promises 6 feet under

28th August >> Fr. Martin's Gospel Reflections / Homilies on Matthew 23:23-26 for Tuesday, Twenty-First Week in Ordinary Time: ‘You have neglected the weightier matters of the Law’.

Tuesday, Twenty-First Week in Ordinary Time

Gospel (Europe, Africa, New Zealand, Australia & Canada)

Matthew 23:23-26

Clean the inside of the cup first, so that the outside may become clean

Jesus said: ‘Alas for you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You who pay your tithe of mint and dill and cumin and have neglected the weightier matters of the Law – justice, mercy, good faith! These you should have practised, without neglecting the others. You blind guides! Straining out gnats and swallowing camels!

  ‘Alas for you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You who clean the outside of cup and dish and leave the inside full of extortion and intemperance. Blind Pharisee! Clean the inside of cup and dish first so that the outside may become clean as well.’  

Gospel (USA)

Matthew 23:23-26

But these you should have done, without neglecting the others.

Jesus said: “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You pay tithes of mint and dill and cummin, and have neglected the weightier things of the law: judgment and mercy and fidelity. But these you should have done, without neglecting the others. Blind guides, who strain out the gnat and swallow the camel!

  “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You cleanse the outside of cup and dish, but inside they are full of plunder and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee, cleanse first the inside of the cup, so that the outside also may be clean.”  

Reflections (4)

(i) Tuesday, Twenty-First Week in Ordinary Time

There is a verse in one of the prophets of the Old Testament, the prophet Micah, which many people feel drawn to. ‘What is it that the Lord requires of you but to do justice, to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God?’ To do justice is to give people what is their due as human beings and as images of God. To love mercy is to show mercy to others in the sense of forgiving others and serving them in their need. To walk humbly with your God is to be open in faith to God’s purpose and desire for our lives. These three basic attitudes are a summary of God’s will for our lives. It is possible that this text from the prophet Micah lies behind what Jesus calls in today’s gospel reading, the weightier matters of the law, ‘justice, mercy and good faith’. Jesus was accusing the religious experts of his day of being too preoccupied with the less important requirements of the Jesus law, such as what produce should be tithed, and neglecting these weightier matters of the law. That triad of justice, mercy and faith remains a very succinct statement of what the Lord desires from us in our own day. In a sense, those three elements correspond to the two great commandments that Jesus proclaimed. The first commandment, to love God with all our heart, mind, soul and strength corresponds to faith and the second commandment, to love our neighbour as ourselves corresponds to justice and mercy. These remain the weightier matters of our own Christian tradition. All the other elements of our tradition need to be at the service of these two commandments and these three fundamental values of justice, mercy and faith.

And/Or

(ii) Tuesday, Twenty-First Week in Ordinary Time

Perhaps we don’t always think of Jesus as having a sense of humour. Yet, the image he uses in today’s gospel reading displays a sense of humour. He accuses the Pharisees of straining our gnats and swallowing camels. A gnat or flee is almost invisible; a camel is big and imposing. The picture of someone straining out a gnat so as not to swallow it while happily swallowing a whole camel is humorous in a zany kind of way. Jesus uses that image to poke fun at those who make a big deal about what is not important while happily ignoring what is important – being scrupulous about paying tithes on herbs while ignoring justice, mercy and faith. Jesus is talking about getting our priorities right, keeping things in proportion. We can all be prone to getting overly excited about minor matters while not attending sufficiently to what really important. On this occasion, Jesus lists what is important as justice, mercy and faith. Justice and mercy concern our relationship with our neighbour; faith concerns our relationship with God. Jesus is saying, what really matters is getting those two relationships right; everything else is secondary. St Paul says something very similar in one of his letter, ‘the only thing that matters is faith expressing itself in love’. We pray that this would always be our priority.

And/Or

(iii) Tuesday, Twenty-First Week in Ordinary Time

In the gospel reading this morning Jesus criticizes the Pharisees for being so preoccupied with unimportant details relating to the tithing of herbs while neglecting the core values that the Jewish Law sought to uphold, such as justice, mercy and faith. The background to what Jesus says here may be the prophet Micah’s understanding of what God desires of us, ‘to do justice, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God’. The context of Micah’s statement was the people’s concern about what kind of animal sacrifice should be offered to God. Micah was saying to the people that their preoccupation is wide of the mark; it does not correspond to what God really wants. Jesus stands in the line of the prophets who sought to bring people back to what was really important, what really mattered to God. As disciples of Jesus, we have to keep on returning to the essentials, to what is at the heart of the message of Jesus, what is at the heart of God. It would be hard to find a better statement of hose essentials than that trinity of values given to us by Micah and by Jesus, the exercise of justice and mercy towards others and a humble, trusting faith in God. These were the values which Jesus embodied in his life and in his death. To live by them is, in the language of Paul, to put on Christ, which is the core of our baptismal calling.

