Leaven for Our Society

There is a technique in psychological therapy

that goes by an acronym PERT.

It stands for Positive Enforcement Replacement Therapy,

which was made popular by Fred Luskin from Stanford

used in the Forgiveness Project.

It is quite a spectacular project.

It basically goes like this:

Let’s say you and I have an argument over something

and you have hurt me and I find it hard to forgive you.

Every time I think of you,

I immediately feel the unforgiveness in my heart.

Dr. Luskin says that rarely is it true

that a person who has hurt us

has only done bad things to us.

They have probably done a whole list of wonderful things

but this one thing was deeply hurtful and keeps surfacing.

In PERT therapy we acknowledge all the good the person has done.

But we need to do this before I see you,

before I imagine you

otherwise I will default back to reacting when I see or think of you.

I need to remember all the wonderful things

that you have done in the past.

Our relationship has been long lasting and

you are more than your worst moment.

When I have “collected some good memories” of you

when I see you, I can replace the negative thought with a good thought.

That is how it works and it works very well.

2,000 years ago, Jesus brought up, not a psychological therapy,

but a spiritual path for similar healing.

He gives us these parables in today’s Gospel

 and they are deeply connected to each other.

Let me explain:

The first one is all about how it is not for us to judge.

It is other people’s actions.

And the Lord is saying to us,

“Don’t be worried about other people,

they will be judged at the end of time.”

This whole idea is that we don’t allow ourselves

to get sucked in by the evil that people do.

Otherwise we might become part of the evil that takes place;

we get caught up in it ourselves or as the parable puts it,

we will take up the wheat along with the weeds.

We all have situations where there is one person

that seems to be dominating with some bad behavior

and in all cases everybody else is fine;

yet we get sucked into this one person’s behavior.

The Lord is saying,

“Look, leave the judging to God

at the end of the age.

Don’t mind what other people do.”

Then he illustrates this concept with two more parables.

In Luke’s gospel, there is always one for men

and then the second is for women.

They both have the exact same message.

It is all about the abundance of God’s grace

and the commonality is that all it needs

is a tiny little bit of grace from God and our cooperation;

and we will bear amazing fruit.

The first example of a mustard seed,

which by the way is almost like a weed.

I am not a horticulturist, nor I am not even a very good gardener

but I know that when I look at seeds, they are all tiny.

Whether it is a mustard seed, which is super tiny

but poppy seeds are even tinier again;

and you’ve got all these different types of seeds.

Inside of that, is the potential to grow into the plant

that it is destined to be.

An acorn grows into an oak tree;

apple seed into an apple tree,

the poppy seed etc. etc.

The seed does not decide whether it has the potential.

Like a mustard seed cannot decide:

“Oh, well I’m going to be an oak tree!”

It is just not the way it works.

But inside of the seed is that opportunity for the good to grow

and produce an abundance of fruit.

The Lord gives another parable of the yeast.

Now just to understand here what three measures of flour is.

Three measures of flour by our standards is 40 pounds of flour.

Now I do not know about you, but I do some baking,

but never at that volume of baking.

A tiny bit of yeast will make 40 pounds of flour.

It is an absurdity; no one would ever bake with 40 pounds of flour

unless you are some restaurant that is selling bread.

What the Lord is saying in these two parables

is that there is so much abundance of his grace

that just the tiniest seed,

the tiniest amount of his yeast will leaven all of this flour.

That means all we have to do is cooperate

with the good things in our lives, to do the little things well

and with God’s grace, it will have a destiny of fruitfulness.

That is all great and thanks for explaining the gospel

but what does it mean for us today?

Here is what it really means for us.

Let’s not worry about what other people are doing.

We are called to do our every little action and thought well.

Because all the little things add up.

The little seed becomes a plant.

Our little actions of kindness; of gentleness; of forgiveness

of even the small things end up bearing fruit that will last a lifetime.

What does this really mean?

We as good people are not tempted between good and evil so easily.

I do not think that is our temptation.

Our temptation is not to choose between good and evil;

our temptation is to choose between good and less good.

If we do not do those little decisions really well,

that discernment of what is

the difference between good and less good

or good and better is what we are looking for;

then what happens is if we keep on making the lesser of two choices

and the lesser of two choices

then while once we were operating at a high level

we are now operating at a lower level.

And that is the difference between good and evil.

Yet, not one single step the whole way down was a large step.

It was not a leap.

It was just a slow denigration of our conscience;

a slow denigration of our willingness to do

what is for the higher of two goods.

What does it come down to for us?

It comes down to this:

Every little word we use;

and every little action we give and take makes a difference.

It may not seem like a huge difference to the world

but in fact the collection of those little decisions

will make our life fruitful and grace-filled.

What it means for us today is that we continue to do the little things well;

to be kind; and to be gentle; and patient

with our spouses and our children and our parents,

especially in this time when we are in shelter-in-place;

when we are spending so much more time at home

and maybe pressing each other’s buttons.

We are kind and gentle and patient

to those who are neighbors who maybe calling us

or we need to call them more often

because they are finding this time at home difficult;

or is there a multitude of other ways in your life

that you find that the little things we do make a difference.

Every thought makes a difference.

If collectively each one of us does that

then our community becomes radically different

and we become the yeast for our society.

We become the yeast that will raise up a new generation of people,

who care for each other and care for the common good

not because any one action was a major one

but collectively all our little actions together

make a huge difference that will raise the world up.

May we replace our little actions of negativity

into a leaven in our society today,

we need our little actions to make the difference.