You know, if you’ve been coming to Mass for more than five minutes, you know this Gospel. Five loaves, two fish. We’ve heard fifty sermons on it. We get it—Jesus can multiply bread. It’s a classic story, right?

But if all we do is look at the food, we miss the whole point of the Man holding it.

Look at what happened right before that. Jesus just got the news that His cousin, John the Baptist, was murdered. Humanly speaking? He just wanted to get away. He gets on a boat to find a quiet place to grieve. But what do the crowds do? They run along the shore and they’re waiting for Him when the boat hits the sand.

Now think about that. If that were you or me, we’d be annoyed. We’d lock the door and say, “Give me a minute!” But Jesus steps off that boat, looks at the very people who just ruined His quiet time, and His heart breaks for them. He doesn’t walk away.

Last week, you heard me tell you to get off the fence. You can’t live this faith with one foot in the Kingdom and one foot in the world. And today, Saint Paul in Romans tells us why: How can you not be all-in for Jesus when He is 100% all-in on us?

Paul asks what can separate us from the love of Christ. Trouble? Hardship? Peril? The answer is nothing. But let’s be honest with ourselves today: Jesus never leaves us. We leave Him.

People in our lives will leave. Friends move on. Loved ones pass away. The one constant in this whole life is Jesus Christ.

I wonder in my own life how many times He’s just sat there with a grin on His face, shaking His head, knowing His plan was so much easier than the mess I was making. We’ve all been there! We pick and choose which words of Scripture we want to believe because we don’t want to hear it, we sure don’t want to do everything.

I know I wear Jesus out. We all do! We wear Him out when we lose our patience with our spouses or get frustrated with our kids or our bosses… or when somebody is driving ten miles an hour under the speed limit in front of us and we lose our Christian charity in three seconds flat!

We mess up. Constantly.

But the incredible thing about the Gospel is that after all our bad attitudes and stubbornness, Jesus is still sitting there on the shore, waiting for us. He looks at our mess and says, “You don’t have to go away.”

So, when you step up to this Altar today to receive His Body and Blood—where He physically shows us He will never walk away—I want you to ask yourself:

If Jesus is 100% all-in on you… how all-in are you on Him in your daily walk? And how are you going to show the people in your life who feel broken, defeated, or like they’ve messed up too many times, that Jesus hasn’t given up on them either?

Stop fence-sitting. Hand Him your mess, take His love out into a hungry world, and let Him turn your small, broken offering into a miracle.

My siblings in Christ, today we celebrate a unique and beautiful feast—not of a single isolated saint, but of a household. In honoring Saints Martha, Mary, and Lazarus, we are invited into the warmth of Bethany, a place that Jesus chose as a sanctuary from the demands and dangers of His public ministry. In their home, we discover a profound truth about Christian discipleship: Christ does not ask us to choose between service, contemplation, or vulnerability; He invites us to weave them together in love.

​For generations, Martha and Mary have often been set against one another in a false rivalry. Martha, the tireless worker, distracted by many things; Mary, the quiet contemplative, sitting at the Lord’s feet. But when we look closer, we see that their actions are two sides of the very same coin of devotion.

​The Two Sides of Devotion:

​Martha’s Holy Ministry: Martha’s hospitality was not mere social convention; it was an act of profound diakonia—the same service Christ models for us. It was Martha who, upon Lazarus’s death, ran out to meet Jesus while He was still on the road. Her grief did not paralyze her; it drove her to theological heights. It is Martha who utters one of the most magnificent confessions of faith in the entire Gospel: “Yes, Lord; I have believed that you are the Christ, the Son of God, he who comes into the world.” * Mary’s Sacred Presence: Mary reminds us of the anchor for all Christian action. Without sitting at the feet of the Master, our service risks becoming bitter, hollow, or self-centered. Her act of anointing Jesus’s feet with costly perfume was an outpouring of unconditional love—a recognition of His impending sacrifice that the rest of the disciples failed to grasp.

​Lazarus’s Silent Witness: And what of Lazarus? He speaks no words in the Gospel narrative, yet his very life is a sermon. Brought forth from the tomb, bound in linen, he is the living proof of Christ’s power over death. Lazarus represents the vulnerability we all share, and the restorative grace that calls us out of our dark, isolated tombs into the light of community.

​The Lesson of Bethany:

​In the household of Bethany, Jesus found a place where He could truly be Himself. He wept for Lazarus, He gently counselled Martha, and He received the devotion of Mary.

