Dear sisters and brothers in Christ Jesus, We are now in our third straight week of parables about the Kingdom of Heaven. This week we hear the parable of the pearl of the buried treasure and the parable of the pearl of great price, both of which point us to the necessity of giving our whole lives to God. Every part of who we are is to be at the service of God, including our work, our play, our possessions, our families, and the fruits of our labors. Christ is King of all. Being Christian therefor implies allowing Christ to be Lord of every aspect of our lives. The man who finds the buried treasure sells all that he has out of joy! He does not hold anything back from God, nor does he fe
Dear sisters and brothers in Christ Jesus, “Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? Where have the weeds come from?' He answered, 'An enemy has done this.' His slaves said to him, 'Do you want us to go and pull them up?' He replied, “No, if you pull up the weeds you might uproot the wheat along with them.” With this parable, Jesus lays out the situation in which we find ourselves in our earthly life. We are surrounded by good and bad influences—people who would lead us to God as well as those who would exploit us, mislead us, or destroy us outright. So how do we judge the weeds from the wheat? This is a difficult question because, good or bad intentions aside, we are dealing with
Dear sisters and brothers in Christ Jesus, We remember stories so much better than other lessons. Stories have vivid details that catch our imagination and help to ground our memories in reality. This is why parables are so effective as teaching tools. The parables of Jesus are stories that teach. Jesus made his teachings memorable and palatable by putting them in a familiar setting: our real world. This Sunday’s parable of the sower is a great example of this. We can visualize the different soil upon which the seed falls. We can see it growing in our imagination, and we can make the connection to faith for ourselves. When we hear Jesus explain the parable later to the apostles, we ha
Dear sisters and brothers in Christ Jesus, “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest.” Jesus wants us to be with Him—not just in heaven in the future, but right now in the midst of our earthly labors. God made us for work, to cultivate the earth and care for the rest of creation, but also for rest and relationship. We need to check in with God, to consciously make an effort to talk to God and listen to God. Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament is a great way to spend time with Jesus. A brief rest from our labors gives rest to our bodies and minds. Spending this time with Jesus builds up our relationship with Him and gives Him a chance to speak to us. The M
