—The kingdom of heaven is like yeast
that a woman took and mixed with three measures of wheat flour
until the whole batch was leavened.—

I thought I would begin with this passage from today’s gospel because we members of the PNCC are very familiar with these women who work diligently at making wonderful breads and treats. Now think about that. Imagine a woman adding yeast to the flour, mixing it, kneading it, carefully placing it in a bowl in a warm corner of the kitchen, waiting several hours for the bread to rise, and finding?

Now if she used the proper ingredients, and most of all good living yeast, the dough will have risen. It’s a kind of on and off thing, either the bread properly rises or it doesn’t. You don’t see half the dough rising and half laying flat, unleavened. So it is with God’s word and the Holy Spirit’s work among us. It works on the whole of humanity.

This is a remarkable promise really. The thing that gives us growth, the thing that brings us to the state we are to be in, is God’s word — and it’s remarkable because it works among those who hear it and among those who reject it.

Think of the day’s first parable:

When the crop grew and bore fruit, the weeds appeared as well.

We can also liken God’s word to the soil, the foundation upon which the crops and weeds grew. They both take nutrients from that soil. They grew together in that soil. The foundation God has laid is equally available to those who bear good fruit and to those who bear only brambles and waste.

God’s word and the work of the Holy Spirit are like that soil, like that yeast. They are working in the world each day, among those who accept our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ and among those who turn from Him.

Of course it’s easy to think of those who turn away in simple terms:

The Son of Man will send his angels,
and they will collect out of his kingdom
all who cause others to sin and all evildoers.
They will throw them into the fiery furnace,
where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.

Brothers and sisters,

We must read those words in the light of the balance of scripture:

And you taught your people, by these deeds,
that those who are just must be kind;
and you gave your children good ground for hope
that you would permit repentance for their sins.

God permits repentance and gives us hope. All of humanity exists as the children of God and all of humanity has good ground for hope. That is why He told us through the Prophet Isaiah:

so shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth;
it shall not return to me empty,
but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,
and prosper in the thing for which I sent it.

His word will not return to Him without yield. His foundation, like the soil, will nourish the hard of heart along with the faithful. Those who are closed to Him may not hear Him now, may not feel nourished by Him now, but eventually, here in this life or in the next, they will hear Him and will have every opportunity to be nourished by Him.

God’s yeast is working in the world, on those who reject Him and those who accept Him. That yeast provides the whole of humanity with the opportunity to be nourished and changed. This is our hope; that in the hearing of the word humanity will be changed. This is our hope, that in the hearing of the word all will take the opportunity for a change of heart.

My friends,

We cannot pull-one-over on God. We cannot fool Him. He understands us and our weakness. St. Paul reassures us because he knew the weakness of man. He knew that our longing for God, whether hobbled by simple weakness or constrained by a cold heart, will break through because the Spirit is at work in the world interceding for us.

The Spirit comes to the aid of our weakness;
for we do not know how to pray as we ought,
but the Spirit himself intercedes with inexpressible groanings.

What we need to take from today is the fact that those who take Jesus’ advice:

“Whoever has ears ought to hear.—

…in the here and now will shine like the sun. Therefore, we ought to hear. We ought to hear the Lord when our weakness gets the better of us and we fall into sin. We ought to hear Him when we close our eyes, ears, and hearts to a particular teaching of the Holy Church, that is, when we rationalize our sins as not being sin. We ought to hear Him and understand that we are to practice at our hearing, working on it, exercising it in preparation for the last day. The tools to work and exercise our living in accord with God’s word are available to us: scripture, prayer, fasting, penance, consistently making the right call when faced with temptation; saving ourselves from the pain of a longer separation from God.

God’s promise is remarkable and He is working in the hearts of every man, woman, and child. This is our human dignity. God lives in and among all His children. Our work and our faithfulness, our steady assent to the Lord is our return for His faithfulness to us. It will bring us ever closer to the heavenly reward that awaits us. For those who choose not to listen now, you are not rejected, without hope, and the door remains open. Yet, now is the time of urgency, and this is the place to begin. Let us begin our assent to God with hard work and a steadfast heart filled with hope. “Whoever has ears ought to hear.— Amen.