LET GO, LET GOD!

11TH SUNDAY  IN ORDINARY TIME – B

Mark 4:26-34

         Because of the breakthroughs and advancements in science, medicine and technology, some people think the world depends upon them.  This is also true to those who control the global economy, world trade and down to the ranks of the heads of governments, CEO’s of companies and those who hold authority in different forms.   This power-play in the world is about control hence the difficulty to let go and let God!

         The gospel this Sunday reminds us that God is in control and not us.  The Kingdom of God is likened to the seed growing by itself and a tiny mustard seed.  It is true that man plants the seed but he does not have the power to interfere with its growth. Come to think how the Catholic Church considered as a subversive religion within the powerful  Roman Empire and whose leaders were simple and uneducated fishermen was able to triumph and survive in the midst of continuous persecutions.   The Roman Empire and many world empires have long been gone and yet the Catholic Church is still here to stay.

         That seed of faith was sown in our hearts when we were baptized so we can say that the seed of the Kingdom is within each one of us.  Just like an ordinary seed, it has an inherent power that given the right atmosphere can grow into a tree.  That “energy” within the seed is called grace!  Because of the movement of grace, God is silently working within us to make it grow and bloom and bear fruit.  Of course God needs our cooperation because He does not want to impose on us and He respects our freedom of the will.  When we are able to work hand in hand with God, we cannot but see the blossoming of a beautiful tree within ourselves.  St. Therese of Liseux, St. Faustina, St. Francis of Assisi are just some of our saints who were unknown to the world during their time and yet they became bigger than themselves.  They are examples of little seeds  who revolutionized and transformed the world. 

        

In this world of ATM’s, fast food chains and internet, when was the last time we sit in silence?   Watch a sunset?  Touch a flower and contemplate on its wonder?    Who would want to do that?  That is why our generation is losing the sense of mystery, contemplation, mysticism and in the eyes of a child the wonder of magic.   Faith, prayer, religion are passé in a world that allures our minds into a labyrinth of unquenchable pleasures.

Let us ask ourselves: Are we control-freaks? Are we indispensable that we think the world totally depend on us?  Do we feel agitated just because things are not running the way we want them?  When was the last time when at the end of the rope, we simply entrust everything to God.

At the end of the day when we go to bed, a seed somewhere is breaking through the darkness of the soil.  It continues to grow through the power deep within.   We don’t have to look for that seed anywhere because that mystery is happening in our own hearts.   We have that seed of the Kingdom in all of us; we just have to cooperate and trust in God as it grows into something great and beautiful!