Category: Uncategorized

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1 Corinthians 12:31 – 13:13

Brothers and sisters:
Strive eagerly for the greatest spiritual gifts.
But I shall show you a still more excellent way.

If I speak in human and angelic tongues,
but do not have love,
I am a resounding gong or a clashing cymbal.
And if I have the gift of prophecy,
and comprehend all mysteries and all knowledge;
if I have all faith so as to move mountains,
but do not have love, I am nothing.
If I give away everything I own,
and if I hand my body over so that I may boast,
but do not have love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient, love is kind.
It is not jealous, it is not pompous,
It is not inflated, it is not rude,
it does not seek its own interests,
it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury,
it does not rejoice over wrongdoing
but rejoices with the truth.
It bears all things, believes all things,
hopes all things, endures all things.

Love never fails.
If there are prophecies, they will be brought to nothing;
if tongues, they will cease;
if knowledge, it will be brought to nothing.
For we know partially and we prophesy partially,
but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away.
When I was a child, I used to talk as a child,
think as a child, reason as a child;
when I became a man, I put aside childish things.
At present we see indistinctly, as in a mirror,
but then face to face.
At present I know partially;
then I shall know fully, as I am fully known.
So faith, hope, love remain, these three;
but the greatest of these is love.

The Word of the Lord.

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I’m a sucker for today’s second reading – Saint Paul’s most famous words on love – as are many couples on their wedding day.

It just sounds so romantic: “If I do not have love, I am nothing. Love is patient, love is kind. It is not jealous, it is not pompous. It does not seek its own interests… Love never fails.”

And while that’s true – love never fails – what is love?

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I often ask engaged couples that question while helping to prepare them for marriage. “You are promising to love one another for the rest of your life, so what is it? How would you define love?”

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One of the most recent answers I received came from a groom-to-be. I asked him, “How would you define love?”

And after a few seconds of the “deer-in-headlights” look, he said, “What, am I supposed to answer that?”

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Love can be hard to define. Yet it’s what created the cosmos; it’s the reason why we exist; it’s the one, often elusive, thing that every human heart craves. Scripture even tells us, “God IS love.”

So, what is it?

Perhaps the best definition that I’ve read comes from William Shakespeare’s famous play, Romeo and Juliet. Maybe you’ve heard me use this before, but I believe it’s worth repeating.

In the famous balcony scene, a young Juliet gazes down upon Romeo and says, “Romeo, the more I give to you, the more I seem to have.”

Juliet had everything the world could offer: a palace, servants, and the blue blood of royalty running through her veins. But without love, as Saint Paul would say, she’d be, “a resounding gong or a clashing cymbal.”

Juliet learned to live in a world of “we,” not “me,” by discovering the strange, scary truth about love: the more we give ourselves away, the more we seem to have.

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This idea of giving oneself away is a law written by God into all of creation.

It’s the law of self-donation.

For example, the sun does not shine on itself; it gives its light away to warm and brighten the earth. 

Rivers do not drink their own water. 

Trees do not eat their own fruit. They offer it for the nourishment of others. Meanwhile, their branches stretch towards the heavens to offer others shade from the noonday heat.

Flowers release their fragrance.

Everything and everyone is meant to offer themselves for the good of others – a husband to his wife, a parent to their child, a shepherd to his flock, one friend to another, or a Christian to another in need.

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Allow me share an example of love in action, that has tugged at my heart.

There’s a woman who’s been suffering from cancer for the last seven years. She’s fought the cancer tooth and nail and is one of the most resilient people I’ve ever met. But her mobility has been compromised to the point that she’s nearly paralyzed.

Recently, she said to me, “Father, the only thing I want is to go to Mass.” 

And for the last two weeks, a friend of hers has managed to carry her from her wheel chair into her car, back into her wheelchair, and finally here into church, positioning her near the altar, and covering her with a blanket.

Carrying a paralyzed friend to Mass. That’s love.

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In what ways do we also love other people? Or, how do we give ourselves away?

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It’s the mom making mac and cheese for the hundredth time, the dad attending soccer practice, a smile from the cashier at the grocery store, a grandfather tossing baseballs with his grandson despite his arthritis, a loving note sent in the mail to a friend, a teenager cleaning the house when they’d rather be outside.

Love is anything that inspires us to live in a world of “we,” not “me.” And that love is all around us. 

Together, may we bear all things, believe all things, hope all things, and endure all things.

Because love never fails.

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Image credits: (1) NIV Bible, It Never Fails (2) Brainy Readers (3) Catherine, OnSpritsWings.com

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Mark 4:26-34

Jesus said to the crowds:
“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 the seed would sprout and grow,
he knows not how.
Of its own accord the land yields fruit,
first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear.
And when the grain is ripe, he wields the sickle at once,
for the harvest has come.”

