'The
more you abandon to God the care of all temporal things the more He will take
care to provide for all your wants. But if on the contrary you try to supply
all your needs Providence will allow you to continue to do just that, and then
it may very well happen that even necessity will be lacking to you. For God will
reprove you for your lack of faith in reliance on self.' - St.
Jean-Baptiste de la Salle: (1651 – 1719: was a French priest, educational
reformer, and founder of the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools)
Gospel
Text: (MK 4:26-34)
Jesus said to the crowds:
“This is how it is with the Kingdom of God;
it is as if a man were to scatter seed on the land
and would sleep and rise night and day
and the seed would sprout and grow,
he knows not how.
Of its own accord the land yields fruit,
first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear.
And when the grain is ripe, he wields the sickle at once,
for the harvest has come.”
He said,
“To what shall we compare the Kingdom of God,
or what parable can we use for it?
It is like a mustard seed that, when it is sown in the ground,
is the smallest of all the seeds on the earth.
But once it is sown, it springs up and becomes the largest of plants
and puts forth large branches,
so that the birds of the sky can dwell in its shade.”
With many such parables
he spoke the word to them as they were able to understand it.
Without parables he did not speak to them,
but to his own disciples he explained everything in private.
“This is how it is with the Kingdom of God;
it is as if a man were to scatter seed on the land
and would sleep and rise night and day
and the seed would sprout and grow,
he knows not how.
Of its own accord the land yields fruit,
first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear.
And when the grain is ripe, he wields the sickle at once,
for the harvest has come.”
He said,
“To what shall we compare the Kingdom of God,
or what parable can we use for it?
It is like a mustard seed that, when it is sown in the ground,
is the smallest of all the seeds on the earth.
But once it is sown, it springs up and becomes the largest of plants
and puts forth large branches,
so that the birds of the sky can dwell in its shade.”
With many such parables
he spoke the word to them as they were able to understand it.
Without parables he did not speak to them,
but to his own disciples he explained everything in private.
There are many things we do not really
understand in our lives. There are times we work so hard and yet gain so
little; or times when we hardly do anything but experience great success; or
sickness and sorrow, and death.
The Lord is powerful and his ways
mysterious. In moments we do not understand, we are left to trust and have
faith that he remains in control.
God is a God of surprises and in all
his surprises only one thing remains true: that his purpose is that we feel his
love and concern for each one of us.
We need God and not the other way
around.
The creation story tells us that God's
creation is self-sufficient. In the Sermon on the Mount we are reminded that
the birds of the air and the flowers of the field are well cared for. And
"are you not worth much more than birds?" (Mt 6:26) "Set your
heart first on the kingdom of God and all these things will also be given to
you. Do not worry about tomorrow for tomorrow will worry about itself."
(Mt 6: 33- 34)
The
Gospel reading tells us to trust that God has beautiful plans for each one of
us. Are we patient enough to wait for it to unfold?
No comments:
Post a Comment