![\"Chandelier](\"http:\/\/www.nicksenger.com\/onecatholiclife\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/chandelier_tree.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
First I want to wish a happy Father\u2019s Day
\nto all of my fellow fathers and grandfathers,
\nthose here present, and those who can\u2019t be with us today.
\nI wish you a blessed and peaceful weekend.<\/p>\n
With summer here,
\nI imagine many of you are preparing
\nfor one of fatherhood\u2019s greatest responsibilities,
\nthe family vacation.<\/p>\n
One of my favorite fatherly duties is driving the family down the road
\nto some exciting and new vacation spot.
\nWhether it\u2019s a quick trip to Seattle to see the Mariners play,
\nor a leisurely trek over the mountains to Yellowstone Park,
\nor a long expedition down Highway 101 to Disneyland,
\nI love the feeling of being behind the wheel,
\nwith my family safely buckled in around me,
\nand all of us just traveling together down the road.
\nI just love that,
\nespecially when we\u2019re out in the middle of Montana,
\nor Central Washington, or California,
\nand Brenda and the kids are fast asleep
\nand I\u2019m the only one awake,
\ndriving them down a long stretch of highway.
\nI love it when we\u2019re all together inside the car or minivan,
\nand I\u2019m making sure they\u2019re all safe and sound,
\nthat we\u2019re on the right road,
\nthat everything\u2019s ok.
\nI feel like I’m really doing my job as dad,
\nprotecting them and taking care of them.
\nWhen everyone\u2019s sleeping in the car,
\nit\u2019s as if they\u2019re saying,
\n\u201cDad, we trust you, we can relax,
\nyou\u2019ve got it under control.\u201d<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve never really talked about this to other dads,
\nbut I bet I\u2019m not the only one who feels that way.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s old-fashioned, I know,
\nand I\u2019m sure there are plenty of moms out there
\nwho have had the same experience,
\nand Brenda is perfectly capable of driving our family down the road.
\nBut I\u2019ve always appreciated being the one in our family
\nwho drives the car on long vacations.
\nFor those brief moments,
\nI get to take care of the entire family,
\ncarrying everyone safe and sound
\ninside the safety of the car.<\/p>\n
You know, it\u2019s probably the closest a father ever gets
\nto the feeling of carrying his children inside of him,
\nthe way their mother did before they were born.<\/p>\n
I bring this up today,
\nnot only because it\u2019s Father\u2019s Day Weekend,
\nbut also because in today\u2019s scripture readings,
\nGod tells us that he\u2019s driving us down the road of life
\nand we can relax in the knowledge that he\u2019s got it under control,
\nthat he\u2019s going to get us safely to our destination.<\/p>\n
Scripture doesn\u2019t use the image of a family vacation,
\nbut the message is still the same.<\/p>\n
The prophet Ezekiel is speaking to the exiles in Babylon.
\nIt\u2019s about 600 years before the time of Jesus,
\nand the chosen people have been uprooted from the promised land.
\nThey\u2019re living in captivity far from their homes,
\nliving under a false king,
\nlonging to return to Jerusalem.<\/p>\n
Through the prophet Ezekiel,
\nGod tells his people, his family,
\nthat he will take care of them,
\nthat he will grow a majestic cedar out of a tiny, tender shoot
\nthat will provide shade and protection,
\nnot only for Israel
\nbut for anyone who comes to dwell there.
\nAnd not only in this life,
\nbut forever.<\/p>\n
600 years later,
\nJesus speaks the same message to his disciples.
\nBut by this time, the Jews are living under the authority
\nnot of the Babylonians,
\nbut of the Romans.
\nAnd they\u2019re impatient.
\nThey\u2019re tired of always being in captivity, of never being in control.
\nAnd there\u2019s a group of zealots
\nwho want to violently overthrow the Romans.<\/p>\n
Scripture scholars suggest that some of these zealots
\nleft the group and became disciples of Jesus,
\nbut after waiting impatiently for action,
\nthey demanded to know when he would lead the uprising.<\/p>\n
In other words, they were saying those dreaded words
\nthat all parents hear on long vacation trips:
\n\u201cAre we there yet? Are we there yet?\u201d
\n\u201cWhen is the kingdom of God coming?\u201d
\n\u201cWhen will we be free?\u201d<\/p>\n
To answer that question,
\nJesus tells the first parable we hear in today\u2019s gospel.<\/p>\n
If you look up this parable in a bible you\u2019ll see that it\u2019s called
\nthe Parable of the Seed that Grows of Itself,
\nor the Parable of the Seed Growing Secretly.
