Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Mark 4, 26-34
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.
The seed of the Kingdom is in your heart
1. The seed. We all have “something divine” within us, and it’s the presence of God. It depends on you whether it grows or remains there as a small seed. You have a spiritual life which is as important as the physical and psychological aspects of your being. Don’t let your spirit dry up. Remember that spiritual life is not reduced to going to mass and praying the rosary; it goes further: listening to God’s voice in you, meditating, learning about your faith, getting to know yourself as a child of God. You and I have to learn to develop the supernatural life that’s within us.
2. The smallest. This refers to the virtue that we have in us and leads us to help others and makes us grow in freedom. That small seed in us may be a gift or a virtue, and it grows in us for others. It’s to be used as a service to others.
3. The kingdom is Jesus. Having Jesus in your life is what makes the best part of you grow. The key to having the kingdom in your heart is to be in unity with God. How do I know that I am united to God? I’ll share with you some characteristics of those in union with God: supernatural vision, joy, humility, and simplicity. Supernatural vision implies reflecting on what God wants to show you in each situation you go through. Joy obviously refers to being a happy person, in the sense that Jesus Christ taught us. Humility entails not showing off and not wanting to appear as the first and the best. And finally, simplicity, which is nothing else than an act of pure and simple charity, it’s simply loving God.Always remember that something good is on the way!God bless you in the name of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