And/Or

(iv) Tuesday, Twenty-First Week in Ordinary Time

There were many religious laws and regulations in Jesus’ time. In the gospel reading Jesus criticizes those who give too much attention to the less important laws and regulations and too little attention to what was really important, what Jesus calls the weightier matter of the Law. He names the less important aspects of the Law as the regulations relating to the tithing of various herbs and the more important aspects of the Law as justice, mercy and faith. When it comes to our relationship with God, Jesus wants us to put our energy into getting the basics right. It would be difficult to come up anything more basic than the ‘justice, mercy and faith’ that Jesus refers to in the gospel reading. Justice and mercy have to do with how we relate to others. We are to be just and merciful in our dealings with each other. Faith has to do with how we relate to God. We are to be faithful to God, which means being faithful to Jesus and to all he stands for, even though that may cost us a great deal at times. There is clearly a close link between faith, on the one hand, and justice and mercy, on the other. Faithfulness to Jesus entails showing justice and mercy to others, as he did. When we find ourselves getting very worked up about something in the religious sphere, it can be good to step back and ask ourselves just how basic, how fundamental, the issue in question really is.

Fr. Martin Hogan, Saint John the Baptist Parish, Clontarf, Dublin, D03 AO62, Ireland.

Email: [email protected] or  [email protected]

Parish Website: www.stjohnsclontarf.ie  Please join us via our webcam.

Twitter: @SJtBClontarfRC.

Facebook: St John the Baptist RC Parish, Clontarf.

Tumblr: Saint John the Baptist Parish, Clontarf, Dublin.

27th August >> Fr. Martin’s Gospel Reflections / Homilies on Matthew 23:23-26 for Tuesday, Twenty First Week in Ordinary Time: ‘You have neglected the weightier matters of the law’.

Tuesday, Twenty First Week in Ordinary Time

Gospel (Europe, Africa, New Zealand, Australia & Canada)

Matthew 23:23-26

Clean the inside of the cup first, so that the outside may become clean

Jesus said: ‘Alas for you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You who pay your tithe of mint and dill and cumin and have neglected the weightier matters of the Law – justice, mercy, good faith! These you should have practised, without neglecting the others. You blind guides! Straining out gnats and swallowing camels!

‘Alas for you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You who clean the outside of cup and dish and leave the inside full of extortion and intemperance. Blind Pharisee! Clean the inside of cup and dish first so that the outside may become clean as well.’

Gospel (USA)

Matthew 23:23-26

But these you should have done, without neglecting the others.

Jesus said: “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You pay tithes of mint and dill and cummin, and have neglected the weightier things of the law: judgment and mercy and fidelity. But these you should have done, without neglecting the others. Blind guides, who strain out the gnat and swallow the camel!

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You cleanse the outside of cup and dish, but inside they are full of plunder and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee, cleanse first the inside of the cup, so that the outside also may be clean.”

Reflections (5)

(i) Tuesday, Twenty First Week in Ordinary Time

Jesus often uses humorous images to illustrate his teaching. You may recall his reference to those who try to take a splinter out of someone’s eye while not noticing the plank in their own eye. We have another such humorous image in today’s gospel reading. He addresses the scribes and Pharisees as blind guides, ‘straining out gnats and swallowing camels’. They pay excessive attention to what Jesus considers to be minor matters of the Jewish Law, such as tithes to be paid on various herbs, while, at the same time, neglecting the weightier matters of the law, ‘justice, mercy and faith’ or ‘faithfulness. Justice consists in rendering to others what is their due, as human beings made in God’s image. Mercy goes beyond justice in graciously bestowing on others even more than their due. The father in the parable of the prodigal son was merciful in that sense. Faith could refer to either dealing faithfully with others or entrusting oneself in faith to God. Faith in that second sense, a faithful relationship with God, is the source and inspiration of the more social virtues of justice and mercy. In that way, the three qualities of justice, mercy and faith would be closely aligned to the inseparable twin commands to love God with all our being and our neighbour as ourselves. In the gospel reading, Jesus was calling on his critics to keep going back to the essential core of their religious tradition. It is a call we all need to keep hearing. We can get so preoccupied with what is relatively peripheral to our faith that we undermine what is essential there. We need to always keep in view the essential trinity that Jesus refers in the gospel reading, justice, mercy and faithfulness.

