Beginning of the homily
3. Falling in love with the Spouse
For what purpose are they chosen by God and taken by
his hand to enter the convent? Some will say, “They entered to pray and fast,
to be obedient and to live in poverty for Jesus Christ.” It is true that they
have entered the convent for that, but not only for that. That is not even the
main reason they entered, and it has little or no value without the other. Do
they know why young and not so young women enter the convent? They enter the
convent to participate in the highest thing that there is on earth. What? The
highest occupation of all occupations. What is this? To fall in love with their
Spouse Jesus Christ.
This is the occupation of the angels; everything else,
fasting, discipline, abstinence, vigils, the choir, is to mortify the flesh in
order not to be impeded in relating with these divine loves and to be better
able to approach these divine loves. This is why they entered the convent: to
be Spouses of Christ, to fall in love with the Spouse. This is the occupation
of the espoused.
For this reason the religious can only be understood
for what she is, not for what she does. Therefore our constitutions remind us
that: “A short time of true worship has a greater value and more spiritual
fruit than the most intense activity, even our apostolic activity itself.”
Who could tell of the gentle and loving whisper and
conversations that should take place between the Spouse and his Espoused? Who
could tell of the sweet embraces and gifts that pass between these two lovers?
Or the sweet music that the Espoused hears from the cross of her beloved? This
occupation is theirs, it is unknown to us; it belongs to them to know it. And
if there is a religious who does not know it, then she is not a true Spouse.
Just as God gave the Israelites manna from heaven only when the flour brought
from Egypt had run out, so the Sweet Spouse will not give the manna of
consolation until we run out of everything apart from God.
In the world young women often look in the mirror out
of vanity. The religious sister should also use a mirror, but in a different
way. The mirror is Jesus Christ and his Mother, the Virgin Mary. Wherever a
religious goes she should look in this mirror. If she cares for the sick in
hospitals, if she cares for disabled children in homes of mercy, if she cares
for the elderly, if she cares for the poor of every type, if she teaches in
schools, if she missions in villages, if she helps pregnant women, if she
comforts the dying, if she is in her cell, in the choir, in the refectory –
wherever she goes and wherever she is. In this mirror they must look at
themselves carefully and see if they are meek like He was, if they love each
other, given that he loves them so much; in short, if in everything they do
they walk in step with what He taught and did; in obedience, purity, fortitude,
spirit of service, and prayer…protecting themselves from birds of prey who,
disguised with spirituality and mysticism, try enter the dovecotes, not to help
the doves but to take advantage of another’s nest. They must never forget the
teaching of the Lord, “Be as shrewd as serpents and simple as doves” (Mt10:16).
