From Small Beginings

The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed ... The kingdom of heaven is like yeast...
Mt.13:31, 33

Jesus explains how the kingdom of heaven starts small and insignificant but ends up being mighty and all encompassing. 

From small beginnings to huge results, that's been my experience of the kingdom of heaven. My conversion started with admiring my bride's Catholic faith but happy to leave it as "her faith". It ended by affecting every day, every hour, every minute of my life! Yeast is like that. I'm learning to respect the small beginnings that I see in others. God alone knows where they will end up. I had to drink milk before I could eat the meat of faith.

And it's not over for me yet. The yeast continues to ferment and expand, until it will carry me through the very gates of heaven itself.

Saint Ignatius of Loyola, please pray for us.

The Life

‘I am the resurrection and the life. If anyone believes in me, even though he dies he will live, and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?’
Jn.11:25

In answer to Martha's rebuke for being too late to attend to her dying brother Lazarus, Jesus reveals his ultimate plan not just for Lazarus but for all of us. Even though we die, we will live.

If our faith has anything to say about anything, it has something to say about death. Death does not have the final say, Jesus does. 

I am walking alongside a friend who is dying of cancer. He has a strong faith in Jesus and in life after death. Even though his current walk is pain-filled and terminal, he has a wonderful hope. He knows his death is not the end of his story. It's just the bottom of the title page. His real life story is about to begin.

Thank you Jesus for gaining the victory over death. I believe in you.
Saint Martha, please pray for me.

Noble and Generous Heart

And the one who received the seed in rich soil is the man who hears the word and understands it; he is the one who yields a harvest and produces now a hundredfold, now sixty, now thirty.
Mt.13:23

Jesus unpacks his parable of the sower. The good soil represents the man in whom the seed of God's word is most fruitful.

We all want to be the good soil in the parable. Maybe, in our pride, we secretly think we are already good soil. The synoptic Gospel passage in Luke 8:15 has Jesus describing the good soil as people "with a noble and generous heart". 

I find this a good litmus test of my thoughts/words/deeds. Is what I have thought/said/done either noble or generous? If not, it's time for the Confessional (again). 

Jesus, help me uproot what prevents me having a noble and generous heart today.
Saint Philip Neri, please pray for me.

Faith and Reason

The disciples went up to Jesus and asked, ‘Why do you talk to them in parables?’ ‘Because’ he replied, ‘the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven are revealed to you, but they are not revealed to them.
Mt.13:10,11

Why does Jesus speak in parables? Because there is a mystery to what he teaches and parables engage faith and reason to present the truth.

I recall wanting to understand everything about Christianity before becoming Christian. That was a stumbling block. It wasn't until I chose to step out in faith (scary) that I came to understand. That's the workings of a mystery. 

Faith keeps the fire of my first love burning hot. Reason draws me further up and further in. I need both for as long as I am in this mortal coil. I'll need neither when I meet Jesus face to face in heaven.

Thank you Jesus for presenting your mysteries so I can look and see, hear and understand. 
Saint Thomas Aquinas, please pray for me.

 

Character

‘Happy are your eyes because they see, your ears because they hear! I tell you solemnly, many prophets and holy men longed to see what you see, and never saw it; to hear what you hear, and never heard it.’
Mt.13:16,17

Mother Church has chosen these verses for the feast of Saints Joachim and Anne, the parents of Mamma Mary and the grandparents of Jesus. What did they see and hear? They saw the infant Jesus and they heard his cry. The saw and heard love.

There's no mention of Joachim and Anne in the Bible. All we know is that Mary would have had parents and they most likely would have seen and heard their grandson Jesus. We also see their character, reflected in their daughter Mary, a character fine enough to be chosen as the Mother of God. 

What character have I given to be reflected in my five children and my sixteen (so far) grandchildren? 

Jesus, help me be an inspiration of love and devotion to you for my family.
Saints Joachim and Anne, please pray for me.

She Knew Him

Jesus said, ‘Mary!’ She knew him then and said to him in Hebrew, ‘Rabbuni!’ – which means Master. 
Jn.20:16

Mary Magdalen is the first person to experience Easter as she meets the risen Jesus outside the tomb. She is taken from Good Friday to Easter Sunday by the calling of her name. 