And/Or

(ii) Tuesday, Twenty-first Week in Ordinary Time

Perhaps we don’t always think of Jesus as having a sense of humour. Yet, the image he uses in today’s gospel reading displays a sense of humour. He accuses the Pharisees of straining our gnats and swallowing camels. A gnat or flee is almost invisible; a camel is big and imposing. The picture of someone straining out a gnat so as not to swallow it while happily swallowing a whole camel is humorous in a zany kind of way. Jesus uses that image to poke fun at those who make a big deal about what is not important while happily ignoring what is important – being scrupulous about paying tithes on herbs while ignoring justice, mercy and faith. Jesus is talking about getting our priorities right, keeping things in proportion. We can all be prone to getting overly excited about minor matters while not attending sufficiently to what really important. On this occasion, Jesus lists what is important as justice, mercy and faith. Justice and mercy concern our relationship with our neighbour; faith concerns our relationship with God. Jesus is saying, what really matters is getting those two relationships right; everything else is secondary. St Paul says something very similar in one of his letter, ‘the only thing that matters is faith expressing itself in love’. We pray that this would always be our priority.

 And/Or

(iii) Tuesday, Twenty-first Week in Ordinary Time

In the gospel reading this morning Jesus criticizes the Pharisees for being so preoccupied with unimportant details relating to the tithing of herbs while neglecting the core values that the Jewish Law sought to uphold, such as justice, mercy and faith. The background to what Jesus says here may be the prophet Micah’s understanding of what God desires of us, ‘to do justice, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God’. The context of Micah’s statement was the people’s concern about what kind of animal sacrifice should be offered to God. Micah was saying to the people that their preoccupation is wide of the mark; it does not correspond to what God really wants. Jesus stands in the line of the prophets who sought to bring people back to what was really important, what really mattered to God. As disciples of Jesus, we have to keep on returning to the essentials, to what is at the heart of the message of Jesus, what is at the heart of God. It would be hard to find a better statement of hose essentials than that trinity of values given to us by Micah and by Jesus, the exercise of justice and mercy towards others and a humble, trusting faith in God. These were the values which Jesus embodied in his life and in his death. To live by them is, in the language of Paul, to put on Christ, which is the core of our baptismal calling.

 And/Or

(iv) Tuesday, Twenty First Week in Ordinary Time

There were many religious laws and regulations in Jesus’ time. In the gospel reading Jesus criticizes those who give too much attention to the less important laws and regulations and too little attention to what was really important, what Jesus calls the weightier matter of the Law. He names the less important aspects of the Law as the regulations relating to the tithing of various herbs and the more important aspects of the Law as justice, mercy and faith. When it comes to our relationship with God, Jesus wants us to put our energy into getting the basics right. It would be difficult to come up anything more basic than the ‘justice, mercy and faith’ that Jesus refers to in the gospel reading. Justice and mercy have to do with how we relate to others. We are to be just and merciful in our dealings with each other. Faith has to do with how we relate to God. We are to be faithful to God, which means being faithful to Jesus and to all he stands for, even though that may cost us a great deal at times. There is clearly a close link between faith, on the one hand, and justice and mercy, on the other. Faithfulness to Jesus entails showing justice and mercy to others, as he did. When we find ourselves getting very worked up about something in the religious sphere, it can be good to step back and ask ourselves just how basic, how fundamental, the issue in question really is.

