All good things start small…..In the mean time God is patient…He knows what we are capable of - Both the good and the bad…God always finishes what he starts - But we need to cooperate with him

Today at Holy Mass in the Gospel according to St Mark Jesus warns his friends……”Jesus enjoined them, “Watch out, guard against the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod”….But the disciples did not understand what Jesus was warning them about…They thought he was talking about food (bread).....…“Why do you conclude that it is because you have no bread?………What Jesus was trying to warn his friend about was sin…..He used an analogy to try to communicate what he was trying to teach them…..”The leaven of Herod”…As we all know Herod was a bad man…Also leaven is used to make bread, its placed in dough to make it rise before it is put into the oven and turned into the bread we all eat…But the disciple’s minds were elsewhere…They were thinking about worldly things - “Bread to eat”……There are a few things to reflect upon here…...First, Jesus was patient with these hand picked men…These were the first bishops of the Catholic Church…They had a huge task ahead of them and still, they did not “get it”…....But Jesus did not give up on them, nor does he give up on us…Second, these twelve men were “good guys”, yet Jesus knew full well what is in the heart of every man…How sin can start off small, like “leaven” in the dough of bread only to rise and overshadowed everything that is good and pure….And lastly, while Jesus was with his twelve friends trying to teach them, their minds were still not completely on God but on the things of the earth - “Bread to eat”……After this exchange between Jesus and the disciples in the gospel today…Jesus says this to his friends…..“Why do you conclude that it is because you have no bread? Do you not yet understand or comprehend? Are your hearts hardened? Do you have eyes and not see, ears and not hear?”……In this statement Jesus is telling us that our ability to “see” and “hear” depends upon how open our heart is…A “hard heart” will never allow us to “see” and “hear” what is essential for us to know in order to become the people we were all born to be

“Whoever loves me will keep my word, says the Lord; and my Father will love him and we will come to him”

One thing I know about myself…I am a sinner…I say that because I never underestimate what I am capable of doing…..This is one of the driving reasons why I stay close to our Lord and the Sacraments of the Catholic Church…This was one of the things that Jesus was trying to teach his friends today in the Gospel…These twelve men were “good guys”…But being a “good guy” does not mean such a person is not capable of doing bad things…Why?….Because in the heart of every man and woman is “the leaven” of sin…Jesus was warning his friends about this…To be vigilant…..“Watch out, guard against the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod”………..Something I learned many years ago…Its easier to avoid temptation then to resist it……If you know you have a certain weakness, do not put yourself in a situation where that weakness can get the best of you….As a married man, I am very careful as to what I look at…In Catholic circles this is called having “custody of your eyes”…....What do I mean by that?…If I see an advertisement of an attractive woman dressed provocatively…I do not give the advertisement a second look…If I am walking to my job and see a woman who is not dressed inappropriately and is very attractive on the streets of New York, I avert my eyes from her…Why?…Because the “seeds of sin” start small…This is why Jesus used the analogy of “leaven” to teach his friends about how sin starts off in ones life…Leaven is placed in the dough of bread to make rise…The bread starts off small and because of the leaven placed in it, it grows! …Sin works the same way in our life…It begins with “a look”…It begins with “a conversation”…And from there it grows…..Never underestimate your capacity to sin…I can speak for myself - I never do…Because I know who I am…..Jesus Christ came for sinners…Knowing that we are in need of sanctifying grace and a driving desire to be freed from our sins should motivate us to always cling to Christ and his Church…I cannot speak for you…But this motivates me

“The voice of the LORD is over the waters, the LORD, over vast waters. The voice of the LORD is mighty”

In the Gospel today we see just how patient Jesus is with his friends…Time and time again the twelve disciple do not understand what Jesus is trying to teach them….And each time they reveal just how little they understand but Jesus never gives up on them…And his patience pays off…..Because as we know, these twelve men did great things - They eventually “figured it out”……Our journey back to God is about “figuring things out”…And this takes time….Just as Jesus uses the example of leaven in bread to teach his friends about how sin works…Leaven in bread can also be used in a different kind of analogy to communicate and teach the faith…Our Catholic faith was passed on to us when we were baptized as children…That faith is in many ways is like leaven in bread…It starts small and if we cooperate with God, the “leaven of faith” within each of us will grow…..All good things start small…..In the mean time God is patient…He knows what we are capable of - Both the good and the bad…God always finishes what he starts - But we need to cooperate with him