SEED

INTRODUCTION

The title or headline of my homily is, “Seed!”

Obviously ….

TODAY’S READINGS

Seed is central to today’s Psalm, Psalm 65 – as well as to today’s first reading from Isaiah 55, but especially to today’s Gospel – Matthew 13.

Seed ….

REFLECTIONS

At different times in our life we saw lawns being seeded and reseeded – watered and cared for – and then we noticed they flourished “a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold.”

Maybe we were the one who cut the grass….

Maybe sometime as a kid we had watermelon or a honeydew melon and we asked what those beads inside were and we learned they were seeds and that’s where watermelons and honeydew melons come from.

I remember putting them in some soil in a red clay pot and I watered them and watched them and waited and all I got was neat green plants.

And I got tired of watching and waiting for melons.

Seed ….

Then we discovered – later – about our own masculine seed – that  it can bring children into the world.

Then we discovered – therein lay the great mysteries of life – earth and birth – relationships – the down deep inner call towards relationships and marriage – love and family.

Then – looking at who we are – we went an odd way – celibacy – yet hopefully we discovered in time what it meant to be called a “Father”  - that many people are in on - the growth and development of every human being.  We read Erikson talking about generativity following intimacy.

Then we saw in each other’s lives – especially in community - what he meant by Intimacy vs. Isolation,  Generativity vs. Stagnation.

In time – hopefully -  we also appreciated our mom and dad for having us: seed and mother earth.

In time – hopefully - we discovered more and more the mysteries of life.

In time – hopefully -  we discovered the central questions.

How would we have been  - how would we have become – being married – having a family – being a husband and a father?

We thought these thoughts listening to someone tell us about their marriage or their father.

We saw classmates leave – and some get married – and those realities really got us thinking.

Did they see our communities  - our rectories spelled wrectories – and it was a rocky path – hard ground – little soil for growth – not deep enough for them?   Did they feel they were scorched and became withered for lack of roots – or too many thorns were pricking them or  they felt choked?

Did they feel nobody was listening?

Did they stop listening to the mysteries of the kingdom of God that was given to them?

Did they look elsewhere for eyes that saw them, ears that heard them, minds that understood them?

I’ve often wondered about Jesus – how he dealt with the deepest longings and urgings of every human being – for love and for marriage and for children.

For Jesus, did today’s parable come out of a preaching gig where only 1 out of 4 seemed to be listening?

Did little children besides women tug at the tassels of his cloak – because they saw in him a husband who seemed to understand – or a possible father who was present to them?

Experiencing them – did that produce in Jesus more and more love – 30, 60 and 100fold.

What was his favorite parable?  Did Jesus  see tears in a far distant father’s face – in the crowd -  when he told the story of the prodigal son? Did he see a woman make a silent “Wow!” when he told the story of the woman who lost  a wedding coin from her wedding head band – searched everywhere and did just what the woman in Jesus’ story did. Celebrate – when she found it!

What was his favorite saying – insight – his babies – that he loved to plant in the minds around him?

What was his most telling moment: when the woman washed his feet and perfumed them – when he came home to Martha and Mary with Lazarus – when he heard his Father’s voice on the mountain say, “This is my beloved son”?  What was his favorite moment?

Did Alphonsus ever have someone come up to him – in some small village – and ask him to sign a copy of his Visits – telling him he uses them every afternoon in his old age – in their little church?

Did Sarnelli ever have a confrere come up to him and say he met a lady – who had been a prostitute – and you saved her – and he said back to her, “I know Sarnelli – up close and personally. He’s a Redemptorist like me.”

Did anyone ever say to Clement, “I don’t know where you get your energy to hear all these confessions. There’s people from all over Vienna who brag about you?”

Did anyone ever call up George Wichland and say, “I have a ton of food left over from a picnic. It rained. And you were the first person I thought of who would get  this food to a lot of hungry folks. Great cookies. No Oreos.”  What was it like to live with George Wichland?

Did anyone ever say to us, “Lucky you – having some great guys to go through a pandemic with?”

Do we appreciate as well as tell others the little things as well as the big things people do here for each other – make scrambled eggs, get the mail, plus pizza and salad and Entenmann’s, etc. etc.

CONCLUSION

The title of my homily has been “Seed”.

Looking at the field – called “Our life” – what’s  growing there?

We have eyes – we have a sense of what has been good and what has been bad – wheat and weeds.

At this Mass taste – just the tip of the delicious bread and wine – our life – and say “Thank You Father – Eucharist” – knowing there are weeds as well – the put downs of life – or the hurts we put up with – and then get into the same boat Jesus got us into – like the one in today’s gospel – and then continue to set sail – in an intimate friendship, relationship – with him and each other. Amen.