October 1, 2002

[All of the names are pseudonyms.]

Grace, I just want you to know how much we rejoice with you on this special day and how honored I am to offer these few words of reflection.

The sisters know, but our guests may not, that there is a small band of us who enjoy playing Scrabble. Grace is one of them and so I thought for a passing moment that it might be interesting to take the Scrabble players' approach to Thérèse. You see, both Thérèse and her country were scarred by events in their history: The French Revolution had a devastating effect on the church community. You could say that it became a little scared and turned to Jansenism and its call for reparation, penance, and self-oblation to divine justice. In a similar way, the death of her mother had a devastating effect on the four year old Thérèse. She became hypersensitive and moody. Perhaps she too was a little scared and this fear expressed itself in scruples. If you have the word scarred, and take out one of the "R"s, you get scared.... But really that is not a good way to proceed this wonderful morning.

Grace was kind enough to give me Under the Torrent of His Love by Fr. Marie-Eugene to read in preparation for this homily. When someone gives you one of their favorite books, all marked up and underlined, it is like looking into the deepest part of their soul. It is a gift to be treasured and protected.

In her introduction to her memoir, My Sister Saint Thérèse, Celine wrote, "If our admiration for the saints be genuine, we must be ready to imitate these heroes who have inspired it." [p. xxi]. And so I would like to share some reflections on your profession from Thérèse's point of view.

Grace, today you will be taking the vow of poverty. You underlined this section in Marie-Eugene's book:

"What can God do with me," we think, "I am such poor material!" St. Thérèse said just the opposite: "How fortunate you are to be poor; that is why you will receive much." For her, impoverishment, the sense of one's own poverty, especially when illuminated by God ... - particularly at the beginning of the spiritual life - was a treasure because it produced an aptitude for receiving God. [p. 27]

Celine writes:

In a discouraged mood I went one day to Thérèse for help and told her: "This time it is impossible. I simply cannot rise above this trial." "This does not surprise me," she replied, "for we are too small to rise above our difficulties. Therefore let us try to pass under them."

To illustrate this point she recalled a childhood experience we had shared together. We were visiting the Lehoux family in Alencon and wanted to play in the garden but we could not get in because a horse blocked the entrance.

"While the older girls were trying to find some way to pass the horse," Thérèse said, "our little playmate Thérèse Lehoux discovered that the easiest way to get by was to go under the horse...That is the advantage of staying small. There are no obstacles for little ones; they can slip in unnoticed everywhere." [Celine, pp. 49-50]

And so Grace, today I pray as you take this next step on your spiritual journey that you always keep your aptitude for receiving and that you maintain a flexible littleness that allows you to slip by all the road blocks of the Deceitful One unnoticed.

Today you will take the vow of chastity, a vow which really gives pre-eminence to the love of God in your life. There are 146 pages in Under the Torrent. Grace underlined love 52 times and charity 4 times and so I think it would be fair to say that Grace is inspired by love.

In today's gospel we heard Jesus proclaim the words "Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart; and you shall find rest for your souls." In our legal system we talk about the burden of proof; in the Jewish system the phrase is the burden of the law and it refers to the mosaic code which had more than 600 regulations. Yoke is used only figuratively in the NT for any binding burdens, strict requirements, or heavy obligations and Jesus' listeners would have recognized that he was contrasting his approach which gives primacy to the two great laws of love to the burden of the law. Maybe we could even call this Jesus' little way of love.

Grace, you underlined this quote from The Torrent, "God has so much Love to give, and can't do it; people only present their own merits, and these are so paltry."[Marie-Eugene, p. 25] And after this quote Marie-Eugene goes on to describe her Oblation to Merciful Love. When Celine writes about this, she points out Thérèse was aware of the reparation that religious people were making to God, the Author of Divine Justice, but Thérèse thought that the more pervasive affront to God was the wide spread apathy and ingratitude that was infecting France. This indifference saddened Thérèse who thought that this rejection caused "the flood-tide of infinite tenderness" to be pent up in the divine heart. [Celine p. 96] Celine writes that through her Oblation to God's merciful love, Thérèse begged God to let her soul be drowned in the torrent of this pent up Infinite Tenderness, so that she could become a martyr to God's love and that God might turn her nothingness into fire. [Celine, pp. 79-81]

And so, Grace, as you take this next step, we pray that you too may be drowned in the torrent of God's infinite tenderness. We promise to love you and support you on your way and we ask that you help us by ever spreading the seeds of your good will and gentle care.

Today the last vow you will take is the vow of obedience. As you know, obedience derives from listening and when I think of listening, I think of prayer. In Marie-Eugene you underlined,

"So we must remain before God, fixing our gaze on him. This is perfection:' I do not stay there for my own sake, but for his. I go to see God because this delights him, because he likes to see me.' ... I do not remain before God for what I shall receive, but in order to please him. Thérèse's sole motive was to please God." [Marie-Eugene, p. 37].

And elsewhere, "...my sole aim being to give Thee pleasure, to console Thy Sacred Heart.... [Celine p. 95] or "...it was enough for her to realize that she was making Him happy.' [Celine p. 102]

In the end the sole purpose of our lives is to please God in all that we do.

And so I pray that you always have a listening heart, that you remain obedient and faithful in prayer. You and Ann, Beth and Grace are the next generation of Carmelites. Only if we listen to how the Spirit is calling us into the future, will our Carmel start always afresh. [Afresh p.1] In 1947 Marie-Eugene wrote,

"A religious Order draws the essential notes of its tradition from its living sources. External changes or adaptations imposed by the passage of time are, to this living source, what successive developments and a change of clothes suited to our age are to us as human beings. Far from destroying our identity they affirm its permanence through the growth process." [Eugene Marie p. 72].

We look forward to how you will help us weave the essential notes of our tradition into a new melody of love and confidence.

And, oh yes, if we can entrust the tiles of our lives into the hands of God, God can re-arrange the letters and transform scared into sacred. Thank you for sharing your sacred journey with us.

Celine Martin (Sr. Geneviève of the Holy Face). My Sister Saint Thérèse. Rockford, IL: Tan Books, 1997.

Marie-Eugene of the Child Jesus. Under the Torrent of His Love. NY: Alba House, 1995.

"Starting Afresh From Christ." Origins, 4 July, 2002, p. 129ff.