The Sower and the Seed

15th Sunday in Ordinary Time
A cycle



Today’s first reading is clearly an introduction to the famous parable recounted in today’s gospel account of the sower and the seed. Isaiah compares the word of God to the rain and snow that make everything blossom and grow. Without this moisture which comes down from above there would be no life on earth. Obviously Isaiah is talking about much more than rain and snow. For him the word of God is more physical and more important than the rain and snow.

My word shall not return to me void,
But shall do my will,
Achieving the end for which I sent it.

In today’s parable Jesus shares Isaiah’s view. He even quotes from Isaiah. The parable of the sower and the seed is one of the most famous but it is also the only one which Jesus bothers to explain to his puzzled disciples. In Matthew’s account the seed, that is, the word of God, falls in different places with different results. Some falls on the hardened, trodden down path and is quickly eaten by the birds. Some falls on rocky ground where there is little soil to nourish it. Some falls among thorns or weeds which choke it. Finally, the rest falls on good soil and produces a bountiful harvest.

What is the meaning of this parable? After telling His disciples why He uses parables, Jesus then explains to them the meaning of this one. Let’s try to put His explanation in our own words. In the first place, He equates the seed sown in the path with those who hear the word of God without understanding it. Who could that be?

How many people today have only the most rudimentary knowledge of their own faith? For how many of us does our religious education stop with the 8th grade? Is there any other field of endeavor in which we would be content to stay at the 8th grade level? What would we think of a job application where the candidate’s schooling stopped at the 8th grade? Why do we spend thousands of dollars trying to get a college degree? What professional athlete would be content with 8th grade skills? Even when they make the pros they have to keep acquiring new skills in order to remain competitive. Why should life be any different?

The second case of the rocky ground is more difficult. We all know of people whose faith has been shaken and even lost by some setback, some sorrow, and even some tragedy. Our Lord speaks of tribulation. But today, how many people have lost their faith because of a bad marriage or a divorce? How many have lost it because of some word spoken by an insensitive priest or religious? How many have lost their faith because of the scandalous behavior of a few priests? Finally, it is so sad to see the death or illness of a loved one cause someone to question their beliefs.
We don’t have to work too hard to understand the third category.

The seed sown among thorns is the one who hears the word,
But then worldly anxiety and the lure of riches choke the word
And it bears no fruit.

Worldly anxiety is something we can all relate to. It requires no dramatic event or crisis. It creeps up on us slowly and before we know it we are in its grasp. Young people know how important it is to have friends, but often the desire to be popular and well liked can take over and ruin their lives. We all know that it is important for us to work hard in order to provide for the basic needs of our families, but how often do we see men and women so consumed by their work that their families are seriously hurt in the process of getting ahead? Even the elderly can fall into a daily routine that chokes them like the thorns in today’s gospel.

Life is full of snares and traps. Maybe that is what St. Paul had in mind in today’s reading from the Letter to the Romans.

for creation was made subject to futility,
not of its own accord but because of the one who subjected it.

There is no denying that there is pain and suffering in the world. Paul continually urges his followers to remain steadfast in their beliefs and not to turn their backs on God, or ignore the teaching of his Son, Jesus. As in any endeavor there is a reward for perseverance.

I consider that the sufferings of the present time are as nothing
Compared with the glory to be revealed.


Reading 1. Isaiah 55: 10-11
Reading II. Romans 8:18-23
Gospel. Matthew 13: 1-23 (A sower went out to sow).


























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My Yoke is Easy

14th Sunday in Ordinary Time
A cycle

Reading 1. Zechariah 9: 9-10
Reading II. Romans 8:9, 1-13
Gospel. Matthew 11: 25-30 (my yoke is easy)

After celebrating the three great feasts, Pentecost, Trinity Sunday, and Corpus Christi, that bring the Easter season to its conclusion, we now enter again into what the Church calls Ordinary time. Ordinary time refers to that time of the Church year that is not associated with Christmas or Easter. During Ordinary time the priest will usually wear vestments of green, the color of hope. In a way these Sundays after Easter will give us an idea of what the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Jesus means for us.

