A prayer for Dad

Well, here it is—another July 27 and I keep thinking about Dad. I have often wondered what he would think of the world today. I would not presume to call Dad a saint, although he was such a simple and humble man—as Mom says, “For a non-Catholic, he sure lived a Christian life!” But we can hope through the mercy of Jesus that he is one—it is a confident hope that I hold dear.

Saints’ feast days are the days when they enter into the place that Christ has prepared for them since before they were born. So on this—Dad’s feast day—I offer to God the following prayer for Dad:

Our Father, Who art in Heaven,
Hallowed be Thy name.
Thy kingdom come,
Thy will be done,
On Earth as it is in Heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread
And forgive us our trespasses
As we forgive those who trespass against us.
Lead us not into temptation,
But deliver us from evil.
Amen.

Ex 32:15-24, 30-34
Moses turned and came down the mountain with the two tablets of the commandments in his hands, tablets that were written on both sides, front and back; tablets that were made by God, having inscriptions on them that were engraved by God himself.

Now, when Joshua heard the noise of the people shouting, he said to Moses, “That sounds like a battle in the camp.” But Moses answered, “It does not sound like cries of victory, nor does it sound like cries of defeat; the sounds that I hear are cries of revelry.”

As he drew near the camp, he saw the calf and the dancing. With that, Moses’ wrath flared up, so that he threw the tablets down and broke them on the base of the mountain. Taking the calf they had made, he fused it in the fire and then ground it down to powder, which he scattered on the water and made the children of Israel drink.

Moses asked Aaron, “What did this people ever do to you that you should lead them into so grave a sin?” Aaron replied, “Let not my lord be angry. You know well enough how prone the people are to evil. They said to me, 'Make us a god to be our leader; as for the man Moses who brought us out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has happened to him.’ So I told them, 'Let anyone who has gold jewelry take it off.’ They gave it to me, and I threw it into the fire, and this calf came out.”

On the next day Moses said to the people, “You have committed a grave sin. I will go up to the LORD, then; perhaps I may be able to make atonement for your sin.” So Moses went back to the LORD and said, “Ah, this people has indeed committed a grave sin in making a god of gold for themselves! If you would only forgive their sin! If you will not, then strike me out of the book that you have written.” The LORD answered, “Him only who has sinned against me will I strike out of my book. Now, go and lead the people to the place I have told you. My angel will go before you. When it is time for me to punish, I will punish them for their sin.”

Mt 13:31-35
Jesus proposed a parable to the crowds. “The Kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that a person took and sowed in a field. It is the smallest of all the seeds, yet when full-grown it is the largest of plants. It becomes a large bush, and the birds of the sky come and dwell in its branches.”

He spoke to them another parable. “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.”

All these things Jesus spoke to the crowds in parables. He spoke to them only in parables, to fulfill what had been said through the prophet: I will open my mouth in parables, I will announce what has lain hidden from the foundation of the world.


Today’s gospel gives us two parables: the tiny mustard seed and the leavening yeast. The Kingdom of heaven is like these. Each of us starts our life at the moment of conception with a whole lifetime to develop into the child of God that we have been called to be.

The Kingdom of heaven is here and now as well as after we die. It is here and now in how we continue to try to do God’s will. The first sacrament we receive, usually as an infant, is baptism. Those two parables fit here: we start so simply and helpless but with God’s help we develop into a large bush or leavened bread to serve others. But this growth has many setbacks. Our sinfulness and selfishness get into the way. This idea is where the first reading applies.

All last week I reflected on God’s assistance to His people suffering first slavery in Egypt, then faithlessness in the desert. Glory is given to God when He persuades Pharaoh to let His people go free. The plagues, especially the death of the firstborn, were too much for Pharaoh. Moses led his people through the Red Sea, only to spend forty years of wandering in the desert.

The Exodus story in the Old Testament prefigures the baptism for each of us. We go from our birth with original sin through the waters of baptism to spend all our lives, sometimes doing God’s will, but too often sinning as the Israelites did with the golden god they worshipped. Our goal also is a promised land – for us it is Heaven itself and the fruits of our salvation won for us by Jesus.

******Off—subject Alert!!******
Speaking of the golden calf, did Aaron really think Moses (or God) was going to buy his excuse? I mean, come on!! “I threw all of the gold into the fire, and this calf came out!”??? Sounds like a 5-year old kid’s explanation to me!
*****Back to the subject at hand******

In the gospel story Jesus reminds us of how we receive this gift of salvation, the Kingdom of heaven. We go through all our life, at times doing God’s will, but all too often failing in our sinfulness by our weaknesses and selfishness. We are now only an insignificant member of the Church, yet when we live a good life following and imitating Jesus, we become like the smallest of seeds that becomes like a large bush giving shade or the yeast that leavens the bread.