Jesus’ use of parables is directly linked to an understanding of youth and child-like tendencies. Children are very receptive to messages of truth hidden in the form of stories and parables because it allows them to receive the truth and to understand it as it grows within them. This was Jesus’ intention for using the parable of the Sower: within a single grain, you have the entire potential of a fully developed plant with its entire root system, its leaves, its trunk, its branches, and its fruits all within the tiniest part of iself. But in order for that potential fully-formed plant to be produced in the world, it must be hidden in the soil.

Hiding in any easily memorable parable is the truth of Christ’s purpose for coming into the world. Those who are receptive to the most simple of parables or stories will implant them in their hearts, remember those stories as they grow older, and understand the complexity and truth that exists within it as it grows alongside them. Here, we are presented with a comparison: the excitement of youth and the monotony of experience. Remember the first time you really fell in love with something in your youth; it was exciting, it motivated you to pursue something more, it gave life hope and meaning. Remember when you first decided to choose to follow your Catholic faith for yourself; you gave in to the teachings of the Church, you found the words of Christ edifying, you received true peace in the Sacraments. But as life goes on and the gifts of God become ordinary in our minds, we can lose the mystique and excitement that once made us so intensely focused on those things like our loves and our faith. This is the story of every individual, but it's also the story of God’s people. In this passage from the book of the prophet Jeremiah, God is conversing with Israel, asking them: do you remember when you loved me? Do you remember when you sighed after me and excitedly pursued me? Clearly, this is no longer the case. Now, there are two evils committed by God’s chosen people: they have chosen to reject Him, the source of living water, and have decided to dig broken cisterns for themselves that cannot even contain any water. They reject a gift out of boredom and replace it with their own failed attempts to replicate what only God can give.

There is a connection between the sharing of parables and the loss of our love for God: we are blinded by the limits of our sin in this world, and God has deemed it necessary now to reveal Himself to us in a hidden way. He hides the Truth about Himself in parables. He hides His personhood in the appearance of bread and wine, or His forgiveness in the figure of a priest in a confessional. The more we love God in an open and child-like manner, the more we understand Him because He does not have to hide Himself anymore. In that manner, we are willing to acknowledge Him exactly as He presents Himself. This is the source of true love; we are so enrapt by God, like a youth in love, that everything else around us ceases to have any significance. We have to return to how we approached love in our childhood, with excitement and without restraint. Sometimes, it takes God hiding in something as simple as a parable to remind us of how we saw Him in our childhood. 

The Law has the power to transform weak individuals into wise and intelligent members of God’s chosen people. This Law comes directly from God, therefore it reflects His justice in those who choose to follow it; there can only be prosperity and success when one reflects God in their own actions. In this passage from Jeremiah, the focus on the Law remains, but there is instead a warning message found within these words: those who reject the Law do not just lose their guidance from God, but spoil the innermost foundation that enables us to choose between right and wrong. It’s not simply inadvisable to reject God’s Law. This rejection will lead to the corruption of the heart, which steers our decision-making and our life choices.

This passage speaks of what had happened to those who rejected the Law from the prophets. Their issue was not simply being misguided or preferring to live according to their own laws; their issue was being so overwhelmed by their selfishness that they were blinded to the truth even when it was revealed to them. It is evident that we are susceptible to this even in the modern age - when you stray so far from truth and goodness, you begin to despise truth and goodness. The further you recede from God’s Law, the more difficult it is to turn yourself back to Him. What can we do about this? We should be reminded of the words found in Psalm 95, which tells us to open our hearts at every moment we receive instruction from God. God speaks to us through many instruments, but none more consistently throughout Salvation History than His Law. If there is a commandment or a rule or a teaching of the Church that makes you uncomfortable because it is inconvenient to your way of life, do not ignore it. This is the path that leads down to the hardening, or the corruption, of the heart. Instead, focus intently on those specific teachings that are most difficult and pray fervently for the strength to uphold them. Also, reflect on why this specific teaching is particularly difficult for you in the moment.

More than anything, the key to successfully living according to the Will of God is consistency. None of us are perfect, but that is not an excuse to not strive for perfection. When we lovingly and joyfully live according to God’s Law to the fullest extent, we become more happy, our life has more meaning, we experience God’s love in a more profound way, and we assent to the purity of human nature. The moment we start cutting corners, picking and choosing what to follow and not to follow, or deem insignificant even the smallest part of the Law, we begin to divide ourselves between being a child of God and a slave to our desires. As Christ says, division within oneself leads to waste. The opportunity to be consistent in our faith is available to us; we must uphold what God asks of us even to the smallest detail.

