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When I read the gospel for this week, a phrase kept popping into my head. I am sure we are all familiar with it. We have probably all uttered it or thought it in frustration at some point or another when dealing with coworkers or spouses or children or roommates or countless other people in our lives. It frequently pops up in movies and TV shows, interestingly, often by a villain complaining about their henchmen. According to a variety of internet sources, the phrase seems to have been in use for almost 500 years, and may have even been popularized by none other than Napoleon Bonaparte.

You may have heard the words “universal call to holiness” at some point over the past fifty years. It’s the idea that all of us–not just priests or religious, but truly all of us–are called to be holy and to be saints. But I wonder: Have you heard about the universal call to mission? The universal call to mission is very closely related to the universal call to holiness in that all of us–not just priests, religious, or professional evangelists, but truly all of us–are called to go on mission. In fact St. John Paul II says that “The universal call to holiness is closely linked to the universal call to mission. Every member of the faithful is called to holiness and to mission” (Redemptoris Missio 90). But what does this mean? Do I need to uproot my life and go serve somewhere in the world that has not heard about Jesus? If this call to holiness and mission are so closely related and we are all called to live them out in our lives, then we need to look no further than today’s Gospel to start to understand what we need to do.

For the last two years I was blessed to participate in the Encounter School of Ministry which helped me become more activated in the gifts of the Holy Spirit. It was an inspiring and renewing experience. Encounter Ministries began at St. Patrick Catholic Church in Brighton, Michigan, and is now an international movement fanning the flame of revival in the Catholic Church. (See: https://encounterschool.org/) And I am excited to announce that some of their teachers are coming to IHM to share the fruits that the Holy Spirit has been producing through them.

“But the seed sown on rich soil is the one who hears the word and understands it.” In today’s gospel reading from Matthew, we hear the well-known parable of the sower. This parable has challenged all of us since the time of Christ to live a holy life loving God and letting Him love us. In the parable, the sower who generously scatters the seeds on good and bad ground is God. The seeds represents his Word. We are the ground or soil which receives the seeds. In this parable, Christ is challenging all of us and asking if our faith is taking deep root in our lives. Are we good soil or bad soil? That’s the question for us to answer today. So what soil are we?

This weekend as we reflect upon our nation’s 250th birthday, our Scripture readings invite us to see our country not only in the context of human history, but also of salvation history. Salvation history is the story of God’s grace flowing through human history.