6th Sunday of Ordinary Times

Garden catalogs seem to have the uncanny knack to come in the mail on winter’s nastiest days. Even though the last couple of days have seemed almost spring-like, we had a foot of snow just a couple of weeks ago. We experienced many bleek and raw days for much of January when the wind-chill factor made it feel as if it was below zero. Well, it is winter, after all.

Last month, I visited my brother’s home and noticed the kitchen table piled high with 2022 spring garden catalogs. My sister-in-law told me she had been sifting through them with thoughts of spring and making plans for her summer garden. She told me she was thinking about what new plants to buy and where to put them in her garden to grow to their best advantage. She wants to plan her garden to be a thing of beauty and bring pleasure and happiness to herself and passersby.

Today’s scriptures readings have that as their theme too. Both Jeremiah and Jesus try to tell us where we should put down our roots to become things of beauty that bring happiness to our souls and the hearts of others.

Jeremiah said:

Blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord,

whose hope is the Lord.

He is like a tree planted beside the waters

That stretches out its roots to the stream:

It fears not the heat when it comes;

Its leaves stay green;

In the year of drought, it shows no distress,

but still bears fruit.

If we trust God, come whatever joy or challenge we will flourish in life.

Today’s gospel passage from Luke, known as the Sermon on the Plain, is also Jesus’ attempt to help the crowds learn the same thing. He is trying to teach them how to gain real happiness in this world. For Jesus instructing the crowds on the path to happiness was his top priority. From the start, Jesus wanted to help his listeners establish a relationship with him that would root their faith next to a stream that would bring them spiritual health and help them bear fruit despite any adversity.

Jesus delivered the Sermon on the Plain very early in his public ministry. Jesus has come down from the mountain where he has spent time in prayer and meditation. After that prayer, he had chosen twelve disciples to be His apostles and closest confidants. Now Jesus is on a plain offering his first lesson to the crowd of people who come to listen to him preach. His first lesson was to help them learn how to follow the path to happiness.

Like Jeremiah, Jesus taught the secret to happiness in our world is to place our trust and hope in God. It is that simple. To live our lives to their best advantage, we have to take root in a place where God’s grace will water us. If we trust God, we will be happy and bring happiness to the world.

Doesn’t it sounds so easy when the scriptures say it! It is much more difficult for us to live it in the world. It is difficult because our world tells us to be happy; we need to do the opposite of placing our trust in God. The world tells us happiness comes from wealth, power, and material objects, and bliss comes from popularity. We are told by our world happiness comes from placing trust in human rather than spiritual realities.

How can we resist the world and follow the scriptures? There are several concrete ways of putting our trust in God. First, we need to receive the sacraments regularly. We make sure we celebrate the Eucharist with our parish community every weekend. By being faithful to giving praise and thanksgiving to God on at least a weekly basis, we show we prioritize placing our trust in God.

Covid pandemic precautions have made Mass attendance a problem for many these past two years. Recently covid case numbers have fallen, and the worse of the omicron variant surge seems to be behind us. Hopefully, this will be the last of the severe waves of covid cases. If you have been watching Mass on our Livestream and receiving Spiritual Communion, now is an excellent time to consider coming back to Mass in person.

The pandemic has disrupted our lives in many ways. Many people have experienced losses. Family members have died of the virus or from other causes, and we have not been able to grieve for them as we usually would. The pandemic has separated us from family, friends, and favorite activities. For many, it has caused us to question our faith. When we find our faith challenged, we need to come to church and allow the water of God’s reassuring presence to bring us strength. A merciful God wants us to return and be refreshed at the stream of living grace that is the Eucharist.

We also open ourselves to trust the Lord when we go to Confession. When we celebrate the Sacrament of Reconciliation, we recognize the ways we have failed to be receptive to God’s place in our lives. To have a trusting relationship with God, we must admit our faults and failures and allow God’s love to direct our lives. Asking for God’s forgiveness strengthens our relationship with God.

We plant ourselves by streams of life-giving water when we practice forgiveness. Forgiveness can be hard to do because we often misunderstand what it is. Forgiveness isn’t minimizing, condoning, or excusing a hurt done to us, and it isn’t surrendering the justice we deserve. Forgiving is the conscious decision to let go of the injury inflicted on us. It is a gift we give ourselves, so we do not allow the hurt to control our emotions.

That means we not only forgive others but ourselves too. Sometimes we can be harder on ourselves than anyone else, and we can be less understanding of our shortcomings and sins. So often, we can be reluctant to forgive others because we tend to resist giving mercy to ourselves for our failures. When we forgive, we can give life to the world and experience true happiness.

Second, happiness comes from sharing our gifts with others. When we lose ourselves in serving others, we bring the water of life to our world. Even in an affluent community such as our own, we have many poor. When Jesus spoke of the poor, he didn’t only mean those who were materially deprived. Status was vital in Jesus’ day, and one was poor if they lacked it because of sickness or another handicap. So many people require our talents, and there are still so many poor all around us.

For several years the Fall River Diocese had a mission parish in Honduras. During that time, I took a trip to visit the mission to learn how the parish where I was pastor could support its work. I traveled with a group of mostly college nursing students. After landing, one of the first things we did was get lunch at a Burger King across the road from the airport. While we stood in line, a well-dressed young man came up to us and asked us where we were from in English. We answered from the United States and, more specifically, from Massachusetts. He told us he had close family living in Randolph, south of Boston. We told him we were part of a mission group coming to offer medical help and learn about Honduras. He thanked us and told us how appreciative people were for such groups as ours coming to his country. Even before we had done anything, someone was thankful for our efforts. When we serve others, we become happy and bring happiness into our world. Offer some of your gifts, and you will become more content and make the world more reflective of the Kingdom of God.

We strengthen our faith when we share it with others who are also alive with faith. I’m happy to hear that the synod preparation sessions we have held are well attended and productive. Parishioners have offered good insights and suggestions on how our parish and the universal Church can address the needs of our community. It gave our faith new vitality and strength when we share faith. Look for every possibility to share your faith with others so you can strength their faith and they can invigorate yours too.

There are many ways to ensure we plant ourselves where life-giving water flows. In just a couple of weeks, the Church will begin to celebrate the season of Lent. Lent is the time to experience a new opportunity to make sure we are planted near life-giving waters that help us deepen our trust in God. Strengthened by the real presence of Christ we receive in the Eucharist today, make plans to use this Lent to plant yourself by the streams of God’s life-giving Spirit.