Wis. 12:13,16-19; Rom. 8:26-27; Matt. 13:24-43
Pay attention to mustard seed incidents. Notice them and cultivate them carefully. The readings speak of patience and a trust in God’s power to bring about growth in us. It is God’s power of which we stand in awe.
Growth and transformation is the secret of the Christian life. Growth happens gradually, over a long period of time, almost imperceptibly. That is what we see in the growing mustard tree I had some blooming vines out on the rectory deck in Lexington. They twine in between the lattice work. The seminarian living with me that summer said to me: “I woke up this morning and in a day this vine has grown from here to here.” We didn’t see it happen, but it happened. It’s the same animating power of the mustard seed and the yeast. The power in the seed.
As you always hear me say, we must cooperate with God’s dynamic power within us. We don’t generate it, but we must cooperate with it. We must cultivate the faith we have and exercise a role in its increase. How? It starts with an incident the size of a mustard seed. Take a small incident of faith in your own life. Remember it. Relive it. Savor it. Thank God for it. Here’s an example.
Pope Francis, shortly after his election in 2013, recalled a moment in his faith life that made all the difference. It was September 21, 1953, the first day of spring in Argentina. He was 17. He was heading to a student party. He was passing his church when he felt a desire to go inside to confession. He saw a priest there he had never before seen. The conversation changed his life. He said he felt the priest had been waiting for him to come. After the conversation, he felt a strong call deep within. “I must become a priest,” he thought to himself. He told his hearers: God is always there before us. God was waiting for him there. The incident increased his faith. Telling it increased the faith of his hearers. Cultivating the seed – which is Christ Himself –exlodes the power within the tiny seed deep within us. Our faith increases.
God waits for us. God is there ahead of us, the God “who can immeasurably more for us than we can ask or imagine” (Ephesians 3). Pope Francis felt God’s presence there. His faith increased. A small incident, or seed, carefully tended, increased his faith.
We all experience moments like this where God is there ahead of us. They are God’s self-communication to us. We must notice them, cultivate the seed with our memory with gratitude and wait for God to give the increase. We must remember and pay attention to the mustard seed incidents. Savor and thank God for them!
Pay attention to mustard seed incidents. Notice them and cultivate them carefully. The readings speak of patience and a trust in God’s power to bring about growth in us. It is God’s power of which we stand in awe.
Growth and transformation is the secret of the Christian life. Growth happens gradually, over a long period of time, almost imperceptibly. That is what we see in the growing mustard tree I had some blooming vines out on the rectory deck in Lexington. They twine in between the lattice work. The seminarian living with me that summer said to me: “I woke up this morning and in a day this vine has grown from here to here.” We didn’t see it happen, but it happened. It’s the same animating power of the mustard seed and the yeast. The power in the seed.
As you always hear me say, we must cooperate with God’s dynamic power within us. We don’t generate it, but we must cooperate with it. We must cultivate the faith we have and exercise a role in its increase. How? It starts with an incident the size of a mustard seed. Take a small incident of faith in your own life. Remember it. Relive it. Savor it. Thank God for it. Here’s an example.
Pope Francis, shortly after his election in 2013, recalled a moment in his faith life that made all the difference. It was September 21, 1953, the first day of spring in Argentina. He was 17. He was heading to a student party. He was passing his church when he felt a desire to go inside to confession. He saw a priest there he had never before seen. The conversation changed his life. He said he felt the priest had been waiting for him to come. After the conversation, he felt a strong call deep within. “I must become a priest,” he thought to himself. He told his hearers: God is always there before us. God was waiting for him there. The incident increased his faith. Telling it increased the faith of his hearers. Cultivating the seed – which is Christ Himself –exlodes the power within the tiny seed deep within us. Our faith increases.
God waits for us. God is there ahead of us, the God “who can immeasurably more for us than we can ask or imagine” (Ephesians 3). Pope Francis felt God’s presence there. His faith increased. A small incident, or seed, carefully tended, increased his faith.
We all experience moments like this where God is there ahead of us. They are God’s self-communication to us. We must notice them, cultivate the seed with our memory with gratitude and wait for God to give the increase. We must remember and pay attention to the mustard seed incidents. Savor and thank God for them!