Sunday Meditation: Three Parables About the Kingdom

Still before the crowds, Jesus recites three more parables about the Kingdom of God this Sunday.  Let’s list them.  (1) The Parable of the Buried Treasure.  (2) The Parable of the Pearl of Great Price.  (3) The Parable of the Drawing in of the Net.  At the end Jesus asks His apostles if they understand and then provides a further analogy.

Jesus said to his disciples:

"The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure buried in a field,

which a person finds and hides again,

and out of joy goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.

Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant

searching for fine pearls.

When he finds a pearl of great price,

he goes and sells all that he has and buys it.

Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net thrown into the sea,

which collects fish of every kind.

When it is full they haul it ashore

and sit down to put what is good into buckets.

What is bad they throw away.

Thus it will be at the end of the age.

The angels will go out and separate the wicked from the righteous and throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.

 

"Do you understand all these things?"

They answered, "Yes."

And he replied,

"Then every scribe who has been instructed in the kingdom of heaven is like the head of a household who brings from his storeroom both the new and the old."

~Mt 13:44-52

 

Dr, Brant Pitre explains the first two parables.

 

Unfortunately I could not find Dr. Pitre explaining the third parable, nor the concluding analogy.  I think the keeping of the good fish and throwing out of the bad at the end of time is quite clear.  But what do you make of the analogy?  Every preacher of Christ—technically I think everyone of we Christians—instructed is “like the head of a household who brings from his storeroom both the new and the old.”  To answer, we turn to John Michael Talbot.

 

Meditation:

"Then every scribe who has been instructed in the kingdom of heaven is like the head of a household who brings from his storeroom both the new and the old."

What do you bring that is both new and old when it comes to preaching on the Kingdom of God?

 

Sunday Meditation: The Sower of Good Seed

For this Sunday, Jesus in that great chapter of Matthew’s Gospel on the Kingdom, continues with a series of parables describing the Kingdom of God.

 

Jesus proposed another parable to the crowds, saying:

"The kingdom of heaven may be likened

to a man who sowed good seed in his field.

While everyone was asleep his enemy came

and sowed weeds all through the wheat, and then went off.

When the crop grew and bore fruit, the weeds appeared as well.

The slaves of the householder came to him and said,

'Master, did you not sow good seed in your field?

Where have the weeds come from?'

He answered, 'An enemy has done this.'

His slaves said to him,

'Do you want us to go and pull them up?'

He replied, 'No, if you pull up the weeds

you might uproot the wheat along with them.

Let them grow together until harvest;

then at harvest time I will say to the harvesters,

"First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles for burning;

but gather the wheat into my barn."'"

 

He proposed another parable to them.

"The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed

that a person took and sowed in a field.

It is the smallest of all the seeds,

yet when full-grown it is the largest of plants.

It becomes a large bush,

and the 'birds of the sky come and dwell in its branches.'"

 

He spoke to them another parable.

"The kingdom of heaven is like yeast

that a woman took and mixed with three measures of wheat flour

until the whole batch was leavened."

 

All these things Jesus spoke to the crowds in parables.

He spoke to them only in parables,

to fulfill what had been said through the prophet:

I will open my mouth in parables,

I will announce what has lain hidden from the foundation

of the world.

 

Then, dismissing the crowds, he went into the house.

His disciples approached him and said,

"Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field."

He said in reply, "He who sows good seed is the Son of Man,

the field is the world, the good seed the children of the kingdom.

The weeds are the children of the evil one,

and the enemy who sows them is the devil.

The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels.

Just as weeds are collected and burned up with fire,

so will it be at the end of the age.

The Son of Man will send his angels,

and they will collect out of his kingdom

all who cause others to sin and all evildoers.

They will throw them into the fiery furnace,

where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.

Then the righteous will shine like the sun

in the kingdom of their Father.

Whoever has ears ought to hear."

~Mt 13:24-43

 

Most homilies on this passage will concentrate on the first parable, that of the Weeds and Wheat.  Jesus explains why He allows evil people to be mixed within us.  Dr. Brant Pitre gives us an excellent exegesis.

