July 27, 2023

Gospel: Matthew 13:10-17

"They look but do not see and hear but do not listen or understand."

The disciples today ask why Jesus speaks in parables. He responds that those who need to understand will, and that the parables are ways to help them understand. The writer Mary Catherine Bateson said "The human species thinks in metaphors and learns through stories." When we think about our lives and our own histories, it is the stories that bind us together. They tell common experiences, things that have happened to us or about us, and they bring us together.

Jesus would have known the importance of stories and their staying power in our brains. I, for one, can't remember a lot of things, but I can remember the best stories. We have a God who wants us to understand so much that we are given stories (parables) to bring eternal truths to our level. What a loving God! May we take them to heart and remember them through how we live our lives.

- Fr. Will