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As we go through life, we all sow seeds |
There
is an old truth that we will reap what we sow. That is the metaphor in
today’s Gospel, the seeds we sow. As we go through life, we all sow
seeds. Do we ever stop and think, what are we planting in our children,
our friends, or our co-workers? |
Years
ago some reporters were interviewing Boris Yeltsin. Asking him what
gave him the courage to stand firm during the fall of Communism,
interestingly he credited Lech Walesa of Poland who first stood up to
Communism. When Walesa was interviewed and asked what inspired him he
said it was the Civil Rights movement in the United States lead by Dr.
Martin Luther King. When Dr. King was interviewed and asked what
inspired him, he said it was the courage of one woman, Rosa Parks who
refused to move to the back seat of the bus. Is it too much of a stretch
to say that a brave little woman in the south brought about the
downfall of Communism? |
Seeds
are like that. The moral lesson is how valuable the little things we do
can influence people. I was going to tell you a story that I read, but
instead I will tell you a story that I lived through. |
Many
years ago, when I was a Deacon I was stationed at an African- American
parish in Washington, D.C. One evening a confirmation was held for many
children. Bishop Marino, an African- American Bishop officiated. The
last child to be brought up to the Bishop was in a wheelchair and only
10 years old. The family had requested that the child be confirmed
before she passed away. |
After
the mass was over, the Bishop said to me, “Do you know where that child
lives?” I said, “Yes Bishop, but the police have advised us not to go
there after dark.” He said, “Do you have a car?” So the Bishop and I
took off for what was at that time the worst, most dangerous part of
Washington D.C., me in my Franciscan habit, and he in his purple
cassock. |
As
we entered the hallway of the apartment building which was very
dilapidated we could smell marijuana. At the end of a hallway there was a
group of men smoking and shooting up drugs. They looked up to see a
white Franciscan Friar and a black Bishop: they must have thought it was
Halloween! We found the apartment, and after much fumbling with the
locks, the door was opened. |
You
would have thought that Jesus himself had arrived, the family was so
grateful for the Bishop’s visit. Before he left, the Bishop removed the
purple skull cap from his head, and placed it on the little girl. As we
were leaving, and the door opened, we were amazed at the sight: the
hallways and stairways were packed with people clapping as we descended.
As we approached the entrance the men who had been doing drugs opened
our car doors for us. I know I had previously locked them, but they
opened them for us nonetheless. |
Can
you imagine the seeds that were planted that night? The people saw a
compassionate and caring church. They saw a Bishop who, after an
exhausting day, went to a dangerous part of the city late at night to
visit a sick and dying child. |
Who
sowed the seeds of your character that made you who and what you are
today? Who put meaning and grace into your life? I do not know, but it
shows by your presence here today. And what kind of seeds are you
sowing? Are you quietly and effectively helping to raise caring,
sensitive and open-hearted people? What kind of example of Christian
living do you give not only to family and friends, but at work, or at
school? |
Upon
Jesus’ arrival in heaven a vast host of angels greeted Him. After the
formalities, they asked Him who He had left behind on earth. Who was
going to carry on His work, His mission? Jesus replied, just a small
group of men and women who love Me. Men and women who call themselves
Christian. That is all? Said the angels, astonished. One group of humans
has to carry on Your work? What if they fail? Your life teaching, Your
death and resurrection will have been a waste. Jesus replied, I have no
other plan: it is all up to them.
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The
reign of God is like a seed. That seed is the kindness we do, the
worship we share, the conversation around the dinner table, the soup to
the sick neighbor, the decision to put the family first. The seed is
being at Mass with the family. I like the seed symbol in the Gospel, it
fits most of us. We seldom have the opportunity or even the courage to
do the big things, the really big, heroic things, but every day we all
have the opportunity to do the small ones that display our values, and
Jesus’s values. Your opportunity may be as small as a seed, but seeds
that will bear fruit, thirty, forty, or even fifty years from now. So
get growing.
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