Mon of 17th Week of OT Homily

1st Reading: Jer 13:1-11

Responsorial Psalm: Dt 32:18-21

Gospel: Mt 13:31-35

We can all benefit from learning more about the faith that we celebrate. We definitely know people who have abandoned their faith for some reason and can be invited to return to the Church. Their are people who have never heard the Gospel message and could benefit from hearing it within their lives. Blessed John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI have all spoken about the importance of the new evangelization for our world. We have an important task here to integrate our faith into our lives and in return to bring it out to the world. We can only be successful in the task if we unite ourselves with Christ.

If we are to begin to unite ourselves more and more with Christ each day we must return to his infinite mercy. This mercy was known by the prophet Jeremiah and it was his desire to share it with the world. Through reconciliation we are led to better serve the Gospel and to be opened up to the graces that come to us from God. We can then learn more about our faith and spend more time desiring to draw ourselves closer to Christ in prayer. Reconciliation, knowledge, and prayer are all important elements as we allow Christ to set our faith aflame so that it can spread throughout the world.

In our Gospel passage we are told about the yeast that has wheat added to it and it is allowed to grow. Of course when this is cooked it becomes bread which is very important imagery especially when looked at in conjunction with yesterday's Gospel. Here we co,e to understand the gift of the Eucharist where Christ is present in His Body and Blood and desires to give nourishment to our lives. May we allow the Eucharist to be the strength of our faith which leads us into the new evangelization. May we hand over all of our needs to Christ and allow Him to handle them, so that through his strength we can become instruments through which the faith can grow to all corners of the world.