, remain in my love” (Jn 15,9:XNUMX). It’s not about doing something to make Jesus love me; this is achieved, in an incomprehensible, astonishing, confusing way. 

I am loved by Jesus so much that he gave his life for me! For me it is a question of remaining in this love, that is to say of not leaving it, that is to say of seeking to let myself be done by the Lord Jesus, so that he can, He, raise me towards Heaven, so that he can lead me to his Father, so that he can clothe me with his holiness. And therefore the first effort of the Christian life is not a moral effort, it is a spiritual effort of communion with Jesus. We must take great care in our relationship with Jesus through prayer, meditation on the Scriptures, fidelity to the sacraments and through fraternal charity. This is how we build our loyalty to the Lord in response to His faithfulness. 

I then allow myself once again to raise a point poorly translated in the Gospel. We have heard that the apostles left et proclaimed that it was necessary to convert. That's not what the Greek text says... The text says: they proclaimed so that we would convert(ἐκήρυσσον ἵνα μετανοήσωσιν). That is to say, they proclaim the Kingdom in the hope that those who hear it will be touched and will turn to Jesus. But they do not come to announce an obligation; they come to announce the good news of Salvation. The one who receives this good news converts, that is to say, begins to see the world differently from Jesus, from what God does, and begins to attach himself to Jesus to let himself be led by Him.

They proclaimed so that we would convert.

To finish, I would just like to reread these few words which are at the beginning of Thérèse's Offering to Merciful Love, this offering which she made on June 9, 1895, during the feast of the Holy Trinity, in an intuition interior that seized her during the celebration of the Eucharist: O my God! Blessed Trinity, I desire to Love you and make you Love, to work for the glorification of the Holy Church by saving the souls who are on earth and [by] delivering those who suffer in purgatory — It is his whole vocation as a Carmelite which is said here. But it is the whole vocation of the apostles which is to want everyone to be able to let themselves be saved - I desire to accomplish your will perfectly and to arrive at the degree of glory that you have prepared for me in your kingdom, in a word, I desire to be Holy , but I feel my helplessness and I ask you, O my God, to be my Holiness yourself. Prayer 06

Blessed be God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! 
He chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world,
so that we may be holy, immaculate before him, in love.

Amen