Sunday, July 23, 2023

“He proposed another parable to them. ‘The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that a person took and sowed in a field’.  It is the smallest of all seeds, yet when full-grown it is the largest of plants. It becomes a large bush, and “the birds of the sky come and dwell in its branches.” Matthew 13:31-32.

“Make two homes for thyself . . . One actual home . . . and the other a spiritual home which thou are to carry with thee always.” St. Catherine of Sienna.

Lord Jesus, we pray that Your Church will be “the largest of plants”, that many will find a home here. So many people are lost, confused and faithless. By Your grace, may we become a home, where they may find rest. Amen.

Domingo 23 de julio 2023

"Les propuso otra parábola. 'El reino de los cielos es como una semilla de mostaza que una persona tomó y sembró en su campo.  Es la más pequeña de todas las semillas, sin embargo, cuando está completamente desarrollada, es la más grande de las plantas. Se convierte en un gran arbusto, y las "aves del cielo vienen y habitan en sus ramas". Mateo 13:31-32.

"Haz dos hogares para ti mismo. . . Una casa real. . . y el otro un hogar espiritual que has de llevar contigo siempre". Santa Catalina de Siena.

Señor Jesús, oramos para que Tu Iglesia sea "la más grande de las plantas", que muchos encuentren un hogar aquí. Muchas personas están perdidas, confundidas y sin fe. Por Tu gracia, que nos convirtamos en un hogar, donde puedan encontrar descanso. Amén.

Homily for the Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time.
by Deacon Mike Betliskey

In her book, Pastrix: The Cranky, Beautiful Faith of a Sinner & Saint, Nadia Bolz-Weber says, “So maybe retaliation or holding on to anger about the harm done to me does not actually combat evil. Maybe it feeds it. In the end, if we are not careful, we can actually absorb the worst of our enemy and even become them on some level.” Today’s Gospel presents us with a choice to be people who repay evil for evil or take the high road of goodness when wronged. The destructiveness of retaliation, revenge, or getting even becomes evident in negative thoughts, harsh words, and harmful actions.

Richelle E. Goodrich elaborates on this point in The Tarishe Curse, “Vengeance, retaliation, retribution, revenge are deceitful brothers—vile, beguiling demons promising justifiable compensation to a pained soul for his losses. Yet in truth, they craftily fester away all else of worth remaining.” This unhealthy, unloving behavior has no place in a Christ-like life.

In the first parable in today’s Gospel, the farmer could have retaliated against the person who committed a terrible act against him of planting weeds into his wheat field. He could have lashed out with an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth mentality. He could have done something equally evil. He might have felt content thinking he had solved the problem by getting back, justifying his actions to himself.

Instead, he chooses the high positive road of goodness. He acknowledges that someone has wronged him but decides not to retaliate. He turns the evil act into something positive. He realizes that because of that evil deed, he now has two crops, one for fuel and the other for food.

We must choose between doing good or evil, as the temptation for revenge can seep into our hearts. In the second parable of the mustard seed in today’s Gospel, we can bloom, grow, and support others, or wither, die, and live for ourselves, where retaliation infects us. Retaliation can poison our souls and cloud our minds. “Retaliation retards your excellence. Nelson Mandela would not have been named a great man if not for his courage to forgive those who schemed and plotted it for him to spend those 10,000 bitter days in prison.” from Israelmore Ayivor, The Great Hand Book of Quotes. Realize that carrying anger and seeking revenge consumes your energy and your time. Leave judgment to God. Everyone has to give God an account of one’s life when one dies.

After being shot, robbed, and left for dead, I could have wanted to retaliate against the two men who did such a deed to me. I could have wished that something harmful would happen to them. Instead, I choose to forgive them. I hope that they have changed their lives for the better and be in Heaven. God has turned this evil act into a good one where goodness overcomes evil, and love triumphs over violence.

The antidote for retaliation is empathy and honesty to help ease ourselves away from the need for revenge. We acknowledge that we have been wronged and suffered. We need time and space to digest the poison pill of being harmed slowly and heal from the wrong done to us. We might figure out why that person hurt us.

Today’s first reading offers sage advice to fight the urge to retaliate. The people of God are kind, lenient, and forgiving. The psalmist calls us to pray when the temptation to retaliate surfaces in our hearts. Seek God’s strength to fight the urge. St Paul points us to the best defense against retaliation, the Holy Spirit. He lives in our hearts, searches our hearts, knows our weaknesses, shows us how to pray, and guides us on the path of goodness.

Finally, from the third parable of the leaven, look into ourselves and ask, do we leaven our lives with love, goodness, and forgiveness, or hate, evil, and cold-heartedness that bakes into the moldy bread of ill-treatment of others and retaliation?