“I have a mustard seed; and I am not afraid to use it.”

Little things are indeed little, but to be faithful in little things is a great thing. - Mother Teresa (1910 – 1997: Founded the Missionaries of Charity in Kolkata, India)

Gospel Text: (MT 13:31-35)

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.

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."

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."

All these things Jesus spoke to the crowds in parables.

He spoke to them only in parables,

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.

With his parable, Jesus consoles us, that the reign of God is sometimes hard to see in our lives.  It grows without our being able to see it - perhaps without our even believing it possible.  Sometimes the "smallest of seeds" produces startling results.  

The littlest openings in our hearts can change our relationship with someone else.  If we make a gesture of kindness to someone who annoys, we might find it can plant the tiniest seed of compassion within us.  If we allow ourselves to see humanity in the person who annoys or infuriates us (in our family, in the news) it can be the beginning of a new capacity for love within us.  Sometime the smallest effort to stop the flood of our instinctive negative reactions and thoughts will grow into a transformative outlook on life.

Today we can ask God to open our hearts enough to let the smallest seed of his love grow and spread in us so that we can share it with those around us.