Not a single part of God’s plan or will for humanity is carried out arbitrarily. Every detail, from the number of stars in the sky to the hairs on your head, from the place you were born to the family you were born to, God has carefully planned humanity’s journey back to Him. There is a reason you came into contact with your faith community. There is a reason you are reading these words. There is a reason you will get out of bed this morning and go about your day. God has designed our lives in such a way to give us the most optimal opportunity to encounter Him and to serve Him. There is a reason you live at this moment in history. It seems to be one of the most arbitrary and random details of our lives, but the timing and placement of God’s will is one of the most important parts of His divine plan.

Just as you were meant to be living in this specific moment, God had determined that it was proper and perfect for Christ to be sent to the world two thousand years ago. There must be a reason for this. When seen in the context of salvation history, the timing does seem to be completely random except for a few details such as the emergence of the Roman Empire and the destruction of the Temple shortly after his death. We must remember that the promise of the Messiah was initially given to the very first human beings, but as more promises were made by God to His people, there was an especially watchful anticipation a thousand years before Christ after the reign of David. Why couldn’t Jesus have come immediately after Adam and Eve? Why couldn’t he have come immediately after Abraham, Moses, or David? How could God allow such suffering in the people of Israel long before He eventually sent His son? We must prioritize our understanding that God’s plan incorporates many different details, and chief among them is to work within the confines of free will. Jesus was meant to be a savior to humanity, but the gift of his coming had to come from human efforts first if he was actually going to participate in our humanity. As Jeremiah puts it in this passage, Israel had simply not yet been able to overcome their propensity for wickedness. It took someone truly holy and perfect for Jesus to come into this world, and it was not until Mary that that was possible. But according to our faith, Mary was immaculately conceived; therefore, her perfection had to come from a sincere and powerful holiness from her parents, just as our sinfulness is passed on to us by our parents.

This is why a devotion to Saints Joachim and Anne, the parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary, can be so wonderful for us as believers. The path to finally encountering Christ in the Incarnation began long before his time with the holiness of many individuals, but it was not perfected until the holiness of Joachim and Anne brought forth the perfect expression of humanity in the person of Mary, free from sin and perfectly in love with God. We should reflect on this when we consider our own lives and our own holiness. We live in a time when a return to God is desperately needed, but very few are willing to live up to the call. God has either called you to act on the holiness you inherited or establish it in your actions today so that holiness may be sown for future generations. Do not waste your opportunity to act in the time and place you have been given. Serve the Church by serving its needs in the modern world.

What is the point of being an active witness of the Catholic faith to the world? There are multiple layers to this: the first is the personal conviction that led you to accept the faith, the second is your desire that the world turn to Christ, and the third is the attempt to perfect the human aspect of the Church. These are three unique and very difficult battles. To first be convinced of the truth of the Catholic faith requires a certain humility and a total rejection of sin in your own life, something that few are willing to do. To then try to share that truth to the rest of the world requires you to be effective in your evangelization and an open heart among those to whom you preach. To finally try to perfect the Church from within may be the most difficult battle of the three - when there is animosity and division within the house of God that has been entrusted to human beings, how can we foster personal conviction in individuals or be an example to the rest of the world?

Those who are particularly stung by the unfortunate infighting within the Church are new converts. These are people who were called by Truth, followed where that call led them, and found a home in the community of believers. The emphasis here should be on the fact that they were called by God to participate in the Church, and they accepted the call. This is reminiscent of the call of the prophets from the Old Testament, and this passage from Jeremiah seems like the words of someone who has answered the call to be a member of the Church only to find that loneliness can still remain. “When I found your words, I devoured them.” “I neither borrow or lend, yet all curse me.” “Why is my pain continuous, my wound incurable, refusing to heal?” To be faced with the truth that following God does not immediately bring total peace and comfort in one’s life can be difficult to accept. Why is it that acknowledging and accepting the truth brings even more burden upon us? God responds to Jeremiah: “if you bring forth the precious without the vile, you shall be my mouthpiece.” When we look at the three purposes of following God listed above, we see the value of being disciples and witnesses to the faith. If our personal convictions are real and sincere, we will hold onto what is precious and rid ourselves of what is vile. When we go out into the world to bring others into the Church, they will follow the precious treasure we offer, not the vile things we retain from our pasts. When the Church is full of the faithful, we can work together to multiply God’s treasure to us and rid the Church of all those things that tie us to the limits of this world.

