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Mt 13:24-30 

This is one of the most hopeful and encouraging gospel passages… because we are this garden, so full of weeds and good seeds! Both And! All of the Above!

Sure, we attend church, read the bible, pray regularly, try to be a good person, hold our tongues, go to confession— or some combination thereof. Most of us try to be good and do good, right?

But that devil… whether that be the snarky coworker who brings out the worst in us, or the obstinate customer service representative who refuses to help us out of a self-created jam, or our so-called friend who gossips about us behind our backs… he, she, they… are so omni-present we can’t help but fail to be our better selves from time to time! 

And sometimes it seems like these snarky, frustratingly un-understanding, self-promoting weeds are much more prevelent that the good seed trying to poke through. The good seeds– the ones the Lord has planted– lead us to acknowledge someone else’s struggles or difficult circumstance, to say the kind word even if we feel a bit awkward, to give a gift or leave a gift card even if we don’t know how it will be received, or to back someone up at a meeting when they are being dumped on… 

These good seeds can really struggle to survive, can’t they!? But these seeds flower into hope, love, joy, peace and we not only need them to interact well with others but, indeed, our very own survival depends on them. If we don’t recognize our own dependence on these spiritual gifts and presences, then we may end up desperately hungry and thirsty for something we are thinking is a ‘nice if you can get it’ as opposed to an ‘as necessary as nitrogen to the air we breathe.’ 

Now, most of us remember that we need oxygen to survive, but the understated, unassuming hero of the air we breathe is Nitrogen, which composes 79% of the gases in air, while Oxygen makes up 21% of that same molecule of air. Well, these good seeds… hope, love, joy, peace, are as essential and as unrecognized, in terms of their essential role in our survival, as Nitrogen. 

And sometimes, our efforts to do the right thing, to say something encouraging, to perform a helpful deed, is just as invisible. However, they are just as radically necessary for survival!

Reflection Questions

• Recall and reflect on a time when someone showed you kindness that really made a difference for good. 
• Recount a time when you tried to do ‘the right thing.’ Do you know the consequences? How do you evaluate your own efforts now, as you look back? How did you feel then and how do you feel now about the situation? 

Mt 13:1-23

I am one of those folks who always has an idea… projects and plans… full of promise and potential! I used to get frustrated when I couldn’t make them happen, so many things get in the way all the time, it seemed! I would moan and whine and carry on about what a great idea I had, defending the brilliance of the notion. To not be able to make a great plan or project happen is an annoying thing. Other times, we have other ideas that we think are a bit bland or mediocre, and they seem to really take off. What’s going on!?

Same thing happens sometimes we hear something. Maybe the first time we hear a thought, we think, “Wow, I knew that but had no words to express that with.” But more often than not, we’ve heard an idea, quotation, belief, etc 43 times, and somehow, for some reason, the stars line up and when we hear it for the 44th time, ‘it clicks.’ It matters. The timing is right. For example, I have read this gospel passage numerous times, but yesterday when I read it, I immediately felt a sense of peace and joy. Somehow, everything is ‘as its supposed to be.’ That doesn’t happen each time I read, and it’s a sense that’s a gift, not something I can conjure up.

I learned on a retreat though, once, that so often we have a great plan, the idea is perfect, the project important, the words life-giving, but the timing isn’t quite right. It’s not necessarily that our perfect plans, words and projects stink but rather—

—The world is just not ready!

Considering how little control we have over time, it is amazing that the timing is as perfect as it is as often as it is! 

Perhaps, we need to start asking ourselves, when the timing has worked out, why? What is happening in either our world or the world around us that makes this the right action or words or movement at this moment in time? Asking ourselves this question may not alter the plan or idea at all, but help us to understand Divine Intervention a bit better. Asking questions about timing, may offer us insights on our experiences of the joy and peace that comes knowing that we are on the same page as the Lord. 

Journal Questions

• Recount a time when you had a great idea or plan, but the timing was not right. How did you feel at the moment and how do you feel looking back? 
• Recall a time when you had a fairly mediocre idea or plan, but it took off. What were your perceptions at the time and what are they now, as you look in the rearview mirror? 
• Detail a time when you had a great idea or plan and the timing was right. How did you know? What were the consequences of this ‘right-plan-right-time’ thing? 

Zec 9:9-10, Rom 8:9, 11-13, Mt 11:25-30

We’ve heard this biblical passage numerous times, often through great musical interpretations. It brings great comfort to many; the mere mention of ease and rest often provide an instant sense of peace and relief.

A yoke is used to distribute a work load evenly among a pair of draft animals laboring in the fields. In other words, this biblical passage implies a partnership with Lord. The words, ‘Take my yoke…” implies that He’s inviting us to be the second, while He is the first, of the pair. It is not that the load is light and easy, it is that He is carrying a portion of the load Himself, so it is light and easy for the second of the pair. 

Well, I am not an ox and I don’t labor in the field, so what modern day equivalent sort of work is the Lord inviting me to do? I ask this question, only to dismiss it. The point is that it doesn’t matter what we are doing, if we are focused on who we are doing it with. Namely, the Lord. He is our partner, yoked to us as we are yoked to Him… if we choose to accept the invitation in the gospel reading.

And that is what this passage is. An invitation to a partnership. An invitation to share: to share thoughts and feelings, ideas and dreams, the work load and worries, the joys and sorrows. And to share mutually. Which means the Lord has stuff He wants us to hear too about His perspective of things. Are we listening? Are we doing our best to be a good partner to Him? 

