August 10, 2022
Wednesday of the Nineteenth Week in Ordinary Time
Recently, I drove the backroads through farm country in Indiana. I caught the crops at their peak. Perfectly pruned grass, cornrows at culmination, lined the narrow roads through small towns. I caught sight of the crops that had been perfectly watered and on that day the sun shone on the miracles of growth and beauty.
I experienced the crops in full growth. However, they will not stay that way. Autumn will bring another phase. Leaves will drop, the corn will be harvested. Change will happen. Winter will come. The growing season will end. The snow and bitter cold will halt growth. Waiting for life will be around the corner once again. It will all happen to prepare for another growing season next year.
We believe in the Paschal Mystery. Jesus’ passion, death, and resurrection is the core mystery of faith. If we believe in him, then that pattern will form our lives. We must learn to die to ourselves and rise in him alone. It is not an easy path. Learning to live in him requires faith in the mystery that he lives within us. Faith in Jesus Christ means we follow the suffering, the death, the letting go, so to find our lives vitally aware of his love and guidance.
In JN 12:24-26, the path to love, to freedom, to living our real lives, comes in the grain of wheat falling to the ground and dying. This is our lives. This is our letting go of certainty to embrace mystery. We so want to cling to perfection, to ego, to doing the correct next thing. In fact, to live our faith in the love Jesus gives us is to surrender to the life we have and not the life we think we should have. To live in him is to let go and find our souls singing along the road that leads to the Kingdom of God.
Unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit.
Broken But Not Divided 
For many consecutive years, Ed and I took long drives from Colorado Springs to the
Midwest. At the start of summer, we helped Jay, at Notre Dame, and Nik, at Loyola Un- Chicago, empty their dorms for residence halls clean out . We returned at the advent of autumn to move them back in. Between these trips, the landscape by the roadside had changed. New colors. New smells. New textures. We are no different. In God’s light, we go through the necessary cycle of life and death in order to live.
The gospel today was the same one I had read at my husband’s funeral. It was his feast day today. We always remembered it. The more I let go and place my trust in God my life I have more freedom and peace. Easy no but looking back brings peace.
The flowers are beautiful.
Hey Father Ron. I enjoy reading your blog. I miss you at Sacred Heart. I’m sorry Austin was not the right fit. I’ll be praying for you! You are so multi-talented. There are many more people who have yet to benefit from your gifts. You have always embodied “the heart” of Christ’s message in your art and in your amazing homilies. Peace be with you.