Homily from the rector – Sunday April 14, 2024 - Sanctuary of Lisieux - Basilica of Saint Thérèse (2024)

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To the disciples of Emmaus, Jesus, one could say, “put his foot down” so that they understood that what he had done on the evening of Maundy Thursday in the Paschal meal was really intended to be repeated . Jesus leads them, in this gesture of the breaking of bread, to understand that this is from now on how he will make himself present to his Church. The disciples from Emmaus run back to Jerusalem. They tell the Eleven what happened. They receive confirmation that Jesus is alive since they are told that he also appeared to Simon Peter. And we can think that after the disciples of Emmaus told what happened to them, this suggests to the apostles then for the first time to celebrate the Lord's Supper and, before the Ascension, the Lord visibly surrenders here. It is always the same reality, the same mystery that we celebrate. And in the same way, Jesus makes himself present - except that after the Ascension, we no longer see him with our eyes of flesh: we see him by faith.

Before the resurrected Christ, the apostles are seized with fear and fear. They believe they see a spirit and Jesus will show them that he is truly bodily resurrected. It could hardly be clearer: “Touch me, look: a spirit does not have flesh and bones like you see that I have.” And Jesus presents himself with the trace of the nails and the spear. As this is not yet enough for the apostles, Jesus asks if they have anything to eat, and the apostles will notice that the fish does not fall to the ground, but that the fish is really absorbed into the resurrected body of Jesus.

What is stopping them from believing? We are told here: “In their joy, they did not yet dare to believe it.” The gospel in the Greek text is more concise, it says: “as they did not believe because of joy” (ἀπιστούντων αὐτῶν ἀπὸ τῆς χαρᾶς). I really like this expression, as if joy were an obstacle, as if this joy was going to explode something inside them, as if this joy threatened them with destruction. And in fact, in a certain way, this joy linked to the resurrection of Jesus causes the old man, the sinful man, to die in us, so that the resurrected man may come into us, freed from the power of death, freed from the power of sin.

Thérèse helps us a lot to understand, or at least to hear, that what is first in salvation is the act of God. What is first in our conversion is Jesus who saves us by his death and resurrection. What is first in our relationship with God is the mercy of God who comes to save us. And when the apostles invite conversion – “Convert therefore and turn to God so that your sins may be blotted out” – what does that mean? Convert yourself and turn to God... It is effectively turning away from yourself, from this narcissistic look at yourself, to fix your eyes on Jesus, the author of our salvation, and turn to God, our Creator and our Savior.

What fascinates Saint Thérèse is this inexhaustible mercy of God.

What she contemplates is that God has so much love in himself that this mercy wants to be poured out on all flesh! And Thérèse contemplates that there are so few who want to welcome this mercy. Because to truly welcome mercy is to accept being in debt to God, to Jesus. And as Thérèse learns from Saint John of the Cross, “love is only repaid with love”. When I truly welcome God's mercy, then I have no other solution than to begin to love God and Jesus with a reciprocal love, a love of recognition, a love of gratitude which really makes Jesus prefer myself.

“How is it possible that the mother of my Lord comes to me? » cried Elizabeth at the Visitation (Lk 1,43:XNUMX). This cry is amplified within us: how is it possible that he whom I have crucified by my sins comes to me, in mercy, to console me for my own sins, to save me from my own sins and to train myself with Him to love as He loved us? Conversion, brothers and sisters, is not first of all renouncing sin: it is first of all renouncing the desire to save ourselves. Conversion is first of all welcoming Jesus the Savior. Conversion is accepting to be saved by him. And if I accept this, if I accept this immense joy, of having been so loved that God gave Jesus just for me — and when I say “just for me”, I understand that it is for everyone — when I welcome this joy, then my life changes.

In her Offering to Merciful Love, which she lives intuitively for the feast of the Holy Trinity, June 9, 1895, in which she will lead her sister Céline with the authorization of Mother Agnès — who does not quite understand what is happening - and in which she will draw others behind her, and in which she wants to draw us, in this offering to merciful love, Thérèse writes this and seeks to live this:

I would like to console you for the ingratitude of the wicked and I beg you to take away my freedom to displease you, if through weakness I fall sometimes that immediately your Divine Regard purifies my soul consuming all my imperfections, like the fire which transforms all thing in itself...

Listen carefully: when Thérèse considers that she could fall, that she could displease God, that she could sin, what is she asking? It does not ask to do penance, it does not ask to repair one's sins... If through weakness I sometimes fall, may your Divine Regard immediately purify my soul, consuming all my imperfections, like the fire which transforms everything into itself. It is Christ who saves us, and nothing else. It is his love that transforms us, and nothing else. It is not our poor efforts that transform us, it is the reception of his love. But the sign that we truly welcome his love is that we then allow ourselves to be led by him to love as he loved us.

And we hear with Saint John that “He who says I love God and he who does not love his brother is a liar”. The way the Lord Jesus wants to receive the love we have for Him is through our brothers and sisters: “What you did to the least of mine, you did to me” (Mt 25,40). Then we can hear Saint John: “My little children, I write this to you so that you avoid sin. But if one of us sins, we have a defender before the Father: Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. It is he who, through his sacrifice, obtains forgiveness of our sins, not only ours, but also those of the whole world. »

In contemplating the Risen One, let no one allow themselves to be afflicted by their own sins to the point of despairing of Salvation, but on the contrary, in contemplating the Resurrected One and the holy wounds that he bears on his hands, feet and side, let each can rejoice in having been so loved that from now on the doors of Heaven are open to him.

Amen