P. Giustino Zoppi, OCD
(The sermon delivered by the provincial superior of the Genoa province of the Discalced Carmelites during the celebration of the perpetual vows of Sister Maria Sara of the Holy Spirit on October 13, 2007, at the Church of St. Benedict in Hradčany.)
Dear Sister Sara,
from the sacred text that was just read, one word stands out prominently and strongly for all of us, but especially for you on this gracious day: the word of light and strength: “Do not be afraid!” (During the service, the following scripture texts were read: Isaiah 44:1–5; Psalm 63; Philippians 3:8–14; and John 15:9–17.)
It is not I who says it to you, nor your novice mistress or the mother superior or the whole community, nor your spiritual director. It is the Lord, your Creator, who formed you in your mother's womb and helps you: ‘Do not be afraid, do not be dismayed.’
Yes, for fear is a powerful tool in the hands of the Enemy, Satan. It is a tool by which this enemy harms all Christians, but especially those persons who are entirely and exclusively dedicated to God, for they are the ones who instill terror in him, terrible fear, as St. Therese of Lisieux teaches us, and even more, St. Teresa of Avila.
Fear does not come from God, for God knows no fear; fear comes from sin: Adam did not obey God, and thus: “I was afraid,” he says, “and so I hid.” Therefore, fear comes from Satan, for he was the first to separate himself from God, and when he separates people from Him, he breeds fear in them.
He uses fear to discourage the person who seeks the Lord, to weaken his flight, to paralyze his strength, to push him towards mediocrity, to resign to holiness on the grounds that it is humanly unattainable, or attainable by very few.
You, Sister Sara, called by the Lord since your mother’s womb, have the courage to desire holiness; trust that you can reach the highest peaks where there is only freedom; do not settle for lingering on the misty plains of compromise.
But what is that peak, that goal? Behold, the goal that the Lord shows you, you as a Christian, but especially you as a Carmelite: “Remain in my love. Love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than the one who lays down his life for his friends.”
This is the peak of pure love, of complete self-forgetfulness: there God waits for the Carmelite!
But how could you, we, with the full weight of your weakness, dare to think we will love as He does and that we will lay down our life as He laid down his, if He himself did not say to us: “It is not you who chose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you might go and bear fruit”?
And yet, He said precisely this: I chose you, and I appointed you! And so, even if I rightly distrust my instability, my various laziness, the old man within me who, it seems, will never want to leave me, I must be able to say: but, Lord, you called me, you appointed me, you committed yourself for me: therefore, I will go resolutely to the end. “At your word, I will let down the nets.”
It is His word, only His word, that empowers us with the courage to embark on the journey of Love with a capital L. Not a love composed of sweet words, not an abstract love for God, with whom a person has never truly met, or for a distant, idealized humanity, but a solid, concrete love towards specific persons who reveal to me His Face, most often the suffering Face, of Christ.
Your sisters are the real test of the authenticity of your love, dear Sister Sara, here you will have to fight your exhausting battle, here you will face dejection, flight, fear, to tempt you, lead you to fall, and, if possible, to make you give up everything definitively under their influence.
To truly love is never easy: to seek in love the good of others and not one's own; to love today, tomorrow, and the day after, and then continuously; to love when we are not loved; to love unfriendly persons; to love when we feel incapable of giving love; all of this seems to be a very demanding undertaking. However, love is such, or it is not at all.
There is a secret to the success of this venture: not to look simply at the person – neither at oneself nor others – but to look at Christ in the person. Here it is possible to understand how a Carmelite, if she is to be truly called contemplative, must live sisterhood!
You deceive yourself, human being, if you think you see Christ in prayer if you do not see Him in the brother, in the sister, whom you have beside you, and who often hide His Face very well!
And conversely: you who underestimate meeting God in silence, how can you think you build true sisterhood and not just some uncertain living together that will immediately crack as soon as our individual selfishness does not align?
A Carmelite does not choose between God and humanity, between prayer and service, but chooses to be docile to the love of God by letting herself be taught daily by Christ, who educates her through her sister.
Christ within you carves day by day a great work of Love, a work of holiness, and this through your sisters. How well St. Teresa of Avila perceived this when she founded her work!
When a sister admonishes you, it is He who admonishes you.
When a sister humiliates you, it is He who humbles you.
When a sister does not love you, it is Christ who wants you to experience what it is like when He is not loved.
And when a sister loves you, it is again He who humbles your pride to help you discover how fragile you are and how much love you need.
Dear Sister Sara, is such an ideal unattainable, utopian?
Certainly, when we look at the concrete reality of our communities, at the struggles that you will surely have to expend each day to join prayer with fraternal love, then the distance between the words and the events may seem insurmountable.
And yet, listen to what St. Paul just said to us: “Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect; but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me...”
Behold, this is a word that pleases our teacher so much: “I press on to take hold...” God does not look at the outcome but reads in hearts the desire for good, and that is enough for Him. “Strive to enter through the narrow gate...”
Be brave, Sister Sara, and with your glorious vows today tell Jesus with all your strength that you want to enter the narrow gate that leads to perfection:
Enter without hesitation and do not think of what awaits you;
let yourself be taken by the hand of St. Teresa, our saints, your sisters;
and listen to your beloved Bridegroom, who whispers to you:
“Do not be afraid, I have called you since your mother's womb; I am helping you.” Amen.
