Sermon Tone Analysis

Title

Taught by the Spirit Aware of Christ

Outline

Many Christians today want to be filled with the Spirit

They want power in prayer

They want to do works of power

Most of all they went to be in the inner circle of what is going on in the world and in heaven

Those are neither the program of God and certainly not the goals of St Teresa

She had revelations, to be sure, but put them to the side, for what she sought was to know and adore her heavenly spouse, which love was the goal of the Spirit in her

Jesus spoke about this:

“everyone who acknowledges me before others the Son of Man will acknowledge before the angels of God”

It is Jesus and who he is that one acknowledges or fails to acknowledge

That is, it is one’s awareness of who he is and one’s embrace of this awareness that determines one’s destiny

The one caveat is that one can repent of past rejection of Jesus and be forgiven

One cannot repent of a rejection of the Spirit, for in rejecting the Spirit one has rejected the very means necessary to come to a right awareness of Jesus

St Teresa centered her life on Jesus and sought him intensely, for she knew who he was; she certainly was not afraid to confess him before others, even if she was diplomatic

Paul fills in the details in his prayer

He prays for the Ephesians, who were making progress in faith and love, that God would give them “a spirit of wisdom and revelation resulting in knowledge of him” - here is Isa 11:2-3, here he prays that we will be little Jesus’

The gifts of the Spirit in 1 Cor 12 are simply tools for mission, as Acts 2-3 shows; they are not the focus; Jesus is the focus

Once we know him we live in hope because we have heard his call.

We realize that his inheritance is in his “holy ones” whom he is making glorious

We begin to grasp the greatness of God’s power with respect to us in resurrecting and seating Christ at his right hand above and beyond any celestial power imaginable - this is the one who is “head” with respect to his “body” the Church.

The Church is then the fullness (as the body “fills out” the head) of the one who fills all things

This is our goal: divinization, being full of Christ, or entering into his fullness, a concept that is mind-exploding and makes the honors and temptations of this present age look like shriveled prunes laying around a bowl of luscious fruit.

This is the goal of the inner room, the seventh mansion, the bridal chamber.

And that makes clear why rejecting this Spirit means closing oneself off to God.

So, Sisters, this in what we should ask for and what we should confess

Yes, you need gifts of the Spirit, both natural and supernatural to carry out your apostolate, but they should never be your goal - your goal is being drawn closer to him, entering more into his fullness, as you work beside him in the apostolate - or in the Priory and its administration

Therefore, your prayer and adoration are primary, for you cannot work beside or enter into the fullness of one who do not know and relate to.

Lesson plans and all that goes into running this place is secondary.

And because of this we realize why faith and love towards our brothers and sisters are the starting points and why those who know him are not afraid to confess him - even when it means going joyfully to their deaths - for they know the powers and society of this world are nothing and they know him to whom their death in this age can only bring them closer.

Readings

FIRST READING

Ephesians 1:15–23

15 Therefore, I, too, hearing of your faith in the Lord Jesus and of your love for all the holy ones, 16 do not cease giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, 17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation resulting in knowledge of him.

18 May the eyes of [your] hearts be enlightened, that you may know what is the hope that belongs to his call, what are the riches of glory in his inheritance among the holy ones, 19 and what is the surpassing greatness of his power for us who believe, in accord with the exercise of his great might, 20 which he worked in Christ, raising him from the dead and seating him at his right hand in the heavens, 21 far above every principality, authority, power, and dominion, and every name that is named not only in this age but also in the one to come.

22 And he put all things beneath his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of the one who fills all things in every way.

RESPONSE

Psalm 8:7

7 You have given him rule over the works of your hands,

put all things at his feet:

PSALM

Psalm 8:2–3b, 4–7

2 O LORD, our Lord,

how awesome is your name through all the earth!

I will sing of your majesty above the heavens

3 with the mouths of babes and infants.

You have established a bulwark against your foes,

to silence enemy and avenger.

4 When I see your heavens, the work of your fingers,

the moon and stars that you set in place—

5 What is man that you are mindful of him,

and a son of man that you care for him?

6 Yet you have made him little less than a god,

crowned him with glory and honor.

7 You have given him rule over the works of your hands,

put all things at his feet:

GOSPEL ACCLAMATION

John 15:26b, 27a

26 “When the Advocate comes whom I will send you from the Father, the Spirit of truth that proceeds from the Father, he will testify to me.

27 And you also testify, because you have been with me from the beginning.

GOSPEL

Luke 12:8–12

8 I tell you, everyone who acknowledges me before others the Son of Man will acknowledge before the angels of God. 9 But whoever denies me before others will be denied before the angels of God.

10 “Everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but the one who blasphemes against the holy Spirit will not be forgiven.

11 When they take you before synagogues and before rulers and authorities, do not worry about how or what your defense will be or about what you are to say. 12 For the holy Spirit will teach you at that moment what you should say.”

Notes

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2022 | MEMORIAL

SAINT TERESA OF JESUS, VIRGIN AND DOCTOR OF THE CHURCH

YEARS 1 & 2 | ROMAN MISSAL | LECTIONARY

WHITE

From Saturday of the 28th Week in Ordinary Time

First Reading Ephesians 1:15–23

Response Psalm 8:7

Psalm Psalm 8:2–3b, 4–7

Gospel Acclamation John 15:26b, 27a

Gospel Luke 12:8–12