Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Dear Friends,

In our Gospel today, Jesus tells us several parables to illustrate the elusive mystery of the Kingdom of Heaven. I love when Jesus speaks in parables, because it shows the gentleness and intentionality with which he teaches us. He speaks clearly and accessibly, in a mode that his disciples and those in the crowds can understand. The Gospel says that he speaks in parables to fulfill the prophecy in the Old Testament that says, “I will open my mouth in parables, I will announce what has lain hidden from the foundation of the world.” It is truly awesome to realize that, since the foundation of the world, the truths of the kingdom had “lain hidden,” but that in Jesus they are finally brought to light.

Two of the parables Jesus shares today compare the Kingdom of Heaven to yeast, and to a mustard seed. "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." "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.” In both of these examples, simple human efforts are expanded and multiplied by an unseen process. When the woman looks in her mixing bowl, she sees flat and lifeless dough, but when the yeast gets to work it is transformed into something buoyant, golden, and life-giving. When the sower looks at the mustard seed, it is the tiniest and most unassuming speck, but when it is sown and takes root, it becomes a bush large enough that “the birds of the sky come and dwell in its branches.”

The parable of the mustard seed is deeply consoling, because there are many moments in our lives when that little seed—one tiny crumb of faith—is all we have to offer. But when it is offered in love, with faith in the Divine Author, it can flourish, transform, and be lifted to new heights.

If we take these parables to heart, we begin to understand that the Kingdom of Heaven is not something that we create, control, or earn by our own efforts. Rather, our humble offerings—the simple ingredients of our desire, our love, our faith—when handed over to God, can be transformed into something magnificent and eternal.

The second reading tells us that “the Spirit comes to the aid of our weakness.” So let us offer what little we have to the Lord, and trust that he can make it into something beautiful.

Jule Heffernan
Communications Director