Jesus entered a village where a woman whose name was Martha welcomed him. She had a sister named Mary who sat beside the Lord at his feet listening to him speak. Martha, burdened with much serving, came to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me by myself to do the serving? Tell her to help me.” The Lord said to her in reply, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things. There is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part and it will not be taken from her.”
The Gospel of the Lord.
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Someone once said to me, “You may be the only bible a person ever reads.”
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Our words and actions either lend credibility to the Christian faith or detract from it.
Today we celebrate the life of Saint Francis of Assisi, a man who lived his life by the bible he read. No one had to read the Gospels to learn about who Jesus is; they could just look at Francis.
We all know his story: He was born into a wealthy Italian family in the 13th century, but he left everything behind in order to live a life of poverty and obedience. By the end of his life, he helped to reform the Church.
Perhaps what is less known about Francis is how literally he took Jesus’ words.
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One afternoon, in the middle of the public square, a teenage Francis declared before the bishop his desire to be of service to the Church. So, the bishop instructed him to renounce his father’s fortune.
On the spot, Francis removed the clothing he was wearing and placed all of his money on top of them.
Naked, he professed his faith – and lived it out for the rest of his life.
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On his deathbed, he said to his religious brothers – the first Franciscans – “I have done what is mine to do. Now you must do what is yours to do.”
That’s a timeless reminder to us all.
What has God given me to do?
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Whatever it may be, do it well. You may be the only bible a person ever reads.
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Image credits: (1) www.stfrancisofassisiparish.org (2) Ordo Fratrum Minorum (3) LetterPile
There was a scholar of the law who stood up to test Jesus and said, “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus said to him, “What is written in the law? How do you read it?” He said in reply, “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your being, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” He replied to him, “You have answered correctly; do this and you will live.”
But because he wished to justify himself, he said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” Jesus replied, “A man fell victim to robbers as he went down from Jerusalem to Jericho. They stripped and beat him and went off leaving him half-dead. A priest happened to be going down that road, but when he saw him, he passed by on the opposite side. Likewise a Levite came to the place, and when he saw him, he passed by on the opposite side. But a Samaritan traveler who came upon him was moved with compassion at the sight. He approached the victim, poured oil and wine over his wounds and bandaged them. Then he lifted him up on his own animal, took him to an inn, and cared for him. The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper with the instruction, ‘Take care of him. If you spend more than what I have given you, I shall repay you on my way back.’ Which of these three, in your opinion, was neighbor to the robbers’ victim?” He answered, “The one who treated him with mercy.” Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”
The Gospel of the Lord.
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Mother Teresa was once walking the streets of Calcutta, when suddenly she passed by a homeless man dying on the street.
He smelled sour. Maggots were nibbling on his body.
Naturally, she became repulsed by the sight and smell, so she moved to the other side of the street in order to avoid him and go about her day.
But within a matter of seconds, she regretted her instincts as she remembered Christ’s words, “Whatever you do unto the least of my brothers and sisters, you do to me.”
This man was Jesus in a sour, disfigured disguise.
So, she turned around and knelt next to him. He was so starved that Mother Teresa – a woman barely five feet tall – was able to pick him up and carry him back to her home for the dying.
Upon arriving, the man looked up into her eyes and breathed his last.
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Within that short, powerful vignette, we find two sides of the human heart.
There’s our natural, instinctive side that ignores other people’s suffering; that urges us not to get our hands dirty; that says we cannot make a difference in the grander scheme of things; that stays focused on our own schedule and our own needs.
Then there’s the side pierced by faith.
The Holy Spirit moved Mother Teresa’s heart that day, reminding her that every person on earth can be considered her neighbor, even a helpless man dying on the streets.
Looking back, Mother Teresa said, “We can do nothing extraordinary, only ordinary things with extraordinary love.”
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How can I access that pierced side of my heart and follow her example, loving my neighbor in an ordinary way with extraordinary love?
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Whatever we do to that person, we do to Christ himself.
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Image credits: (1) Pinterest (2) America Magazine (3) Pinterest
The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith.” The Lord replied, “If you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you would say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.
“Who among you would say to your servant who has just come in from plowing or tending sheep in the field, ‘Come here immediately and take your place at table’? Would he not rather say to him, ‘Prepare something for me to eat. Put on your apron and wait on me while I eat and drink. You may eat and drink when I am finished’? Is he grateful to that servant because he did what was commanded? So should it be with you. When you have done all you have been commanded, say, ‘We are unprofitable servants; we have done what we were obliged to do.'”
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.
He promised to walk one-hundred laps around his garden with his walker before his 100th birthday, only a few weeks away.
His goal was to raise one-thousand British pounds, roughly $1,200.
Then his story went viral. What started as a humble effort to help a neighbor exploded into a global obsession.
Captain Tom captivated the hearts of 1.5 million people, raising over $40 million!
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Captain Tom’s story reminds us that God works in mysterious ways, often using simple ideas and ordinary people to change the world.
A mustard seed, as Jesus says in the Gospel, is the smallest of seeds. But when sown into the ground, it becomes the largest of plants.
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Consider another “mustard seed” story: Mother Teresa.
In 1950, she started a small religious order in India, whose mission was, in her words, “To care for the hungry, the naked, the homeless, the crippled, the blind, the lepers, all those people who feel unwanted, unloved, uncared for throughout society.”
Who would be interested in leaving a comfortable existence behind to follow her?
Today there are over 5,000 Missionaries of Charity serving in 139 countries with 760 homes for the homeless, the sick, and the dying.
Volunteers from our own parish prepare food every Monday morning in our soup kitchen and hand deliver it to the Missionaries of Charity in Newark, where they feed the hungry.
The world’s attention – our attention – turned to the poorest of the poor.
And all started with a single mustard seed 70 years ago.
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The same is true for the Church.
Jesus started with twelve Apostles. They were ordinary men; uneducated; tax collectors; fishermen; sinners. One of them, Judas, even betrayed Jesus, abandoning him and the others.
Mysteriously, the Church has grown since then by one-million percent! Nearly 1 in 6 people – 1.2 billion on earth – identify as Catholic.
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A 99-year-old man with a walker fundraises $40 million.
A nun from nowhere propels poverty onto the world stage.
A Church with one billion followers starts with twelve.
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The power of a mustard seed.
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Allow me to conclude with a story whose future is yet to be written:
Two years ago – around the same time Captain Tom started walking around his garden, a small suburban parish was without a pastor. For six months, church attendance – and belief in the sustainability of this community – was slipping.
Suddenly, a young priest with little leadership experience is appointed shepherd of that parish.
Word spreads. Belief grows. One by one, people choose to, “Come and see.” Then they get involved. Suddenly, a sense of real change is coming. Teamwork is making the dream work.
We, too, are like a tiny mustard seed, “the smallest of all the seeds on the earth.”
But we will become, “the largest of plants,” as Jesus says.
Look at what the Lord has already done through us:
We have a dedicated staff; a parish pastoral council – the first in twenty years; a finance council that includes new and seasoned leadership; two choirs; a number of new ministries; a basketball court and (soon to be) a playground.
We even started a conversation about mental health, having a 13-year NFL veteran come to speak last week.
It all began with a tiny mustard seed.
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A 99-year-old man fundraises $40 million.
A nun from nowhere propels poverty onto the world stage.
A Church with one billion followers starts with twelve.
Now imagine what we can do.
For God is with us.
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Image credits: (1) Faith Spilling Over (2) Twitter (3) Brandon Marshall at SPX with St. Pius X youth.