Reflection Questions

• How do you feel about the idea of being yoked to the Lord? 
• How do you feel about the idea of the Lord as your partner? 
• Do you feel you are a good listener? 
• Do you do your bit to pull the load? 
• Are there any changes you might consider making? 

2 Kgs 4:8-11, 14-16a, Rom 6:3-4, 8-11, Mt 10:37-42

When I read passages related to Elisha and/or Elijah, they read to me a bit like adventure tales from 80s TV shows. I am often reminded of itinerant outcasts with human super powers like the heroes of Incredible Hulk, Kung Fu and Dr Who. These heroes travel about, seeking justice for those they come in contact with who are not ‘living their best lives.’ There were other shows, and although the heroes didn’t wander the globe as marginalized people with secrets and superpowers, they use their powers to help strangers in need. I’m talking about Charlie’s Angels, Greatest American Hero, A Team, Early Edition, and the like.

The formulas of these shows tended to be, to the best of my recollection, that they would observe the problem (which would become clear by the first set of ads). They would provide some sort of fix, thinking they had done something helpful, (by the second set of ads). After that, consequences would surface that would make it obvious that the problem was deeper and more nuanced than imagined. They would learn more, develop a plan and then tackle the issue yet again with said plan. Issues were not always resolved, but in the end, we are usually left with the sense that the situation had improved, and its now up to the person helped to do the rest. 

Elisha and Elijah, both prophets with human superpowers, did travel about and try to make things better for the people they encountered. Sometimes they would learn of about the consequences of their help, sometimes not. The gospel reading also explores the ‘nexts’ the hidden or unforeseen consequences of actions and deeds. The Lord is telling His disciples that the ‘wee bits’ have consequences— who your friends are, who you worship and adore, who you listen to, who you help— the Lord notices it all and it will come back to you. 

Call it… karma, say that God don’t like ugly, or that people get their just desserts… 

The idea that what we say and do has consequences even if we don’t know what those  are is a common secular and faith-based belief. This is a helpful notion to encourage people to make choices which improve the lives of others. And I’m sure many of us feel that we don’t need a reward to do the ‘right thing.’ Still, it’s good to be reminded that it all matters. 

But I wonder if our own lives are a bit more like that of the 80s shows I mentioned above. We are in the middle, having done a bit to help with the human superpowers that the Lord has given to us. We do our bit, cross the tasks off the to-do list and move on. But maybe we are not actually done after that first or second commercial break. Show still has another 45 minutes!

We think we are done because we do not observe or see the consequences. We could if we paid attention, but we don’t because we assume we won’t. Many spiritual directors encourage people to keep a journal and periodically review it. I did this for a time and realized many more prayers were concretely answered with observable consequences than I ever imagined.

If we were to do the same thing, for a small stretch of time— track the kind words or actions I’ve taken for others— what consequences might we observe? Like Elisha, might we develop insights and relationships which could impact many beyond those involved directly in the moment. 

Reflection Questions

1. For 3 days in a row, write a list of actions you’ve taken (for better or worse) that may have impacted others. Put the list a way for a few days. 
2. Return to the list and write down any observations or details about the relationship or potential consequences from your actions. Some of this may be conjecture on your end, but that’s expected. 
3. Were you able to notice any of the consequences of your actions? Are you surprised by any of the results? 

Jer 20:10-13, Rom 5:12-15, Mt 10:26-33

These readings hung me up a bit. I was taught, like the word hatred, that enemy is a strong word. We should not wish or cause others harm, or hate them, or even wish them a paper cut if they act ‘against us’ or in ways that cause us harm. And while there are people in my life who annoy me and do things that inconvenience and perturb me, I don’t think of them as enemies. Meanwhile, watching Foyle’s War reminds me that political strife impacts people daily, and that war is an everyday part of life for many.

These two diverging thought trains drove me to the Etymology Dictionary, where I learned that many languages have two or more words for enemy, one indicating a personal enemy, and the other a public or political enemy, as in war. While the bible passages make enemies seem personal, these enemies exist in a social, political, public content. 

In this context, some stranger wanting to kill you, convinced that the only way they and their kin will survive is if you do not makes sense. Meanwhile, protective you will do whatever it takes to save your loved ones. It feels personal, it is personal, they are trying to kill you after all, but this hatred and desire to harm, lives in the context of war and survival. And it is humbling to remembering that many in the world face this sort of personal-public enemy all the time. 

Another fascinating tid-bit I learned from the Etymology Dictionary relates to the origin of the word enemy. It’s constructed of two bits from Latin, non and amicus, which translates, not friend. Friends help friends, they look out for others, notice their moods, encourage them when down, lend a hand when its needed… Enemies try to bring each other down, even kill them… One either side of the coin, these are both words and clusters of ideas that require—or motivate rather— lots of verbs and actions.

The world is certainly not that black and white, and we have all grown accustomed to the shadows that live with us in the gray. The gospels talk lots about love being an action list, not really a warm fuzzy feeling. These passages, once one leaps into the etymology, might spur the same sense of need to do, to help, to engage with others in a way that helps. In other words, to act as a friend. Even if unintentionally, if we are not striving to uplift others, than we are causing them harm. If we are not for, then we are against… 

Journal Questions

• Who would you say are your personal or public enemies? How does the idea of having an enemy make you feel? 
• Make a list of 12 unrelated people you know. Next to them write if they are your friend, an enemy or just someone you know. Where do you see opportunities to build relationships?