And/Or 

(v) Tuesday, Twenty First Week in Ordinary Time

There is a verse in one of the prophets of the Old Testament, the prophet Micah, which many people feel drawn to. ‘What is it that the Lord requires of you but to do justice, to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God?’ To do justice is to give people what is their due as human beings and as images of God. To love mercy is to show mercy to others in the sense of forgiving others and serving them in their need. To walk humbly with your God is to be open in faith to God’s purpose and desire for our lives. These three basic attitudes are a summary of God’s will for our lives. It is possible that this text from the prophet Micah lies behind what Jesus calls in today’s gospel reading, the weightier matters of the law,‘justice, mercy and good faith’. Jesus was accusing the religious experts of his day of being too preoccupied with the less important requirements of the Jesus law, such as what produce should be tithed, and neglecting these weightier matters of the law. That triad of justice, mercy and faith remains a very succinct statement of what the Lord desires from us in our own day. In a sense, those three elements correspond to the two great commandments that Jesus proclaimed. The first commandment, to love God with all our heart, mind, soul and strength corresponds to faith and the second commandment, to love our neighbour as ourselves corresponds to justice and mercy. These remain the weightier matters of our own Christian tradition. All the other elements of our tradition need to be at the service of these two commandments and these three fundamental values of justice, mercy and faith.

Fr. Martin Hogan, Saint John the Baptist Parish, Clontarf, Dublin, D03 AO62, Ireland.

Email: [email protected] or  [email protected]

Parish Website: www.stjohnsclontarf.ie  Please join us via our webcam.

Twitter: @SJtBClontarfRC.

Facebook: St John the Baptist RC Parish, Clontarf.

Tumblr: Saint John the Baptist Parish, Clontarf, Dublin.

28th August >> Fr. Martin's Gospel Reflections / Homilies on Matthew 23:23-26 for Tuesday, Twenty-First Week in Ordinary Time: ‘You have neglected the weightier matters of the Law’.

Tuesday, Twenty-First Week in Ordinary Time

Gospel (Europe, Africa, New Zealand, Australia & Canada)

Matthew 23:23-26

Clean the inside of the cup first, so that the outside may become clean

Jesus said: ‘Alas for you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You who pay your tithe of mint and dill and cumin and have neglected the weightier matters of the Law – justice, mercy, good faith! These you should have practised, without neglecting the others. You blind guides! Straining out gnats and swallowing camels!

   ‘Alas for you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You who clean the outside of cup and dish and leave the inside full of extortion and intemperance. Blind Pharisee! Clean the inside of cup and dish first so that the outside may become clean as well.’  

Gospel (USA)

Matthew 23:23-26

But these you should have done, without neglecting the others.

Jesus said: “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You pay tithes of mint and dill and cummin, and have neglected the weightier things of the law: judgment and mercy and fidelity. But these you should have done, without neglecting the others. Blind guides, who strain out the gnat and swallow the camel!

   “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You cleanse the outside of cup and dish, but inside they are full of plunder and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee, cleanse first the inside of the cup, so that the outside also may be clean.”  

Reflections (4)

(i) Tuesday, Twenty-First Week in Ordinary Time

There is a verse in one of the prophets of the Old Testament, the prophet Micah, which many people feel drawn to. ‘What is it that the Lord requires of you but to do justice, to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God?’ To do justice is to give people what is their due as human beings and as images of God. To love mercy is to show mercy to others in the sense of forgiving others and serving them in their need. To walk humbly with your God is to be open in faith to God’s purpose and desire for our lives. These three basic attitudes are a summary of God’s will for our lives. It is possible that this text from the prophet Micah lies behind what Jesus calls in today’s gospel reading, the weightier matters of the law, ‘justice, mercy and good faith’. Jesus was accusing the religious experts of his day of being too preoccupied with the less important requirements of the Jesus law, such as what produce should be tithed, and neglecting these weightier matters of the law. That triad of justice, mercy and faith remains a very succinct statement of what the Lord desires from us in our own day. In a sense, those three elements correspond to the two great commandments that Jesus proclaimed. The first commandment, to love God with all our heart, mind, soul and strength corresponds to faith and the second commandment, to love our neighbour as ourselves corresponds to justice and mercy. These remain the weightier matters of our own Christian tradition. All the other elements of our tradition need to be at the service of these two commandments and these three fundamental values of justice, mercy and faith.

