First we heard of the rotten loincloth of Jeremiah. A strange image, but, thankfully it’s explained for us. Israel, which was supposed to have a very close, intimate relationship with God, had been soiled by the pagan influences of Babylon. And over time, those pagan influences had caused Israel to rot.
In the Gospel, we hear parables, not of rot, but growth, tremendous growth.
So, the connection between the two readings is not too difficult to grasp after all. When we allow ourselves to be corrupted by the wicked ways of the world, there will be negative consequences, but when we cooperate with the grace of God, there will be flourishing, and that’s true whether we are speaking about personal spiritual growth, or the growth of the Church.
In many places, we’ve seen a shrinking of the Church, our neighborhood—our country. There was a lot of worldliness that crept into the life of the Church the last 50 years: forsaking of time-honored devotions, attempts to change or water-down very clear moral teachings, and let’s not even speak about what happened to the liturgy—a liturgy that facilitated tremendous spiritual growth, was made almost unrecognizable from the liturgy of the ages.
And some folks—bishops and laity alike, believe that we didn’t go far enough, if we just make the church look even more like the world, then we’ll attract young people and non-believers. But that’s never worked, and it seems to contradict the wisdom of scripture.
Spiritual growth will come when we hold fast to that which is good, and preach the Gospel as it was given to the Apostles by our blessed Lord. Pope Benedict, speaking about this current phase of the Church’s evangelization mission to the secular world. He said, it’s not about “immediately attracting the large masses that have distanced themselves from the Church”, rather, we need “to dare, once again and with the humility of the mustard seed, to leave up to God the when and how it will grow”.
Humility is required for growth, humility which acknowledges that we may have made some mistakes the last 50 years. We may have made a few too many compromises with the secular culture. We may have failed to teach with conviction and clarity the standards of the moral life, and made the liturgy a little too much about man, and not enough about God.
May we exercise the humility needs in order to be that people the Lord made us to be, that we may be a people which spread his renown, his praise, his beauty, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.
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For the humility to repent of our sins, learn from our mistakes and failures, and commit wholeheartedly to the work of the Gospel.
That leaders of nations may find guidance in the Word of God for proper governance and the pursuit of justice for all.
That Christian families may be places where the Christian faith is studied, understood, observed, and cherished.
For all those who suffer illness, those in hospitals, nursing homes and hospice care, and all those who despair of the love of God.
For the repose of the souls of our beloved dead, the deceased members of our families friends and parishes, for those who fought and died for our freedom, and N. for whom this Mass is offered.
O God, our refuge and our strength, hear the prayers of your Church, for you yourself are the source of all goodness, and grant, we pray, that what we ask in faith we may truly obtain
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