Pastor's Reflection

He talks about fields and fishing nets. He has done that the last few weeks in the Gospels for one simple reason: to tell us about the Kingdom of His Father.

Often times we pursue extraordinary things. We try to push further and go farther. Sometimes, that is not bad. If we do it all the time, we will probably be quite restless. We will also miss things. We may miss the message of the Kingdom.

Many actions make up our daily lives. We have to stop at the supermarket, pick up the dry cleaning, and fill the car with gas. Our ordinary daily tasks may seem random, unconnected, and even repetitive.

But God loves to hide in the ordinary.

The noted thirteenth-century Carthusian spiritual writer named Hugh of Balma taught that God, in a way that is faster than our human thinking, makes countless varied attempts every day—hundreds or thousands of times, day, or night—to draw the human soul to himself, train us in his ways, and renew us according to his will. This is what God did for Solomon in today’s first reading. God made His message known in a dream.

Saint Alphonsus Liguori tells us that when we sleep at night God is closer to us than the very pillow on which we lay our heads, and that even during the night God does not want our conversation with him to pause.

The psalmist confirms this: “If you try my heart, if you visit me by night, if you test me, you will find no wickedness in me ...” (Ps 17:3) and “By day may the LORD send his mercy, and by night may his righteousness be with me!” (Ps 42:8 NAB). The Catechism of the Catholic Church notes that God always takes the initiative in calling us to prayer, and He is tireless in doing so.

As summer progresses, let’s listen to find God in the ordinary places so He can be the One to show us His mysteries.

God bless,

Msgr. Bransfield

At first, Jesus is describing the kingdom of heaven. And the Lord just said, “The kingdom of heaven may be likened to a man who sowed good seed in his field” (Mt. 13:24). So far, so good.

But then, Jesus says, “While everyone was asleep his enemy came and sowed weeds all through the wheat, and then went off” (Mt 13:25).

What does that have to do with the kingdom of heaven? An enemy who comes while all are asleep and sowed weeds all through the wheat.

Notice, everyone is asleep. In the spiritual life, this type of sleep is when we get hypnotized by the ways of the world. Sadly, the temptation afflicts us to think of faith in God and the Bible as little more than an optional fairy tale story that is to be left behind once we get to work in “the real world.” This is the sleep that arises from the lethargy that the world induces in us: laziness about the things of God. The weariness advances without us fully noticing it. One of its effects is that if we do value faith, we begin to see it as a self-improvement technique rather than a way of salvation in Christ.

The weeds are the sins that the devil sews by temptation. Sin is not only the crossing of a line and doing something “bad.” Sin is something the enemy introduces to our heart. He wants us to embrace it with our will. Sin operates a lot like hypothermia – as we sin we get more and more used to it thinking it is warming us. But all the while it is drawing the life out of us. And notice, that the sin entwines itself among the wheat. Sin seeks to coil around the good things of our life and slowly devour them.

And this is done by the one Jesus refers to as our enemy. Jesus tells us that the enemy is the devil (Mt 13:29). It is not fashionable today to believe in the existence of the devil. The two mistakes we make about the devil are 1) when some people think he is around every corner; and 2) when others believe he is a myth. Jesus is clear. The devil is a real being, a fallen angel who is hostile to us. He is our enemy.

It is crucial in our faith life that we don’t become obsessed with the devil. But it is also crucial that we are not naïve to his tactics. He seeks to sew weeds among the good gifts that God gives us. The weeds are designed to look enticing. Temptation is never ugly in its appearance.

Our response is always to cling to Jesus. We cling to the Lord especially in the Holy Eucharist – by attending Mass each week at the Vigil Mass or Sunday. We cling to Christ through frequent reception of the Sacrament of Confession. Prayer, especially prayer to Our Lady in the Holy Rosary is another means of clinging to Jesus.

As we meet Jesus and dwell with Him in grace, He heals us and frees us from the ways of the enemy so that we may walk the way of the beautiful harvest of the Kingdom.

God bless,

Msgr. Bransfield

We watch for the rain. We also watch for the snow (though not with a lot of eagerness!).

We plan our days and travels around the weather.

But as we watch, Someone else is also watching.

God watches the rain. God watches the snow.

The prophet Isaiah said so:

“Thus says the Lord: Just as from the heavens the rain and snow come down and do not return there until they have watered the earth …” (Isaiah 55:10).

And God watches as the rain makes the earth thrive with life. And Isaiah goes further. God watches as bread is produced from the fruits of the earth, nourished by the rain and snow: “ … giving seed to the one who sows and bread to the one who eats …” (Is. 55:10).

And God goes on to say that what water is to the earth, so His Word is to our soul.

God’s Word is found in the Bible. His Word is proclaimed at Church in the readings from Sacred Scripture. He wants His Word to enter our soul.

What is a Scripture passage you can think of right now without looking at the Bible?

Now, why did you remember that particular passage? There may be initial reasons why we remembered that passage, such as it helped us through a difficult time, or it is one we heard repeated often.

But there is a deeper reason you remembered that passage. Because God sends His angels to shine a light on His Word so that His Word becomes bread for our souls.

This summer, open the Bible. Give the angels more room to work. Let the Holy Spirit turn the Word of God into bread for your soul.

God bless,

Msgr. Bransfield