And/Or

(ii) Tuesday, Twenty-First Week in Ordinary Time

Perhaps we don’t always think of Jesus as having a sense of humour. Yet, the image he uses in today’s gospel reading displays a sense of humour. He accuses the Pharisees of straining our gnats and swallowing camels. A gnat or flee is almost invisible; a camel is big and imposing. The picture of someone straining out a gnat so as not to swallow it while happily swallowing a whole camel is humorous in a zany kind of way. Jesus uses that image to poke fun at those who make a big deal about what is not important while happily ignoring what is important – being scrupulous about paying tithes on herbs while ignoring justice, mercy and faith. Jesus is talking about getting our priorities right, keeping things in proportion. We can all be prone to getting overly excited about minor matters while not attending sufficiently to what really important. On this occasion, Jesus lists what is important as justice, mercy and faith. Justice and mercy concern our relationship with our neighbour; faith concerns our relationship with God. Jesus is saying, what really matters is getting those two relationships right; everything else is secondary. St Paul says something very similar in one of his letter, ‘the only thing that matters is faith expressing itself in love’. We pray that this would always be our priority.

And/Or

(iii) Tuesday, Twenty-First Week in Ordinary Time

In the gospel reading this morning Jesus criticizes the Pharisees for being so preoccupied with unimportant details relating to the tithing of herbs while neglecting the core values that the Jewish Law sought to uphold, such as justice, mercy and faith. The background to what Jesus says here may be the prophet Micah’s understanding of what God desires of us, ‘to do justice, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God’. The context of Micah’s statement was the people’s concern about what kind of animal sacrifice should be offered to God. Micah was saying to the people that their preoccupation is wide of the mark; it does not correspond to what God really wants. Jesus stands in the line of the prophets who sought to bring people back to what was really important, what really mattered to God. As disciples of Jesus, we have to keep on returning to the essentials, to what is at the heart of the message of Jesus, what is at the heart of God. It would be hard to find a better statement of hose essentials than that trinity of values given to us by Micah and by Jesus, the exercise of justice and mercy towards others and a humble, trusting faith in God. These were the values which Jesus embodied in his life and in his death. To live by them is, in the language of Paul, to put on Christ, which is the core of our baptismal calling.

And/Or

(iv) Tuesday, Twenty-First Week in Ordinary Time

There were many religious laws and regulations in Jesus’ time. In the gospel reading Jesus criticizes those who give too much attention to the less important laws and regulations and too little attention to what was really important, what Jesus calls the weightier matter of the Law. He names the less important aspects of the Law as the regulations relating to the tithing of various herbs and the more important aspects of the Law as justice, mercy and faith. When it comes to our relationship with God, Jesus wants us to put our energy into getting the basics right. It would be difficult to come up anything more basic than the ‘justice, mercy and faith’ that Jesus refers to in the gospel reading. Justice and mercy have to do with how we relate to others. We are to be just and merciful in our dealings with each other. Faith has to do with how we relate to God. We are to be faithful to God, which means being faithful to Jesus and to all he stands for, even though that may cost us a great deal at times. There is clearly a close link between faith, on the one hand, and justice and mercy, on the other. Faithfulness to Jesus entails showing justice and mercy to others, as he did. When we find ourselves getting very worked up about something in the religious sphere, it can be good to step back and ask ourselves just how basic, how fundamental, the issue in question really is.

Fr. Martin Hogan, Saint John the Baptist Parish, Clontarf, Dublin, D03 AO62, Ireland.

Email: [email protected] or  [email protected]

Parish Website: www.stjohnsclontarf.ie  Please join us via our webcam.

Twitter: @SJtBClontarfRC.

Facebook: St John the Baptist RC Parish, Clontarf.

Tumblr: Saint John the Baptist Parish, Clontarf, Dublin.

31st July >> Fr. Martin’s Gospel Reflection on Matthew 13:31-35 for Monday, Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time: ‘The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed ‘.

