Praise the Lord and pass the mustard

Homily for Friday of the Third Week of Ordinary Time

2 Samuel 11:1-4a, 5-10a, 13-17
Psalm 51:3-4, 5-6a, 6bcd-7, 10-11
Mark 45:26-34

Sometimes the Gospel calls us to action, and sometimes it calls us to reflect. I think this is one for reflection.

I am something of a frustrated gardener. For most of what I plant, the results are sort of mixed, but whenever a plant or flower reference comes up in the scriptures, I always dig in to learn a little more. What I learned about mustard is this: it grows everywhere. The one mentioned in the Gospel doesn’t grow here, but is cousin grows all around here and if you’ve got a few square feet of grass and leave it alone, you’ll get mustard greens. Medium sized, bright yellow flowers. You can’t miss them because come spring, they’re all over the place.

Not unlike our faith. We hear a lot about the Church declining in lots of places: parishes closing or combining, a lack of vocations, that sort of thing. Those places sound like they’re on another planet when I look around our own parish and diocese. What’s more, we’re not exactly a center of Catholicism for this part of the country. We’re very much in mission territory here.

And yet, our parishes are growing. Catholic schools are filling up quickly. We have a colossal number of seminarians in formation, and the Dominican motherhouse has no lack at all for novices. The Holy Spirit - and it can only be the Spirit - is on the move in Nashville. And that movement starts right here, in all the little seeds we plant every day with our words, actions, and the witness of our lives. The sort of community which produces a tremendous number of vocations is acting across decades, not overnight. Those tiny seeds grow into mighty plants, and the birds come and carry them to other places, where they grow and grow some more.

So I guess it turns out that there actually is a call to action and it’s this: keep doing what you’re doing. Keep praying. Keep up the kind words. Maintain your witness.

Before long we’ll all be covered in mustard, which wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world.