Seek ye first the kingdom of God and God s righteousness And all these things shall be added unto you. Alleluia!

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1 The Second Week of Lent ~ The Kingdom of Heaven by Mary Walrath Seek Ye First Seek ye first the kingdom of God and God s righteousness And all these things shall be added unto you. Alleluia! Monday of the Second Week of Lent ~ the Kingdom The Lamp on the Lamp Stand Matthew 5: In Genesis it states that, the earth was a formless wasteland, and darkness covered the abyss...then God said, Let there be light! From this account of creation we learn that darkness is the absence of light. Evil is the absence of good. Hunger is the absence of food or nourishment. Ignorance is the absence of knowledge. All bad things are the absence of God in our lives and in our world. As members of the body of Christ, we are to bring the light of God s kingdom to the world. He wants us to let our light shine on a hill and be a beacon of hope to all we meet. If in what I do, I am not willing to let it shine, then maybe I shouldn t be doing it. Lately I have been feeling depressed and easily angered and quick to judge. Perhaps I need to let more of God into my life and let His light shine. Evil triumphs when good men (people) do nothing (Edmund Burke). I think that maybe Jesus is talking about that here. When I allow the darkness to win. When I let the depression overpower the light, I put it under a bushel basket. During this Lenten season I am going to try to let it shine. I need God s help to let go of that which shadows the light in me. I CHOOSE to let go and let God.

2 Tuesday of the Second Week of Lent ~ The Kingdom of Heaven The Parable of the Mustard Seed and the Yeast Matthew 13: I think Jesus is telling us that it only takes a little bit of love, a little bit of faith, a little bit of the action of God in our lives, to spread the Kingdom of Heaven. The mustard seed comes from God as does the leaven. We are not the seed or the leaven; we are the seed spreaders and the bakers who work the dough. We just need to make ourselves available and God works the miracle. My mother always baked bread on Saturdays. I used to love the smell of the yeast as it would rise. I was always amazed to see the dough rise in the pan to twice its original size. I remember asking mom how it did that, and she said it was because it was alive. Yeast is a living organism, and it lives on the sugar and flour to grow. I love that metaphor. The Kingdom of God is alive and it needs our sweetness of life to continue to live and grow and permeate the world around us. We keep it alive and well. I wonder how sweet my life of faith is, and whether or not it can feed the yeast of the Kingdom?

3 Wednesday of the Second Week of Lent ~ The Kingdom of Heaven Hidden Treasure and The Valuable Pearl Matthew 13: I have been pondering a lot on what it is that I treasure. I have been feeling depressed and wondering why. Is it because what I treasure has eluded me? The song, Seek Ye First, comes to mind often. I wonder; am I seeking the wrong things? This Lenten season I hope to really analyze what it is that I treasure. If I really treasure my faith and my relationship with God, then why am I struggling with depression? It makes no sense. I think the key is deciding to act on my beliefs. I believe God loves me. I know that I am His child and I inherit His Kingdom. It does not matter how I feel. Feelings are fleeting and come and go with the wind. I own that field! I own that Pearl! The treasure of God s love is mine. Amen!

4 Thursday of the Second Week of Lent ~ The Kingdom of Heaven A Rich Man Foolishly Builds Bigger Barns Luke 12: I have always loved this story. Growing up on a farm I have always been aware of the condition of farms and their buildings. On our farm the barns, corn cribs, silos, storage buildings, etc were always in the best of conditions. The farmhouse on the other hand was in barely livable condition. The owner of the farm owned many farms and he and his family did not live on any of the farms. They lived in a fancy home in town. The farm houses on the many farms he owned were rented by the hired hands that worked the farms, fed the cattle, fixed the farm equipment etc. When we moved into the house, it did not have a bathroom. My dad installed the first bathroom in the house. The kitchen had an old pitcher pump and the water had to be heated on a wood burning stove in the kitchen for washing dishes or bathing. (Along with the bathroom, my dad added a water heater and plumbing in the kitchen.) It was a big two story house with about 5 bedrooms and a big wood burning stove in the dining room to heat the whole house. Needless to say, it did not heat the whole house. To put it succinctly, the owner of our farm did not treasure his hired help. He did however, treasure his tractors, his cattle, his barns, his silos, his corn cribs, etc My mother always hated that old farmhouse. We loved it. It was a great place to grow up. It is said that one s values can be determined by how one spends his/her time and treasure. If I say God is important to me, but I never share my time and treasure with Him, then is He really? If I say my family is important to me but I fail to put their needs before my own, are they really? If I say that I want to spread the Kingdom of God, but I never really make any attempt to do so, do I really want to do so? If so, then whomever is important to God needs to be important to me. Are they?

5 Friday of the Second Week of Lent ~ The Kingdom of Heaven The Fishing Net Matthew 13: So the angels will drag everyone in at the end of the world in a giant net and separate the good from the bad. Sounds a bit ominous doesn t it? We all live together until the very end and then we get divided by our deeds, and by the choices that we made. All the biblical stories of the end times always used to scare me. I remember sitting in church as a child and listening to Mark 13, and I used to shudder. I would ask mom if she thought any of that would be happening soon. (Before the liturgical reforms of Vatican II, Mark 13 was read every year.) All the statements of nations rising against nations, earthquakes, floods, and famine,...woe to pregnant and nursing mothers and the like.the sun will be darkened and the moon will not shed its light. they scared me! Mom would try to reassure me stating that it was written thousands of years ago and it had not happened yet. Somehow that did not help. It only seemed to make it more likely to happen now. I was kind of a moody kid. I guess it brings me back to the desire I have to study Theology and Homiletics. Why would Jesus say these things that are so scary? I think it comes down to choices. I cannot control what the leader of a nation decides. I cannot control the weather, or the geographic plates of the earth. I cannot control the sun or the moon or the stars. I can only control me. I control the choices that I make. I choose to love and trust God. I choose the Kingdom. What do I have to fear?

6 Saturday of the Second Week of Lent ~ The Kingdom of Heaven The Merciless Official Matthew 18: (21-35) Jesus shares this parable in answer to Peter s inquiry as to how many times one must forgive one s brother. Peter asks, must we forgive seven times? Jesus answers, You must forgive seventy times seven times. and then proceeds to tell the parable. Forgiving means to give before it is required, to give first. That is what a member of God s Kingdom should do. He/she should be the first to give, the first to for-give, the first to extend the hand of God s love to those around him/her. God s ways are so counterintuitive. But, the alternative results in bitterness, anger, depression, stress. I learned all of this when I studied for my Master s degree in counseling, but I KNOW all of this from experience. Another thing I have learned from experience is that I cannot do it alone. Maybe others can, but without the help of God, I cannot give first. I have to let go and let God.