Like many of you, I have been enjoying these warm days. Especially if you remember that a year ago, we have received 11 ½ inches of snow on April 17. So I have been poking around with the plants around the Parish House. You see, that is very sandy soil. A few years ago, we stopped trying to grow grass around the Parish House. Instead, a friend of mine helped me seed wild prairie plants and grasses. It is quite lovely . . . and easy.
But, one of the “buggers” of prairie life is this plant. [Hold up a wild raspberry plant]. This is a wild raspberry plant. The problem with it, is that is likes to take-over a garden or prairie. It thrives well in sandy soil, but eventually crowds out the other plants.
So last weekend I spend some time pulling out the raspberry plants directly behind the Parish House. Oh don’t worry, there are enough plants so that I will have a crop of raspberries later this summer. But I discovered that these darn raspberry plants actually extend a branch out (even as far as five feet) and that branch burrows into the ground and roots start forming . . . so no wonder they take over a prairie area.
Well, that process can be a good thing if you want only raspberry bushes, but it can be a bad thing if you want a variety of other plants. The point is . . . goodness can get passed on, or bad things can get passed on. I would like to show you what I mean.
I invite all the First Communicants to come and gather up here [I invite them up]. I would like you to form lines, standing side by side. I will squeeze the hand of the person at the end of the lines. When you feel the squeeze in one hand, pass it along by squeezing your other hand. When the end person has received the squeeze raise your hand. [Start the squeeze process]
Well just like the hand squeezing, we can send positive ideas and we can also send negative ideas. It is amazing how fast the message can travel. And sometimes we just don’t get the message right. Let me show you. I am going to whisper a message to the end person and I want them to pass it along to the next person, and so forth.
[Pass on the statements: “The Mass is a cool place to get to know Jesus better.” and “It is good to have so many family and friends here for First Communion.” Assuming the end message of this telephone game is quite different.]
You see, it is so easy to get the message wrong. Maybe that’s why there are kids that get teased or made fun of . . . because the gossip about them becomes distorted (or changed). We can spread positive messages or we can spread negative messages, just as you did with the hand squeezing or the telephone game.
The basic message that we celebrate today and every day, is the simple message of why we celebrate communion. Let’s try the telephone game again. [I tell the end person the word, “love” and have them pass it along.]
You see, it is easy to get the message across, if we just simplfy it. That is what God from us today. Nothing complicate, nothing difficult
Love is not something that can be packaged or put in a box. Love is more like a plant. We all have the seeds of love within us. We are asked to grow that love within us. And just like a seed needs care (water and sunlight) so does that seed of love need care. That’s why we come together at Church. We care for that seed . . . by praying, by singing and especially as we receive the Eucharist.
You all have love within you. But in order for it to grow well . . . it is important that you come here often to receive Eucharist. Then you will learn how to spread nice messages. And you are also letting God help you to grow and spread that love within you.
It is up to you. Do you want love to grow (as you pass it on) . . . or do you want bad words to grow and be passed on. It is up to you.