11^th Sunday of the Year - B

Ezek. 17: 22-24; Salm 91; 2 Cor. 5: 6-10; Mark 4: 26-34

Read: “This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the land. Night and day, while he sleeps, when he is awake, the seed is sprouting and growing; how, he does not know. Of its own accord the land produces first the shoot, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. And when the crop is ready, he loses no time; he starts to reap because the harvest has come”………“It is like a mustard seed, which at the time of its sowing in the soil, is the smallest of all seeds on earth; yet once it is sown it grows into the biggest shrub of them all and puts out big branches so that the birds of the air can shelter in its shade” ……..”He explained everything to his disciples when they were alone”.

Reflect: God’s word, “the seed”, is waiting to be sown in abundance in all the world. Thereby faith grows again in mankind on sound foundations. The first parable shows that acceptance of the message of the Gospels is not immediate. The change in one’s interior takes time, sometimes even years, to take root. Nonetheless, when the word of God penetrates one’s heart, it starts working slowly so as to bring about change in that heart.

This parable challenges all of us …. parents, educators, Christian community leaders who, despite having the best of intentions, start losing patience, are in a hurry, resulting in our becoming unhappy, seemingly intolerant and one starts imposing. There are times when one needs to “sleep”, that is, to know when one needs to wait, when one needs to remain calm and to contemplate the “seed that is sprouting and growing without one’s knowledge”.

The second parable shows us that the seed of the Kingdom of God is always small and lacking the glory of this world which is reckoned by how much money one has; how much power, honours, prestige and fame. Jesus upturned this scale of values: “The greatest one in the Kingdom of Heaven is that who makes himself as little as this little child” (Mt. 18:4).

Pray: My soul praises the greatness of God …. because He looks on the meekness of his followers ……. and great things He made with me!”

Act: From all the messages contained in the Gospels, the above-mentioned are the most difficult for one to accept. When today we are living in a society that expects immediate results, how are we to accept that it takes time for God’s word to bear fruit? In a society that promotes power, fame, popularity, money …… how are we going to accept that it is the one who littles himself like a little child who is great in the Kingdom of Heaven?

This extract from the Gospel closes with this sentence: “He explained everything to his disciples when they were alone”. We need to reflect and to pray in silence. Create a spiritual space so as to receive from the Spirit the light that you need so as to accept and to adopt the message contained in these parables so that this influences your choices in life.