In today’s first reading from the Book of Zechariah the prophet speaks of a day when the burdens laid on people by their oppressors will be lifted.

He shall banish the chariot from Ephraim,
And the horse from Jerusalem;
The warrior’s bow shall be banished,
and he shall proclaim peace to the nations.

Chariots, horses, the warriors bow are instruments of oppression and military conquest. The overlords of the people often put heaven burdens on their subjects. Even today on the Fourth of July we celebrate our own Declaration of Independence whereby our founding fathers through off the yoke of British oppression.

However, even though we live in the freest country in the World, there is a kind of oppression or burden that hits very close to home. So many of us have had a yoke placed upon our shoulders by our friends and family. Indeed, sometimes we are the ones who have placed the burden on our own shoulders.

I will never forget an incident that occurred years ago when I was a financial advisor. I visited an elderly couple in their home one evening to look over their finances. The man sat stooped over the kitchen table after his long commute home. The train ride to New York City took over an hour each way, but then he had to take a subway, and then walk a few blocks to his office. He hated the long commute and was sick of his job, which he had been doing for years.

After looking over the financial situation, I told them that there was no reason for him to continue working. They lived very frugally, and the income from their savings and investments was more than enough for them to retire comfortably. I was amazed when the man slowly raised his head and shoulders as if a great burden had been lifted. This miracle was not my doing but theirs. They had worked hard but just didn’t realize how well they had done.

It’s the same thing with most of us. I’m not just talking about finances now. Why do teenagers seem to be so gloomy and depressed? Why is there such addiction among young people? Why is there such a high rate of teen suicide? Why, in the years when they should feel the most free, do young people have to do say what their friends want to hear; have to follow peer pressure and do what their friends want them to do? Why do they feel that they must smoke this, or drink that in order to be socially acceptable?

As we get older the burdens seem to get even greater. We all know the stress of family relationships, job insecurity, raising children, or caring for aged parents. Half the country seems to be on some sort of medication, legal or illegal, to relieve the burdens. Who is there to lift the yoke from our backs.

Here is a good way to tell a true from a false friend. A true friend helps us to bear life’s burdens; a false one just piles more weight on our backs. In fact, the good friend is the one who actually lightens the load by sharing it with us. In today’s gospel Jesus is trying to make us realize that our burdens have been lifted.

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;…
For my yoke is easy, and my burden light.

Christ suffered so that we would not have to. He told us to be humble and not proud; to care for our neighbor instead of always thinking of ourselves. He was always healing people. Did he ever hurt anyone? Jesus continually criticized the Pharisees for their rules and regulations that put innumerable burdens on people.

St. Paul was born and raised a Pharisee. In fact, he said he was a kind of super-Pharisee who followed all rules to their minutest detail. After his conversion, however, he realized that that to living in the Spirit and not in the flesh was the road to happiness.

For if you live according to the flesh, you will die,
But if by the Spirit, you put to death the deeds of the body,
You will live.

Right before today’s Eucharistic prayer, the priest will ask the congregation to “lift up your hearts.”

Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ

Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ: A Cycle


After the completion of the Easter season, we are presented with three great feast days, all designed to follow up and reinforce the great message of Easter. Two weeks ago we celebrated the great feast of Pentecost commemorating the descent of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles and on us. Last week we celebrated the feast of the Holy Trinity which brought to mind the ways in which God works in our world. Today we celebrate the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, formally the feast of Corpus Christi, which celebrates our intimate relationship with Jesus, Himself.

Today’s first reading takes us back to the wanderings of the Israelites in the desert after their escape from the bondage of slavery in Egypt. Moses reminds them of how the Lord has sustained them on their long journey. They had been fed with manna, a new and miraculous food unknown to them and their fathers. This had been done in order to show them that,

Not by bread alone does one live,
But by every word that comes forth
From the mouth of the Lord.

