Our Lord's yeast-like person goes out, mixing with people, spreading his goodness.

Monday, 7/27/15

Jesus said, “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed with three measures of wheat flour until the whole mass was leavened.”

We sometimes hear a holy person described as someone who goes off by himself or herself, spending hours upon end with religious devotions; but Jesus, in his parable of the yeast mixed with three measures of flour, presented an entirely different picture of holiness.

His holy person also spends time with the Lord, striving to be good the way the Lord is. But, the yeast-like holy person then goes out, mixing with people, spreading Christ’s goodness among them.

A woman’s job might be caring for the old, even changing sheets when needed. She is yeast-like when she makes the old person feel good about himself or herself. She is like Our Lord’s yeast if there is a picture of grandchildren by the old person’s bedside, and she spends time admiring them.

Say, a man with God’s help, has emerged from years of addictions and misery. He is like that yeast when he lends a hand to help another emerge from a similar misery.

If your prayer life puts a smile on your face, by passing that smile around you can bring others to smile. It’s a cheap way of being like that yeast.