Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time
"This is how it is with the kingdom of God ..." (Mk. 4:26-34).
When I was five or six years old, my Dad and I would listen to music while driving to school from New Orleans East to St. Anthony of Padua on Canal St. Most of the time, the radio was on the Tom Joyner Morning Show. However, occasionally, my Dad would switch to the 6-disc CD player, and out of all the songs, I began to favor one more than the rest. The name of the song was It's Like That by Run-DMC.
Eat the Scroll Ministry readers, there were unwritten rules while listening to It’s Like That, and I will share them. First, you had to feel it. Our heads were bobbin’ as soon as the drums started the song. I may not have heard every word or understood the content as a child, but I could feel a pulsating beat. Second, after each chorus repetition, we had to shout, "Huh!" Third, before the song ended, we'd have to restart it until we got tired or arrived at school. This was truly a father-and-son moment.
Brothers and Sisters, these rules can also apply to today's Gospel reading, and I will use them to offer my quick perspective now that I am a Dad.
1. Jesus tells us in the first verse, "This is how it is with the Kingdom of God." Jesus explains how a seed grows of itself unbeknownst to the one who scatters. Like the first rule from my Dad and I singing the song, I shake my head with joy at my little son because his growth is LIKE THAT, and that's how it is whether I understand how or not. In our earthly understanding of the Kingdom of God, we may not get every word or comprehend all of Jesus' parables initially, but we bob our heads as the lector proclaims during Mass because we KNOW:
The Word is Like That, and that's the way it is.
2. Just like Dad and I closed every chorus with HUH:
after every prayer during Mass, we say Amen,
after each reading, we say, Thanks be to God,
after each stanza of psalms, we respond with the responsorial psalm,
after the Gospel is proclaimed, we respond with Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ,
and, after the Priest says, "Go in peace," we exclaim, "Thanks be to God."
Why? You ask. Because:
Our Catholic Faith is like that, and that's the way it is
3. Walking into these first few months of Fatherhood has been non-stop! As soon as I think there is a moment to take a breath, the next task has already started, and through it all, my son, Nazir Ahmad, seems to be having the time of his short life. Fatherhood is teaching me that my role as Dad is useless without unceasingly calling upon the Eternal Father in prayer and study, in other words, ON REPEAT. We must recognize that the Kingdom and its advancement are greater than our labors. It is only through the Love of the Father that cannot be explained nor comprehended fully that any of us bear fruit. The same way I was ready to restart the Run DMC song is the same way we must approach our religious life. We must be hungry to pray and talk to God, thirsting for the opportunity to Study his glory again. Why?
God's Infinite nature and our inability to get tired of growing closer to GOD is Like That, And That's The Way It Is.
Nazir is five months old today and will be six months on Juneteenth. I put my son in his car seat this past Thursday and drove from Slidell to St. Anthony of Padua. We attended Mass for the memorial of St. Anthony because worshiping the Lord as a Dad and teaching Nazir to do the same is like that, and that's the way of Fatherhood, yesterday, today, and forever (Heb. 13:8; Exodus 13).
Peace in Christ.
Author: Thomas James (Tee Jay) Nash, II. Tenth-grade religion teacher at Brother Martin High School, St. Peter Claver Parish, Youth Adult Ministry, Youth Ministry. Knights of Peter Claver, New Orleans.
When you feel you fail, sometimes it hurts / For a meaning in life is why you search
Take the bus or the train, drive to school or the church / It's like that and that's the way it is
[Verse 12: DMC, Rev Run, Rev Run & DMC]
Because we're all written down on the same list / It's like that (What?) and that's the way it is
Huh
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