Humble Beginnings

    

Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time

16 June 2024

 

First Reading: Ez 17:22-24

Responsorial Psalm: Ps 92:2-3, 13-14, 15-16

Second Reading: 2 Cor 5:6-10

Gospel: Mk 4:26-34

 

Reflection

By: Pietro S. Albano

 

You may have heard stories of how a big organisation such as a school, hospital, or community started from humble beginnings. The Church is no different. Who would imagine a small band of common people would serve as the nucleus of the Church spread all over the world?

God favours humble beginnings. In the First Reading, God desired to plant a tender shoot on top of a mountain. In the Gospel, Jesus compared the Kingdom of God to seeds. On their own, shoots and seeds would seem to be useless. Keep them and they will rot. Plant them and they will grow and bear fruit. Indeed, "Birds of every kind shall dwell beneath it, every winged thing in the shade of its boughs" (Ez 17:23) and "when the grain is ripe, he wields the sickle at once, for the harvest has come" (Mk 4:29).

In a rat race culture, we oftentimes grow impatient. We see problems besetting the Church and we want solutions, now. We pray, but more in our own terms and not God's. We act as though we are the main actors of the show. Our readings remind us that God is in control and that He is the main actor. "Unless the Lord builds the house, its builders labour in vain" (Ps 127:1). All that is required of us is to "walk by faith, not by sight" (2 Cor 5:7)

Prayer

Lord Jesus, may the seeds of Your Gospel take root and bear fruit in our hearts and in the hearts of those around us. Amen.