Cycle B - Year I:  

13 June 2021: Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time 

(Liturgical Color: Green)

Readings:

First Reading:        Ezekiel 17:22-24

Second Reading:   2 Corinthians 5:6-10

Gospel:  Please Read  Mark 4:26-34

"Plant God's see in the world!

Have you come across these wise words: "We reap what we sow."?  They speak of a profound truth about the workings of Mother Nature that we humans cannot fully understand. Let us see how this connects us to the Gospel them for this Sunday. 

The Gospel narrative describes something so ordinary like planting a seed. But what does it tell us about God's kingdom?

It is always beautiful and amazing to hear our Lord Jesus Christ using practical and ordinary events in daily life to teach us new elements and images that could help people to see and experience the process of God's kingdom.  He preaches about the kingdom of God in parables to help His followers better understand the kingdom of God.  Because these parables bridge the gap between earthly realities as we see and experience them and the heavenly ones.

This Sunday's Gospel is written by St. Mark.  Jesus narrates two parables or brief stories which happen every day in the life of all of us: the story of "the seed that grows by itself", and the story of the "small mustard seed that grows into the biggest shrub."

Consider the first story of the seed that grows alone.  The farmer knows the process: he plants the seed, then comes the green sprout, life, spike, and grain.  He waits for the right time to reap what he sows.  But the farmer doesn't actually know how the soil, the rain, the sun, and the seed itself interact or have their force or strength to make the plant grow from nothing until it bears fruits.  We can say the farmer knows the process but doesn't exactly know how Mother Nature works.

The same is true for the mustard seed.  When a tiny mustard seed is planted in good soil, it grows literally to a big tree through the wonders of Mother Nature, bears abundant fruits and serves as a leafy home to birds of all kinds.  Again, we don't know exactly how Nature works to transform the tiny mustard seed into the big tree.

Now, our Lord Jesus tells us that God's kingdom works in a similar fashion.  It is a "process".  There are stages and moments of growth that takes place in time.  It produces fruit at just the right moment, but nobody knows how to explain its mysterious force -- nobody, not even the landlord, only God knows!  So then, God's kingdom starts from the smallest beginning in our hearts when we are receptive of God's word. It works unseen and causes transformation from within us over time of nourishing it with prayers and good works.

We must understand that just as the seed has no power to change itself until it is planted in the ground, so, too, we cannot really change our lives to be what God desires of us until God Himself gives us the power of His Holy Spirit.  So we must allow the Holy Spirit to work in us, because God never forces Himself on anyone.  It must be our personal choice to let God transform us to be God-like.  Are we then ready to let God change us by His grace and power?      

Jesus is telling us this Sunday that this is how God's kingdom work in our lives and in the world: it's beginning maybe rather small, but given time and our cooperation, it grows into something big that can transform us to become missionaries of joy for God's kingdom here on earth.  Because when we follow and listen to our Lord Jesus Christ, our lives are transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit who dwells in us.

Do we believe in the transforming power of the Holy Spirit?  Let us scatter God's seed... and wait patiently for the right time to reap what we sow.... through the transforming power of the Holy Spirit in us.

A blessed Sunday to us all. And thank you for a moment with God.

Ad Jesum per Mariam!