The gospel for the memorial of St. John Bosco priest is taken from Mark 4th chapter 26 to the 34th verse. 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. Once for the harvest has come. He said to what shall we compare the kingdom of God or what parable can we use? For is like a mustard seed that when it is sown in the ground, it is the smallest of all 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. Jesus here is talking to the crowds. The kingdom of God is the thing he longs to establish on this planet, and he’s using his disciples to do that work. But they didn’t know how the work was unfolding. They could never have expected the things that they did to establish the kingdom of God has taken root in the world and the world has been changed by their work.
It is true for all of us. We never know fully the effects of what we choose to do. We only know that when we choose to do the will of God, it is it produces abundance. What seems small and little ends up being great and very, very important. Please take a few moments to reflect upon the meaning of these passages and I will return with a closing prayer. The closing prayer Father, help us never to fall prey to judging the value of our acts.
We have no idea what we do and how it impacts the world. But the most important thing we need to know is that if we do what we’re called to do, if we seek to establish your kingdom here mysteriously, it will produce much fruit far beyond our expectations. And we ask this in Jesus name, Amen.