In the beginning of the John’s gospel Jesus, himself, is called the Word of God. Today’s gospel from the 6th chapter of that gospel contains the hardest, perhaps the most difficult, words that Jesus ever uttered. They were so difficult that not only did they strike consternation among His Jewish hearers, but they also caused some of His disciples to leave Him. He said.

I am the living bread that came down from heaven;
Whoever eats this bread will live forever;
And the bread that I will give
Is my flesh for the life of the world.

To make his point clear He repeats it over and over.

Amen, amen, I say to you,
Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood,
You do not have life within you.

This was especially shocking and disgusting to the Jews because of their traditional abhorrence to eating even the blood of animals. These words remain a stumbling block today to many who cannot accept them as literally true. What are we to make of them? How do we eat His flesh and drink His blood?
Of course Catholics have always believed that it is in the Holy Eucharist. At the Last Supper, Jesus took bread into His hands, broke it, and gave it to them to eat saying that it was His Body. He also took the cup of wine and told them to drink it for it was His Blood. No Pope or theologian made this up. We get it from Jesus Himself. We live by the Word of God; Jesus is the Word of God: and “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my Blood remains in Me and I in him.”

What could the Apostles have been thinking when they saw Jesus take the bread, offer thanks, break it, and then say, "This is my body that is for you?" How could the bread be His Body? Or what about, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood." How could the wine be His Blood? We know that they believed it because He said it and because He would raise His Body from the dead only three days later. We also know that the first Christian communities also believed it and from the beginning repeated the Lord's words whenever they gathered together "in remembrance of Him."

Since the beginnings of Christianity theologians have tried to come to a better understanding of what our Lord meant. In the Middle Ages they came up with an explanation that is as good as any that has been offered since. Guided by the rediscovery of the works of ancient Greek scientists and philosophers, theologians like St. Thomas Aquinas developed the concept of "transubstantiation."

Like most scientific words "transubstantiation" is a long word made up of different parts in order to give greater clarity and precision. But if we break the word down into its parts, we will get a better idea of what it means. First, let's deal with the prefix, "tran." It means going from one thing to another, like in transport or transmit. The suffix, "ation", at the end of the word means a process or action, like in transportation. So if we get rid of the prefix and suffix, we're left with the root or core of the word, "substance." Now "sub" means under and "stance" comes from the Latin verb, "stare" which means, "to stand."

When we deal with substance we're dealing with that which stands under a thing, it's real core, what it is. So "transubstantiation" means that the bread and wine although they still look, and feel, and taste like bread and wine, have become something else. It's something like when we advance through the different stages of life, from infancy to old age. Although our bodies change, aren't we always the same person?

However, transubstantiation is an attempt to explain a mystery. It is not the mystery itself. Like the early Christians we believe that the Body and Blood of Christ are truly present in the Sacrament of the Eucharist because our Lord said so at the first Eucharist. What we do today at each Mass is what the first Christians did from the very beginning. As St. Paul said in today’s second reading,

The cup of blessing that we bless,
Is it not a participation in the blood of Christ?
The bread that we break,
Is it not a participation in the body of Christ?

Reading 1. Deuteronomy 8: 2-3, 14b-16a
Reading II. 1 Corinthians 10: 16-17
Gospel. John 6: 51-59 (the living bread).

Trinity Sunday and Father's Day

Fra Filippo Lippi's painting of the vision of St. Bernard includes the Trinity.


On Trinity Sunday one is reminded of the great saint and philosopher, St. Augustine. There is a well known story that one day Augustine was thinking about the Trinity while walking upon the seashore. He came upon a little boy who was busy emptying pails of water into a hole he had dug upon the beach. Augustine asked him what he was doing, and the boy replied that he was trying to empty the sea into the hole. When Augustine told the boy that he was attempting the impossible, the boy replied that Augustine in trying to understand the mystery of the Trinity was also attempting the impossible.

