June 17, 2018

11th Sunday in Ordinary Time B Ezekiel 17: 22-24; 2 Corinthians 5: 6-10; Mark 4: 26-34 How do I feel about my spiritual progress? I never feel that: ‘I’ve got it!’ I am always growing and reaching out to those in my life that can help me bloom and flourish. Left to myself I easily have a negative tendency to think that I am shrinking, not growing closer to the Lord. So what is the cause of my shrinking: the weeds in my life! My weeds: my sins, the repeatable sins that keep returning, feelings of low self worth, low self confidence, the desire to be left alone, thinking that I’m right, not listening…my list continues on and on. I get on top of these and I lose them, or they grow deeper. They resemble weeds in that they seem to be almost indestructible. Jesus’ uses today’s parable of the seed to show God’s activity in everyone’s life and how God is the one that gives growth to the seed. Do I let God do this? Do I feel that God has forgotten about me? Do I feel that it’s way too hard for me to figure out God’s plan? I start out by looking at Jesus’ parable of the sower. First of all, many of the parables found in Mark’s fourth chapter are about seeds. Years ago the British New Testament scholar, C.H. Dodd called these the parables of the ‘Kingdom’. He contrasted the smallness and seemingly insignificant size of the seed to the large size of the finished product. The seed is tiny, what it produces is immense. The question, really the mystery is how did something so small produce something so big. Jesus is telling each of us that as far as His Kingdom is concerned, humans have no active role to play in its mystery. Growth happens because of God’s work and we can’t even see it happening. Humans enter at the end of the process when the seed grows, when the grain is ripe and ready for harvest. This harvest can only be produced by God…it is both a gift from God and a miracle from God. He explains it in the first line of the Gospel, “This is how it is with the kingdom of God.” Jesus second parable today is about the mustard seed. It is a very tiny seed. Yet it grows into a shrub bush about seven feet tall. It is not very attractive, it grows all over the place and only little birds will find refuge and sleeping places in it. The rabbis at the time wanted to explain God’s kingdom using images of large immense trees and contrasted these with the insignificance of the mustard ‘tree’ seed. But Jesus’ is saying that we can find His kingdom in ordinary common things of daily life. If we cannot find His Kingdom of kindness, of love, of forgiveness, of mercy of caring, of healing, of compassion in the common areas of human life, we will not find it at all. God is here within each person. Do I treat each person as a ‘child of God’… as ‘loved by God’ … as ‘God’s special gift’ to the world and to me? Am I listening to Jesus’ teaching? Do I see that I am an important, urgent piece in nurturing the growth of God’s kingdom in those around me? It is good to look at the growth of a seed: - A great deal happens between a farmer’s planting a seed and the eventual harvest that comes about from these seeds. - Even the ability to plant the seed and harvest the crop is a gift from God. We look at the patience and the faith involved in the process along with the knowledge of what one is doing. - The seed is growing way long before there is any evidence that growth is taking place. The farmer can take no credit for this…nor can he take credit for the rain and sunshine. - The days of growth far outnumber the time it takes to plant and also to harvest the crop. The farmer is ‘all in’ for the long term. - Even the mustard seed yields a growth far more than expected. The point is that God has called me and each person. We have been given the gift of life and His love is constantly nourishing this life so that we can be love. We can respond or we can be absorbed in ourselves. Do I realize that God has gifted me and needs me? God gives us the tools contained in His gift of total love. We can accept them…we can misuse them…we can refuse them. We can be love. What do I choose to do? Reflecting on the Word of today’s gospel, Living the Word says: “ St Augustine told us to pray as if all depended upon God and work as if all depended upon us. These words reflect what Jesus says about the Kingdom of God in today’s Gospel. A sower scatters seed and then sleeps while the seed sprouts, grows, and yields fruit. Then the sower gathers that fruit. Planting and gathering depend upon human work. Sprouting and growth depend upon God’s design. God takes what we do and puts even the smallest seed to magnificent use. Ezekiel proclaims that God takes a tender shoot and turns it into new growth, although God also brings low the high tree and withers the green tree. If we do not depend on God, walking by faith and seeking to stay close to the Lord, we can be brought low and withered, too. St. Francis de Sales gave similar advice. Our job is to plant and water and turn to God to give the growth. Turn to God: pray, read the scriptures, celebrate the liturgy, study Church teaching, and pay attention. That’s how we plant and water the seed of faith within us. Then contemplate what we have read, celebrated, and heard. God will give growth and help us embrace what we discover if we stay close to the Lord, seek God’s will, and invite God to produce good fruit in us. Ask yourself how you plant and water the seed of faith, or whether it is withering because you don’t invite God into your life. Take time to stay close to God, even allowing God to prune your branches where needed. That’s how we can pray as if all depends upon God. It does! And live as if all depends upon us. It does! It’s teamwork.” So I reflect on: • I take time and look at the different elements of my prayers and prayer life and how I cooperate with God to work within me. Do I let this happen? What keeps me from looking positively and honestly at myself? • I look at the times that I realize God’s closeness and I look at what I need to change so that I am still closer to God. What hinders this closeness in me? • I look at how my faith has been tested. How confident have I been during these tests? Am I afraid? Am I letting God be present with His love and His help? • How do I recognize my dependency on God for all that I am, possess and will be? • The Scout motto is “Be prepared” … am I? Sacred Space 2018 shares: “Jesus uses natural occurrences in our world to describe the kingdom of God. This kingdom does not float down, some alien form from outer space. It happens within the processes and daily actions we know well. Open my eyes, Lord, to see the kingdom as it grows in my life. Notice that the person scatters seed but then goes to sleep. The next day, it’s clear that the seed has sprouted during the night. God gives us work to do, but the outcome is God’s. We can do our work, and then rest easy.”