As a Grain of Wheat Dies

Back in grade school, about this time of year, we would suggest to our mother that maybe we didn't have to go to Mass everyday anymore.  This was our Lenten practice. There were 299 other students who had the same determination, in addition to all 13 Sisters.  So we would suggest that we had done this Mass thing long enough.  Mom's encouragement had something to do with the cross and what Jesus had done for us.

It is amazing how that the suffering and death of Jesus can change our lives and our perspective on things.  And speaking of parents, our summer vacations were in the State parks and forests.  It was the sixties so I thought everyone went into the woods. But with six kids and catholic school tuition, these were the vacations we could afford.  Unless the grain of wheat dies, it remains a grain of wheat.

Dads and Moms, religious people, folks who strive for justice and holiness, seem to understand this concept.  God has priority and takes the center place in our lives.  But to love God also requires that we love one another, and have a sense of self respect and dignity too.  The apostles are sometimes shown to be frumps and nabobs in this aspect.  They try to figure out who the best apostle is, or ask Jesus to rain down fire and brimstone upon townsfolk who were mean to them.  St. Paul will remind us later that the Kingdom is not about eating and drinking, but about doing the will of the Father.

So today when the Greeks want to see Jesus, He gives a response which at first does not seem to have anything to do with the request.  We can see Jesus when we can become people at peace with others and ourselves.  Jesus is visible when we do holy things, and decide to engage in lives of charity and chastity.  There are no wallflowers in the Kingdom of God.  The dying and rising is an ongoing process which embraces the cross and looks forward with joyful hope to the coming of our saviour Jesus Christ.

Our faith calls us beyond nice-ness.  Vatican II spoke about full and active participation in our Liturgy.  But even beyond our celebration of the Eucharist, our response and respect is based on the Paschal Mystery.  The psalmist asks the very apt question, If God does all of these great things for us, what ought our response be?  The mystery we celebrate does not allow for spectators, but challenges us to follow through with our commitments of faith.