"What image will help to present the reign of God?"

Liturgical readings

Ezekiel 17:22-24
Psalm 92
2 Corinthians 5:6-10
Mark 14:26-34

"What image will help to present the reign of God?"

Jesus asked a question to the crowd: "What image will help to present the reign of God?" 

After posing this rhetorical question, He presented a parable of the mustard seed. Previous to both the question and the parable of the mustard seed, He also presented another parable: the parable of the seeds growing quietly while the sower went about doing his other duties. Jesus poses parables to the people with commonplace realities as the subject and the context, so that they can understand better what He was pointing to. Both the parables of the seed growing quietly and the mustard seed used the image of "seed" as an analogy to the reign of God which the Lord Jesus wanted to point to. The first parable used seeds that produced a wheat field ready for harvest, while the second parable used a mustard seed that grew into the largest of shrubs - sheltering the birds of the sky. 

The seeds in the first parable produced food, while the seed in the second parable produced shelter. The gospel helps us to see that the reign of God provides both food and shelter for all its subjects. The food it produces is an imperishable food, and the shelter it provides gives refuge from what can harm. Jesus wants us to see that the reign of God is like a father-king that provides for all the children of His family: both nourishing food and a secure shelter. This Father-King provides everything for us. As His children fed and secured, we are also encouraged to share these provisions with others - that they too may belong to the reign of God.

Catholics are privileged to have a Church that has provided and continues to provide countless generations with the imperishable food in the Eucharist and the refuge needed to be healed from the harm done by sin and potential harm in the future. As nourishment and healing is provided in the Eucharist, the priest extends this "nourishment and healing" to others when he says that we are to love and serve the Lord at the end of the Mass. All baptized lay faithful received this "missionary mandate". And it is a simple mission that can be done in the very circumstances of the lives of every lay person. Like the seed that grows quietly under the earth, every good deed done in family and workplace blooms forth in peace. And like the mustard seed that grows into a big tree, the family and the workplace becomes a shelter in God's protection and love.

"He took bread and gave it to them; He likewise took a cup and passed it to them."

Liturgical readings

Exodus 24:3-8
Psalm 116
Hebrews 9:11-15
Mark 14:12-16, 22-26

"He took bread and gave it to them; He likewise took a cup and passed it to them."

The scripture passage from the book of Exodus shows how the person of Moses offers sacrifices to Yahweh in behalf of Israel. Moses used an animal as a sacrifice and splashed its blood on an altar. This is the Old Testament. Now in the New Testament, in a passage from Mark, it is the Person of Jesus who offers the sacrifice. But He sacrificed His very Self for the redemption of the new Israel. Jesus used bread to signify His Body, and wine to signify His Blood. The sacrifices offered by Moses and the Old Testament priests sealed the covenant between Yahweh and the 12 tribes of Israel. In the New Testament, it is the Lord's very Body and Blood that sealed the covenant between  God and the Church - originally formed from a community of disciples led by the 12 apostles.

Both events described above tell us of two covenants: the Old one based on the Law, and a New one based on the love of God in Christ. The new covenant was sealed by a meal in the Last Supper account. The meal of bread and wine in the Last Supper and its continuation in the Eucharist is an act of the Lord's mercy toward us. The Father provides us not only with physical food from all the good He created in the world, but He provides us also with spiritual food - His very Son - to give life to our souls and revitalize our spirit. The Eucharist calls us to look to Christ and elevate our minds and hearts to what is above, and to leave behind for awhile all secular concerns. It seems apropos that the gospel passage on the Last Supper speaks of an "upstairs room" - symbolic of what God wants us to do: to move upwards and to lift our sights to a level from which we can "see God".

So when we attend the Sunday Eucharist, let us always remember the sacrifice the Father had done for us to save us from our earthly bondage to sin. Let us remember how God in Jesus frees us from the many "knots" which our own sinfulness has led us to. So when the priest elevates the bread and the wine during the consecration, it is a call for us to be free from these "knots" of sin which tie us down to the earth. It is ultimately God's grace in the Sacrament of the Eucharist that frees us and lifts our souls to what is already noble in us: the potential to do what is good and right through the image and likeness of Christ in our souls since our Baptism.

"In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit."