Can you see this, what I’m holding here between my fingers? Can you see it? No! Good! It’s a mustard seed. It’s from the Holy Land. When I was there on pilgrimage a peddler, a vendor at one of the shrines came up to me and put a mustard seed in my hand. He asked, “Do you know what this is?” I replied, “No,” whereupon a breeze came up and blew the tiny mustard seed out of my hand. The merchant then informed me, “Oh, now you owe me a dollar because you lost the mustard seed. But,” he went on, “I’ll sell you this whole bag of mustard seeds for $5.00.” I bought it . . I wish I knew where that man was now . . . I’d hire him to raise money for our Catholic schools . . .

Anyway, I keep that bag of tiny mustard seeds in my prieux dieux in my chapel at home. In moments of doubt and discouragement I hold one and reverently recall the words of Jesus, “The reign of God is like a mustard seed . . . it is the smallest seed of all, yet, when full-grown, the largest of plants.” Or again, the Master teaches, “If your faith is the size of a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain ‘move!’ and it will.”

Friday morning, I celebrated Mass with the children at St. Gabriel’s School in Hubertus. At that beautiful Eucharist the gospel chosen was precisely the passage about the mustard seed. As I looked out at those 130 children, from four-to-fourteen, I beheld mustard seeds. This is why we as a Church are so heavily invested in education: these children are our seeds - - tiny, fragile, precarious, tender, precious, filled with hope and promise - - the souls, hearts, mind, character of our children, our mustard seeds. Our schools provide a rich soil where those tiny, frail seeds can be nurtured, protected from weeds, exposed to the “light of the world,” Jesus, and moistened with His life-giving water. These mustard seeds demand our time, our attention, our love, our concern, our talent, our treasure. There is nothing too good for them. They are our treasure, our future. We owe them our best. As Pope John Paul just wrote in his letter for Ash Wednesday, “Jesus had a particular love for children, because of their simplicity, their joy, their spontaneity, and their faith filled with wonder. So He wishes us to open our hearts and arms to them. In welcoming them and loving them, we welcome and love Him, because He is particularly present to them.

And we give them our best in our Catholic schools. But, then, you know that. Isn’t that why you are here, in record number, for this thirteenth annual Catholic Schools Dinner?

Isn’t this why you parents, grandparents, and parishes sacrifice to provide your children an education of soul, mind, heart, character? Isn’t that why you teachers like Sister Martha Ranser and Dr. John Augenstein, look upon your sacred task as a vocation, not a job, and make less than you could at other schools?

Isn’t that why a couple the caliber of Ulice and Carmela Payne would promote the value of a Catholic education, and why distinguished civic leaders - - our Mayor, County Executive, Sheriff, District Attorney, State Senator, and Aldermen would so graciously join us this evening? Isn’t this why the President of the United States would say, as he did just two weeks ago, “Catholic schools carry out a great mission, to serve God by building knowledge and character of your young people. It’s a noble calling. It’s an important part of the fabric of America. By teaching the Word of God, you prepare your students to follow a path of virtue and compassion and sacrifice for the rest of their lives.”

We gather, forty days after Christmas, Candleman Day, the Feast of the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple. That child, the “light of the world,” our children, the “lights of our world,” our children, the mustard seeds. Blessed Mother Theresa said, “If you are ever tempted to doubt God, look into the eyes of a little child, and there you will see the sparkle of the divine.”

Thank you for caring for those mustard seeds . . . if anyone wants to buy one . . . Thank you for seeing the “sparkle of the divine” in their eyes . . . Thank you for supporting our Catholic schools.