​As we reflect on this holy triad, let us ask ourselves: is our parish, our home, and indeed our inner life a “Bethany” for Christ?

​We are called to have the hands of Martha to serve a hurting world, the heart of Mary to listen deeply to the Spirit, and the humility of Lazarus to allow ourselves to be loved, redeemed, and called forth from darkness.

​May we never separate service from prayer, nor hide our vulnerability from the One who comes to share our life. Amen.

​Let us pray:

​O God, Who didst call Saints Martha, Mary, and Lazarus to serve Thy Blessed Son in the intimacy of their home, and didst bless their household with His presence and friendship:

​Grant, we beseech Thee, that by their examples and intercession, we may find our true identity in Thee.

​Give us the zeal of Saint Martha, that we may serve our neighbours with unflagging charity and confess Thy truth with boldness.

​Give us the devotion of Saint Mary, that we may ever sit at the feet of Thy Word, listening to His wisdom and offering Him the perfume of our adoration.

​Give us the hope of Saint Lazarus, that when we are bound by the shadows of sin and despair, we may hear Thy life-giving voice calling us out into the light.

​Make our hearts a sanctuary of peace and a dwelling place for Thy Holy Spirit, that we may one day be brought with them to the heavenly banquet, where Christ liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end.

​Amen.

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today the Lord is putting a very direct question right in front of our faces: What are you actually chasing in this life, and what are you willing to walk away from to get it? In the Gospel, Jesus doesn’t complicate things. He talks about a guy working in a field who stumbles on a hidden treasure, and a merchant who finally tracks down the perfect pearl. And look at what they do. They don’t drag their feet, they don’t complain about the price tag, and they don’t look back. Out of pure, absolute joy, they go and sell every single thing they own just to lock it down. Now, the world looks at that and thinks it’s a massive sacrifice. But when you’ve spent a lifetime seeing what passes for “treasure” in this world, you know better. When you realize that the living Christ and the fire of the Holy Spirit are the ultimate prize, walking away from the temporary, fleeting distractions of this world isn’t a painful loss at all. It’s just a smart, joyful trade.

To see that clearly, you need real spiritual wisdom—the exact kind of gut-level discernment King Solomon begged God for in our first reading. Remember, Solomon was a young leader stepping into a massive responsibility, and God told him he could have anything he wanted. He didn’t ask for wealth, fame, or the destruction of his enemies. He looked at his calling, realized his own limitations, and asked for an understanding heart to know right from wrong and to lead his people with integrity. That is where we must take a hard look in the mirror. Look at how much time we waste chasing counterfeit treasures, running after status, material comfort, or looking for something to calm the anxieties and the storms inside our own chests. But the truth is, the world can’t give you that peace. In a few moments at the Offertory, we’re going to sing a line that says it all: “You are the voice that calms the storm inside me… It’s always been You.” That’s the breakthrough right there. True wisdom is realizing that the answer to your restlessness isn’t found in the next worldly distraction; it’s always been Christ. He is the ultimate treasure, and He’s already right here, present in the Word and waiting for you at this altar in the Holy Eucharist.

Now, as a parish family at St. Michael’s, we love to worship. We let the Holy Spirit move dynamically, and we stand firm on the solid truth of our Dominican roots. But let me be perfectly straight with you: we do not come here just to get comfortable, sing our praises, and keep the fire to ourselves inside these four walls. The grace we receive at this altar is meant to draw a line in the dirt. So, I am challenging every single one of you today. Don’t just leave here today saying it was a nice Mass. Take a hard look at your life this week and ask yourself: How am I going to take this treasure and use it to better the Kingdom of God—not just in the quiet routine of my own personal prayers, but out there in the lives of the people who need it most? I challenge you to identify the lesser things you’re still clinging to, lay them down, and actively bring the raw, authentic light of Christ into your homes, your workplaces, and your neighborhoods. Stop holding back, start leading by example, and let’s go out there and build the Kingdom together.

Dominus vobiscum.

† Frank Bellino, PhD, OPI

The Feast of Saint James the Apostle calls us to reflect on the profound transformation of a disciple from a man of ambitious thunder to a witness of sacrificial love. In the Gospels, James and his brother John are famously nicknamed the “Sons of Thunder” (Boanerges). They were men of fiery passion, intense zeal, and, at times, misguided ambition. We see this clearly when they, along with their mother, approached Jesus to ask for the ultimate seats of honour in His kingdom—one at His right hand and one at His left.

