Bulletins from July 2023

In today’s gospel reading, Jesus presents the Reign of God in terms of a treasure buried in a field and a pearl of great price. People are willing to sell everything to possess the treasure and the pearl. As in recent previous weekends, Jesus was not teaching about searching and finding things that are of monetary value any more than He was teaching farmers how to plant their crops or to pull weeds. He was using images familiar to his hearers; in so many ways these images continue to resonate with us 2000 years later. In another place (Matthew 6:21), Jesus taught that “wherever your treasure is, there will your heart be.” It is for us to discern what is so important in our lives that we would be willing to do anything to pursue it, no matter the cost. Perhaps, the way to God’s Reign is to discover for ourselves what things are most important in our lives, for which we would be willing to give up everything else. So a question for each of us is this: “Where is your heart on this last weekend of July?

In the parables of this Sunday’s gospel reading from the thirteenth chapter of Saint Matthew (Weeds among the Wheat, Mustard Seed, and Yeast and Dough), Jesus teaches about the coming Reign of God and about God’s patience with what it takes to bring about that Reign. The Kingdom of Heaven will not be imposed on humanity from above. Rather, its coming is a slow and gradual process, the work in which we are engaged, according to the gifts given to each of us. And God remains patient with our efforts. Some people have declared that God’s Reign is here on earth. I do not think so! While the seeds of the Reign of God have been planted here, there is still much to be done to foster the values of justice, love, peace and life, but it must begin in our lives, in the ways we treat one another, the ways we vote, the ways we allow our beliefs to influence the direction of the common life we share as members of society.

A sower went out to sow [some seed]. That is what sowers did, as found in the dictionary: “One who scatters seed on the ground to be grown for food.” And it was the seed that germinated, extended its roots and grew. The sower in Jesus’ parable is indiscriminate. Some seed falls on the path, or on rocky ground, or among the thorns. Some, though, fell on rich soil. It is this that produced abundant fruit. Relating this parable about God’s word to the first reading from the prophet Isaiah, we hear that the word of the Lord is like the rain and snow that make the earth fertile: “So shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth; my word shall not return to me void, but shall do my will, achieving the end for which I sent it” (Isaiah 55:11). God is as indiscriminate as the sower of the seed, broadcasting His word to all of creation, “groaning in labor pains even until now” (Romans 8:22). It is for us to be that fertile soil that accepts and nurtures the word we have heard. We do so in the lives we lead, lives of love and care for one another and for all creation

“Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for yourselves. For my yoke is easy, and my burden light.” Some might think that being “meek and humble of heart” is the same as being weak. Jesus did not. Meekness and humility are demonstrations of love and gentleness, of the care God has for us through Jesus. The easy yoke and light burden refer to the rigid demands of the former law, which, in Jesus, gave way to the law that is characterized primarily by love. Meekness/gentleness and humility of heart do make us prone to vulnerability, but that is one of the marks of Christians who are willing to follow a crucified Savior. Should we not emulate the Lord in the ways we relate to one another?