 

As usual, Dr. Pitre gives a fine explanation.  But I think he makes a subtle mistake.  Jesus never says that the kingdom is like the field.  He says the Kingdom is like the man, that is, a sower.  Which leads us to our meditation.

Meditation:

"The kingdom of heaven may be likened to a man who sowed good seed in his field.”

The kingdom of God is like the Sower not the field.  So what difference does this make in the meaning of the passage?

Movie Review: Sound of Freedom

What is disheartening is that this movie has become controversial.  It shouldn’t be.  The subject of the movie is the growing social ill of human sex trafficking, especially child trafficking, and the movie does a wonderful job of engaging the viewer in the heart wrenching plight of innocent children.  And while that sounds very didactic, the movie is hardly just informative.  It is framed in the story of an action suspense, a mostly true life action suspense based an ex-Homeland Security agent named Tim Ballard whose mission in life has been to expose and entrap human traffickers.  Ballard is played by Jim Caviezel, famously known as the actor who played Jesus in Mel Gibson’s Passion of the Christ.  Here is the movie’s trailer.

 

The opening establishes the premise.  Two children of a simple Honduran father are lured into a fake talent contest and instead of the glamour and riches of modeling are abducted and enslaved.  At some point they are sold off, the boy, Miguel, to traffickers in Mexico and the girl, Rocio, to Columbia where they are both sexually exploited.

The story moves then into three phases, each progressing into the heart of darkness of this evil.  The first is Ballard as Homeland Security agent apprehending a pedophile through the internet and entrapping him to provide a child which turns out to be Miguel.  Rescued, Miguel tells Ballard of his sister, and Ballard through detective work finds she has been sold to parties in Columbia.  He convinces his boss to send him to Columbia to investigate the racket, and in the second phase comes across the criminal operation.  In time with little to show for it, Ballard is called back home.  In a fine scene—which the real Tim Ballard says really happened—he calls his wife to tell her his mission is ended unless he quit his job and go rogue, expecting his wife to implore him to come home.  The opposite happens; his wife implores him in the other direction, exhorting him to do whatever it takes to save those children. 

In the sleazy sections of whatever city in Columbia he is in (Bogotá? Cartagena? I can’t remember) he meets a seedy ex-convict who despite his otherwise morally ambiguous character is also personally convicted against child sex trafficking.  He goes by the nickname, Vampiro, and is played by Bill Camp.  The real Tim Ballard said that the Vampiro character really existed but went by the nickname Batman, and for copy write reasons the movie had to change the name.  Vampiro has perhaps the central line of the entire movie.  In a bar scene while swigging down liquor, he explains to Ballard why he risks his life and trying to save these children, “When God tells you what to do, you cannot hesitate.” 

And so the two, Ballard and Vampiro, conduct a sting operation of a local group of sex traders and free some 54 children.  To their surprise, Rocio was not with the freed children.  They learn that she had been sold to a drug cartel that had encamped a remote section of Columbia, and this leads to the third phase of the story.  With the help of the Columbian government, Ballard ventures into the encampment disguised as a doctor where he discovers a multitude of slaves picking coca leaves for the production of cocaine.  Here he comes to the heart of evil where sex and drugs and money and the enslavement of human beings for their ends meet.  Rocio is indeed there, and I will leave it at that to not give an ending spoiler away. 

Caviezel is masterful as Tim Ballard.  The conviction of his heart progresses with each step, and it is evident in every facial expression.  Bill Camp is convincing as a morally ambiguous crook whose heart has been changed with the discovery of the child sex trade. 

There are a lot of interviews with Caviezel and with Ballard and together.  Some of them are too lengthy.  I wanted to introduce you to the real Tim Ballard.  Of the shorter ones to share, I thought this one with Ben Shapiro was the most comprehensive for just over nine minutes.

 

One last thing, when you do see the movie, take handkerchiefs.  Your eyes will be wet for half the movie.

