Be the seed of God's love
Gospel Reflection
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 through it all 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.
Today is the 11th Sunday of Ordinary time, ordinary, not because today is an ordinary day but because the liturgical season is called ordinary.
This season is definitely not ordinary, in fact, it is in these times that we contemplate on Jesus' earthly ministries - his teachings, his works, his being one with the rest of humanity.
It is in this time that we truly get to know Jesus and we get to know his mission, the kingdom and God.
In today's readings, Jesus shares with us what God's kingdom is, and he does this by sharing stories that are familiar to the people of his time, and familiar to us, as well, so that it would be easy for us to understand or to picture out.
This is also how our mystics describe their experience with God, using symbols and pictures, because the experience of God's infinite love is truly indescribable and the most that we could do is to use symbols that best describes an aspect of the experience.
In today's readings we hear extensively the use of plants to describe the kingdom of God. Today is the day for plantitos and plantitas.
In our first reading we hear how prophet Ezekiel relates that God will tear off a tender shoot from the great cedar. And this tender, little shoot, he will plant on top of the mountain where it will grow to be a majestic tree, on which every winged creature would make it into their dwelling.
And in our Gospel today, Jesus used seeds to symbolize God's kingdom. Like a very small mustard seed planted on good ground, it will grow to be a majestic tree where birds would find refuge.
My dear brothers and sisters, you are that seed, and God has planted you on Mount Carmel, where people who would see you, majestic, full of leaves, bearing good fruit, people would see in you the goodness of God, how wonderful our God us, how much he loves us.
Of course, with the beautiful lush leaves that we produce, we must give shelter to those who are in need, to those who also rely on God's love and goodness for their safety, for their shelter, for their hunger and thirst to be satisfied.
With this, St. Paul reminds us in his second letter to the Corinthians that we must strive, we must aspire to please him because we want to be with him... as he said, "we would rather leave the body and go home to the Lord," although when asked if we would want to be with him, what's our answer? "Of course, but... not now."
Our goal is to be with the Father, our goal is to experience his peace, the kaginhawahan na dulot ng kabutihang loob ng diyos para sa atin.
And that is why, dear brothers and sisters, as seeds planted by our Lord, wherever we are or whatever state we are in, let us remember to: first, give shelter to those in need, and second, to be instruments in revealing God's love and God's goodness for his people.
Let us be these seeds.
Let this be our prayer. Amen.
This reflection was delivered in an online mass with the Third Order Carmelites of Cubao.
Photo from Sushobhan Badhai on Unsplash
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