Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time - Ez 17:22-24; 2 Cor 5:6-10; Mk 4:26-34

06-14-2024Weekly ReflectionThe Faithful Disciple

GROW: If we walk through the woods on a beautiful spring day, we’ll see the signs of life bursting forward. Green shoots coming up from the ground, leaf buds poking out from the branches of a tree – even the birds and animals are busily scampering. Life, growth, and new beginnings are all around. Today’s readings have a common theme of nature as one of the ways we can experience God’s design. Like the crowds Jesus taught, we may not know the exact cause of what makes a plant grow from a tiny seed to a towering tree, but that’s OK – we don’t have to know. As St. Paul writes, “we walk by faith, not by sight.” We trust the Lord to lead and guide us. And, like the harvester in the parable, we can observe, tend, and act when the time is right to bring in the harvest, for, as Paul continues in his letter: “We aspire to please [God].”

GO: What does it look like to play an active role in bringing in the harvest? Faith is a lifelong journey, and everyone is in a different place. The delicate shoot needs different care than the full-grown tree. In prayer, God can speak to us to help us discern the best way to help the people he has put in our lives. Perhaps we offer encouragement, or a shoulder to lean on. Maybe someone needs a friend to converse with. No matter where or who we are, each one of us can be like the harvester that Jesus references, observing and acting as appropriate, helping support the seed of faith God plants in each person. And as we heard in the Gospel today, the smallest seed can become the largest of plants; therefore, our work is plentiful as laborers working to help build God’s kingdom here on earth.

PRAY: Pray for the wisdom to recognize where you are in your journey, what you need to keep growing, and how you can offer to help others.

Lord God, fill me with your gifts and put your words in my mouth, that through them, others may be filled with the power and warmth of your love. Amen.