Monday, Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time Gospel(Europe, New Zealand, Australia, Canada & Southern Africa) Matthew 13:31-35 Jesus put a parable before the crowds: ‘The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed which a man took and sowed in his field. It is the smallest of all the seeds, but when it has grown it is the biggest shrub of all and becomes a tree so that the birds of the air come and shelter in its branches.’ He told them another parable: ‘The kingdom of heaven is like the yeast a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour till it was leavened all through.’ In all this Jesus spoke to the crowds in parables; indeed, he would never speak to them except in parables. This was to fulfil the prophecy: I will speak to you in parables and expound things hidden since the foundation of the world. Gospel (USA) Matthew 13:31-35 The mustard seed becomes a large bush and the birds of the sky come and dwell in its branches. Jesus proposed a parable to the crowds. “The Kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that a person took and sowed in a field. It is the smallest of all the 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.” He spoke to them another parable. “The Kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed with three measures of wheat flour until the whole batch was leavened.” All these things Jesus spoke to the crowds in parables. He spoke to them only in parables, to fulfill what had been said through the prophet: I will open my mouth in parables, I will announce what has lain hidden from the foundation of the world. Reflections (3) (i) Monday, Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time It is likely that Jesus spoke the two parables we have just heard as a word of encouragement to his disciples. God’s kingdom was not coming through the ministry of Jesus as quickly and as powerfully as many of Jesus’ followers might have expected. Indeed, the longer Jesus’ ministry went on, the more opposition and hostility he encountered, especially from those in powerful positions. In this setting of growing hostility, Jesus reassures his disciples that, in spite of the small and insignificant progress being made, God’s good work would come to pass, and God’s kingdom would come in all its fullness. The seed, small as it was, had been sown, and its growth is assured. Similarly, just as a small amount of yeast has a significant impact on a large amount of flower, Jesus’ ministry will eventually have an enormous impact for good. Jesus’ words of encouragement are as necessary for disciples today as they were for those original disciples. We can get discouraged by how things are with the church today and with our world, and even with our own lives as the Lord’s disciples. Today’s gospel reading assures us that a seed has been sown by the Lord and its growth is assured, a power for good has been released, the power of the Spirit, and its impact for good is not in doubt. There is no room for complacency, but there is also no room for despondency. As Saint Paul reminds us in his letter to the Ephesians, God’s ‘power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine’ And/Or (ii) Monday, Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time Sometimes we may feel that our good efforts at something are bearing very little fruit. We can get into a frame of mind that says, ‘What good have I been doing with my life?’ We can feel that we have precious little to show for our endeavours. Yet, we can be doing a lot of good without realizing it or recognizing it. We can sometimes forget that even a little can go a long way. The little efforts we make, the little good we do, can have an impact for the better beyond our imagining. That seems to be the message of the two parables that Jesus speaks in today’s gospel reading. The mustard seed is tiny and yet it grows into a very large shrub. What looks completely insignificant takes on a life of its own and develops in a way that is out of proportion to the small beginning. Sometimes in our own lives, the little we do can go on to become something that we had never envisaged, and might never even get to see. The little bit of yeast that a woman places in a large batch of dough has a huge impact on that large batch. Again, in our own lives, the little good we do can impact on those around us in ways that would surprise us. Jesus says, that is what the kingdom of God is like. What is small and seemingly insignificant can turn out to be powerful and beneficial for many. And/Or (iii) Monday, Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time The two parables Jesus speaks in this morning’s gospel reading are an image of his own ministry. His work in Galilee is like the mustard seed and the leaven; it is very small scale and to outsiders would have looked somewhat unpromising. Jesus has not been sweeping all before him. He has been going about his work quietly, without fanfare. Yet, the parables suggests that these small beginnings are the promise of something wonderful to come, just as the mustard seed becomes a tree where the birds of the air build their nests and the tiny leaven has a huge impact on three measures of flower. Humble beginnings can have an extraordinary outcome when the work in question is God’s work. There is an encouragement to us all to keep doing the little bit of good we are able to do. It may not seem much in our own eyes or in the eyes of others, yet God can work powerfully through whatever little good we do, in ways that will surprise us. We can all plant the equivalent of the mustard seed; we can all be the equivalent of the leaven. The little initiative, the small gesture, the offer of help, can all bear fruit in ways that we could never have imagined at the time. The Lord can work powerfully through our smallest efforts if they are done out of love for him. Our calling is often to plant some good seed and to trust that the Lord will do the rest. Fr. Martin Hogan, Saint John the Baptist Parish, Clontarf, Dublin, D03 AO62, Ireland. Parish Website: www.stjohnsclontarf.ieJoinus via our webcam. Twitter: @SJtBClontarfRC. Facebook: St John the Baptist RC Parish, Clontarf. Tumblr: Saint John the Baptist Parish, Clontarf, Dublin.

31st July >> Fr. Martin's Gospel Reflection on Matthew 13:31-35 for Monday, Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time: ‘The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed ‘.

Monday, Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time

Gospel(Europe, New Zealand, Australia, Canada & Southern Africa)

Matthew 13:31-35

Jesus put a parable before the crowds: ‘The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed which a man took and sowed in his field. It is the smallest of all the seeds, but when it has grown it is the biggest shrub of all and becomes a tree so that the birds of the air come and shelter in its branches.’