Sunday Meditation: Whoever Has Ears Ought To Hear

We all know that Jesus spoke in parables, and in this great parable, He explains why He does so.

 

On that day, Jesus went out of the house and sat down by the sea.  Such large crowds gathered around him

that he got into a boat and sat down,

and the whole crowd stood along the shore.

And he spoke to them at length in parables, saying:

"A sower went out to sow.

And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path,

and birds came and ate it up.

Some fell on rocky ground, where it had little soil.

It sprang up at once because the soil was not deep,

and when the sun rose it was scorched,

and it withered for lack of roots.

Some seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it.  But some seed fell on rich soil, and produced fruit,

a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold.

Whoever has ears ought to hear."

 

The disciples approached him and said,

"Why do you speak to them in parables?"

He said to them in reply,

"Because knowledge of the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven

has been granted to you, but to them it has not been granted.

To anyone who has, more will be given and he will grow rich;

from anyone who has not, even what he has will be taken away.

This is why I speak to them in parables, because

they look but do not see and hear but do not listen or understand.  Isaiah's prophecy is fulfilled in them, which says:

You shall indeed hear but not understand,

you shall indeed look but never see.

Gross is the heart of this people,

they will hardly hear with their ears,

they have closed their eyes,

lest they see with their eyes

and hear with their ears

and understand with their hearts and be converted,

and I heal them.

 

"But blessed are your eyes, because they see,

and your ears, because they hear.

Amen, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people

longed to see what you see but did not see it,

and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.

 

"Hear then the parable of the sower.

The seed sown on the path is the one

who hears the word of the kingdom without understanding it,

and the evil one comes and steals away

what was sown in his heart.

The seed sown on rocky ground

is the one who hears the word and receives it at once with joy.

But he has no root and lasts only for a time.

When some tribulation or persecution comes because of the word, he immediately falls away.

The seed sown among thorns is the one who hears the word,

but then worldly anxiety and the lure of riches choke the word

and it bears no fruit.

But the seed sown on rich soil

is the one who hears the word and understands it,

who indeed bears fruit and yields a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold."

Mt 13:1-23

 

I’m always taken with how important hearing is in this passage, hearing the parable but as one sits in the pew for every Mass one hears the Word and the Gospel.  Aren’t we all just a little hard of hearing.  Fr. Joseph Mary, the Capuchin Friar has a wonderful explanation of this passage.

 

Meditation: Acknowledging Jesus.

“But the seed sown on rich soil is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold.”

Last night the parish at the vigil Mass celebrated the Feast of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel.  Our pastor, Fr. Eugene, is a Lay Carmelite, and he had the entire chapter from Staten Island at the Mass.  After the Mass we took the statue of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel and processed her through the streets around the parish.  We had to cut it short because of a thunderstorm, which came just as we tucked the statue under cover.  Here is a picture of the Blessed Mother under her title of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel.

And here just as we got her to cover before the storm.

I wasn’t able to take as many pictures this year since I was carrying the Italian flag, but if you want to read and see many more pictures, check out my post from 2017.  We had the same Italian band and similar turnout as then.

Sunday Meditation: My Yoke Is Easy

We all know the second part of today’s Gospel, Jesus’s exhortation to take His gentle yoke.  But before He invites you, Jesus is in dialogue with the Father about the revelation of His divinity, and that to only the children does He reveal it.

At that time Jesus exclaimed:

"I give praise to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth,

for although you have hidden these things

from the wise and the learned

you have revealed them to little ones.

Yes, Father, such has been your gracious will.

All things have been handed over to me by my Father.

No one knows the Son except the Father,

and no one knows the Father except the Son

and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal him."

 

"Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened,

and I will give you rest.

Take my yoke upon you and learn from me,

for I am meek and humble of heart;

and you will find rest for yourselves.

For my yoke is easy, and my burden light."

Mt 11:25-30

 

Why to the children?  John Michael Talbot explains.

 

 

Meditation: Acknowledging Jesus.

“Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart.”

