Homily Third Friday of Ordinary Time (Mk. 35-41) “Put Some Mustard on It”
Homily Third Friday of Ordinary Time (Mk. 35-41) “Put Some Mustard on It”
When I think of mustard, I think of the stuff that comes in the yellow plastic container. I thought this was what Jesus was talking about when I first heard this little parable read in church.
Only as time has passed has the real meaning of what Jesus was speaking about hit home. A mustard plant was a weed. The weed was something that you would want to get rid of sort of like dandelions in your yard.
It was true that the seed that was being talked about was a very small one and it was accurate to say that a mustard plant could grow to be very large. You might want to pull the small plant before it got out of control.
What is most difficult to grasp is why a farmer would want to sow weeds in his field. Why would anyone want to deliberately sow weeds anywhere? Another thing that is odd is that Jesus would use this as an image for how the Kingdom arrives in life.
If we were to speculate, we would have to say that the Kingdom of God is not something that we are going to prevent. Jesus’ message is something that spreads like an uncontrollable weed. Also, it grows once it takes root to unimagined heights.
If we let the Gospel talk hold in our hearts, we may find that we will do things we never thought we would do. We might volunteer for ministry. We might catch ourselves doing charitable things for people that we never would have volunteered to do before. If we let the Kingdom reign in our life, we will become interested in religious activities that we had no interest in. We might also forget earthly ambitions in order to concentrate to spiritual matters.
Another thing we might say is that God often takes useless or annoying things like a weed and transforms them for his purposes. Events in our life that seem to have no benefit might, in the end, be a source of great grace.
Reflection Questions:
- Do I want to control my life with God? Is that realistic?
- Has God pulled me into a deeper relationship at certain points in my life? When and how did that occur?
Dear Parishioners,
Thursday we were able to have Mass in the Church with the third and fourth graders from Seton School. We also live streamed to the other children in their classrooms. It was good to be able to celebrate the liturgy with the children again, even if it was not the ideal. As I was told, the children need this because it represents some normalcy for them. It also is a sacramental grace that may sustain them through a rough period.
We remembered Louann Goodnight at Mass. She was our art teacher and she died last weekend after battling cancer for the last several years. Please remember her family in prayer. She was active in the school right up to the end and had given her life to being a Catholic school teacher.
May Our Lady and all the Angels and Saints watch over you today.
Fr. Mark