Being lonely in your faith is like being lonely in the presence of others. It’s possible, but only if we feel out of place, unwelcome, or unable to connect with those around us. The Church must not exacerbate this problem, especially with those who have followed the voice of Truth into the Church recently. Our newest brothers and sisters in Christ must motivate us to leave behind the vile and the worldly for their sake, so that they do not feel lonely, that they feel at home, welcome,  and able to connect with their brethren. We hold a treasure in our community that should be our sole focus. That treasure is magnified and fully realized in the community of believers that make up the Mystical Body of Christ.

Every action we choose to take ends with a consequence. The problem that humans face is that we are in a constant battle between choosing what we want to do in the moment versus choosing what is best for our future. Oftentimes, our focus is far too narrow and we instead choose what we immediately want; after all, we know that we will enjoy choosing what we want in the present moment, but we don’t know if acting for our future will work out for us. The choice is very clear if we want to be obedient to God - temporary sacrifices for future good is the path we should choose. The challenge is trying to convince others of this truth.

It seems like the motivating factor for any decision is ultimately happiness. But happiness comes to us and appears in vastly different ways. If you choose to have junk food, it may bring you happiness in the moment but will almost certainly make you sick, on top of being bad for your long term health. However, having a healthy diet means being intentional and denying yourself certain things in the present so that you can be healthy in the future. It will make you a lot more happy to not worry about your health later on than to temporarily be satisfied for a moment. If it is actually happiness that we are seeking when making our choices in life, we must understand that temporary happiness is an illusion. We know it is fleeting, so if we try to live our lives by constantly chasing many moments of temporary happiness, our lives lose their meaning when we are not temporarily happy. True and authentic happiness, however, is a life of meaning. It is a life that is planned out and a result of a pattern of proper and healthy decisions. Even in those moments when we are not temporarily happy, true happiness will keep us content and will keep us pushing forward through those times.

True happiness and a life of meaning are only possible through goodness, and goodness is only possible through God. The Christian life is one filled with tremendous sacrifice, pain, and sadness, because it requires us to brush off the distractions that surround us in the present moment. But making the right choices in life always begins somewhere. Perhaps it is getting out of bed in the morning and starting your day. Perhaps it is actively choosing to exercise. Perhaps it is opting for a healthy meal rather than an unhealthy one. Making these decisions in the moment can be difficult, especially if we’re not used to it, but if we continue to make these decisions and turn them into habits, they no longer become tedious or sacrificial; we truly begin to desire making the right choices because we have oriented our wills properly towards the good. God is not just calling us to make the right decisions; He is calling us to make them such a regular part of our lives that our souls begin to desire goodness that leads to true and authentic happiness.

What is God calling us to do in this life on His behalf? We live within a society that generally may not appreciate Christianity and its tenets. If we hold to what the Church believes and what it teaches, and we promote the Church’s doctrines and moral teachings, there is inevitably going to be a conflict between the Christian life and a life that conforms with the culture. For the time being, we are not under threat for being Christians in the way that the martyrs of the past were. But there will come a time when we have to make a choice - do we choose the unpopular life of Christianity or do we take the easier path and choose a life defined by the culture?

It seems unfair that God would ask us to go through this conflict despite doing His will. But it is important for us to consider just how much the martyrs and persecuted Christians had to deal with their treatment simply for their faith. It can be daunting and can perhaps cause an internal struggle to choose between the Christian life and the worldly life, but for now, the cost of choosing the way of Christ is only a mild inconvenience. If and when we are called to give greater and more cherished things for the sake of Christ, would we do it? If you are undergoing this personal struggle and feel powerless compared to those who would easily choose the way of Christ, you should take to heart the figures we read about in today’s readings. Great figures, like the prophet Jeremiah and the Apostles James and John, seem to misunderstand a life of Faith and perhaps do not understand why it is worth the sacrifice of living a life of Faith. Jeremiah is frightened about his reception as simply a messenger for God and questions why God would repay his work with the threat of death on behalf of the people of Judah. This misunderstanding of God’s plan for us is reminiscent of James and John, who want the glory that comes with serving Christ, but accept the cost of this without understanding that it will take great suffering and perhaps even martyrdom to be a true disciple of Christ.

If some of the most important figures in Salvation History can question God’s will or misunderstand what it means to follow God properly, we shouldn’t feel too bad about ourselves when we struggle with making that choice. However, we should acknowledge that, just like Jeremiah and James and John, we are on the wrong path. Following Christ is a life of suffering, but it is a purifying suffering that we take on for the sake of the sins of humanity. A true follower of Christ will understand that the earthly cost of living a life of faith is easily worth it. Now, it becomes our responsibility to train our will to be oriented toward desiring this above all else. Despite his persecution, Jeremiah continued to do his work. James and John eventually understood and fully embraced what it meant to drink the chalice that Christ drinks. If we are going to be messengers for Christ to the world, we should expect that the work will not be easy. But time and again, the great figures of our faith prove to us that it is worth it.

