ENJOY THE PROCESS
“It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it grows up, it is the biggest of all plants.” – Matthew 13:32
My
wife and I got involved in the distribution of agriculture inputs to
farmers and farm owners. Because of this, we witnessed first-hand the
process of planting and harvesting of rice and corn, studied how to
increase yields of mango trees and how to extend the productive life of
high vegetable plantations. It was a learning experience!
Given
the exposure we’ve had on these various crops, I came to one simple yet
important life lesson. Harvest doesn’t come in the same season as
sowing. Nature has a process of growth. For rice alone, it takes more
than 100 days from seed preparation, soil preparation, seed bed
planting, seed transplanting, fertilization, harvest and rice milling.
This doesn’t even include the difficulties the farmer has to face when
drought or typhoons set in.
Today,
the Lord points out that all big things that are of value started
small. They all had to go through a maturing process. This takes time,
work, patience and, most of all, God’s grace.
So
the next time you feel “small” in your faith, know that God’s process
is working on you. Instead of fighting it, enjoy the process! Ariel Driz (adriz77@yahoo.com)
30
REFLECTION:
All worthwhile things take time. Am I enjoying God’s process in my life?
Lord
Jesus, thank You for reminding me that You are not done with me yet…
that everything is a process of growth. Grant me the grace to be patient
so that I may be of great use for Your kingdom. Amen.
St. Peter Chrysologus, bishop and doctor of the Church, pray for us.
---------
1ST READING
Jeremiah
uses prophetic action a number of times in his ministry. I have seen it
done a few times in prayer meetings I have attended and it is a very
effective way to get a point across to an audience. We live in a very
visually oriented world so perhaps it would be a good thing to pray for
an increase in this gift for the sake of the Church’s mission.
Jeremiah 13:1-11
1 The Lord said to me: Go buy yourself a linen loincloth; wear it on your loins, but do not put it in water. 2 I bought the loincloth, as the Lord commanded, and put it on. 3 A second time the word of the Lord came to me thus: 4 Take the loincloth which you bought and are wearing, and go now to the Parath; there hide it in a cleft of the rock. 5 Obedient to the Lord’s command, I went to the Parath and buried the loincloth. 6 After a long interval, the Lord said to me: Go now to the Parath and fetch the loincloth which I told you to hide there. 7 Again
I went to the Parath, sought out and took the loincloth from the place
where I had hid it. But it was rotted, good for nothing! 8 Then the message came to me from the Lord: 9 Thus says the Lord: So also I will allow the pride of Judah to rot, the great pride of Jerusalem. 10 This
wicked people who refuse to obey my words, who walk in the stubbornness
of their hearts, and follow strange Gods to serve and adore them, shall
be like this loincloth which is good for nothing. 11 For,
as close as the loincloth clings to a man’s loins, so had I made the
whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah cling to me, says the
Lord; to be my people, my renown, my praise, my beauty. But they did
not listen.
P S A L M
Deuteronomy 32:18-19, 20, 21
R: You have forgotten God who gave you birth.
18 You were unmindful of the Rock that begot you, you forgot the God who gave you birth. 19 When the Lord saw this, he was filled with loathing and anger toward his sons and daughters. (R) 20 “I
will hide my face from them,” he said, “and see what will then become
of them. What a fickle race they are, sons with no loyalty in them! (R) 21 “Since
they have provoked me with their ‘no-God’ and angered me with their
vain idols, I will provoke them with a ‘no-people’; with a foolish
nation I will anger them.” (R)
GOSPEL
It
is amazing to see how the yeast causes the dough to expand. This is the
image spoken of here when Matthew writes about how the Gospel truths
should be leavening society. That is, society should become more
“Christified” due to the living witness of Christians at work in the
world.
GOSPEL ACCLAMATION
The Father willed to give us birth by the word of truth that we may be a kind of first fruits of his creatures.
Matthew 13:31-35
31 Jesus proposed a parable to the crowds. “The Kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that a person took and sowed in a field. 32 It
is the smallest of all the seeds, yet when full-grown it is the largest
of plants. It becomes a large bush, and the ‘birds of the sky come and
dwell in its branches. ” 33 He
spoke to them another parable. “The Kingdom of heaven is like yeast
that a woman took and mixed with three measures of wheat flour until the
whole batch was leavened.” 34 All these things Jesus spoke to the crowds in parables. He spoke to them only in parables, 35 to
fulfill what had been said through the prophet: “I will open my mouth
in parables, I will announce what has lain hidden from the foundation of
the world.”
LIST
think: Society should become more “Christified” due to the living witness of Christians at work in the world.
----------
SMALL SEED, GREAT WONDER
It
has always been a crisis for me to think of what souvenirs to bring
home to my friends and parishioners whenever I go on a pilgrimage to the
Holy Land. My baggage is usually overweight many times over. I have
psoriasis, so I need to buy Dead Sea products aplenty. They yield great
results for my sensitive skin. Imagine the heavy soap packages, the mud,
cream — plus the rosaries, crosses and other Holy Land souvenirs that I
would have to bring home. It’s the same story each time I do a
pilgrimage.
Four
years ago, I thought of buying the lightest yet equally meaningful
souvenirs for my friends. I saw small crosses being sold by the hundred
per bundle, which was pretty light. I toyed with the idea of repackaging
the crosses in small plastic bags at home with maybe a dried olive leaf
or some soil from Tierra Sancta.
Then
I saw the mustard seeds being sold at the souvenir shop. Voila! A cross
and a few mustard seeds in each plastic bag for my friends. And how
they loved it! It seemed like a foretaste of heaven for them. To think
thay they were mere seeds.
Small
wonder that Jesus thought of the small and what seemed to be the most
unnoticeable of things. But that’s how the kingdom of Heaven works. What
seems to be the littlest can grow into an enormous and sturdy shrub. We
are men and women of little faith. But even the littlest of faith, when
nourished well and consistently sprinkled with God’s Word and
sacraments, would turn out to be an indestructible tower of strength. We
may have small faith, but when we allow Jesus to consume the small
seeds of faith in our hearts, it would sprout mightily and become the
largest and most fortified of shrubs.
It
is important that we surrender even the smallest of faith and belief in
Him. In the end, we will witness marvelous growth and immeasurable
grace abounding. In spite of our smallness, we will continue to grow in
the Spirit. Fr. Erick Y. Santos, SFO
REFLECTION QUESTION: How do you value small things and people?
Lord, in my smallness and nothingness, nourish me and help me grow.
No comments:
Post a Comment