A reading from the Book of Wisdom

(Chapter 12:13, 16-19)

This reading is praise for the all-powerful, just, and merciful God. “For your might is the source of justice: for your mastery over all things makes you lenient to all…. And you taught your people, by these deeds, that those who are just must be kind.” There it is. The God of the Judeo-Christian tradition is powerful, just, and kind, and that is what we, too, should be.

I wonder how Jews who suffered through the Holocaust or Christians who lived through three years of terror in Mosul under ISIS brutality would have heard those words. What about people who live in our own country who are victims of violence or families in our own community who live with addictions that have taken or might take the lives of their loved ones?

Why doesn’t the all- powerful, just, and merciful God swoop down to fight these injustices and heal all this suffering? Of course, we know very well that fighting for justice and healing suffering is our job in partnership with God, though sometimes it may seem that God is too silent a partner. But maybe God is not really silent. Maybe we are not tuned into the powerful healing presence that is always there. Maybe we want healing and understanding only on our terms, not God’s. “I am with you always.” That is the promise of Jesus. Can we tune in? Can we be open? Can we get past what we think God should be doing and become aware of what God is already doing in our lives?

Responsorial Psalm

(Psalm 86:5-6, 9-10, 15-16)

“Lord, you are good and forgiving.” Are you good at asking God for forgiveness and at giving forgiveness to others?

A reading from St. Paul's Letter to the Romans

(Chapter 8:26-27)

Saint Paul has an answer to the questions we have been asking so far in this commentary. “The Spirit comes to the aid of our weakness, for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit intercedes with inexpressible groanings.” If you and I ever feel as if we can’t really pray, as if we are not connected to God, that’s all right because the Spirit of God, the very person of the Holy Spirit, lives within us. It is the Holy Spirit who intercedes for us. It may not happen in the time that we want or in the manner we choose, but if we stay present, healing will happen.

A reading from the Holy Gospel according to Matthew

(Chapter 13:24-43)

In the gospel reading in today’s Mass, we have a series of parables about agriculture, the sowing of seeds and harvesting of grain. Jesus uses these stories because everyone in his society would know what he was talking about. They were almost all poor farmers who had to deal with dry rocky soil to grow the crops. What was worse, because of the power of the Roman Empire, most of them had lost their land and were forced to work as day laborers for unjust wages.

Jesus was talking about hope in the kingdom of heaven, not something in the far distant future but something that was growing silently right before their eyes and that continues to grow in our own age. He was calling a new Israel together as a powerful force for justice and mercy, just as he calls us now to be a presence of the kingdom of God in our society.

The kingdom of God is not a political reality but rather a way of living and believing that has the power to affect all of the reality that we live in.

 ✝️

 

Illustration, by Helen Gould Harmon White (circa 1900) in Christ's Object Lessons. Public domain.

Excerpts from the English translation of the Lectionary for Mass © 1969, 1981, 1997, International Commission on English in the Liturgy Corporation (ICEL). All rights reserved.
 
Bill Ayres was a founder, with the late singer Harry Chapin, of WhyHunger. He has been a radio and TV broadcaster for 40 years and has two weekly Sunday-night shows on WPLJ, 95.5 FM in New York. He is a member of Our Lady Queen of Martyrs Church in Centerport, New York.

A reading from the prophecy of Isaiah

(Chapter 55:10-11)

Much of Israel when the prophet Isaiah was active—the sixth century before the birth of Jesus—was a desert or close to it. The people were dependent on the spring rains to grow food. This part of the prophecy of Isaiah read in today’s Mass was written as the people came back from the Babylonian Exile. At last they were home, but home was a desert. Isaiah assured them that “the rain and snow come down and do not return till they have watered the earth, making it fertile and fruitful, giving seed for the one who sows and bread for the one who eats.” Then, he connected it with something even more important. “So shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth; my word shall not return to me void, but shall do my will, achieving the end for which I send it.” The Israelites understood this, that God’s word is powerful and accomplishes what God intends.

As we witness the refugee crisis, conflicts in various parts of the world, seemingly intractable poverty in our own country and abroad, and the effects of climate change, we may wonder where the word of God is taking root. It’s taking root in the free will and goodness and bravery of so many people who are not giving up, who are doing the right things in all these circumstances and saving lives.

Responsorial Psalm

(Psalm 65:10, 11, 12-13, 14)

“The seed that falls on good ground will yield a fruitful harvest.” Our hope is that the “good ground” of the world’s best scientists will yield the fruit that will heal the world. Let us pray for them.

