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Our first reading for this weekend is from Isaiah. He had the God-given task to instill hope in a people who had been driven out of their homeland and were unable to practice their faith freely. Despite all the hardships they were suffering, Isaiah’s task was to guide the people to remember and renew the relationship that God had established with them. They were to listen to God as God promised that they would one day be sharing in an abundance of all things good. As we deal with the effects of COVID-19, a sinking economy, and racial tensions, we pray that we likewise listen to God with the firm conviction that God will see us through all the challenges of our day. As we listen, we allow God’s loving presence to lead us to the fullness of life that God offers for no other reason than that is who God is.

Jesus promises that we will experience joy and a sense of fulfillment the more we cooperate with God in bringing about the greatest degree of good possible. Jesus asks us to reflect on how blessed we are to have been given life; given COVID-19, there might be days when we don’t feel all that blessed. But therein lies the point. We are graced and blessed with the wisdom we need in order to choose to do our best every moment of our lives. We are called to connect with others, especially within our faith community, so that we can avoid the energy-draining sense of loneliness. In connecting with each other, we take the risk to share with one another how we view God and the purpose of our lives. We support each other in making decisions that are based on the realization that our life here on earth is a warm-up for heaven. We encourage each other to reflect on how we can create an atmosphere in which more and more people will have a renewed sense of hope and peace.

In our formative years, not all of us experienced an image of God that would correspond fully to the God that Jesus experienced intimately and whom He revealed clearly. When looking at our parable for this weekend about the weeds and wheat, the distorted views of God are the biggest weeds we have growing within us. Today’s first reading and Psalm provide a number of words which we can use to determine to what degree we are taking care of our wheat. These words include: good, forgiving, abounding in kindness, merciful, gracious, slow to anger, abounding in faithfulness, caring, our source of justice and of hope. What if we chose one or two of these words and decided how we would allow the Holy Spirit to help us develop these qualities?

For information small faith groups forming or to form your own, go to the Adult Faith life page.

Jesus continues to show us the way to follow Him; he, in turn, shows us how to imitate our Creator God. Our first reading in a few words gives the image of God’s rain and snow falling where it will. Where it falls, it brings about growth of amazing kinds. Having lived in Arizona for twelve years, it was always such a reminder of new life as the sparse rains brought forth blossoms on a variety of desert plants. We here in California experience the same when long dormant seeds in Death Valley majestically come to life with a sufficient rainfall. God’s Word as spoken by Jesus can have a similar effect in the depths of our being. That Word pierces through the encrustations of shame and guilt, cleanses and renews us, and empowers us in turn to connect with others and be instruments of healing for those who are hurting for any reason.