Nevertheless, the boy's advice did not stop Augustine from writing a treatise on the Trinity. Nor has it stopped theologians and homilists from writing millions of words about the Trinity ever since. None of these words would ever have been written if our Lord had not repeatedly referred to the Trinity during His time on earth. The Church did not invent the idea of the Holy Trinity, our Lord did.

Today's gospel passage begins with the famous gospel verse, John 3:16, which we often see on tee shirts and on placards at sporting events. "God so loved the world that he gave His only son..." John is quoting the words of Jesus here, words which speak of the special relationship between God and His Son. In our second reading from St. Paul's second letter to the Corinthians, Paul refers to the Holy Trinity using words that we now use at the beginning of every Mass.

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ
and the love of God
and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with all of you.

Neither Paul, nor Augustine, or anyone else would have come to the idea of three persons in one God by the use of reason alone. Reason had led even the pagan philosophers to conclude that the many gods of antiquity were fraudulent, even comical. Reason had led them to conclude even before the time of Christ that there could only be one God. Of course, the Jews had come to this realization even before the philosophers.

Still, only the words of Christ opened up the idea that this one God contained three Divine Persons. Let's pause for a minute and consider the meaning of the word "person." The Latin word "persona" means the mask or masks that ancient actors wore to express different characters or emotions. We've all seen pictures of these masks, some with smiles and others with frowns, which the actors held over their faces while playing their roles. It's similar to the way our TV newsmen will look glum while reporting a tragic story but then smile when the next story deals with the rescue of a cat from a tree.

We often today think of our "personality" or "persona" as something different from ourselves. No matter what we are like inside, our personality is the way we appear to the world outside of us. Looking at it this way, couldn't we say that there are many persons in any one of us. A man could be a husband to his wife, a father to his children, a son to his own parents, a friend to his friend, etc. A woman would not be the same person to her husband as she is to her children, or her parents, or her friends.

Certainly Jesus meant much more when He talked about the relationship of the Persons of the Trinity. And I don't mean to suggest that God wears masks. I am merely saying that He has chosen to appear to us in different ways. I know that this is not a scientific explanation but if we consider the Trinity, we will see that our Lord is telling us that it is possible to have a warmer, more intimate relationship with God than our reason could ever imagine. Just imagine that the same God who created not only this world but all the worlds keeps them in existence by love alone. He actually came into our world as one of us. Then after He suffered, died, and rose from the dead, He sent His own Spirit to dwell in us and guide us.

Some poor heretics throughout history have been unable to accept this divine intimacy. For some Jesus was God but never truly a man. How could God lower Himself in such a way? For others, Jesus was a good man but certainly not God. How could a man be God?
We say, however, that what kind of a God would it be who couldn't do it, or who wouldn't do it?

Who would want a different God? God is not a white haired old man sitting on some mountain top waiting to zap us with lightning bolts when we do wrong. He is not some force of nature that guides our evolutionary progress. Neither is He some kind of unconcerned creator who made the world and then ignored it. St. John tells us that God is Love. The Book of Proverbs says that God "found delight with the human race." Our creed tells us that God sent His Son to be one of us, and to suffer and die for us. St. Paul says that the grace of God is our hope,

and hope does not disappoint,
because the love of God has been poured into our hearts
through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.

We have a mystical relationship with the Trinity. Because of the Trinity we can with Jesus call God, "Abba" or "Father." We can call Jesus, "our brother." Finally, we can say that the Spirit of God lives not in the faraway heavens, but in our very selves.

Speaking of fathers, here is a little prayer for fathers on this Father’s Day.

Our Father in Heaven, we thank you for all the fathers on earth who,
Like St. Joseph, accept the responsibility to care for and love their children.
May you strengthen them with the kindness, patience and wisdom they need
To encourage and guide their children.
May they be supported by a steadfast wife, a caring family and good friends.
Most of all, may they know that you and you alone are the source of all that is
Good and truly valuable in this world.


Reading 1. Exodus 34: 4b-6, 8-9
Reading II. 2 Corinthians 13: 11-13
Gospel. John 3: 16-18 (God so loved the world).













































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