Collecting Grace | October 25, 2016

October 25, 2016

I grew up in a house of “collections”. My parents collected a lot of things from decorative plates that you hang on the wall, to blue and white vases, to Thomas Kinkade model houses, to clocks of every shape and size, and my dad’s latest collection of baby Jesus’s from nativity sets (yes, just the baby Jesus in a manger part and not Mary or Joseph or any other characters in the nativity!) Dad was always fascinated with the infant Jesus because he just loves babies! Now that dad is gone, mom and I look around the house at all the collections and none of them seem to have much meaning. It’s just stuff and we reflect on the collections that really matter such as: dad’s stories that were, oh you know only about 20% true, but very entertaining, going on long drives after mass on Sundays, family tickle fights in my parent’s bed, answered prayers, love letters, knowing all the words to every Anne Murray song because we listened to her when we did our chores and every Christmas morning, or Barry Manilow because mom loved him, or Jim Croce because dad and I loved to swing dance to “Leroy Brown” in the living room.

These are the seeds and leavening that Jesus refers to in today’s gospel; those moments of actual grace that get stored in the soil and dough of our souls. These collections of actual grace bring about the Kingdom of God and the more we collect the bigger it grows and spreads. Over these past two weekends, several men and women (mustard seeds and yeast) experienced a showering of grace up at Whispering Winds Catholic Conference Center and Camp on a Cursillo weekend. The grace collections from this experience are still being sewn and kneaded into each person’s heart and the abundance of these tilled souls will make the presence of Christ known to all that will encounter them.

St. Luke uses two images of the Kingdom of God. The first is a male reality of the time in planting seeds in the ground that yield a much greater harvest than the size of these mustard seeds. The second is a female reference to making bread with yeast being an agent to multiply the volume of the wheat/flour. Luke was always concientious about including female imagery, which I just love, because one of Luke’s main resources for his gospel was the Blessed Mother herself. Obviously, Jesus was sensitive to include both male and female references in his teachings and I love that Mary and Luke made sure to include those in this gospel. The Kingdom of God is open to all.

So as we go throughout our week, let’s be aware of the grace collections being stored up within each one of us, and let’s acknowledge that the Kingdom of God is indeed already here with us, we just need to let is spread and rise from those collections of grace….and it is well with my soul.

Reading 1 EPH 5:21-33

Brothers and sisters:
Be subordinate to one another out of reverence for Christ.
Wives should be subordinate to their husbands as to the Lord.
For the husband is head of his wife
just as Christ is head of the Church,
he himself the savior of the Body.
As the Church is subordinate to Christ,
so wives should be subordinate to their husbands in everything.
Husbands, love your wives,
even as Christ loved the Church
and handed himself over for her to sanctify her,
cleansing her by the bath of water with the word,
that he might present to himself the Church in splendor,
without spot or wrinkle or any such thing,
that she might be holy and without blemish.
So also husbands should love their wives as their own bodies.
He who loves his wife loves himself.
For no one hates his own flesh
but rather nourishes and cherishes it,
even as Christ does the Church,
because we are members of his Body.

For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother
and be joined to his wife,
and the two shall become one flesh.

This is a great mystery,
but I speak in reference to Christ and the Church.
In any case, each one of you should love his wife as himself,
and the wife should respect her husband.

Responsorial Psalm PS 128:1-2, 3, 4-5

R. (1a) Blessed are those who fear the Lord.
Blessed are you who fear the LORD,
who walk in his ways!
For you shall eat the fruit of your handiwork;
blessed shall you be, and favored.
R. Blessed are those who fear the Lord.
Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine
in the recesses of your home;
Your children like olive plants
around your table.
R. Blessed are those who fear the Lord.
Behold, thus is the man blessed
who fears the LORD.
The LORD bless you from Zion:
may you see the prosperity of Jerusalem
all the days of your life.
R. Blessed are those who fear the Lord.

Alleluia SEE MT 11:25

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Blessed are you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth;
you have revealed to little ones the mysteries of the Kingdom.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel LK 13:18-21

Jesus said, “What is the Kingdom of God like?
To what can I compare it?
It is like a mustard seed that a man took and planted in the garden.
When it was fully grown, it became a large bush
and the birds of the sky dwelt in its branches.”

Again he said, “To what shall I compare the Kingdom of God?
It is like yeast that a woman took
and mixed in with three measures of wheat flour
until the whole batch of dough was leavened.”