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Beloved brothers and sisters, our Lord Jesus Christ is the Sower who generously scatters the seed of God’s word. As St. Jerome said, God’s word is seed sown in fertile soil, yielding abundant harvest. Yet as Jesus’ parable shows, the soil’s condition matters greatly.

Why parables? St. John Chrysostom noted Jesus taught parables to engage people face-to-face, meeting them where they were. As St. Jerome explained, Jesus used everyday stories to draw people deeper in understanding.

The hard path represents those shutting out God’s word entirely. As St. Jerome lamented, the stubbornly unwilling perceive parables as riddles, not revelation. Let us pray for receptive hearts and spirits to receive God’s wisdom. How tragic to spurn life-giving teaching! We must guard against creeping hardness of heart over time. Worldly clamor and clinging to sin cement resistance if we’re not careful. But take heart! It’s not too late to let God soften hardened ground through repentance. By God’s grace the fallow fields of the soul can nourish new growth again. read more

I hope you are all familiar with the story of Sodom. The story is literally a warning about the punishment and judgment of God upon a city full of unchecked vice and sin. Allegorically, the Fathers of the Church bring us to the deeper spiritual lessons this tale imparts. Names, St. Ambrose reminds us, are often a clue in Sacred Scripture of where to dig to uncover the hidden pearls of wisdom. You see, Lot’s name means “deviation.” Lot separates from Abram, deviates to a land that seemed better, more fertile, more pleasing. Lot associates himself with a people whom he found agreeable, despite their dissolute way of life. Lot only narrowly escapes death – he only narrowly escapes perdition. Origen remarks that the only good deed, the singular virtuous act performed by Lot was his hospitality to strangers. “Angels entered the hospitable house; fire entered the houses closed to strangers.” read more

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

Let us remember…

Welcome Mullen class of 2024 to your senior year. This is a very important time for each and every one of you personally, an important time for your family, and an important time for our Mullen community. On the one hand, it is true, the simple fact of continuing to be around from year to year has brought you to this moment. Every year we have a senior class, and it is composed of those who have completed their junior year. It is true, from one perspective, you haven’t done anything particularly different from all those senior classes who preceded you in arriving at this moment. From another perspective, however, and the one that is important to us in our LaSallian community, we see a new call from God upon your lives. It is natural to acquire authority and influence with age. It is natural, because God Himself wants it that way. God Himself, in the very way that he created your human nature, gives you increasing influence over your fellows as you age. Because God Himself is increasing your influence and authority naturally, he is calling you to use it for good, for his purpose, for the benefit of our community, and by extension, for the benefit of humanity itself. read more