 

Music Tuesday: America the Beautiful

I love this song.  A tear seems to always well up in my eye whenever I hear that first stanza.  It’s the perfect song for the Fourth of July.  There is something endearing about the lyrics as it calls up our nation’s natural beauty and attributes it to God.  The other stanzas are wonderful too as they recall various archetype American primogenitors.  The song was formed from an 1893 poem, “Pike’sPeak,” by Katherine Lee bates and after some slight evolution finally settled into these song lyrics.

 

O beautiful for spacious skies,

For amber waves of grain,

For purple mountain majesties

Above the fruited plain!

America! America!

God shed His grace on thee

And crown thy good with brotherhood

From sea to shining sea!

 

O beautiful for pilgrim feet,

Whose stern, impassioned stress

A thoroughfare for freedom beat

Across the wilderness!

America! America!

God mend thine every flaw,

Confirm thy soul in self-control,

Thy liberty in law!

 

O beautiful for heroes proved

In liberating strife,

Who more than self their country loved

And mercy more than life!

America! America!

May God thy gold refine,

Till all success be nobleness,

And every gain divine!

 

O beautiful for patriot dream

That sees beyond the years

Thine alabaster cities gleam

Undimmed by human tears!

America! America!

God shed His grace on thee

And crown thy good with brotherhood

From sea to shining sea!

 

What is especially moving for me is the appeal to God for perfection and brotherhood.  If you take God out of the nation’s identity as we have done in say the last couple of decades (but started earlier, of course), you can see the problemed nation we have become.  Perhaps I shouldn’t be such a downer on the Fourth of July but it is true: this nation is unrecognizable today.  But with faith, we can still turn this around. 

There have been some beautiful renditions.  Let me embed a few I really like.  Now artists have juggled the order of the stanzas, perhaps for particular emphasis.  Also, each artist arranges the song in a particular style.  I’ll post a few different arrangements.

The most iconic—can you use the word “iconic” for a song?—is the Ray Charles rendition.  Charles gives a soulful arrangement, and interestingly sings stanzas three first and ends with stanza one.

 

Why stanza three first?  I think it emphasizes the “liberation” theme, and he is able then to end with the beautiful first stanza.

Elvis Presley sings it in a ballad arrangement and only sings the first stanza, but repeats it in a speaking tone. 

 

What does the speaking tone add?  I think it gives it a preacher’s sermon’s tone that emphasizes the link to God.  And Elvis has such a rich speaking voice.

Country singer Alan Jackson sings it with a traditional western country arrangement.  He starts with the traditional first stanza and sings the fourth stanza, emphasizing the “patriot” verse. 

 

That western twang in his voice makes it so American.

Marilyn Horne sings it as only an opera singer can sing it, with a full orchestra and backing chorus.  She only sings the first stanza but like Elvis above repeats it but lets the full chorus carry the energy of the song. 

 

It’s heartwarming as she pride fully sings it in what seems an international context and overlooking New York Harbor. The orchestral cadenza is punctuated with fireworks recalling Independence Day.

Another opera singer, Denyce Graves, sings it in a string quartet plus guitar (is that a quintet or a guitar quartet?) and sings three verses, One, three, and four.

 

The accentuating guitar tints it with a folk sound color while still keeping it solidly classical.

Also in a classical orchestral arrangement, but minus the chorus and less operatic, is Jackie Evancho’s version.  She too sings the first and fourth stanzas, emphasizing the theme of American “brotherhood.”

 

Her sublime voice just makes the song float in divine grace.

I have not embedded any versions with the second stanza, which seems to be in less favor.  Is it because the march of freedom across the wilderness suggests a less-than-embraced today manifest destiny?  Or is the theme of “self control” and “liberty law” just not as lyrically interesting?  I didn’t post it because of length but the opera singer Leontyne Price has a beautiful version with that second stanza.

My favorite, though all beautiful, is the Evancho rendition, a simple and beautiful voice underscoring the “O beautiful” of each opening stanza.  And I do like the first and fourth stanzas best if I were limited to two.  Which do you like best?  Any other favorites?

Happy Fourth of July!