About four weeks ago I left the safety of my home, went out to my South 40, that is, 40 feet from the back of my house, battled the elements and planted my vegetable garden. With much anticipation, I was waiting for the first sign of growth; that little bit of green popping out of the earth. Every day I went down to see what was new, what was the first to grow.
I knew that the seed I had planted in the ground would have to go through a change in order start growing, a change that would eventually put fresh produce on my dinner table; as long as the slugs and the rabbits didn’t get it first! It is hard to comprehend how a seed starts to grow but it really is pretty amazing.
You know, Jesus prepared his disciples and he prepares us for the journey ahead. Just like planting the seed in the ground Jesus takes us, gives us what we need to grow and nurtures us along the way by the guidance of his Spirit. What did he do to the apostles on that 1st Pentecost, he breathed on them the Holy Spirit and he does so with us.
As Jesus explains, God’s reign is not the way we think of reign and power. It is like the farmer who sows seeds but doesn’t know how they grow, even with the right sun, rain and soil. They just grow. And, it is like a mustard seed which is not very impressive or powerful looking. The results, however, are wonderful.
The message today is not a simple one that says, “God will make everything the way we want right now!” Each one us carries those times in our lives about something that did not go well and perhaps a number of things that are not working well, now! Some of them are so difficult, so challenging that it is hard to imagine how we could have a sense of hope.
When we stop growing we leave ourselves open for the tempting of the devil to lose courage, to lose hope, to be discouraged, so much that we can’t imagine that God is here or that God is able to bring saving grace into the situation. We don’t know, cannot foresee how there can be light anywhere near this darkness, or how this loss, this death, this tragedy in our lives can result in some life, some growth within us.
We walk by faith, not by sight much of the time. This is why we call it faith. Walking in confidence is walking in faith. Today, for an example, each of us can place our trust in God’s presence with us, in the midst of the most difficult times, the most difficult challenges we face in this life.
We know this by what’s in our hearts.
Mark tells us that Jesus explained everything to his disciples in private. Jesus did this because knowledge of the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven had been given to the disciples above and beyond what everyone else could understand.
I read in “the Word Among Us” that; “Things are a little different today. Now, we all have the Holy Spirit whose job it is to take what is Jesus’ and to teach it to us. It goes on to say, “Because of the Spirit, we can all hear Jesus teaching us in the privacy of our own hearts.” Somewhat like watching for that seed to grow.
Can we hear Jesus teaching us in our hearts? Do we free ourselves, our minds, hearts, and souls to be open so that we can understand, so that we can grow? Do we sometimes trivialize the Church by arguing a certain teaching thereby allowing ourselves to move away from it by letting our emotions dictate what we do, how we react? I sure hope not but I do see this is some that have left the Church. Why is it so hard for some to place trust in Jesus? Why is it so hard for us to allow the Holy Spirit to guide us?
The Holy Spirit is our counselor, our teacher, who gives us wisdom. We stand in faith that the Holy Spirit guides our Church’s Magisterium to teach us and to help us in our understanding of who we are, who God is! And like the seed,the Holy Spirit helps us to grow in faith and spirit.
We gather around this altar to join our sacrifice with that of Jesus as we come forward to receive his body and blood in the Eucharist. Now, that is hard for us to fully understand but we acknowledge our belief, our faith that this bread and wine is now the body and blood of our savior Jesus Christ.
How do we do this? By our reverencing with a bow and our vocal proclamation of “AMEN.” When some come forward, I can barely hear anything being said at all. Have that conviction of faith, be filled with the Spirit. Be excited about your Catholic identity with a resounding ‘AMEN.”