In a month when school-age children look forward to closing their books for some well-needed summer fun, we adults might consider opening the books . . . of Kings, that is. Our weekday liturgies will largely pursue a continuous reading about biblical kings who managed their leadership well or badly. Lessons about how to lead—and which prophets to heed—are vital in every age.

The readings this week show that what is small, hard to see, and even invisible can have vast importance. Whether it’s the tender shoot of the cedar tree or the tiny seed of the mustard plant, what seems slight now will become something mighty.

There may be two main ways to get religion wrong. One is to presume it has nothing to do with the material world. So forget political and social realities, pray harder, and concentrate on the spiritual life because it’s the only forum that counts.

How we delight in our garden’s first fruits: the succulent strawberries of a well-tended patch, beans that curl their way up a tripod trellis. It’s the same with grateful farmers who gaze on rows of leafy green—relieved their corn will again be “knee high by the Fourth of July.”

I distinctly recall the day when my faith took firm root. I was 7 years old and my sisters and I had just been summoned by my dad to join him around the kitchen table while my mom fixed him dinner.

Coming together as God’s family, let us ask the Father’s forgiveness, confident of his gentleness and compassion.

The world is charged with the grandeur of God.

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Click here to view the Take Five weekly for June 16, 2024.