​Jesus responded with a question that pierces through all human ambition: “Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink?” Without fully understanding the weight of their words, they answered, “We are able.” —

​From Ambition to Alignment

​James’s initial understanding of Christ’s kingdom was likely wrapped up in earthly glory, power, and the overthrow of oppression. Yet, walking with Jesus transformed his thunderous zeal into a holy, enduring devotion. He came to realise that the right hand and the left hand of Jesus would not be flanked by golden thrones, but by two crosses on Calvary. The “cup” Jesus spoke of was not a chalice of earthly triumph, but the cup of suffering, surrender, and ultimate sacrifice.

​To truly follow Christ is to move past our own desires for recognition and position. James teaches us that alignment with God’s will requires a stripping away of self-interest.

​The First of the Twelve

​James did indeed drink from that cup. As recorded in the Book of Acts, he became the first of the twelve apostles to suffer martyrdom, put to death by the sword under King Herod Agrippa. The man who once sought the highest place of honour found it in the highest form of service—laying down his life for the Gospel.

​His journey from a fisherman on the Sea of Galilee to the first apostolic martyr reminds us of several vital truths for our own ministries and lives:

​Transformation is a process: Christ does not call the perfect; He calls the willing and shapes them through fellowship, correction, and grace.

​Zeal must be channeled: Our natural passion and energy are gifts from God, but they must be disciplined and directed toward the cross, not our own advancement.

​The cost of discipleship: True leadership in the kingdom of God is always measured by our willingness to serve and to sacrifice.

​As we honour Saint James, let us examine our own hearts. Are we seeking the crowns of this world, or are we willing to drink the cup of Christ? May we, like James, leave behind our nets, our ambitions, and our thunder, so that we may be filled with the quiet, powerful strength of the Holy Spirit.

​A Prayer of Commemoration and Dedication

​Almighty and everlasting God, we offer You heartfelt thanks and praise for the life and witness of Your holy apostle, Saint James. As he was prompt to leave his father and all that he had to answer the call of Your Son Jesus Christ, grant that we, too, may evermore be ready to forsake all worldly and selfish ambitions to follow You.

​Lord, we confess that like the Sons of Thunder, we often seek our own glory and desire the places of honour in this life. Cleanse our hearts of all pride and self-seeking. Teach us the true meaning of the cup of suffering and service, that we may walk in the path of humility and love.

​We pray for all who shepherd Your flock and counsel Your people. Grant them the courage of James to stand firm in the face of adversity, the wisdom to guide with pastoral grace, and the zeal to proclaim the Gospel with boldness.

​Strengthen us to drink the cup You place before us, trusting that Your grace is sufficient for every trial. Bring us at last, with Saint James and all Your saints, into the fullness of Your eternal joy, where we may behold Your glory face to face.

​Through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

​Amen.

Y’all………  Whenever I find something dreadful or irritating or wicked mean and nasty, and I am particularly helpless to do anything about them, there are some sayings that I will, without fail, fall back on.  Some of these have become kinda cliche:

His checkbook will get balanced one of these days.

Karma’s a bitch.

What goes around comes around.

Some are more literary based:

“The mills of God grind slowly, but they grind small”. Friedrich von Logau as translated by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

“The universe does not carry debts. It always returns back to you what you gave it.” — Drishti Bablani

And some are more faith based.

God’ll getcha.

And hell is hot.

But ya know, as much as I go on and on about love and forgiveness and acceptance and being an all-round loving and decent human being and quoting Jesus in the process, Jesus also delivered a warning to those folks who didn’t get with the program and persisted in their terrible, horrible, no good, very bad ways.  The Gospel appointed for today tells us:

His disciples approached him and said, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field.”  He said in reply, “He who sows good seed is the Son of Man, the field is the world, the good seed the children of the kingdom.   The weeds are the children of the evil one, and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels.  Just as weeds are collected and burned up with fire, so will it be at the end of the age.   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.  Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father.  Whoever has ears ought to hear.”

Well now.  It appears that God will, indeed, getcha, and that hell is, as the saying goes, exceedingly hot.  A few months ago, if you will remember, I posted a bit about “If/Then” statements and the gist of that little sermon was Jesus saying, “If you love me, then you will keep my commandments.”  And it appears that I’m gonna kinda repeat the “If/Then” thing here, but not the “pretty version.”  Y’all remember way back when, when we were in school and the teachers said, “If you will complete your assignments and study, you’ll do well and make good grades”?  Which, of course meant that if you didn’t complete your assignments and study, you’d flunk.  Or the “If you do that, you’ll be grounded for life” from our parents.  And some of us would test those boundaries to see if the bad stuff happened…and lo and behold, it did. 

