St
Teresa of Jesus
Fr.
Philip Neri Powell, OP
Sisters
of Mt Carmel, NOLA
Our
Lord is unrelenting in his condemnation of hypocrisy, particularly
the hypocrisy of those who wield religious authority. He says to the
Pharisees, “Woe to you! You are like unseen graves over which
people unknowingly walk.” Not only does he accuse his opponents of
being dead and rotting in the ground, but he also accuses them of
leading their unwitting followers into uncleanliness, impurity. Thus
the hypocrisy of each Pharisee is both a personal and a public
failure. When spiritual leaders fall, those who follow them fall as
well. Jesus concludes his indictment of the Pharisees and scribes
with a pointed accusation, “You impose on people burdens hard to
carry, but you yourselves do not lift one finger to touch them.”
Here lies the kernel of their hypocrisy: though they follow the Law
to the letter, they do so only for the benefits that come with being
seen doing so. They do not intend to see justice done nor do they
love God; their only purpose is to lift themselves up and bask in the
admiration of their followers. Therefore, Jesus says to them three
times, “Woe to you. . .”
How
do we avoid the temptations of hypocrisy? Paul writes to the
Galatians, “If you are guided by the Spirit, you are not under the
law. . .If we live in the Spirit, let us also follow the Spirit.”
Paul is not giving us permission to live lawless lives, wildly
following every impulse, every appetite. He is challenging us to do
something far more difficult than living the letter of the Law.
Rather than scrupulously obeying every jot and tittle of the rules,
we are called upon to fulfill the Law; that is, we are freed by
Christ to live out the purpose of the Law, the underlying freedom
that the rules guide. For example, you can be meticulous in driving
the posted speed limit and still believe that the other drivers
deserve to be run off the road. You can come to Mass daily and still
seek vengeance on your neighbor. You vow yourself to living a life of
charity and still disparage your brothers and sisters. Despite a
perfect driving record or a lifetime of perfect Mass attendance, you
can still harbor hatred, anger, selfishness, and rivalry. Following
the rules is no guarantee of a pure heart. But a pure heart makes the
rules unnecessary b/c such a heart is ruled by none but the name of
Jesus.
St.
Teresa of Avila considers the power and purity of the Holy Name: “.
. .it seems that no other name fell from [St. Paul's] lips than that
of Jesus, because the name of Jesus was fixed and embedded in his
heart. Once I had come to understand this truth, I carefully
considered the lives of some of the saints, the great contemplatives,
and found that they took no other path. . .A person must walk along
this path in freedom, placing himself in God’s hands. If God should
desire to raise us to the position of one who is an intimate and
shares His secrets, we ought to accept this gladly.”* Walking the
Way with Jesus, his name the name of freedom, and placing ourselves
with him into the Father's hands – this is the perfected way of
peace, the complete path to integrity and the death of personal
hypocrisy. Teresa names a few of the great contemplatives of the
Church as her examples: Francis, Anthony of Padua, Bernard, and
Catherine of Siena. All men and women of Christ who set aside the
need for power and control, the need to be right and never
contradicted, the need to be seen being holy by others. Their anchor
in the unmooring sin of this world: the name of Jesus, contemplated
as the only path to peace.
Christ
came to fulfill the Law. As his Body, the Church, we are vowed to
preach his Word. So, we share the fruits of that Spirit. Love, joy,
peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and
self-control. If we will lead in the Spirit, we must first follow the
Spirit, and that, sisters, is exactly what we have given our lives to
do. Follow the Spirit first; then, lead with the Spirit in Jesus'
holy name.
*from The Office of Readings
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