Daily Reflection – 10/31/2023
Sacred Scripture
Jesus said, “What is the kingdom of God like? To what can I compare it? It is like a mustard seed that a person took and planted in the garden. When it was fully grown, it became a large bush and the birds of the sky dwelt in its branches.” Again, he said, “To what shall I compare the kingdom of God? It is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of wheat flour until the whole batch of dough was leavened. (Luke 13:18-21)
Reflection
Yeast is a fascinating thing. It is so small in size and yet has such a powerful effect upon the dough. The yeast works slowly and somewhat miraculously. Little by little the dough rises and is transformed.
The metaphor applies so well to Christianity. From the outset, Jesus told everyone that God was coming to change the world — to bring the low high and the high low, to feed the hungry and send those who are regularly full away empty, to make the lowly proud and the proud lowly.
No matter how small it began, the Kingdom grew and spread throughout the world. Why? He taught that every human being carries the seed of eternal life, that we are called to be children of God. A grace of transformation has come through Jesus Christ for all of humanity.
Yet, our world is still topsy-turvy. Wars, famines and even plagues. Despite all those who seek goodness and humility, we still face all that we do. Why?
Too many of us don’t allow that seed of eternal life to take root in our lives.
Oh, yes, we read scripture, maybe even go to Church regularly, maybe even commit random acts of kindness. But the truth is that we don’t commit to its growth. We sure care about the growth of our children. We certainly pay attention to the growth of our job or career. If we marry, we work hard at assuring our marriage grows in love.
But we don’t cultivate the belief that we are significant in the growth of our world. Significant. You and me. If you and I would but nurture it, it will grow until it takes prominence in our life.
To live our Christian lives to the full, we must nurture the hidden mustard seed of divine possibility within us. Like the woman who kneads the yeast into the dough that will be baked into life-sustaining bread, we can do our part to contribute freshness, life and dignity, wherever we are. In hymnal words, “They should know we are Christians by our love.”
Even small acts of kindness can have an impact for good our expectations. We need not think they have to be big and impressive to count. The lesson Jesus drives home to our minds is that God’s Kingdom begins small in our hearts but can grow into something that can transform the world.
So, the question for today and every day is “will you allow the kingdom of God to have a permanent dwelling in your life so that God could bless others through you?
You are blessed. You are significant. You are loved by Him who came to give us eternal life. You and I are called to bring His kingdom to earth. Each of us must respond to that mustard seed of faith that was given to us so that others can be blessed by our Christian acts of love.
Prayer of The Day
“Dear God, overcome our defenses and infect us with your Spirit that sees good where most see evil and offers grace where others would offer condemnation. In Jesus’ name, Amen.”
Daily Note
Our Lord himself is a mustard seed: so long as he had undergone no attack, the people did not recognize him. He chose to be hustled…; he chose to be pressed in such a way that Peter said: “The crowds are pressing in upon you” (Lk 8,45); he chose to be sown like a seed that a man takes and throws on his garden, for it was in a garden that Christ was both arrested and buried. He grew up in this garden and was even raised again from it. He was a seed when he was arrested, a tree when he rose again A tree that overshadows the world to this day.
