17 June 2018 - Reflection for the 11th Sunday of Ordinary Time - Mark 4:26-34

     This weekend, as we get ready to enter summer on June 21, as our farmers are occupied with growing their crops and we are tending to our gardens, it is appropriate that we hear Jesus’ parables about seeds.  Jesus spoke in parables to help us better understand the Kingdom of God.  The parable of the mustard seed and these other parables about seeds shed light on how we are to live as disciples of Christ and how we are to cooperate with God’s grace in our lives.

      Grace is an interesting concept.  I have to admit, perhaps we don’t hear about grace enough at mass or in our preaching. And grace is a multi-faceted concept.  Grace is the presence of God in our lives.  Grace is our participation in the life of God, in the life of the Holy Trinity.  Grace is a supernatural gift that God gives to us, a gift that comes out of his goodness and benevolence, a gift that he bestows upon us for our eternal salvation. Yes, grace is given to us freely, but we have to respond to grace in order for it to bear fruit.  We have the potential to respond to grace, just as the mustard seed had the potential to grow into an amazing and wonderful plant. Think of how we can validly receive a sacrament, such as receiving the Holy Eucharist when we come to mass.  But there is a difference between validly receiving a sacrament and fruitfully receiving the sacramental graces that a sacrament offers.  We cannot be passive in our faith, just as we cannot be passive in receiving a sacrament.  We receive God’s grace in the sacraments and in our lives through our personal faith, through our expectancy, through the hunger and thirst we have for God in our lives.

      Cooperating with God’s grace calls us to being a life-long learner in the faith.  That is the second goal of our Diocese that we are called to address as a parish - to deepen our relationship with Christ and to be formed and educated as intentional disciples through our lives. Faith formation is not something we just have for the year or two before we receive a sacrament, such as confirmation or first communion.  Our children, our youth, and our adults all are called to journey together and to grow together in the faith formation process.  We are to discern God’s call for us, to discern the vocation to which God calls us, which faith formation helps us to do.  Our goal at St Jude is to get everyone fully involved in our faith formation program.  This is a good time to think about this, as our new school year will be starting in a couple of months.  We realize that one size does not fit us all for learning and for growing in our faith.  There are different styles of learning.  There are different levels and stages of learning.  Yes, in order for God’s grace to work within us, we need to cooperate with that grace and to continue to grow and be educated in our faith.  We encourage all of you to engage in the process of opening yourself to God’s grace in your lives and being a lifelong learner.