As I work in my rectory office which has a large window facing Aberdeen Avenue, I’m sometimes distracted by bright red, yellow, black and blue flashes as cardinals, finches, starlings and blue jays fly from the tops of the trees across the street and swoop down to feed on the grass and shrubs in front of the rectory. It reminds me of today’s first reading from the prophet Ezekiel, where we hear God foretell the growth of a great nation using the image of a shoot that he will take from the top of a cedar tree and plant to become a majestic cedar with birds of every kind dwelling in its branches, much like the colorful birds I see in the trees around the rectory. With this beautiful, poetic imagery, Ezekiel is prophesying the return to glory of Jerusalem, which had been destroyed by the Babylonians. You will recall that Ezekiel proclaimed his prophetic message from his exile in Babylon where he, along with the rest of the royal court of Jerusalem, had been taken. Ezekiel foresaw a time when people of every nation on earth – represented by the birds of every kind he spoke about in his prophecy – would become part of this new kingdom. And, he ended his prophecy with a strong admonition that we should all heed: “I, the Lord, bring low the high tree, lift high the lowly tree, wither up the green tree, and make the withered tree bloom.” Those who oppose God and take pride in themselves will falter but those who humbly allow God to work through them will prosper.
And, as our patron saint – Catherine of Siena – once said so well, “all the way to heaven is heaven, because Jesus said, ‘I am the way.’” We who work to bring about God’s kingdom in this world already enjoy a touch of heaven even before we die! The atmosphere of God’s eternity wafts into the present, transforming it and making those who experience it joyously hunger for more. St. Paul speaks of it in today’s second reading with a touch of homesickness when he writes: “We know that while we are at home in the body, we are away from the Lord,” and “we would rather leave the body and go home to the Lord.” And, just as we hear in the first reading, St. Paul in the second reading includes a judgment in his message, reminding us that “we must all appear before the judgement seat of Christ, so that each may re
Today’s Gospel also speaks of a new kingdom: not the kingdom of Jerusalem but the kingdom of God. With the two parables that we hear today, Jesus offers us some very important insights into the growth of God’s kingdom right here in our midst. And, as he does so often, Jesus calls us to humility in the face of God.
Speaking to his contemporaries, many of whom were farmers, Jesus uses two images they could all understand; we can, too. Anyone who has worked on a farm or even a little home garden understands these images. We know that plants grow in mysterious ways. As Jesus says so well, it happens we “know not how.” In the end, it is God’s work that offers us the harvest of vegetables, fruits or flowers. We humbly admit it to be a mystery as we gratefully enjoy the harvest. And, our work sometimes yields surprising crops, like the tiny mustard seed that grows into a large bush so that, just as the cedar tree in today’s first reading, birds can come and dwell in the mustard bush.
Of course, Jesus is not just talking about our gardens but the work we are called to do in bringing about God’s kingdom. We are called to work hard to bring it about by our faith and trust in God and our kindness and thoughtfulness, patience, mercy and forgiveness with one another, and by sharing our abundance with the needy in gratitude for God sharing his abundance with us. But, in the end, we are not responsible for bringing about God’s kingdom. How and when it happens is God’s work. These two parables do not excuse us from working to build up God’s kingdom but make it very clear that it grows according to God’s plan – not ours.
Throughout our lives, many of us have been humbled as we realize that God’s plan does, indeed include some surprises and it prevails over our best-laid plans. Like the farmer or a gardener, we’re called to continually sow the seeds of love and mercy, patience and forgiveness to cooperate with God who causes his kingdom to sprout and grow. So, all three readings provide us with really good food for thought and prayerful reflection. As we begin another week in God’s grace, let us be grateful to God for inviting us to share in the task of growing his kingdom and let us recommit ourselves to humbly continuing the work of building it up, aware that we are privileged to continue the work that his son began and that it is, indeed, God’s work. Remembering that we must all give an account of our lives, we know that our efforts will be blessed by the Lord both here and, more importantly, hereafter in the heavenly kingdom.