A Brief Homily for Palm Sunday
Foundation Day
This plaque reads “Monasterio De San Jose, Primer Fundacion De Santa Teresa de Jesus, Donde Comenzo La Reforma Del Carmen Dscalzo”
Feast of St. Bartholomew, August 24, 2010
448th anniversary of the Foundation of San José in Ávila
The beginning of the Discalced Reform of Carmel!
We’ll it’s been a LONG time since I entered anything in this blog. And I’m thinking I should re-title it “The Blog I Forgot.” But perhaps today is a good day to make another start. It is the very day in 1562 that St. Teresa took the plunge. The first daughters of her fledgling reform broke the silence of early morning in Ávila, having rung the monastery bell, to announce the celebration of Mass. Fr. Gaspar Daza, respected diocesan priest of the town—at one time skeptical of Teresa’s mystical experiences, even believing them to be of the devil (cf. Life, 23.14)—now presided at the first Mass and read aloud the papal bull granting the nuns permission to found San José.
In the Life, Our Holy Mother St. Teresa of Jesus writes:
“One day after Communion, His Majesty earnestly commanded me to strive for this new monastery with all my powers, and He made great promises that it would be founded and that He would be highly served in it. He said it should be called St. Joseph an that this saint would keep watch over us at one door, and our Lady at the other, that Christ would remain with us, and that it would be a star shining with great splendor. He said that even though religious orders were mitigated one shouldn’t think He was little served in them; He asked what would become of the world if it were not for religious and said that I should tell my confessor what He commanded, that He was asking him not to go against this or hinder me from doing it” (32.11).
It remains the custom of all Carmels to keep a statue of St. Joseph prominently stationed at the front entrance, as a guardian of the place. The Carmel would be another Nazareth, a quiet place where God is present and another “holy family” may reside to the glory of God. May Christ continue to be “highly served” in every Carmel through the guidance of St. Joseph and Our Lady. St. Teresa of Jesus, pray for us!
The Transverberation of St. Teresa of Jesus
Today the Discalced Carmelite Order celebrates that mystical grace granted to St. Teresa which we call the Transverberation, also referred to within the Carmels of Ávila as “la gracia del dardo” or the “grace of the dart.” St. Teresa herself recounts the experience in chapter 29 of her Life:
“I saw close to me toward my left side an angel in bodily form. … the angel was not large but small; he was very beautiful, and his face was so aflame that he seemed to be one of those very sublime angels that appear to be all afire. They must belong to those they call the cherubim, for they didn’t tell me their names. … I saw in his hands a large golden dart and at the end of the iron tip there appeared to be a little fire. It seemed to me this angel plunged the dart several times into my heart and that it reached deep within me. When he drew it out, I thought he was carrying off with him the deepest part of me; and he left me all on fire with great love of God. The pain was so great that it made me moan, and the sweetness this greatest pain caused me was so superabundant that there is no desire capable of taking it away; nor is the soul content with less then God. The pain is not bodily but spiritual, although the body doesn’t fail to share in some of it, and even a great deal. The loving exchange that takes place between the soul and God is so sweet that I beg Him in goodness to give a taste of this love to anyone who thinks I am lying.” (Life, 29.13)
“Tear through the veil of this sweet encounter”
Regarding the dogma of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Pope Pius XII “pronounces, declares, and defines” that “the Immaculate Mother of God, the ever Virgin Mary, having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory” (Munificentissimus Deus). Deliberately left unanswered is the question of whether or not the Blessed Virgin “died.” The Eastern Church has long celebrated the “Dormition” (the “falling asleep”) of Our Lady.
“It should be known that the natural death of persons who have reached this state[i.e., spiritual marriage] is far different in its cause and mode from the death of others, even though it is similar in natural circumstances. If the death of other people is caused by sickness or old age, the death of these persons is not so induced, in spite of their being sick or old; their soul is not wrested from them unless by some impetus and encounter of love, far more sublime than previous ones; of greater power, and more valiant, since it tears through this veil and carries off the jewel, which is the soul.“The death of such persons is very gentle and very sweet, sweeter and more gentle than was their whole spiritual life on earth. For they die with the most sublime impulses and delightful encounters of love …” (LF, 1.30).One might imagine the Blessed Virgin Mary experiencing such a transitus, a seamless surrender to love now consummated, a moment wherein she experiences a definitive and glorious embrace by God, her Father, her Son, and her Spouse.