A reading from St. Paul's Letter to the Romans

(Chapter 8:18-23)

The second reading in today’s Mass includes a statement by St. Paul that we need to hear and understand: “Brothers and sisters: I consider that the sufferings of the present time are as nothing compared to the glory to be revealed for us.” The sufferings that Paul was talking about included the oppression imposed by the Roman Empire and the grinding poverty that affected most people in that time and place. But there is a great hope:

“We know that all creation is groaning in labor pains even until now; and not only that , but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, who also groans within ourselves as we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies.” I never thought of it what way, but maybe that groaning that we feel inside of us from time to time is the Spirit inside of us letting us know that we are not alone.

A reading from the Holy Gospel according to Matthew

(Chapter 13:1-23)

Many of Jesus’ contemporaries were farmers, so he often used examples from agrarian life. In the gospel passage read in today’s Mass, he tells them, “A sower went out to sow.” This was an important job. If you did not do it correctly, nothing would grow. “And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path, and birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky ground, where it had little soil. It sprang up at once because the soil was not deep, and when the sun rose it was scorched, and withered for lack of roots. Some fell among thorns and the thorns grew up and choked it. But some fell on rich soil and produced fruit, a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold. Whoever has ears ought to hear.”

“The disciples approached him and said, ‘Why do you speak to them in parables?’” And Jesus answered, ‘Because knowledge of the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven has been granted to you, but to them it has not been granted…. But blessed are your eyes, because they see, and your ears because they hear. Amen, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see but did not see it and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.’”

Then, Jesus explained the parable to the disciples: “The seed sown on the path is the one who hears the word of the kingdom without understanding it, and the evil one comes and steals away what was sown in his heart. The seed on rocky ground is the one who hears the word and receives it at once with joy. But he has no root and lasts only for a time. When some tribulation or persecution comes because of the word, he immediately falls away. The seed sown among the thorns is the one who hears the word but then worldly anxiety and the lure of riches choke the word and it bears no fruit. But the seed sown on rich soil is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold.”

Now, let’s move away from agriculture to our lives today. Have you ever had the Word stolen from your heart? Was it because of personal tragedy or more widespread tragedy? Did you grow up with joy in your heart only to have it lose its power as you grew older? Have the “thorns of anxiety” choked the Word in your heart? Do you worry about things that you cannot control and shouldn’t try to, but you do, over and over? Are you one who hears the Word and understands it, and has it borne great fruit in your life? Or have you had several of those experiences at different times in your life? Join the club! Or should I say, come to the community of us believers who do not always find it easy to believe but persevere in faith.

 ✝️

 

Painting, The Sower by Jean-François Millet, 1850. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Public domain.

Excerpts from the English translation of the Lectionary for Mass © 1969, 1981, 1997, International Commission on English in the Liturgy Corporation (ICEL). All rights reserved.
 
Bill Ayres was a founder, with the late singer Harry Chapin, of WhyHunger. He has been a radio and TV broadcaster for 40 years and has two weekly Sunday-night shows on WPLJ, 95.5 FM in New York. He is a member of Our Lady Queen of Martyrs Church in Centerport, New York.

A reading from the prophecy of Zechariah

(Chapter 9:9-10)

Israel was surrounded geographically on all sides by larger, more powerful nations and was often conquered as war-like kings came riding into town. But the prophet Zechariah presents a different picture of the true king:

“Thus says the Lord: Rejoice heartily, O daughter Zion, shout for joy O daughter Jerusalem! See, your king shall come to you; a just savior is he, meek and riding on an ass, on a colt, the foal of an ass. He shall banish the chariot from Ephraim, and the horse from Jerusalem; the warrior’s bow shall be banished, and he shall proclaim peace to the nations. His dominion shall be from sea to sea, and from the river to the ends of the earth.”

Zechariah is talking about the hoped-for messiah who, we believe, was Jesus who did not enter Jerusalem (on the day we observe as Palm Sunday) as a conqueror on horseback but rather as a servant on a donkey, a beast of burden. He did that intentionally, to make an important point about who he really was.

Responsorial Psalm

(Psalm 145:1-2, 8-9, 10-11, 13-14)

“I will praise your name forever, my king and my God.” This king is not like any other. He is “gracious and merciful, slow to anger and of great kindness.”

A reading from St. Paul's Letter to the Romans

(Chapter 8:9, 11-13)

“You are in the Spirit, if only the Spirit of God dwells in you. Whoever does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. If the Spirit of the one who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, the one who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also, through his Spirit that dwells in you.”

Paul uses the word Spirit four times in this short saying because he wants to make sure that his readers know this most important truth, that the very Spirit of God, which we call the Holy Spirit, lives in each one of us. Do you believe that for you? Do you call upon the Holy Spirit, pray to the Holy Spirit?

