This coming Sunday we hear another famous parable! Jesus often thinks and speaks in parables and uses images which he draws from the world around him. Jesus reaches especially for symbols of life and growth in His wonderful illustrations using words and story. Today we hear a familiar, yet ever evolving, mustard seed parable!
From a tiny seed grows a mighty tree! From Mary, the first twelve apostles, and the holy women has grown the largest body of believers on the planet, a church of every color and culture. Still, even today, we must remember that we are not uniform or cloned – all sorts of birds can make nests in our shade – but united in our recognition of Jesus as the revelation and Son of God. However, seeds grow when the conditions are right. They need light, heat, and energy. God’s kingdom of love grows slowly and demands patience and faith. Like the seed in the earth, the Kingdom of God does not come all at once. It arrives in stages like the stalk, the head and the full grain. Our job, as the Faithful, is to watch and pray and to serve it.
We have built Saint Miriam over the last 16 years with faith and overcoming hardship and those who would destroy the crop. We educate children, care for the dead, worship God, and feed the hungry. We have much to be proud of. Now, we must pull together financially to shore us up for tomorrow and repair the Bell Tower and sustain our ministry. I am willing, are you? We have proven that from even the tiniest seed planted in a soul, the Kingdom of God can grow so that the person who trusts in God is a source of nourishment and care for others. May we continue, together!
Lord, our world is blighted by the destructive seeds of greed and oppression, but deep down there are also small seeds of justice, peace and reconciliation peeping out. May I help them to grow. May it be us!
Monsignor +Jim