So this, like everything else that Jesus said, he meant that.  Now, I am certainly no great theologian, and I would never, never, never tell anyone what to believe.  And besides that, it’s been proven over and over and over again that if our faith is growing, and we are learning, then our beliefs change.  [And I can hear some of you immediately going on the defensive and saying, “My faith will never change!”  Ummm…..So what you’re saying is that the faith you had when you were wee is still the faith you have now, and you’ve not learned anything in spite of the Bible studies and classes and your faith has not grown?  See?  Growing faith is learning faith, so spare me the righteous indignation.  A stagnant faith is a dead faith.  Period.  Now, if I may continue…]  So this “fiery furnace” thing that Jesus was talking about?  Do you know exactly what Jesus meant?  The easy answer is “Hell.” 

But what is Hell?  Sigh…this has been debated over and over and over again pretty much forever.  Biblical writers utilized specific terms and imagery to describe the concept of Hell:

Gehenna (Fire & Decay): Jesus frequently used this term, which referred to the Valley of Hinnom outside Jerusalem—a literal trash dump where fires constantly burned and corpses were left. Theologically, the unquenchable fire and the “worm that never dies” symbolize total ruin, the absolute consumption of evil, and the agonizing permanence of spiritual death.

Hades (The Void / Darkness): Translated from Greek, this represents the realm of the dead or the grave. Phrases like “outer darkness” symbolize the absolute absence of God’s light, warmth, and presence.

The Lake of Fire: Found in the Book of Revelation, this is a highly symbolic image. Many theologians interpret this fire not as literal flames, but as the overwhelming purity of God’s presence, which brings peace to the repentant but acts as a consuming force for unrepentant evil.

A Prison: Used in the New Testament to signify being trapped in one’s own self-absorbed rebellion and shut out from the joy and life intended for humanity.

The Refiner’s Fire:  In modern Christian theology and devotion, this metaphor emphasizes that suffering or testing is purposeful rather than destructive. The fire is seen as a refining process overseen by a loving Creator, rather than an arbitrary punishment.  (And this is probably where I should mention Purgatory, but I’m not coz that’s a whole different thing and “ain’t nobody got time for dat” at the moment.)

And finally, the term “Fiery Furnace”:  Refers to a famous biblical story in the Book of Daniel where three Jewish men (Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego) were thrown into a blazing furnace by King Nebuchadnezzar for refusing to worship a golden idol. According to the scripture, they were protected by a divine figure and emerged completely unharmed, symbolizing faith, protection during trials, and deliverance. In the New Testament, Jesus uses the “fiery furnace” (or blazing furnace) as a metaphor for final judgment and hell, noting it is a place where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

What we do know with all confidence is that Hell, in whatever form it takes, will be a total separation from God, and that, like the people who are separated from God, would be a terrible, horrible, no good very bad thing.   And ain’t nobody wanna go there.  So what must one do to avoid that place?  (By now, those of you who have been with me for more than five minutes know exactly what I’m gonna say.)  Jesus has told us, in no uncertain terms, what he expects of us:

Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind. He also stated that the second is like it: to love your neighbor as yourself.

This is the entire foundation of Christian ethics.  And further, Jesus told us, specifically, how to act upon that love: 

“Then the King will turn to those on the left and say, ‘Away with you, you cursed ones, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his demons.  For I was hungry, and you didn’t feed me. I was thirsty, and you didn’t give me a drink.  I was a stranger, and you didn’t invite me into your home. I was naked, and you didn’t give me clothing. I was sick and in prison, and you didn’t visit me.’

 “Then they will reply, ‘Lord, when did we ever see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and not help you?’

 “And he will answer, ‘I tell you the truth, when you refused to help the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were refusing to help me.’ (Matthew 25:41-45)

Pretty clear, huh?  The author of the Letter to the Galatians sums it up pretty nicely:  “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one.”(Galatians 3:28)

There are no walls, no borders, no gender identities, no political parties, no races, no sexualities, no languages, no limits to God’s love and who we are supposed to love.

Good seeds.  Weeds.  Which are you?

Amen.