He said,
“To what shall we compare the Kingdom of God,
or what parable can we use for it?
It is like a mustard seed that, when it is sown in the ground,
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.”
With many such parables
he spoke the word to them as they were able to understand it.
Without parables he did not speak to them,
but to his own disciples he explained everything in private.

The Gospel of the Lord.

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In April 2020, a ninety-nine-year-old British World War Two veteran, Captain Tom Moore, wanted to raise money to support people who became ill with COVID-19.

He promised to walk one-hundred laps around his garden with his walker before his 100^th birthday, only a few weeks away.

His goal was $1,250. Then his story went viral. In all, Captain Tom captivated the hearts of 1.5 million people, raising over $40 million!

What started as a humble effort to help a neighbor in need exploded into a global obsession.

Captain Tom’s story reminds us that God works in mysterious ways, often using simple ideas and ordinary people – mustard seeds – to change the world.

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Jesus did the same. He set the world on fire with the call of Saint Peter, then the other eleven Apostles. Two-thousand years later, the Church has grown by more than 1 million percent!

The power of a mustard seed.

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Or consider what’s happened in our own parish.

A year ago, our soup kitchen was closed. Then a mustard seed was planted. Three people joined. Then four. Then five. Today we have over twenty volunteers who feed the hungry among us!

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A ninety-nine-year-old man raises $40 million.

The Church grows by one-million percent.

Our own parish experiences renewal.

It all begins with a mustard seed.

Imagine what the Lord can do through you.

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Image credits: (1) Desert Streams Ministries (2) Captain Tom Moore, Wikipedia (3) Herbal Academy

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Gospel: Mark 4:1-20

On another occasion, Jesus began to teach by the sea.
A very large crowd gathered around him 
so that he got into a boat on the sea and sat down.
And the whole crowd was beside the sea on land.
And he taught them at length in parables, 
and in the course of his instruction he said to them, 
“Hear this! A sower went out to sow.
And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path, 
and the birds came and ate it up.
Other seed fell on rocky ground where it had little soil.
It sprang up at once because the soil was not deep.
And when the sun rose, it was scorched and it withered for lack of roots.  
Some seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it 
and it produced no grain.
And some seed fell on rich soil and produced fruit.
It came up and grew and yielded thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold.”
He added, “Whoever has ears to hear ought to hear.”

And when he was alone, 
those present along with the Twelve 
questioned him about the parables.
He answered them, 
“The mystery of the Kingdom of God has been granted to you.
But to those outside everything comes in parables, so that
they may look and see but not perceive,
and hear and listen but not understand,
in order that they may not be converted and be forgiven.”

Jesus said to them, “Do you not understand this parable?
Then how will you understand any of the parables?
The sower sows the word.
These are the ones on the path where the word is sown.
As soon as they hear, Satan comes at once
and takes away the word sown in them.
And these are the ones sown on rocky ground who,
when they hear the word, receive it at once with joy.
But they have no roots; they last only for a time.
Then when tribulation or persecution comes because of the word,
they quickly fall away.
Those sown among thorns are another sort.
They are the people who hear the word,
but worldly anxiety, the lure of riches,
and the craving for other things intrude and choke the word,
and it bears no fruit.
But those sown on rich soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it
and bear fruit thirty and sixty and a hundredfold.”

The Gospel of the Lord.

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I’m sure we all want our hearts filled with that fertile soil which Jesus blesses in today’s Gospel. It bears thirty, sixty, or a hundred-fold.

But fertile soil is only fertile because it has first been wounded.

Think about it.

In order to make soil fertile, you must break it open, crush it, and repeatedly separate it. Only after this set period of chaos, is the ground ready to receive life.

And when placed inside that soft, broken ground, seeds begin to grow. Some become strong, sturdy plants. Any plant that bears good fruit was once a tiny seed placed inside broken, fertile soil.

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The same is true with us.

When we experience heartache or sorrow, our hearts are broken like fertile soil. That wound within will bear fruit – thirty, sixty, or a hundred-fold.

But Jesus tells us that we have a say in what type of fruit that will be. 

Without faith, our hearts can dry up like dirt, leading to bitterness and anger.                         

But with faith, we can mysteriously begin to bear good fruit – thirty, sixty, or a hundredfold.  

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For example, knowing the sorrow that death brings, can allow us to minister to others in a more compassionate way. 

Knowing the twinge of hunger can motivate us to feed others.

Knowing the ache of desolation can inspire us to pray for others, whose inner well has run dry. 

In the words of one spiritual writer, Jesus can transform us into, “wounded healers.” I know from my own experience, God has used the more painful experiences in my life to make me a more empathetic, merciful minister.

May the Lord take whatever is broken within us and bless it, so that we can bear good fruit – thirty, sixty, or a hundredfold.

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Image credits: (1) A Call to Men (2) Fertile Fields, by Scott Cameron (3) SJB School on Twitter