Dominican Sisters of St Cecilia Retreat, Motherhouse Nashville Tn., July 23, 2026
Jesus famously told stories: parables were in fact His preferred form of discourse (Mt 13:34-35; Mk 4:33-34; Lk 8:9-10). The word παραβολή (parabolē) is found nearly fifty times in the synoptic Gospels. Παρα (para), of course, means alongside as in parallel, and bolē means to throw, as in bowling, so a parable ‘throws alongside’ or places two things next to one another, to illustrate, compare and contrast.
In our Gospel today (Mt 13:10-17), Jesus is questioned about His catechetical methods: “Why do you always talk in parables when you address the crowd?” His disciples ask. Why not give straight explanations or deeper theological insights like you share with us? They probably expected Jesus to give them a lesson in theory or practice of preaching and teaching: to expostulate upon the value of storytelling as a way to hook people and draw their attention to something important, or on the accessibility afforded by using culturally familiar imagery, or on the need to adapt one’s discourse to one’s audience. Maybe he could advise Nashvillains on the best pedagogy for dealing with wise and foolish students.
Of course, Jesus was preaching against the background of the Old Testament’s histories and laws, prophecies and prayers, but also its many stories. We think of the Creation narratives, or the tales of The Fall, Cain and Abel, The Tower of Babel, Noah’s Ark, Joseph and His Technicolor Dreamcoat, The Exodus through the Red Sea, Jonah and the Whale, The Trials of Job, David and Goliath, David and Bathsheba, Elijah and the Prophets of Baal, Daniel in the Lions’ Den or Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in the Fiery Furnace. We don’t need to sort out here how much genuine history there is in those stories and how much theological fable. But with Jesus’ storytelling, it is more obvious when He is making up a story to make some point or drawing upon tropes already well-known in His culture. We might think of ‘the big ones’ like The Good Samaritan, The Prodigal Son, The Talents, The Pharisee and the Tax Collector or, as we recently heard Him tell, The Wheat and the Weeds. We think of His tales about the lost and the little, the fruitful, fruitless, and plain fruity, like his tale of the Wise and Foolish Nuns — I mean, virgins or bridesmaids.[1] Jesus clearly told a lot of stories, and some were so striking His followers retold them, wrote them down, passed them on to us. In each case His para-bole ‘throws’ the spiritual ‘alongside’ the natural, so a deeper wisdom is communicated.
Yet Jesus’ response today to the student-teachers’ questions about pedagogy is rather cryptic. He seems to say He tells stories because His hearers are so stupid! They think they are seeing and hearing Him, God, the world, but mostly don’t get it. Quoting Isaiah (Isa 6:9-10), He adverts to the hubris of the human soul, and its need for conversion. Unless there is genuine receptivity to the spiritual, the mind will not be enlightened with divine wisdom or the heart warmed by the divine will. The crowds may hear and see many of the same things as the disciples, but it is only the disciples who can unlock “the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven.” So, what distinguishes them from the hoi polloi? Certainly not their intelligence: they can be dimmer than the crowd at times. No, the disciples are blessed to see and hear the truth because they have given themselves over to Him, not to be entertained by sign and wonders, but to be healed and formed and inspired, led by the Master wherever it might take them.
An extraordinary woman died on this day in 1373 whose life powerfully illustrates this Gospel truth. In a Church sometimes criticized for not sufficiently honoring lay people and especially women, Birgitta Birgersdotter stands as a luminous witness: she is patron saint of Sweden and co-patroness of Europe with her contemporary Catherine of Siena and our near-contemporary Edith Stein. Born into the feudal elite, she distinguished herself from others by her fervor at Mass and the sacraments, her prayerfulness and meditation, her visions and revelations, especially of the Passion, and her charity to the poor. At 13 she married 18-year-old Ulf Gudmarsson and the eight children she bore him included St Catherine of Sweden. The childhood sweethearts genuinely loved each other and not for rank, wealth, or connections, but for their pursuit of holiness, as each pressed the other to greater spiritual heights.
Bridget’s life was framed by five great pilgrimages, each a decisive moment of discerning with God her next chapter. In the 1330s she journeyed to the shrine of St Olaf in Norway to learn God’s purpose for her in the royal court. In the 1340s she and Ulf made the long pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela; when her beloved died soon after, she renounced her title and estates, joined the Third Order Franciscans, and devoted herself to prayer and service of the poor and sick. She established schools, orphanages, hostels for unwed mothers, and a ‘Birgittine’ monastery.
As the terrible Black Death ravaged Europe in the 1350s, Bridget dared make a pilgrimage to Rome for the holy year, and there resolved to dedicate her energies to renewal of the Church like Catherine of Siena. By the 1360s she was focused on reform of the papacy and curia, and promoting the Birgittine vocation to pray for the poorest of the poor — the souls in purgatory. And in the 1370s she made for the Holy Land to see the places associated with Christ’s Passion, so central to her spirituality. Like her husband on return from Compostela, she returned to Rome dying, but ready for one last pilgrimage — into eternal life with Christ and the saints.
Dear sisters, as some of you will be habited or professed for the pilgrimage of Dominican life in the coming weeks, and others will make vows to persevere in it this Saturday, hear the Lord’s words to you: “Blessed are your eyes for they see, and your ears for they hear.” Christ speaks here directly to you, and not in riddles. In His Joyful, Sorrowful, Luminous and Glorious Mysteries. In the “living water” (Jer 2:1-13) of His Scriptures and Tradition. In the “cisterns” of the Order’s teaching and customs. In the “spring” of the Sacraments, especially the Eucharist and Confession. You can, like Bridget, embrace your pilgrimage, including the hard bits, nurture your faith by prayer and enact it in works of mercy. As you “unlock the mysteries of the kingdom,” make of your life a parable that speaks the Gospel to our world.
[1] Jesus’ other parables include: The Lost Sheep and The Lost Coin, The Pearl of Great Price and The Hidden Treasure, The Mustard Seed and The Leaven, The Net, The Barren Figtree and The Persistent Widow, The Wise and Foolish Builders, Dives and Lazarus and The Rich Fool, The Merciless Servant and The Dishonest Steward, The Bad Tenants and Same-pay Vinedressers, and several tales of Sowing and Reaping and of The Wedding Banquet.