Y’all…….every spring since we moved to Albuquerque we have done our levelheaded best to have blooming plants in our back living space.  I started to say “garden” but that won’t work, coz there is no “garden” to it, and “yard” won’t work, coz there is no grass.  So living space it is.  Anyway, the point is, that we try to have growing bits of color, flowers for the bees and hummingbirds, and eye-pleasing plants in our bit of the desert.  It’s a bit tricky, though, because the cost of plants and flowers has gone up and up and up, and often many of the plants we do buy just kinda shrivel up and die in the heat and sun, no matter how much they are watered and shaded.  We learned early on that petunias and lantana are the ticket for the store-bought plants.

Another of the things we have been most successful at growing has been sunflowers, and that started out as purely accidental.  Throughout the year, we try to keep black oil sunflower seeds in all the bird feeders coz the doves and house finches and sparrows and gold finches love ‘em.  And a few years ago, some of those seeds wound up in the containers that the petunias were in.  When they started springing up I decided to just let ‘em grow, coz I had no idea what they were, and I wanted to see what the mysterious plants growing in all the petunias were.  Lo and behold, we had sunflowers.  Since then, we’ve kept the store-bought plants to a minimum and just planted bird seed and we have an abundance of bright blooms.

Oddly enough, though, is that even when those seeds are planted intentionally, some of them germinate, and some of them get eaten by the birds, and some of them just lay there doing nothing, no matter how hard we try to coax them into growing and blooming.

Sadly, I have had students like that and still know several adults like that.  No matter how much care, attention, information, and love you give them, they just won’t grow and bloom.  Jesus had that problem too.  He even based one of his parables on it.  In the Gospel reading appointed for today, from Matthew 13, Jesus tells the parable of the sower and the seeds.

“A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path, and birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky ground, where it had little soil. It sprang up at once because the soil was not deep,
and when the sun rose it was scorched, and it withered for lack of roots. Some seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it. But some seed fell on rich soil, and produced fruit,
a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold. Whoever has ears ought to hear.”

The disciples approached him and said, “Why do you speak to them in parables?” This is why I speak to them in parables, because they look but do not see and hear but do not listen or understand.  Isaiah’s prophecy is fulfilled in them, which says:  You shall indeed hear but not understand, you shall indeed look but never see. Gross is the heart of this people, they will hardly hear with their ears, they have closed their eyes, lest they see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their hearts and be converted, and I heal them. 

“But blessed are your eyes, because they see, “Hear then the parable of the sower. The seed sown on the path is the one who hears the word of the kingdom without understanding it, and the evil one comes and steals away what was sown in his heart.  The seed sown on rocky ground is the one who hears the word and receives it at once with joy.  But he has no root and lasts only for a time. When some tribulation or persecution comes because of the word, he immediately falls away.  The seed sown among thorns is the one who hears the word, but then worldly anxiety and the lure of riches choke the word and it bears no fruit. 
But the seed sown on rich soil is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold.”

When you come right down to it, it’s all pretty self-explanatory.  But, however, and oh my goodness, when this little story is combined with the first few words of the Gospel of John, it’s downright tragic.  You know how John begins…. .”In the beginning was the Word….  The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

So, it follows that the Word of God isn’t the Bible, it’s Jesus and his words, what he said and did and what he commanded us to do and be.  And us?  In this instance, we’re where the seeds of the Word (what he said and did and what he commanded us to do and be) happen to fall.  Unlike in the parable, though, we have a choice whether to be the fertile ground or the barren soil.  We have a choice whether to embody the teachings of Jesus or not. 

I’ve said it a zillion times:  Sometimes you are the only Jesus people will ever see, the only Bible some folks will ever read.  St. Teresa of Avila wrote: 

Christ has no body but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours,
Yours are the eyes with which he looks
Compassion on this world,
Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good,
Yours are the hands, with which he blesses all the world.
Yours are the hands, yours are the feet,
Yours are the eyes, you are his body.
Christ has no body now but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours,
Yours are the eyes with which he looks
compassion on this world.
Christ has no body now on earth but yours.

So, again, the choice is ours.  Do we follow and embody Jesus?  Or do we not?  Keeping in mind his greatest commandments were: You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.” (Matthew 22:37–40)   It bears repeating:  We are to demonstrate healing, compassion, and serving the oppressed. His teachings called for radical love and mercy. 

So, choose this day whom ye will serve.  What kind of soil are you gonna be? 

Amen.