   He told them another parable: ‘The kingdom of heaven is like the yeast a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour till it was leavened all through.’

   In all this Jesus spoke to the crowds in parables; indeed, he would never speak to them except in parables. This was to fulfil the prophecy:

I will speak to you in parables

and expound things hidden since the foundation of the world.

Gospel (USA)

Matthew 13:31-35

The mustard seed becomes a large bush and the birds of the sky come and dwell in its branches.

Jesus proposed a parable to the crowds. “The Kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that a person took and sowed in a field. It is the smallest of all the 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.”

   He  spoke to them another parable. “The Kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed with three measures of wheat flour until the whole batch was leavened.”

   All these things Jesus spoke to the crowds in parables. He spoke to them only in parables, to fulfill what had been said through the prophet:

I will open my mouth in parables,

   I will announce what has lain hidden from the foundation of the world.

Reflections (3)

(i) Monday, Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time

It is likely that Jesus spoke the two parables we have just heard as a word of encouragement to his disciples. God’s kingdom was not coming through the ministry of Jesus as quickly and as powerfully as many of Jesus’ followers might have expected. Indeed, the longer Jesus’ ministry went on, the more opposition and hostility he encountered, especially from those in powerful positions. In this setting of growing hostility, Jesus reassures his disciples that, in spite of the small and insignificant progress being made, God’s good work would come to pass, and God’s kingdom would come in all its fullness. The seed, small as it was, had been sown, and its growth is assured. Similarly, just as a small amount of yeast has a significant impact on a large amount of flower, Jesus’ ministry will eventually have an enormous impact for good. Jesus’ words of encouragement are as necessary for disciples today as they were for those original disciples. We can get discouraged by how things are with the church today and with our world, and even with our own lives as the Lord’s disciples. Today’s gospel reading assures us that a seed has been sown by the Lord and its growth is assured, a power for good has been released, the power of the Spirit, and its impact for good is not in doubt. There is no room for complacency, but there is also no room for despondency. As Saint Paul reminds us in his letter to the Ephesians, God’s ‘power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine’

And/Or

(ii) Monday, Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time

Sometimes we may feel that our good efforts at something are bearing very little fruit. We can get into a frame of mind that says, ‘What good have I been doing with my life?’ We can feel that we have precious little to show for our endeavours. Yet, we can be doing a lot of good without realizing it or recognizing it. We can sometimes forget that even a little can go a long way. The little efforts we make, the little good we do, can have an impact for the better beyond our imagining. That seems to be the message of the two parables that Jesus speaks in today’s gospel reading. The mustard seed is tiny and yet it grows into a very large shrub. What looks completely insignificant takes on a life of its own and develops in a way that is out of proportion to the small beginning. Sometimes in our own lives, the little we do can go on to become something that we had never envisaged, and might never even get to see. The little bit of yeast that a woman places in a large batch of dough has a huge impact on that large batch. Again, in our own lives, the little good we do can impact on those around us in ways that would surprise us. Jesus says, that is what the kingdom of God is like. What is small and seemingly insignificant can turn out to be powerful and beneficial for many.

And/Or

(iii) Monday, Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time

The two parables Jesus speaks in this morning’s gospel reading are an image of his own ministry. His work in Galilee is like the mustard seed and the leaven; it is very small scale and to outsiders would have looked somewhat unpromising. Jesus has not been sweeping all before him. He has been going about his work quietly, without fanfare. Yet, the parables suggests that these small beginnings are the promise of something wonderful to come, just as the mustard seed becomes a tree where the birds of the air build their nests and the tiny leaven has a huge impact on three measures of flower. Humble beginnings can have an extraordinary outcome when the work in question is God’s work. There is an encouragement to us all to keep doing the little bit of good we are able to do. It may not seem much in our own eyes or in the eyes of others, yet God can work powerfully through whatever little good we do, in ways that will surprise us. We can all plant the equivalent of the mustard seed; we can all be the equivalent of the leaven. The little initiative, the small gesture, the offer of help, can all bear fruit in ways that we could never have imagined at the time. The Lord can work powerfully through our smallest efforts if they are done out of love for him. Our calling is often to plant some good seed and to trust that the Lord will do the rest.

Fr. Martin Hogan, Saint John the Baptist Parish, Clontarf, Dublin, D03 AO62, Ireland.

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