Daily Gospel Reflection
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July 28, 2025
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.
Our close friend recently asked if he could join us at Mass. My wife Elizabeth and I were a bit surprised. We don’t often discuss our faith with this friend, and he has never seemed interested on the rare occasions when we do.
A few weeks later, we picked him up for Mass. He asked for a quick primer on what to expect, and we talked through all of the technicalities, like sitting, standing, and kneeling, as best we could. We went to Mass and afterwards mostly discussed things we normally talk about.
Later that day, I was kicking myself, realizing that we had missed the most important part of Mass! We had not shared any of the beautiful meaning behind the Eucharistic celebration. Who knows what our friend was thinking? He was present for the source and summit of our faith, but may have just seen a bowl of wafers and a cruet of wine.
Today’s gospel reminds me of this situation. Jesus tells us that the kingdom of heaven is at hand! He is here among us and has given up his life for us. He miraculously continues to offer his body, blood, soul, and divinity to us in the Eucharist, and yet all we can see and taste are the accidents of bread and wine. The kingdom is here in its fullness, but that fullness is not always obvious.
Elizabeth and I may have failed to verbally convey to our friend the full goodness of divine life that Jesus offers to us, but we have also been tasked with communicating that goodness to him through our friendship.
We will often fail in that task, but Jesus tells us today to have hope. The kingdom may not yet be a full-grown tree, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t present in our friendship. We will hope and pray that for our friend, one poorly explained Mass is a seed of faith.
Prayer
Christ the Teacher, you used everyday examples to teach us the most profound things. We give you thanks for the way you reveal to us the truths hidden from the beginning of time. Help me to see you in the everydayness of my life today, especially when I struggle to muster much more than a mustard seed-sized act of faith. Accept what I can offer and let it leaven all that I am, so that I may reveal your truth to others in all that I do. Amen.
Saint of the Day
St. Nazarius was an early Christian martyr who learned the faith from St. Peter himself and then traveled far and wide to share it with others.
Nazarius’ father was an officer in the Roman army, and his mother was a Christian. Through her, Nazarius was connected to the Christian community in Rome, and he was instructed in the faith by Peter.
Filled with zeal to share the good news with others, Nazarius left Rome to teach the faith to others and enlisted the help of another young man, Celsus. When they arrived in Milan, they were arrested under a new persecution ordered by the emperor. They were both beheaded and buried in a garden.
Several centuries later, St. Ambrose discovered their remains. In Nazarius’ tomb, Ambrose found bright red, flowing blood that looked as though it had just been spilled. He moved the bodies of these saints into a new church, and a woman who was suffering from possession was exorcised and liberated at that place through their intercession.
Relics of St. Nazarius rest in the reliquary chapel in the Basilica.
St. Nazarius, you were the young man who learned the faith from St. Peter and were killed for sharing it with others—pray for us!
