JULY 23, 2026 FATHER HENK VAN MEIJEL
Today’s readings also move us right into the mystery of our existence here on earth. And as Jesus says, and he quotes Isaiah: “You will indeed listen, but never understand, and you will indeed look, but never perceive.”
And there’s something really strange in us. The more we know as human beings, the more blind we can become too. The more we think that we have the answers. The more we know, the more we should realize how little we know.
Each one of us has only a little understanding what’s going on. And so, but it’s so easy to get the ego going, and think that we’re bigger than others. And we’re not. We’re only broken little pieces in the universe. Specks of dust.
Today’s saint, Saint Bridget of Sweden, very much knew that. She also grew up in court, she was from royalty. And used to big egos, and people doing whatever they wanted for entertainment’s sake. But she knew that there was much more to it.
But she was a person of her age, and she had to follow what was laid out for her. So she was married at age 13, and she had 13 children. But after her husband died, she could pursue what God was calling her to.
And she initially went to a Cistercian monastery, in Sweden, where she really could spend time with God. And actually, as from a young age, she had already visions, and she was a penitent. To do penance for others, and to do penance with Jesus, Jesus on the cross.
So she, in her own childhood, she already knew what the big people with egos did not know. God is mystery, and we never will understand God.
And Jesus, in our Gospel reading, he speaks about the parables. And this is right after the parable of the sower, where the seed falls on the rocky ground, on the path, among thistles, and good soil. And because the parable explains something which we can hardly explain in words. And the mystery of God.
But it is really for us to humble ourselves. To know that we are nothing. And especially, the closer we come to death. The closer, especially, when we are basically in a hospital in palliative care. Then we will know that we are nothing. That God will take us home. That our egos and all our knowledge means absolutely nothing.
It doesn’t matter if we have a trillion dollars, where if you’re worth a trillion dollars like, like Elon Musk, it doesn’t matter anymore. Either we are in the scheme of things, or nothing. And we will go home naked, so to speak. Go home as we came.
And this is something, Saint Bridget of Sweden very much understood. And really, it’s something in our humanity.
In the first reading of Jeremiah, Jeremiah is basically saying the same thing. He’s lamenting the leadership of Israel. The leadership who has gone astray. They thought they had all the answers, they want a comfortable life, and in their comfort they become blind, and they don’t see anymore.
They don’t see anymore the mystery of God, they don’t see anymore those who are suffering around them. And they’re just blind to what is happening. And it’s good stuff for us to pray with.
In our Psalm, the response was: “You are the source of life.” You are the source of life. We have to know that God is the source of everything, and at the end of our life we go back to that source of life. And we just have to accept. And it’s as simple as that.
There’s an old joke: If you want to have someone lose their faith send them to study theology. Let them do a PhD in theology. Because theology is trying to explain God in our contemporary world, or in history.
But the more we sometimes know, and I’ve met people like that, but they lost their faith. And it is so important to know our faith. If you have a subscription, to the Living of Christ, there are often, at the end of the day, there’s a little saying by a saint.
And today in this, there’s a little saying, and it’s by Saint Bernard of Clarivaux. One of the great mystics. About 100 years before Saint Bridget of Sweden. And it says, “I believe, though I do not comprehend. I hold by faith what I cannot grasp with mind.”
And this is pure faith. We have to believe. We have to accept. We can look for answers as much as we want, but it does not mean we get answers. Answers will come if God desires us to get answers. And those answers might come in little glimpses.
But the full understanding we will get in the beatific vision. When we go to God. When we breathe our last breath, and God says: “Come home, come home.” And we will receive all the answers.
But in the meantime, we walk by faith, and not by sight, as the old saying is. And so, we just continue to walk by faith, and trust that God will bring good out of each one of our lives, as we humble ourselves, and we realize that we are nothing in the scheme of things. Amen.
