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There was once a woman whose only son died. In her grief, she
went to a holy man and said, “What prayers, what magical incantations
do you have to bring my son back to life?”
Instead of sending her away or reasoning with her, he said to her,
“Fetch me a mustard seed from a home that has never known sorrow.
We will use it to drive the sorrow out of your life.”
The women set off at once in search of the magical mustard seed.
She came first to a splendid mansion, knocked at the door and said, “I
am looking for a home that has never known sorrow. Is this such a
place? It is very important to me.”
They told her, “You’ve certainly come to the wrong place,” and
began to describe all the tragic things that had recently befallen them.
The women said to herself, “Who is better able to help these
unfortunate people than I, who have had misfortune of my own?” She stayed to comfort them, and then went on in her search for a home that
had never known sorrow.
But wherever she turned, in hovels and in palaces, she found one
tale after another of sadness and misfortune. Ultimately, she became so
involved in ministering to other people’s grief that she forgot about her
quest for the magical mustard seed, never realizing that her small
gestures of care, and concern and compassion, had in fact, driven the
sorrow out of her life.
Lord, we spend so much energy frantically searching
for that magical elixir, that magical cure to take away
our grief, our loneliness, the hurting parts of our life
that need fixing. Help us remember today, this week,
that one small gesture on our part, a smile, a handshake,
a hug, a phone call, a short visit, a few encouraging
words….is the best medicine to bring about real healing for ourselves and for others. Amen

Jesus might have told this parable:
“A terrible sickness struck a village. The people were terrified of
getting sick and wanted to know what to do”.
The doctor asked the people to wear face masks to protect one
another. We will! They all said. Some did for a while, but they found
the masks uncomfortable, and made it difficult to breathe, so they soon
stopped wearing them.
The Rabbi asked the people to share their food with the poor and
sick. We will! They all promised. But many became more and more
concerned for their own needs and that of their families, so they kept
their barns and larders full – and locked.
The mayor asked the merchants to close their shops and innkeepers
to close their taverns so people would not gather and spread the sickness.
We will! They all agreed. They did so for a few days, but their profits
dropped, and they could not pay their help, so slowly, one by one, they
quietly re-opened. Soon, the sickness took the lives of many in the poor village.
But then there were the good folk who understood that wearing
face masks protected others from the sickness, who kept their distance
from one another so the sickness would not spread, (even though they
missed one another terribly), who readily shared what they had with
those who had little. Oh, it was very hard, and there were many days
when they wanted to give up. But they persevered.
Because of them, many people did not get sick and survived.
Blessed are your eyes, because they see, and your ears, because
they hear”, Jesus would have said.
The parable of the sower challenges us to check the “thinness” of
the soil in our hearts that results in our faith withering in the noonday
heat; the “rockiness” of self-centeredness and avarice that prevents
God’s “seed” of generosity and peace from taking root in us; the
“thorns” of bigotry and self-righteousness that “choke” the possibility of
providing for the poor, healing the broken, lifting up the fallen. Our own response to the coronavirus is a good measure of the “richness” of our faith and its potential for the “seed” of God’s Word to take root and
realize in our lives the harvest of justice and compassion that is the
Kingdom of God.

A few springs ago, Western Oregon State played Central
Washington University in women’s softball for the conference
championship. An NCAA playoff spot was on the line. With two on,
Western Oregon’s Sara Tucholsky connected to hit a home run clearing
the center field fence. It was Sara’s first home run ever. A part-time
starter in the outfield, Sara, a senior, had only 3 hits in 34 at-bats all
season.
But as she circled the bases, Sara fell and hurt her knee. The five-
foot-two-inch senior lay crumpled in the dirt a few feet from first base—
and a long way from home plate.
Her teammates ran to help her—but their coaches stopped them:
According to the rules, if any teammate ran on to the field, Sara would
be called out. The umpires said that if Sara could make it back to first
base, a pinch runner could be substituted—but Sara’s home run would be scored a single. Any assistance from coaches or trainers while Sara
was an active runner would result in an out.
While Western Oregon was deciding its next move, the first
baseman for Central Washington asked the umpire chief if she and her
teammates could help her. The umpire knew of no rule against the
opposing team helping the player—so two Central Washing players put
their arms under Sara’s legs and Sara put her arms around their
shoulders and the three headed around the base paths, stopping to let
Sara touch each base.
Central Washington’s compassion cost them. They lost the game
—and the playoff berth—4.2.
But that didn’t seem to faze Central Washington. “In the end, it’s
not about winning and losing so much”, Washington’s first baseman
Mallory Holtman said. “It was about this girl. She’s a senior; it’s her
last year. She hit it over the fence and was in pain, and she deserved a
home run. It was the right thing to do”.
This ultimate act of sportsmanship mirrors the generosity of spirit and humility of heart that Jesus asks of us in today’s Gospel. When Jesus calls his disciples to embrace the simple faith of “little ones”, he is not
saying that our approach to faith should be “watered down” to the level
of children. He is calling us, instead, to embrace a faith that is centered
in the love and compassion of God: love that is not compromised by
self-interest and rationalization, compassion that is not measured but
given completely and unreservedly. Christ is asking us to embrace a
faith that is simple, pure and honest—not complicated and compromised
by “adult stuff” like winning and losing. May the “wise and learned”
among us embrace the spirit of generosity and selflessness exhibited by
the Central Washing University women’s softball team—the class of the
NCAA.