I must say that as a young man attending Catholic high school and college I did not “get it.” I prayed to Jesus and to our Father, who were apart from me, but not to the Holy Spirit who I later learned lived within me. Coming to know the presence of the Holy Spirit within my soul has been a wonderful gift. Think about it. You and I are never really alone. We have the presence of God’s own Spirit within us—always, even in our darkest, most painful moments. Please take a little time to say hello and open your heart to the Spirit.

A reading from the Holy Gospel according to Matthew

(Chapter 11:25-30)

Jesus said to the apostles, “All things have been handed over to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal him.”

“Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for yourselves. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

The Jewish people were monotheists. They believed in one God who they thought of as their Father. Jesus is saying that he is the Son of that same Father and that he and the Father are one. So, Jesus is saying only that he is the Messiah but much more. He shares the very life of God. Many in his time could not get it, but Jesus wants those who do get it to know a different way of living—not under the yoke of an enslaver but in companionship with one who shares a yoke that is easy and a burden that is light.

Sometimes, it might seem that our burdens are not so light: almost routine news of gun violence, the lingering threat of illness from the Covid virus, economic hardships, and seemingly intractable poverty and dislocation of defenseless people.

What are you doing to lighten your burdens and those of people around you? What are the main sources of life for you? Do you seek them out and rejoice in them? Let us remember to be in touch with the very Spirit of God who lives in each of us.

 ✝️

 

Fresco, Christ's Entry into Jerusalem by Pietro Lorenzetti (1280-1348). Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi, Assisi, Italy. Public domain.

Excerpts from the English translation of the Lectionary for Mass © 1969, 1981, 1997, International Commission on English in the Liturgy Corporation (ICEL). All rights reserved.
 
Bill Ayres was a founder, with the late singer Harry Chapin, of WhyHunger. He has been a radio and TV broadcaster for 40 years and has two weekly Sunday-night shows on WPLJ, 95.5 FM in New York. He is a member of Our Lady Queen of Martyrs Church in Centerport, New York.

A reading from the Book of Exodus

(These readings from Cycle A may be used on this Sunday)

(Chapter 17:3-7)

When the Israelites escaped from Egypt, they entered a desert land that was hardly habitable. There was little food, so God provided manna and quail for the people to eat. In this passage, they are angry because there is no water, a complaint that seems reasonable in a climate that is 100 degrees with the sun beating down. Would you complain? I would.

So, the people test God (that is what Massah means) and quarrel with God (that is what Meriba means) and God comes through. Moses strikes a rock and water pours forth. Remember, this is a story filled with symbolism, so the staff with which Moses strikes the rock is the same staff that he used to part the water so the Israelites could cross the sea dry-shod and escape Pharoah’s army and slavery in Egypt. The question that the people were asking—“Is the Lord in our midst?”—was answered with a powerful “Yes!”

Sometimes, in our darkest, most challenging moments we may ask the same question. Where are you, God, to help me out in this tragedy, depression, betrayal, loss, illness, or worse? The answer is always the same. It is the promise that appears most often in the Hebrew scriptures and in the words and actions of Jesus, “I am with you.”

Responsorial Psalm

(Psalm 95)

“If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.” This is not about hearing voices in your head. How do we really hear God’s voice? It is in prayer, listening to and reading the scriptures, and in our relationships with the people in our lives. We never know when God will speak to us through events and people. The key is listening with the heart as well as the ears.

A reading from the prophecy of Isaiah

(Chapter 40:1-5, 9-11)

There are many beautiful passages in the Hebrew Scriptures in which God speaks soulfully to the people of Israel. This is one of the most powerful: “Comfort, give comfort to my people.”   “Speak tenderly to Jerusalem.” “Fear not to cry out.” “Here comes with power the Lord God.”

Did they listen? Did they hear the words in their hearts? Perhaps many did, but others did not. God speaks to us tenderly and with power so many times in our lives in so many ways, through many different people and situations. How often do we really listen, in times of joy and times of sadness, in stress and in peace, and so many times in between?

Responsorial Psalm

(Psalm 104)

“O bless the Lord, my soul.” Let us bless the Lord because of all the blessings he gives to us.

A reading from the First Book of Samuel

(Chapter 1:20-22, 24-28)

This is a heart-warming and heartbreaking story, especially for those of us who are parents. Many of us have prayed for a child as Hannah did and were overjoyed when that child was born. I suspect that none of us would do what Hannah did, nor would we ever be asked to do so. This event, however, took place thousands of years ago in the context of a different culture and religion. Hannah did what she thought was right and dedicated the life of her child to God’s service. And Samuel did, indeed, perform great service to God and to the people of Israel.

We can identify with Hannah in this sense: We sometimes make sacrifices for our children and for others, and we them with some pain but also with the joy of giving from deep in our hearts.

