What the Parables Teach Us

Ears to see, eyes to hear the secrets
of the Kingdom. Shine before others.
trim your lamps, scatter seeds,
but guard against choking thorns, poaching
birds, hungry rocks; an enemy’s weeds.
Be yeast and multiply. Open doors
at midnight. Balm the wanderer’s wounds.
Earn interest on your Master’s talents.
Verdict in favor of the widow. Pay a full denarius
for a half day’s work.

Lost coin. Lost sheep. A lost son
feeding on pig pods, come home now
to his waiting father gifting him
with a robe, a ring, a fatted calf.
Avoid the plank in the elder brother’s eye.

Barns, barns, barns, a rich fool’s unaware hour.
The Pharisee tithing his pride; the lowered
eyes of a repentant tax collector.
The gluttony of purple and linen; a beggar’s
sores healed in Abraham’s bosom.

The harvest has come. Amen.
Wear wedding clothes. Sit higher
or lower where you are called.
Savor those words which will never
pass away

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This poem also appears in the July 2023 issue of U.S. Catholic (Vol. 88, No. 7, page 8). Click here to subscribe to the magazine.