Weed or Wheat

Reading Thurgood Marshall's biography was particularly interesting for me.

After all, we’re right here by the Supreme Court.

And I worked for a couple decades in the Thurgood Marshall building over by Union Station.

And, like some of you, I saw him a number of times in his later years.

He took strong positions throughout his career as lawyer, judge and justice.

One of his strongest positions was his vigorous and absolute opposition to the death penalty.

Back in the 1920’s he worked for the NAACP and lobbied for legislation against lynchings.

And he also worked to save the condemned who were facing legal executions.

Our Church has long opposed the use of the death penalty in modern society.

And the parable that Jesus explains today tells us something about that opposition.

In the parable, a man plants good seed.

But as that seed grows into wheat, weeds crop up among the wheat.

The man’s servants want to pull up the weeds.

But the master says, let the wheat and the weeds grow together.

Pulling up the weeds might uproot some of the wheat too.

Wait until harvest time.

When all can be pulled up together.

Then, under the Master’s direction, the weeds can be destroyed and the wheat can be preserved.

As Jesus explains, the wheat are the good people, the children of the Son of Man.

The weeds are the bad people, the children of the Evil One.

And at the end of time, Jesus himself will see that the evil doers are punished.

And the righteous are rewarded.

So we servants are to be patient and await that end of the age.

We're not to pull up the weeds.

We could even be mistaken about whether a particular plant is wheat or weed.

We can't see deeply enough to distinguish between the good and the bad.

Our snapshot in time doesn't account for the good falling, or the bad repenting.

In the parable the sorting takes place at the end of the age.

Because it’s clear to the Master who is who.

And in the end, all the falls and repentances have played themselves out.

But we servants here in the midst of time can’t know all that.

So, while we do need imprisonment or other action to protect our society,

We shouldn’t act in such a harsh and irrevocable way as the death penalty.

We might mistakenly destroy a good innocent wheat shaft that we mistook for a weed.

Or, an actual weed that, given time, would have been transformed.

Even if what we destroy is indeed a weed, and would never be transformed,

Our destroying it may cause collateral damage to the surrounding wheat.

Including even damage to ourselves.

More on Weeds

Tuesday 17th Week Ordinary Time

Mt 13:36-43      Read this Scripture @usccb.org

Big Deal

We read it in our scripture; we hear it at Mass; we say it in formal prayers.

We pretty much take it for granted.

Jesus is our brother, Mary is our mother, God is our father.

We’re all brothers and sisters.

We hear it so much, we might forget to be excited about what a big deal that is.

Growing up, I had parents, brothers, a sister, grandparents, aunts and uncles, and cousins.

Most are still around—spread around the country.

Plus I now have children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews.

That probably puts me in a fairly average position for family ties.

I also have a few close friends, including some who don't fit that average picture.

One is a friend I’ve seen nearly every day for over thirty years.

He’s an only child, and a lifelong bachelor,

And his only surviving relatives are a couple cousins in a distant state.

But he’s not lonely.

He maintains a good, active network of friends.

He and I often talk about things that affect our lives.

The news, the economy, politics, and even personal health and finance matters.

Some years ago, he casually mentioned in passing that I was like a brother to him.

As I was thinking about it later, I thought,

That’s really a big deal.

Even if we’re actually closer to some of our friends than to some of our family,

We still think of family as being the higher relationship.

So it's quite a compliment for someone to say they consider you family.

Most of us have some nuclear and extended family.

Large or small, good or bad.

None of us got to choose the family we were born into.

But we love them and maintain our ties with them.

And even if relationships are strained we still feel a commitment to them.

To paraphrase Robert Frost,

Family are those who, when you have to go to them, they have to take you in.

But there are many people who have no family ties.

The bonds have been broken by death, or strains.

They may have good solid relationships with close friends who are like family.

But those bonds can be broken too.

All of our relationships can be ended through forces that are beyond our control.

Any of us could someday find ourselves in that situation.

There’s only one exception.

One relationship where we ourselves have complete control.

And that’s the one that Jesus offers us in today’s Gospel.

He wants each of us to be an intimate member of his nuclear family.

There’s no catch, just one requirement—that we strive to do his Father’s will.

But that striving is completely within our power and completely within our control.

God has given us full control over the one most critical relationship in our lives.

