Mt 13:10-17
Then his disciples came to him and said, “Why do you speak to them in parables?”
Jesus answered, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but not to these people. For the one who has will be given more; and he will have in abundance. But the one who does not have will be deprived of even what he has. That is why I speak to them in parables; because they look and do not see; they hear; but they do not listen or understand.
“In them, the words of the prophet Isaiah are fulfilled: However much you hear, you do not understand; however much you see, you do not perceive.
“For the heart of this people has grown dull. Their ears hardly hear and their eyes dare not see. If they were to see with their eyes, hear with their ears and understand with their heart, they would turn back, and I would heal them.
But blessed are your eyes, because they see; and your ears, because they hear.
“For I tell you, many prophets and righteous people have longed to see the things you see, but they did not see them; and to hear the things you hear, but they did not hear them.”
REFLECTION
Yesterday we were considering the evil of male chauvinism. Maybe today’s celebration of St. Bridget of Sweden can help open our eyes to that phenomenon. For even churchmen can be blind in reference to male chauvinism.
Item. There are five times more male saints in the liturgical calendar than female saints. Why?
Item. Female saints are usually described as “virgin” or “martyr” (or both), or “doctor” (3 cases). Never are they described as “wives” or “mothers.” Why not? Does the apostle Paul say that woman “will be saved through motherhood” (1 Tim 2:15)?
Item. Today’s saint raised eight children (four sons and four daughters). But this fact is apparently irrelevant to her having become a saint, unlike virginity or martyrdom. How is that?
Item. Not a single couple has ever been canonized as a couple in the course of history. (Ann and Joachim, Mary’s parents, were never officially canonized). Only recently have two couples (the Italian couple Quattrocchi in 2001, and the French couple Martin, the parents of St. Therese in 2008) been beatified. When will Catholic couples be given credible models with whom they can fully identify and after whom they can shape their married life?
At a time in history when the family is so threatened, let us request from our pastors that they provide us with family saints.
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