Here is my homily from last night. God bless!
I was talking to someone today who told of an elderly man who had died years ago. This man sounded like a very simple gentlemen who lived a very simple life. I could not help to later reflect on three of my great-uncles: Jim, Joe and Eddy. They were brothers. Jim married and had a family, but Joe and Eddy were bachelors who farmed together. They were very, very, very simple men. Joe and Eddy especially, lived a very simple life that never really kept up with the times. They understood things in a very simple way; nothing was complicated about them.
I have never met any other men more simple in lifestyle, or firmer in their faith.
We celebrate today the memorial of St. Terese of the Child Jesus. St. Terese died in the late 1890s at a very young age. When she was 15 years old, she entered the convent, and she struggled to understand what her particular vocation was to be. She searched the Scriptures, and came upon St. Paul’s epistles, and there learned what she would call the simple life. She discovered that to live life simply out of love was the way for her. So, she went about her day, embracing the simple things of life and doing all of it out of love. This included how she did the dishes, how she laundered the clothing, how she greeted her fellow sisters (some of whom treated her rudely). She discovered that simplicity in love was the way of holiness.
To you young people here today, I tell you that the world will try to get you to believe that the more complex, fancy and complicated you make your life, the happier you will become. It simply is not true. Even though most of you will never enter a convent, you too can embrace a life of loving simplicity. You can follow the example of St. Terese and follow the simple life lived in love. This will bring you happiness.
Yes, my great uncles Jim, Joe and Eddy were men of great simplicity and faith. They always treated me very kindly, so I believe they also were men of simple love.
May all of us ask for the intercession of St. Terese today. May we follow her example.
