Today at Holy Mass we hear in the Gospel of St Luke the story of the mustard seed….The smallest of seeds when planted becomes a large bush…..At our Baptism, we were grafted into the life of Christ….A “small act” but a VERY significant one….When we were baptized, a “seed” was planted within our soul…But if we do NOTHING, that seed will remain just a seed…Its then for our parents to ensure we are educated and raised in the Catholic Faith…And then at some point, we must make the faith our own as an adult…Then the journey of a life time begins! - And God’s plan for us from the beginning of time starts to take shape…But we still must cooperate…How?…..Daily Prayer - Weekly Fasting - Monthly Sacramental Confession - Frequent reception of the Blessed Sacrament in the state of grace….If we do those things consistently and persevere in doing them - God will take care of the rest! - TRUST ME….Our “small seed” will grow….And bear fruit for the Kingdom of God….We do not even know how or what “our tree” from that “small seed” will look like - Only God knows…But that is not our concern…Our concern is to do “the basics” - YES - The spiritual practices I noted above are BASICS…..Being Catholic is not some esoteric belief system for the few - Its for EVERYONE…ANYONE can do what I just noted above and if we do - Christ will LIVE in us - And our life will be FAR from mediocre….The public ministry of Jesus was only three short years…And fast forward two thousand years later - The Catholic Church is all over the world…It has endured tyrants, scandal, and persecution…And here we are……What makes YOU think the same thing cannot happen in your life?…..What we lack is faith - What we lack is courage - And we “hold on too” mediocrity, which takes the form of “comfort”…..”Again he said, “To what shall I compare the Kingdom of God? It is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of wheat flour until the whole batch of dough was leavened”…If we only take Jesus’s words seriously today - Then our “one seed” WILL shake the foundations of the world - If only we cultivate it - That one simple seed…That is all we have to do! - Cultivate it! - God does the rest!
Jesus said, “What is the Kingdom of God like? To what can I compare it? It is like a mustard seed that a man took and planted in the garden. When it was fully grown, it became a large bush and the birds of the sky dwelt in its branches.”
In the Book of Revelation, we are told in the Kingdom of Heaven , we will be given new name…A name only God knows…..That name in many ways is symbolic of the person we were born to be - Or better put - To become if we cooperate with God’s Sacramental Grace here on earth…Each of us have God given talents and if we nurture those talents and give them over to God in service of the Kingdom - We will be transformed and in the process, we will transform others….This my friends is the meaning of life…Not to “get rich”…Not to achieve “this or that”…Its simply to become who we were born to be from the very beginning of time…To “live up” to that “new name” that God will give us when we stand before him………..As a young man, especially while I was in college, I lived a party lifestyle….All my friends were wild guys who were the “life of the party”…When I came home from college, I made a personal decision to live as a Catholic because before that decision, I clearly was not living as I should…Fast forward three decades….I am now a completely different person….I go to Mass just about every day….I go to confession every other week….I pray the Rosary daily with my wife and children…I have five children, all under the age of twelve years old….If you told me this is the person I would become, say at the age of twenty while in college - I would have laughed in your face - And so would my friends at the time…..Recently one of my college roommates passed away and I attended a memorial service for him…At the service I saw many of my old friends…Many of them I had not seen in awhile, but they had heard about my Catholic transformation…To say it was strange to see these people after all those years is an understatement….These were people I knew at one time in my life very well but now they looked at me as a complete stranger - And I looked at them the same…..Interestingly enough, if I were honest, I am still not where I need to be - I am far from being a saint!….Our conversion to God takes place everyday - God is STILL working on me….And I must cooperate…How?…I will say it again…..Daily Prayer - Weekly Fasting - Monthly Sacramental Confession - Frequent reception of the Blessed Sacrament in the state of grace…..The Basics!……And God will take care of the rest……“Whoever has ears ought to hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the victor I shall give some of the hidden manna; I shall also give a white amulet upon which is inscribed a new name, which no one knows except the one who receives it”…….All this and more…..Comes from a “small seed”…..JMJ
“Blessed are you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth; You have revealed to little ones the mysteries of the Kingdom”
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