That really is a big deal.

Tuesday 16th Week Ordinary Time

Mt 12:46-50      Read this Scripture @usccb.org

Seamless

Back when I was in law school, I first heard an old saying that's stuck with me over the years

The law is a seamless web.

That referred to the strong interconnections between different aspects of the law.

It was a comparison, an analogy, to a spider's web.

Not the world-wide-web; not the Internet.

World-Wide-Web is probably an uncommon phrase now, people just say The Web.

But that's the full name, it's what that www stands for at the start of web addresses.

That non-place out there in the ether, in the clouds,

Where all our information and communications are linked together.

The world-wide part may go unspoken now, but it's really the most important part.

But back to the spider's web.

You pull at one part of the web and everything else moves.

Everything is affected, even distant parts are reshaped.

That can seem like a revelation to a law student focused on all the artificial divisions.

Contracts, Property, Torts, Administrative Law, Constitutional Law.

But that interconnectedness isn't really so surprising.

All of life is interconnected, holistic, an organic unity.

Even if we separate the world and different aspects of our lives

Into different artificial compartments.

Every action, every inaction, has a far reaching impact.

We've probably all thought about how some relatively minor change in our past

Would have had a profound impact on our future.

What if I had gone to a different school?

What if I had taken a different job, or moved to a different city?

What if I hadn't gone on that first date with my eventual spouse?

What if my parent's hadn't gone on theirs?

This interconnectedness of all things is one of the themes of Pope Francis' encyclical,

Laudato Si, commonly called On Care of Our Common Home.

It addresses not only the ecology, but a broad range of problems in today's world.

Problems with deep spiritual roots but real world, everyday, material impacts.

Problems that will have profound impact on our future and on our children's futures.

Unless we acknowledge them, discuss them honestly, agree on solutions,

And take the proper actions now.

But why listen to Francis?

Who is he to say?

Well, for one thing, he's the Pope.

And, at least at the moment, a very popular Pope with world-wide influence.

Among Catholics and non-Catholics alike.

He's someone not seeking a personal economic or political advantage from the solutions.

Yes, some might argue that he's pushing his own agenda.

Better treatment of the poor, a better world for future generations.

But those are goals that most everyone embraces—at least at that high level.

Francis just might have enough influence to draw and hold the world's attention to these problems.

He might have the moral authority to lead the world to acknowledge these problems as top priorities.

To make more serious attempts to agree on solutions and take action.

At the very least, Francis has shepherded these issues to world-wide attention.

All of our Scripture readings today tell of sheep and shepherds.

In Jeremiah we hear of the bad shepherds who misled and scattered the flock.

God punished them and appointed new shepherds to replace them.

Our Psalm rejoiced, The Lord is my shepherd, there is nothing I shall want.

In our passage from Ephesians, Paul didn't use the word sheep or lamb,

But he spoke of Jesus offering himself on the cross to reconcile us to the Father.

Jesus as the Sacrificial Lamb, the Spotless Lamb, the Lamb of God.

Our Alleluia included, My sheep hear my voice; I know them and they follow me.

And in our Gospel, Jesus' heart was moved with pity for the vast crowd.

Because they were like sheep without a shepherd.

So, as the Good Shepherd, he stepped in and began to teach them.

This shepherd and sheep analogy has been around since at least Old Testament times.

It 's a particularly good one.

Jesus himself used it often.

We all get the picture.

But what are we?

Sheep or shepherds?

We see that Jesus was both—even simultaneously

And so are we.

When we have the ability and the authority to lead, we're called to step in.

As Jesus did and as Pope Francis is doing.

To be good shepherds.

Good parents, teachers, bosses, representatives, ministers, administrators, good examples.

When a good leader with a good cause needs followers, we're called to be good sheep.

Good citizens, children, students, workers, good supporters.

In this holistic, strongly interrelated, organic unity, seamless web of a world,

We're called on to act.

Perhaps today as a sheep, then a shepherd, and then again a sheep.

To always balance our roles.

To always use our gifts to serve in the best way we can.

16th Sunday Ordinary Time

Mk 6:30-34      Read this Scripture @usccb.org

Piecing a Foundation

Sixteen years ago I applied to the diaconate program.

