During the Sunday Masses in July, the Gospel readings feature Jesus speaking in parables—short stories designed to explain the things of the Kingdom of God more clearly: heaven, the events at the end of time and at the moment of our death, as well as sin, mercy, forgiveness, conversion, and so forth. Yet, the reality is that people—both then and now—often fail to understand them. One thing, however, must be said: they are understood only by those who have opened their hearts to God and asked for forgiveness, and by those who accept that, while the truths they convey may be hard, they are nonetheless real. God never deceives us.
