He also said, “The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground, and would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how. The earth produces of itself, first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain in the head. But when the grain is ripe, at once he goes in with his sickle, because the harvest has come.”
He also said, “With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable will we use for it? It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth; yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs, and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.”
With many such parables he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it; he did not speak to them except in parables, but he explained everything in private to his disciples.
New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989, by the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. USCCB approved.
Pay it forward. We’ve all heard that phrase before; we have been blessed and challenged with different talents and life situations, our task in life is to use them for the greater glory of God. On Creighton University’s Online Ministries portal you will find a prayer that I begin my day with:
…Please help me to clarify and purify my actions and intentions…my activity seems to be full of busyness, chasing after things that don’t seem to matter or last…May all that I am today, all that I try to do today, may all my encounters, reflections, even the frustrations and failings all place my life in your hands…
How do we pay it forward? The seeds of our life our scattered throughout our day, some will land on fertile soil and grow like the mustard seed, others will not. Whether they reach a full life is not in our control, our task is to plant those seeds, fertilize and care for them, whether the seeds are helping troubled youth like St. John Bosco, whose feast day is today, having lunch with someone who is bullied at school, or checking in on a lonely, elderly neighbor.
—Jim Bozik is a permanent deacon at St. Peter Catholic Church in Charlotte, NC, the Jesuit parish in the Diocese of Charlotte.
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Ignatian spirituality reminds us that God pursues us in the routines of our home and work life, and in the hopes and fears of life's challenges. The founder of the Jesuits, Saint Ignatius of Loyola, created the Spiritual Exercises to deepen our relationship with Christ and to move our contemplation into service. May this prayer site anchor your day and strengthen your resolve to remember what truly matters.
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