With A Mustard Seed

I was struck today when I was listening to the Gospel today by the recurring theme of God doing great things with what initially looks small and insignificant. I thought I would just excerpt a little bit from today's gospel and share it with you today. May the mustard seeds in your own life grow strong and bear you great fruit, bringing you a taste of heaven.

Jesus proposed a parable to the crowds.
“The Kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed
that a person took and sowed in a field.
It is the smallest of all the seeds,
yet when full-grown it is the largest of plants.
It becomes a large bush,
and the birds of the sky come and dwell in its branches."

John 6:1-15

Today's gospel reading comes from John 6:1-15 where we hear the famous passage in which Jesus miraculously feeds the mouths of 5000.

As I was praying over today's readings, I could not help but contemplate about the boy with the five loaves and two fish. I imagine the reaction of the apostles looking out at this vast crowd, thinking to themselves how impossible it would be to feed them. The boy does not think in this way, however. What matters to the child is that he wants to be of help to Jesus. He doesn't have much, but he offers what he has.

In this small, giving gesture, Christ is able to do great things.

I think sometimes we get discouraged in perceiving how we are able to serve the community and the world. As adults, we look out over the world and become overwhelmed at how much work needs to be done. Like the apostles, we see impossibility. In the hearts of children, however, there is an innocent and generous spirit that doesn't see the impossibility--they just merely want to help out. Of course, not all children are like this, but you may have met a number like the ones I am describing.

We may think the things we do to be small potatoes. God, however, can do a lot with small potatoes.

Christ Amidst the Storms

This past Sunday, the Oregon Scholastics here in Spokane had a day of recollection--a time to pray, to share our faith, to discern our inner movements over the past year or so. Fr. Peter Byrne, a spiritual guru in our province, led our prayer and grounded it in that Sunday's Gospel reading--the Apostles and Jesus in a boat amidst the storms.

From Mark 4:35-41 (taken from the New American Bible Translation)

On that day, as evening drew on, he said to them, "let us cross the other side." Leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat just as he was. And other boats were with him. A violent squall came up and waves were breaking over the boat, so that it was already filling up. Jesus was in the stern, asleep on a cushion. They woke him and said to him, "Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?" He woke up, rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, "Quiet! Be still!" The wind ceased and there was great calm. Then he asked them, "Why are you terrified? Do you not yet have faith?" They were filled with great awe and said to one another: "Who then is this whom even wind and sea obey.?"

One of the great gems of St. Ignatius found in the Spiritual Exercises is his belief that all people can have direct contact with God, and one of the ways that he has the exercitant experience this grace is through our power of imagination. He asks the one praying the exercises to imagine herself/himself at the scene, to experience the storm, to colloquy with Christ at this time. And, since we all have our own history, our own experiences, the way we may imagine and experience this storm will probably differ from one another.

I imagine that many people would probably experience a lot of anger and resentment towards God for putting them through stormy situations. I experience it a little differently. I have certainly navigated my fair share of stormy weather during my life journey, but when I look back, I never feel that I was ever alone in the boat. I believe that Christ was always there to lend a hand, to offer words of comfort, to lead certain people into my life, sometimes even to throw me a lifeline when I needed it--even if I didn't recognize His presence at the time. It's not a "I'll believe it when I see it" moment, it's a "I'll see it when I believe it" experience that I cannot describe any other way. The light of Christ pierces even the deepest darkness, calms our raging winds.

At the end of the storm, sometimes you'll encounter a rainbow if you look in the right spot.

In terms of the Oregon Province, one of the ways in which we situate our experience of bankruptcy is through this gospel passage. It's a stormy time for us collectively, but I have personally witnessed a strength of faith and hope in the Jesuits here. We believe Christ is always with us and will lead us through this uncertain future of ours, whatever that may look like. Our material goods may get taken, but we have greater treasure that can never be taken away. And, it is these gifts that we have faith will sustain us. AMDG