(An alternate reading for this feast is from the Book of Sirach, Chapter 3:2-6,, 12-14)

Responsorial Psalm

(Psalm 128)

“Blessed are those who fear the Lord and walk in his ways.” This expression, “fear the Lord,” has been misunderstood for centuries and has been used to frighten and mislead people into both spiritual and emotional illness. The fear of the Lord that the Psalmist is talking about is not the cringing, debilitating fear that drains the joy in people and keeps them from the all- powerful and all-forgiving love of God. The real sense of the word “fear” in Hebrew is “awe” and “wonder” at God’s great power and might.

Are you truly in awe of God, enthralled with his goodness, in wonder of his great creation? Or are you still caught up in the words you may have heard in your childhood: “You better be good or God will punish you.” How you answer that question may either bring you a powerful sense of God’s peace and protection or encourage that little voice that is sometimes in your head that says, “You’re not good enough.”

A reading from the prophecy of Micah

(Chapter 5:1-4a)

Throughout the church year we hear readings from the major prophets, such as Isaiah and Jeremiah, and from several of what are called the minor prophets—Zephaniah, Baruch, and Micah, the last of whom we encounter today. You may notice a common theme in these prophetic readings. The setting is a terrible time for the Hebrew people, usually an exile and period of persecution. But there is always a message of hope that God will save the people through a new leader, a messiah.

We believe that the savior the prophets foretold came in the person of Jesus. He believed it. He called the people together and proclaimed the reign of God beginning here on earth. Many people accepted and followed him, but the religious and political leaders did not. Jesus threatened their power. They wanted to destroy him, but they could only murder him, not destroy him.

Responsorial Psalm

(Psalm 80)

“Lord, make us turn to you; let us see your face and we shall be saved.” That sounds wonderful, but how can we see the face of God? If we have the eyes of love and faith we can see the face of God in our loved ones, in our friends and partners, and in the faces of the faceless and forgotten in our society: the orphan; the elder in a nursing home without family; the single mom working two jobs, struggling to feed her children; and the person begging on the street—perhaps especially that person that is so easy to pass by. May we look more deeply into the faces of God’s children to see his face.

A reading from the prophecy of Zephaniah

This Sunday in the church year is called Gaudete Sunday: Gaudete means “rejoice.” We hear the reason for this title throughout this reading: “Shout for joy,” “Sing joyfully,” “Be glad and exult with all your heart.” Why is the prophet Zephaniah saying this to the people of Israel? Because “The Lord, your God, is in your midst, a mighty savior.”

Throughout the history of ancient Israel there was the expectation that God would become present among the people and save them from their enemies. We believe that Jesus was and is that presence of God. The promise to Israel and to all peoples has been fulfilled in him.

Responsorial Psalm

(Psalm 12)

“Cry out with joy and gladness: for among you is the great and Holy One of Israel.” The Holy One of Israel is, of course, Jesus.

A reading from the book of Wisdom

(Chapter 7:7-11)

“I prayed, and prudence was given me; I pleaded, and the spirit of wisdom came to me. I preferred her to scepter and throne, and deemed riches nothing in comparison with her.” We all pray for many different reasons, but have you ever prayed for wisdom or prudence? Maybe you did when you were taking a test at school, but what about now, when you have a difficult decision to make? It is not as though you are praying into some abyss. Rather, you and I have the very Spirit of God living within us, our partner, our source of wisdom and strength. Certainly, we should ask others that we trust when we are in need of wisdom, but let’s not forget the Holy Spirit, who is never far away, and seek the divine wisdom in prayer.

Responsorial Psalm

(Psalm 90)

“Fill us with your love, O Lord, and we will sing for joy.” God’s love comes to us in many ways and always brings us joy. Reflect for a moment on times recently when love came to you, when someone in some way touched you with love. Did it bring a smile to your face even if you were not exactly singing for joy? That is a good start.

A reading from the book of Genesis

(Chapter 2:18-24)

“It is not good for man to be alone.” We are created in the image and likeness of God, and God is not a solitary being—that is, in the sense that God is a community of persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We are communal beings, and the most basic community is between a man and a woman in marriage: “The two of them become one flesh.” That is truly amazing, beautiful to hear, challenging to live, but the goal of all marriages.

Still, we who are married need solitude sometimes, which is very different from loneliness. It is a time to reflect, to pray, and to just be, amid our busy lives. It can be a time of renewal of the deepest and best in us. It may not be easy to find this kind of time, but we should respect our own need and our partner’s need for this opportunity for renewal.

Responsorial Psalm

(Psalm 128)

“Fill us with your love, O Lord, and we will sing for joy.” What a good reason to sing! Do you often feel the love of God in your life?