It is hard to ignore the very disordered state of public discourse in the world right now. Because so much of what we learn about the world outside of our personal circles is through social media, we might be mistaken that the outrage that exists on the internet is an adequate representation of the state of current affairs. This is false. However, if we become too attached to social media, then we begin to shift and distort our own world to reflect the falsehood that is found on the internet. While the introduction of worldwide technology is new and can exacerbate the effects of fake public outrage, fake outrage is not new. Even in this passage from Jeremiah, the language sounds just like something we might notice in our newsfeed today: “All those who were my friends are on the watch for any misstep of mine.”

The reason why we are hyper-focused on this fake outrage in the age of social media is because those who express it can gain a lot. So many people seem to want to be the first person to break a story about the “missteps” of a person’s past or private life so that they can gain more influence. At times, friendships and relationships mean nothing if it can lead to more followers or more likes. Eventually, this world begins to eat itself, just as it always has. If we cannot rely on our friends or our loved ones to defend us when we are attacked and to build us up when we struggle, we have nothing. True and authentic friendship is rooted in acknowledging another person’s dignity, and this can only be fully realized when we see others as beloved creations of God. In an outrage-driven culture, no one trusts each other and no one considers the dignity of others. If we look at the most unpopular figures in these times of history, they tend to be those who defend the Truth against the mob. They will stand up for their convictions, especially when their convictions are driven by their faith. The outrage they face as a result is not because they are unlikeable or vicious people; it is a consequence of the masses being challenged to be better. 

There are plenty of modern and historical examples of figures who were once hated for being virtuous in the face of evil, but clearly none were as significant as Jesus Christ. Jesus was persecuted and put to death for what he stood for, not who he was. He was not unlikeable or rude. He was not cruel, nor was he unapproachable. However, he did challenge the evil ones of his generation by pointing out their hypocrisies and throwing the virtues and tenets they supposedly lived by back to them. The hatred he faced was rooted in the fear and shame of his enemies. They could not argue that he performed good acts and helped others. They could not argue that he lived up to their own moral codes better than they did. But he challenged them to be better, and this caused them to display the same fake outrage we see today on social media and that we’ve seen throughout history. If we want to persevere in this frustrating time of fake outrage, we have to follow the example of Christ. Continue living the Truth. If we have to be hated or suffer because of it, the value of Truth staying alive in the modern world is worth the price. 

Fear motivates us as human beings. Many things in our daily lives, such as the safety of our homes or the plentiful food in our kitchens and pantries, are rooted in preparation for the unknown. While these things may have been rooted in a fear of the unknown, they have now become so commonplace that they hardly warrant a second thought. But think of your ancestors whose homes may have been at risk from invasion or disaster and who didn’t have the resources or technology to protect them like we do today. Think of those who came before you who needed to stock their pantries because food would be impossible to come by when winters or droughts came. So much of what we have been conditioned to do was originally meant to protect us, but we have lost the motivation of fear, especially fear of the unknown.

Fear is one of the fundamental human responses, but it comes from a disordered place. It was the very first emotion felt by humans at our fall. Adam and Eve knew that they had lost the child-like protection of God and the space He set apart for them, and they feared what would become of them. But God calmed their fears with a promise (Genesis 3:15), the same promise mentioned in this passage from Jeremiah: “The days are coming, says the Lord, when I will fulfill the promise I made.” Jeremiah shared these words immediately before the Babylonians destroyed the first Temple and the Jews were kept captive from their homes in Babylon. During the time of Christ, many Jews knew this same promise was near, but the Romans would sack the city of Jerusalem and destroy the Temple for the last time. When the people of God most needed the promised one to come, it was preceded by great unrest and followed by calamity. How could it be that God would allow this?

God knew we would fear. From our creation, God knew this frailty and all of our other frailties because he gave us the power of free will that allowed us to choose fear. If we were to expect the one promised to us to be a mere human like us in all things, we would expect him to have that same frailty. But the one who was to come was like us in all things but sin, and did not fear, even when he took on the consequences of the world’s sin. We are afraid of the unusual and unknown. When Christ returns, it will be extraordinary, and we could be unprepared. There will be unrest and it may appear calamitous. But remember God’s promise to Adam and Eve, to Jeremiah, and to those who followed Christ. Do not fear. The days are coming, so keep watch.