Love your neighbor who doesn't look like you, speak like you, vote like you, love like you. Love your neighbor. No exceptions.

 

Eleventh Sunday in OT B  2021

 

The kingdom of God is like.    Jesus often used this expression in speaking about the kingdom of God, the reign of God. 

The kingdom of God is the person of God.  where God reigns, where god is respected, where god is thought about, where god works among a people who care and love and are with him, this is what the kingdom of god is like.

Then Jesus told us parables to explain the mystery of the KINGDOM OF God.  In today’s Gospel, Jesus told two parables drawn from agriculture which was very familiar to the people Jesus was talking to.

In today’s parables, our focus is drawn to seeds and how they grow.  The farmer sows the seeds, and miraculously they grow. 

The Bauman’s should give this homily, not by self, don’t you think they understand the science and the beauty of the growth of seeds far better than I.

Or I must say, I am inspired by the beauty of the grounds we have at holy spirit.  A major shout out to megan and kristen donaher for their magnificence work in our parish gardens.  They also are assisted by the next generation of Rademachers – jake, fiona, julia and i’m not sure if siobhan helps out as of yet.

Back to the gospel, the first parable is sometimes called the “Parable of the Seed Growing Secretly.”  “This is how it is with the Kingdom of God:  it is as if a man were to scatter seed on the land and would sleep and rise night and day and through it all the seed would sprout and grow, he knows not how.  A good gardener would disagree with me a bit on that.

The MESSAGE FOR us in this parable is in the Kingdom of God, God is in charge.  God gives the growth. your heavenly father never sleeps, never stops loving, never stops reaching out.   INDEED, there is a profound truth in us reaffirming that God cares and god is in charge.

In the second parable, the kingdom of God is like a mustard seed sown in the ground; it is the smallest of all the seeds on the earth.  But once it is sown, it springs up and becomes the largest of plants and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the sky can dwell in its shade.”

The message is there is a mustard seed planted in the heart of each one of us on the day of our baptism.  It is the life of Christ Jesus that is within us.  This mustard has incredible potential to become within us the wellspring of eternal life.

A most important message is we must never forget who the sower is and who is the seed.  Yes, it is God who gives the growth.  As St. Paul in the second reading, we walk by faith, not by sight.

 

 

A couple of examples.

St Therese of Lisieux, the little flower.  She did not see herself to be the mighty rose but just a mere little SUNFLOWER, a mustard seed if you will.  Her mantra was simply to do little things with great love.  For THERESE, ALL is grace.  We can be assured the grace of God is at work in the most insignificant of ways.  St Therese is known as one of the great doctors in the history of the Church but she saw herself as a little flower, a mustard seed but what she is all is grace. 

In the simple ways that you serve and help and love in your family like, like Therese, do little things with great love and believe that all is grace.  The grace of God is present to you 24/7.

Another example:  the simple life of Jorge Mario Brogolio, this humble Argentinian who we probably never heard just a few years ago.  The mustard seed of this simple, humble man has become Pope Francis who has exercised such a Christ-like leadership in the Church.  Who would have thought???  Pope Francis opened himself up to the plan of God for his life.

What of the mustard seed of the Church of the Holy Spirit?  We can feel sorry for ourselves for not having more income, more parishioners, more staff, a Catholic school and so on and so on.

Rather than feeling sorry for ourselves, we are called as a faith community to keep scattering seeds on the land as is suggested in the Gospel parables and to trust that God is in charge.  That God gives the growth.    I can assure you that if we keep scattering the seeds of faith on the ground in Webster, in Penfield and we trust that God gives the growth.  In god’s time, this mustard will become the largest of bushes.

Today’s scriptures are about the mystery of growth and renewal – the seed of God’s grace and love in our hearts and in the world about us.  As we worry about the Church and whether people are practicing their faith as well as we think they should, may we always deeply believe that the mustard seed of God’s grace is within us and within all.  In ways we do not know how, may we trust that God is in charge, that God gives the growth.  By all means, we like the farmer in the parable need to plant the seed in the ground and water the seeds to provide for growth. 

The way this gets translated in our parish life is YES, we need to be PEOPLE OF prayer.  Daily prayer needs to be part of the rhythm of our lives.  We need to provide the very best faith formation we can for young and old alike.  We need to be engaged in SOCIAL OUTREACH that reaches out in the service of God’s poor.  This is our way of planting the seed of God’s grace and watering it.

But may we leave the results to God.  God WILL GIVE the growth PERHAPS IN ways beyond our understanding.  But it is God who is in charge.

If we dare to give god a blank check to do with us according to his plan, we will approach the faith and trust of Mary who said:  i am the handmaid of the lord; be it done according to thy word.

 

 

 

 

love your neighbor

who doesn’t

look like you

think like you

love like you

speak like you

pray like you

vote like you

love your neighbor

no exceptions

 

 

 

have a blessed day.