Sunday Homily, 19 July 2026 - Fr Paul Rowse, OP

In these parables the Lord is teaching us about how to approach a situation of non-success.  This isn’t the same as failure: the Church has not failed, but she has not yet succeeded in every way, especially in the face of evil opposition.  Isn't God's Kingdom meant to be unstoppable, unopposable?  Shouldn't it be revealed suddenly and gloriously?  How does evil persist in the face of divine rule?

These parables teach us the same lesson that Holy Saturday does.  Christ was sown in the good ground of the new tomb.  The Church didn't know it then, but she was waiting for the resurrection.  Holy Saturday was not a failure, but it was a time when God’s triumph had yet to be revealed.  So, the Church had to be patient; there was nothing else that could be done, except to trust and persevere.

And that lesson we make our own: our Holy Saturday is the continuing trust in God in the face of apparent non-success.  Evil has been at work, but not to the extent that perseverance is impossible.  Just as the body in the tomb belonged to the Word of the Father, so too do we in our current situation still belong to a Kingdom not finally revealed.

To help us along, we shall notice that the key feature in each of the parables contains a power which changes the situation forever: the yeast is alive; the tiny mustard seed is obedient to the law of life; the wheat will grow, even if the weeds do as well.

Two points therefore flow from this.  Firstly, we shall recognise the growth which is indeed happening.  This might not be the growth which we ourselves would design or desire.  But it is true growth: a better version of ourselves, a community alive with gifted members, the entire Church enriched by prayer and service.

Secondly, we shall recognise that God has put around sufficient time and opportunity for each of us to grow, improve, and come good.  It's all well and good to say that the weeds should come out, but we must be very sure that we are all-wheat when we do so.  The Kingdom’s seeming delay is in fact God’s gift of time and opportunity to become all that he intends.

We're going to give the Kingdom the same time and opportunity which we would give ourselves to grow, improve, and come good.  We are in every way in God’s hands.  And to him we pledge ourselves and our future, trusting that his Kingdom will be revealed and us in it, to the praise of his glory.

Fr Paul Rowse, OP

Parish Priest