Tuesday of the Thirtieth Week of Ordinary Time

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/103012.cfm

It is like yeast that a woman took
and mixed in with three measures of wheat flour
until the whole batch of dough was leavened." 

Christians generously believe our mission is to teach the world to sing in perfect harmony with the saints and angels, around the Lord Jesus Christ, to the Glory of God the Father. Why not? What could be better than that? Did he not send us to all the nations to make them disciples? 

Sometimes, in our desperate efforts to fulfill this command we become overbearing, and our zeal is counter-productive. I am told some Native Americans in the southwest United States bitterly remember the harsh treatment of the Franciscans who catechized them four centuries ago. 

Sometimes too, when we realize that our neighbors -- who may be Jewish or Muslim, atheist or pagan, Catholic or Protestant -- are not getting our message, we become very discouraged. 

And when we add to that realization remorse either for our lackluster piety or for our aggressive proselytizing, we're crushed with sorrow. 

It is good to hear Jesus' reassurance: the Church may be no larger than a mustard seed and no more visible than microscopic spores of yeast, but it will make a huge difference. 

The punishing hand of God against the world is stayed by our daily prayers. Even ten good persons might have saved Sodom and Gomorrah. We are a blessing to our neighbors, and a saving remedy, even if they don't know it. 

But you are “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people of his own, so that you may announce the praises” of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. (I Peter 2: 9)