Because all great things start small

Today at Holy Mass we hear in the Gospel of St John how Mary anointed Jesus feet with expensive perfume…..And Judas took offense to Mary’s kind gesture…..A person’s feet are the dirtiest part of their body….In the Middle East, where men wore sandals, their feet were exposed to the elements and to clean a person’s feet is an extreme gesture of humility and respect for that person…This is what Mary did and Judas took offense to it…..Judas refused to see the gesture for what it was…….As Catholics we are called to give of ourself to others…The more clearly we see the Lord in the Blessed Sacrament, the more we will see the Lord in others and service them…..And in our service to others, what matters most to God is our intention and how much love we place into the gestures our faith produces…God does not measure and assess actions like the world does…..”A poor widow also came and put in two small coins worth a few cents. Calling his disciples to himself, he said to them, “Amen, I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all the other contributors to the treasury. For they have all contributed from their surplus wealth, but she, from her poverty, has contributed all she had, her whole livelihood”…..The great and powerful of the world give of their excess and while all gifts are recognized by God - God is not interested in “gifts” - God is interested in us personally!…..What God wants most from us is our sins - Do we give your sins to him in the Sacrament of Reconciliation….The more we give God our sins, the closer we will gravitate to him - And the closer we are to God, the purity of our intentions behind all our gifts will grow….Its not what we do that counts - Its the love we put into what we do - This is what God sees and this is what God values…..God has everything - He does not need “stuff” - This is why giving just “two coins” when given from the heart can bear a tremendous amount of fruit in building the Kingdom of God….Remember - Twelve uneducated men upon witnessing the actions and teachings of an uneducated Carpenter for three years founded a Global Church….Once again - All it took is “two coins” - A small “mustard seed” - And the world has never been the same since….”Mary took a liter of costly perfumed oil made from genuine aromatic nard and anointed the feet of Jesus and dried them with her hair; the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil”…..Small humble gestures done with great amounts of love change the world - Always has and always will be

“I formed you, and set you as a covenant of the people, a light for the nations, To open the eyes of the blind, to bring out prisoners from confinement, and from the dungeon, those who live in darkness”

Today as in Jesus’ time, the world gets distracted by grand gestures…..As the unbelieving world is distracted, the Kingdom of God continues to move forward……As “sophisticated society” leaves God behind, the people of God march on…..For nearly twenty years I have been an active Co-Worker with the Missionaries of Charity….Mother Teresa’s sisters live in the world but are most definitely not of the world….The sisters do “small things” with great amounts of love…Most of what the Missionaries of Charity do, the secular world does not take notice of or even care to take notice - But in the mean time - Brick by Brick - The Kingdom of God is being constructed…As Catholics, this is how we must think….Stop trying to make a “big splash” with grand gestures but work tirelessly doing the “small things” consistently day in day out with great amounts of love….God will take those pure gestures and multiply them!……..Mother Teresa begin her global ministry by picking up one person from the gutter…That began a journey, she never could have imagined!…Do we somehow “think” that God does not have something for us to do?…..Each and every Baptized Catholic is called to be a great saint…But that journey towards sanctification begins with “small steps”…Sometimes the hardest part of any journey is beginning…To begin a great journey requires courage…….Its time for the Catholic faithful to “set out for the deep”….We must be willing to be uncomfortable - The desire to be “comfortable” is our “enemy”…Great things begin small and also begin with small steps…Its time to begin…….“The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that a person took and sowed in a field. 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’”……Great things start small!

The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom should I fear? The LORD is my life's refuge; of whom should I be afraid?

Today we heard at Mass the story of a woman who gave everything she had to Jesus - This is what Jesus is interested in - He is not interested in our “gifts” - He is interested in us giving ourselves completely to him…..So few are willing to do this…This is why Catholics must be different…We must examine every part of our lives and ask the question - What are we holding back from God?….And if we are hold something back - Why? - Are we afraid?…..God always meets us, when through our faith, we make ourselves vulnerable and give up control….Trusting beyond what we think “makes sense”…Think of Our Lady - She was asked by God to become the Mother of Jesus - She knew in her society that accepting such a request - A single woman having a child out of wedlock could bring death by stoning - But because God asked it of her - She said YES…..Ask yourself this - Did Mary’s response “make sense”? - Say that was your daughter - What would you have said to her?…In many ways to this very day - God asks the “impossible” - And when he asks the “impossible” from us - If we too say YES - The “impossible” will become possible!…This all starts with one simple small word - YES - How do I know that? - Because all great things start small…………JMJ