Word of the day

A reading from the Letter of St. Paul to the Hebrews
Heb 10:32-39

Remember the days past when, after you had been enlightened,
you endured a great contest of suffering.
At times you were publicly exposed to abuse and affliction;
at other times you associated yourselves with those so treated.
You even joined in the sufferings of those in prison
and joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property,
knowing that you had a better and lasting possession.
Therefore, do not throw away your confidence;
it will have great recompense.
You need endurance to do the will of God and receive what he has promised.

For, after just a brief moment,
he who is to come shall come;
he shall not delay.
But my just one shall live by faith,
and if he draws back I take no pleasure in him.

We are not among those who draw back and perish,
but among those who have faith and will possess life.

From the Gospel according to Mark
Mk 4:26-34

Jesus said to the crowds:
“This is how it is with the Kingdom of God;
it is as if a man were to scatter seed on the land
and would sleep and rise night and day
and the seed would sprout and grow,
he knows not how.
Of its own accord the land yields fruit,
first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear.
And when the grain is ripe, he wields the sickle at once,
for the harvest has come.”

He said,
“To what shall we compare the Kingdom of God,
or what parable can we use for it?
It is like a mustard seed that, when it is sown in the ground,
is the smallest of all the seeds on the earth.
But once it is sown, it springs up and becomes the largest of plants
and puts forth large branches,
so that the birds of the sky can dwell in its shade.”
With many such parables
he spoke the word to them as they were able to understand it.
Without parables he did not speak to them,
but to his own disciples he explained everything in private.

This is the message that this parable conveys to us: through Jesus’ teaching and action, the Kingdom of God is proclaimed, has burst into the field of the world and, like the seed, grows and develops by itself, through its own strength and according to humanly incomprehensible criteria. In its growth and development in history, it does not depend much on man’s doing, but is above all an expression of the power and goodness of God, of the strength of the Holy Spirit who brings forth Christian life in the People of God. At times history, with its events and its protagonists, seems to go in the opposite direction of the design of the heavenly Father, who wants justice, fraternity and peace for all his children. But we are called to live out these periods as seasons of trial, of hope and of vigilant expectation of the harvest. Indeed, yesterday like today, the Kingdom of God grows in the world in a mysterious way, in a surprising way, revealing the hidden power of the little seed, its victorious vitality. Within the folds of personal and social events which at times seem to signal the failure of hope, it is important to remain confident in God’s subdued but powerful way of acting. For this reason, in moments of darkness and of difficulty we must not lose heart, but remain anchored in faithfulness to God, to his ever-saving presence. Remember this: God always saves. He is the Saviour. (Angelus, 17 June 2018)