The director told me to go find a spiritual advisor and to meet with him every month.

Later, I was relieved to learn that this was something they instructed every applicant to do.

They hadn’t singled me out as someone who really needed a lot of special help.

I was greatly blessed to find Fr Joe, a Jesuit over at Gonzaga.

And all these years, every month, he's given me great advice.

Up until this April when he was knocked out of commission by a stroke.

At one of our last sessions he asked me, What sacrifice are you making?

I thought, I wonder what he expects of me now?

I had to answer, None, or at least nothing special.

But I guess trying to live a good life I often sacrifice some time or money or opportunities.

He said, No, I do mean what special sacrifice are you making today?

Some little extra thing to show your appreciation for all God has done for you.

And by the way, it's those little things that build our foundation for the bigger things.

In our Gospel today, Jesus clearly expected something—some response.

And the people of Capernaum, Bethsaida and Chorazin clearly weren’t giving it.

What he was looking for was conversion.

Their turning away from any sin and turning back to God.

He had worked to convince them of their need to convert—to repent.

He had taught them and performed great miracles for them.

But they hadn’t responded.

So we hear the harsh, scathing, warning that he gives them.

It’s not clear why they hadn’t responded more appropriately to his miracles and teachings.

Jesus was residing right there in Capernaum, and the other towns were close by.

So he was sort of a local guy.

Maybe they were just taking him for granted,

Or being too presumptive.

Those are still problems for us today—presumption, taking for granted.

And it sometimes takes a nudge or a warning to remind us to show our appreciation.

If we act on a gentle nudge, like the one from Fr Joe,

We can avoid provoking a harsh, fire and brimstone, warning like the one Jesus gave.

So, I pass along Fr Joe’s advice.

Show your appreciation to God.

Make some special little sacrifice today—every day.

Give up something bad or do something good.

Consider yourself nudged.

Tuesday 15th Week Ordinary Time

Mt 11:20-24      Read this Scripture @usccb.org

Harvesting

                                                                                                                                                              by  Pizzazz

Every year in the U.S., millions of pounds of wholesome food are left to rot in the fields.

Or dumped in landfills.

Often as much as 50% of a crop goes unharvested to waste.

Some is left in the field because machines aren’t agile enough to reach it.

Some may be left to control prices—to avoid flooding the market with a surplus.

Hand-picked crops are selectively harvested.

An individual fruit or a vegetable might be blemished or oddly shaped or colored.

And no one would buy it at Whole Foods.

So, the pickers are taught to leave it, or toss it into the dumpster.

After all, the American harvest is abundant.

Why put any effort into that less attractive peach, or ear of corn, or head of lettuce?

Some groups are working to recoup that waste.

Taking a lesson from the ancient practice of gleaning.

Jewish law, and other laws, required landowners to leave some portion of their crop in the fields.

And to allow the poor to come in and take that crop.

Today, organizers match up growers with teams of volunteer gleaners.

The teams go through the fields after the harvest and gather the crop that was left behind.

And then they distribute that food to the poor.

One organizing group, the St Andrews Society, gleaned hundreds of tons of food last year.

A church group here on Capitol Hill gleans the potato fields of a nearby Maryland farm.

Jesus told us to ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest.

And, as with so many messages from scripture, that call has multiple meanings and levels.

We might say the gleaners are answering Jesus’ call quite literally.

They’re going out and harvesting the food.

But they’re also answering another of his calls—they’re serving the poor.

A deeper level of meaning in Jesus’ call for harvesters is, of course,

The call for our help in harvesting souls.

And, those seemingly overly-literal gleaners are doing a good job at that level too.

Drawing others through their good works and example.

Helping others to see God’s action in the world.

As Jesus says, the harvest is abundant.

He needs all of us as laborers.

He needs us to spread the Good News of the Kingdom.

The word that God loves us all.

He needs us to show that we love one another.

And he doesn’t want to harvest only 50% of the crop.

He wants to bring in every soul—to thoroughly glean the fields.

So, we needn’t be too selective in choosing where to labor.

Every soul out there is blemished, but he wants them all—including our own.

The harvest gives us not only the opportunity to serve as laborers,

But to be counted among its finest fruits.

Tuesday 14th Week Ordinary Time

Mt 9:32-38      Read this Scripture @usccb.org