Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Mt 13:1-23
July 16, 2023

The month of July 2023 opened with THE TWO HOTTEST DAYS EVER recorded in GLOBAL history. And yet, the debate continues over whether the undeniable phenomenon of global warming is caused by our failure to properly care for our planet…or is simply part of a weather cycle!!!!

IT DOESN’T MATTER, FOLKS!

It IS happening…AND WHATEVER THE CAUSE…global warming is bringing with it (borrowing a phrase from St. Paul) the sufferings of this present age.

Compounding the tragedy is the fact that…at least for NOW…the poorest of the poor are SUFFERING THE MOST. (Although the wealthy are wondering: What are we going to do about our ocean-front mansions?)

In today’s Gospel, the disciples ask Jesus: Why do you talk to people in parables? What’s with all these little stories?

The passage calls to mind God’s desire to communicate to the created world the mysteries of the Kingdom. Tragically, from the very beginning, there appears to have been “communication problems” between The Creator and us. And so, The Father sent the Son into this world for a ‘’face to face” with humankind. Jesus is God’s most beautiful, dramatic, and intimate way of connecting with and speaking directly to us. Still, even His disciples appeared to have needed a further and more detailed explanation of a pretty simple message.

As The Lord points out, very often, we hear but don’t understand…look but don’t really see. Then there are those times when we intentionally ignore or filter out God’s messages. And, on occasion, even though we might well have fully comprehended the lesson, we become distracted by life and slowly forget what we know to be true…life-giving…critical to our peace, happiness, and well-being.

Appreciating our diminished capacity to see, hear, and understand, as well as our tendency to ignore, forget, or totally reject the message, Jesus often turns to story-telling to make the importance of a lesson as comprehensible as possible. In this passage reported by Matthew, The Lord uses agriculture to make a point. Other places Jesus encourages us to take a lesson from…NATURE! Shouldn’t we then take a lesson from global warming?

Regardless of the cause, there is a hard lesson to be had from our current weather patterns, and it certainly seems to be about SUFFERING! St. Paul offers another descriptive phrase that The Weather Channel would do well to employ: All creation is groaning…glaciers are groaning…rain forests are groaning…the oceans and the coral reefs are groaning…and so few of us are listening…or seeing…or understanding the message. But even more urgent is the groaning of the poor who are suffering the most from this climate crisis.

God hears the cries of the poor…and so do the rest of us. The sufferings of this present age are recorded and broadcast in real time every single day. But way too many have found a way of disregarding or ignoring or claiming not to understand what ordinary folk can do about it.

The Lord repeatedly directs us to nature to hear what God is telling us. Climate change certainly seems to be telling us YOU ARE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER! BE ATTENTIVE TO THE SUFFERING OF ALL PEOPLE! CARE FOR THEM AND FOR YOUR PLANET!

The Good News is that God will not give up on us…God will continue to speak to us until we all listen…understand…and obey.