To my mind, the first reading from the Song of Songs is a natural choice for the feast day of Saint Mary Magdalen. It starts describing a very physical, sexual love. Eros. It ends with a deeper, more profound heart-love. Agape. I picture Mary's relationship with Jesus moving through these stages (Gospel according to Mike). 

In today's Gospel, Mary's agape love for Jesus is consummated by the calling of her name. This fulfilled relationship with Jesus is available to every Christian believer... is available to me. My name is being called by the one whom my heart loves. 

Thank you Jesus for calling my name. I place my love before you.
Saint Mary Magdalen, please pray for me.

What I want is Mercy

And if you had understood the meaning of the words: What I want is mercy, not sacrifice, you would not have condemned the blameless.
Mt.12:7

Jesus answers criticism from the Pharisees about his disciples picking and eating corn on the Sabbath. He places mercy on a higher level than the law.

There's a little Pharisee in me that baulks at mercy. The law is so neat and clean, so black and white, so easy to administer. Mercy is messy. There's always a nagging suspicion that those who are being given mercy are getting off the hook.

Well, that's exactly true for me. I've been let off the hook. Jesus has been oh so merciful to me. I'd be dead without it. God's mercy and grace is called outrageous for good reason. It is outrageous and wonderfully so. I want to be an agent of outrageous mercy today.

Jesus, I place the little Pharisee in me on the Cross to be nailed there. Help me be an agent of outrageous mercy today.
Saint Maria Goretti, please pray for me. 

 

Rest

Jesus said, ‘Come to me, all you who labour and are overburdened, and I will give you rest. Shoulder my yoke and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. Yes, my yoke is easy and my burden light.’
Mt.11:28-30

Jesus gives an irresistible invitation. Give me your burdens and I will give you rest.

Who among us has never felt overburdened, felt in need of rest? Being fully human, Jesus knew exhaustion, he knew rest. His yoke is one of gentleness and humility. 

When I am gentle, when I am humble I am inevitably rested.  The opposite is also true. When I am harsh, when I am proud, these take constant energy and I end up exhausted. It is said more muscles are engaged in a frown than in a smile.

Lord Jesus, help me be gentle and humble today.
Saint Philip Neri, please pray for me.

Give with Gratitude

As you go, proclaim that the kingdom of heaven is close at hand. Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out devils. You received without charge, give without charge. 
Mt.10:7,8

Jesus commissions the twelve for their first mission trip. They are to proclaim, cure, raise, cleanse and cast out. Their motivation is clear. They have received, now it is time to give.

Jesus' commission applies to every believer. Giving is worthy only when it comes from gratitude. Any other motivation can make it self-serving.

Lord Jesus, you have given me everything. Help me be as generous to others.
Saint Philip Neri, please pray for me.

New Wine

Nor do people put new wine into old wineskins; if they do, the skins burst, the wine runs out, and the skins are lost. No; they put new wine into fresh skins and both are preserved.
Mt.9:17

Jesus is asked why his followers don't fast as John the Baptist's followers and the Pharisees do. In reply, Jesus introduces a new discipline in place of rote fasting, the discipline of discernment.

There is a time for every purpose under heaven, a time for fasting and a time for feasting. Seasons and circumstance change. I need to be discerning in my Christian walk but I don't trust my own discernment. I need the wisdom, discernment and guidance of the Holy Spirit. 

Come Holy Spirit, fall afresh on me.

The Power of Friendship

Then some people appeared, bringing him a paralytic stretched out on a bed. Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralytic, ‘Courage, my child, your sins are forgiven.’ 
Mt.9:2

A paralytic is brought to Jesus by his friends. Their action reveals faith that fuels a double healing for the paralytic, healing of his body and forgiveness of his sins.

Jesus has never called me to be a Lone Ranger. I both need friends and need to be a friend. When this two way synergy is happening, there is church. 

Lord Jesus, show me the people needing my friendship and help me be befriended today.
Saint Philip Neri, please pray for me.