The Law of Progress. Friday Week 3 in Ordinary Time of the Year

Breakfast with the Word Friday Week 3 in Ordinary Time of the Year.

 

Mark 4:26–34. 

 

Jesus comes to inaugurate the kingdom of God, but He never defined what it is. Instead, He speaks of it in parables. Hence, He invites us to use our imagination to grasp the meaning. 

 

The two “seed parables” in today’s gospel, draw attention to the hidden and mysterious nature of the kingdom.

 

 

 Through these parables, Jesus reveals that the kingdom grows through a power greater than ours, and its fruitfulness is beyond our expectations. Through the parables, Jesus reveals that there is a need to start working towards the growth of the kingdom. 

 

 

How we can grow and the fruits we can bear is beyond our thinking. Our task is to begin. 

 

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Conversion of Saint Paul: Lessons from the Encounter.

 

A Kingdom that Divides Against Itself.Monday Third Week Ordinary Time

 

The Word of God is Salvific. 3rd Sunday Ordinary Time of the Year C

 

 

 

The Laws that lead to Progress.

 

 

In today’s gospel, Jesus reveals the nature of the kingdom with two parables. In the first parable, Jesus narrates: 

 

 A man throws seed on the land. Night and day, while he sleeps, when he is awake, the seed is sprouting and growing; how he does not know. Of its own accord the land produces first the shoot, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. And when the crop is ready, he loses no time: he starts to reap because the harvest has come.’

 

 

 

  Then in the second parable, Jesus compares the kingdom of God to a mustard seed. He says:

 ‘What can we say the kingdom of God is like? What parable can we find for it? It is like a mustard seed which at the time of its sowing in the soil is the smallest of all the seeds on earth, yet once it is sown it grows into the biggest shrub of them all and puts out big branches so that the birds of the air can shelter in its shade.’

 

In today’s gospel, Jesus explains the laws of progress or the simple laws that ensure progress in anything we do. These simple laws which we can lift from this gospel are:

 

1. Before you think of harvest, first of all, think of sowing the seeds you want to harvest. Here, I am not talking of the money some of us  give in the church, tagged seed sowing. I am talking of putting effort, working hard and beginning something.

 

 

To harvest, the farmer first spreads his seeds. Many people who today think of making it in life and some others  who want to become spiritually, academically and financially strong, forget that they have to sow the seeds. It is the first thing we have to do. We have to begin something. The first law of progress is that we have to begin something. 

 

 

We cannot expect to harvest where we did not sow. We have to begin something. Always sow the seeds that you want to harvest first. You cannot expect to make money when you did not invest in anything. 

 

 

You cannot expect to have peace when you have not begun the process of creating peace. Also, you don’t expect to be holy when you have not done anything towards the road to holiness. We must sow the seeds we want to harvest first. That is the first law of progress.

 

 

2. The second law of progress is that we must do the sowing. We must work. The sower has to sow first before the seed grows. 

The seed may be small, as we see in the case of the mustard seed but the most important thing is that it is sown. 

Despite how small what you are thinking to do looks, try to do it. It can still make a difference. No matter what you want to learn or what you want to be, it is good to begin the little steps to that. They can make a huge difference.

 

 

3. The third law of progress is the law of growth. In the gospel,

 The man throws the seed on the land. Night and day, even when he sleeps, and when he is awake, the seed is sprouting and growing. How the seed grows, how he does not know. Of its own accord the land produces first the shoot, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear.

 

 

 Also, the mustard seed has to grow. Therefore, in the law of growth, nature does its own work. Our function is to do the sowing, the working, and the nurturing, but God grants the increase. 

 

 

Therefore, in the third law of progress, how the seed grows is not your making. Also how the seed germinates and grows into a big tree is not also your making. Our function is to do something continuously. Only God grants the increase.

 

 

If you want to experience progress, continue doing what you are doing, then expand, nurturing it and growing it, making it better. One day, you will wake up and see that you have gone far already. It is a law of progress.

 

 

4. Fourth law of progress is that whatever you sow despite how small can grow. For example, many businesses, people think are nothing before, are making waves today. 

 

 

Also, A little charity you do or simple advice or word you say can touch millions of souls. That simple thing you can write may encourage and help thousands of souls. Nothing is simple in its nature though it may look simple, the fruits can be extraordinary. 

The Law of progress is seed-sow-germinate and growth. 

Therefore, find something to do, do it, be patient, and it may one day grow into something you never imagined. 

 

 

 

5. Let us always try and put up something, and begin something tangible. Let us learn to sow a seed no matter how small we think it is. Then spread it, and be patient about it. Always tell God about it, and expect your harvest in due time. 

 

 

Our function is to pray and work but how it grows is beyond our understanding. 

The “how” belongs to God. Never worry about the “how”. Do the much and the hardest you can. God is the one who grants the increase ( 1 Cor 3:7) because He always rewards our efforts and labour. (I Cor 3:8).

 

 

Therefore, do not expect to harvest when you have not begun or done anything. 

For us to progress in life, we have to obey the law of progress.

 

 

May God give us the grace to tap from the wisdom of Our Lord Jesus Christ and May His grace abound in our lives today, Amen.