\nBut scripture scholar Jeremiah Jeremias suggests
\nthat it might be more accurately called
\nthe Parable of the Patient Farmer:<\/p>\n
The farmer sows the seed and then rests;<\/em> That\u2019s how it is with the kingdom of God;<\/em> And just as Jesus tells this story to the impatient zealots, And here we are, two thousand years later, As we read the headlines But on the other hand, The farmer has planted the seeds, The kingdom is growing, Both parables in the gospel and today\u2019s first reading remind us God says to us today, That doesn\u2019t mean we throw up our hands, But today we remember that our loving Father is driving the minivan. There\u2019s a story about Pope John XXIII, now St. John XXIII, On this Father\u2019s Day, our loving Father says to us: First I want to wish a happy Father\u2019s Day to all of my fellow fathers and grandfathers, those here present, and those who can\u2019t be with us today. I wish you a blessed and peaceful weekend. With summer here, I imagine many of you are preparing for one of fatherhood\u2019s greatest responsibilities, the family vacation. One of my favorite fatherly duties is driving the family down the road to some exciting and new vacation spot. Whether it\u2019s a quick trip to Seattle to see the Mariners play, or...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6891,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[349],"tags":[1083,1081,357,1084,469,405,1082],"class_list":["post-6888","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-homily","tag-babylonian-exile","tag-ezekiel","tag-gospel-of-mark","tag-jeremiah-jeremias","tag-parables","tag-pope-john-xxiii","tag-zealots"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/nicksenger.com\/onecatholiclife\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/chandelier_tree.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pOucj-1N6","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/nicksenger.com\/onecatholiclife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6888","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/nicksenger.com\/onecatholiclife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/nicksenger.com\/onecatholiclife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nicksenger.com\/onecatholiclife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nicksenger.com\/onecatholiclife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6888"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/nicksenger.com\/onecatholiclife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6888\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6892,"href":"http:\/\/nicksenger.com\/onecatholiclife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6888\/revisions\/6892"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nicksenger.com\/onecatholiclife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6891"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/nicksenger.com\/onecatholiclife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6888"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nicksenger.com\/onecatholiclife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6888"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nicksenger.com\/onecatholiclife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6888"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nhis life follows its ordered round of sleeping and waking,<\/em>
\nnight and day:<\/em>
\nwithout his taking anxious thought or any active steps,<\/em>
\nthe seed grows from stalk to ear, and from ear to ripened corn.<\/em>
\nThe naming of each stage of the process<\/em>
\ndescribes the unceasing process of growth.<\/em>
\nThen, suddenly, the moment arrives which rewards the patient waiting.<\/em>
\nThe corn is ripe, the harvest has come.<\/em><\/p>\n
\nwith the same certainty as the harvest comes for the farmer<\/em>
\nafter his long waiting,<\/em>
\nso does God when his hour has come.<\/em>
\nWe can only wait with the patience of the farmer.<\/em><\/p>\n
\nso Mark chooses to include this parable in his gospel.
\nThis parable is only found in Mark\u2019s gospel,
\nprobably because by the time Mark writes his gospel,
\nChristians were asking a similar question.
\nWhen will Jesus return?
\nWhen is the kingdom of God coming?
\nIn other words, Are we there yet?
\nSo to answer those questions,
\nMark includes this parable of the patient farmer.<\/p>\n
\nand still on the road to the Promised Land,
\nstill traveling, still asking the question,
\nAre we there yet?<\/p>\n
\nand live through our daily struggles,
\nwe recognize that no, clearly we are not there yet.
\nWe still await the kingdom of God.<\/p>\n
\nthe kingdom of God is more present now than it has ever been.<\/p>\n
\nthe growth has begun,
\nand it will in God\u2019s good time, become ready for harvest.
\nThe kingdom of God grows slowly
\nbut is moving toward its majestic completion.<\/p>\n
\nthough the seed and the growth may be hardly visible.<\/p>\n
\nthat out of the most insignificant beginnings,<\/em>
\ninvisible to human eye,<\/em>
\nGod creates his mighty kingdom,<\/em>
\nwhich embraces all the peoples of the world.<\/em><\/p>\n
\n\u201cI\u2019ve got this, don\u2019t worry,
\nthe Kingdom is coming, the Kingdom is here.
\nI can take something as tiny as a mustard seed
\nand grow it into a huge tree that welcomes and shelters everyone,
\ngiving them a shady place to rest.\u201d<\/p>\n
\ngive up our efforts to help bring about the kingdom,
\nand turn everything over to God.
\nWe are still called by our baptism to share the Good News,
\nto be salt for the earth and light for the world.
\nGod still asks us to cooperate with him in bringing about the Kingdom.<\/p>\n
\nToday we remember that God will see us through all storms,
\nthat the seeds he planted are growing each and every day,
\nand we can be sure the harvest will come.<\/p>\n
\nthe pope who convened the Second Vatican Council.
\nShortly after he was elected pope he was having a hard time sleeping
\nbecause of the weight of all the concerns of the church,
\nand all the decisions he had to make.
\nFinally in prayer he said,
\n\u201cListen, Lord, this church is yours, not mine. I\u2019m going to sleep.\u201d
\nAnd he fell quickly asleep.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cSleep well, my children.
\nI am at the wheel and everything is under control.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"