June 13, 2021
“I am the Lord, who humbled the high tree and exalted the lowly.”
Always full of good cheer… we strive to please you.
“The kingdom of God is like a man who puts seed on the ground.”
Readings
First reading
Reading of the Prophet Ezekiel 17: 22-24
This is what the Lord God says:
“I too had chosen a branch from the top of the tall cedar and planted it; From the highest and youngest branches I will pluck a tender one and plant it on the top of a high mountain; I will plant it on a high mountain in Israel, it will sprout and bear fruit.
It will make a magnificent cedar.
Birds of all kinds will nest in it, they will nest in the shelter of its branches.
And all the trees of the field will recognize that I am the Lord, who humbled the high tree and exalted the humble one, I make the green tree dry up and the dry tree flourish.
I, the Lord, have said it and I will do it ”.
Psalm
Ps 91, 2-3, 13-14, 15-16
R / It is good to thank the Lord
It is good to give thanks to the Lord and to play for your name, O Most High,
proclaim your mercy in the morning and your fidelity at night. R.
The righteous will grow like a palm tree, will rise like a cedar of Lebanon;
planted in the house of the Lord, it will grow in the courts of our God. R.
In old age it will continue to bear fruit and will be lush and leafy,
to proclaim that the Lord is just, my Rock, in whom there is no evil. R.
Second lecture
Reading from the second letter of Saint Paul to Corinthians 5, 6-10
Brothers:
Always full of good cheer and knowing that, while we dwell in the body, we are banished away from the Lord, we walk in faith and not in vision.
But we are in good spirits and we prefer to be banished from the body and live together with the Lord.
Therefore, in exile or in homeland, we strive to please him.
Because we all have to appear before the judgment seat of Christ to receive each one for what he did while he had this body, be it good or evil.
Gospel
A reading from the holy Gospel according to Mark 4: 26-34
At that time, Jesus said to the crowd:
“The kingdom of God is like a man who puts seed on the ground. He sleeps at night and gets up in the morning; the seed germinates and grows, without him knowing how. The land produces fruit on its own: first the stalks, then the ear, then the grain. When the grain is ready, the sickle is put in, because the harvest has arrived ”.
He also said:
“With what will we compare the kingdom of God? What parable will we use? With a mustard seed: when sown in the ground it is the smallest seed, but after it is sown it grows, becomes taller than the other vegetables and throws branches so large that the birds can nest in its shade ”.
With many similar parables he expounded the word to them, accommodating himself to his understanding. Everything was explained in parables, but he explained everything to his disciples in private.
Commentary
Once again in the liturgy of Ordinary Time, the Word of God immerses us in the daily life of Christian life, the journey that we have to make accompanied by Christ himself and by the brothers towards the House of the Father, impelled and guided by the strength of his Spirit.
The first truth that today’s Word reminds us is that only God is God and Lord; we are his loved creatures, but only creatures. He is the one who chooses, the one who sows, the one who plants, and makes it grow and bear fruit. The prophet Ezekiel invites us to recognize divine omnipotence, the total power of God over all creation and over all humanity, so that we can increase our trust in Him, placing in his hands everything we want as something good for our personal life and community and that is beyond our real possibilities, that is, it does not depend entirely on us. Living with trust in God, however, does not exempt us from real commitment and involvement in the problems that surround us. It should not lead us to leave “all the task” to Him, but to be constantly listening to His Spirit, to feel that our problems before becoming ours are His and that nothing and no one escapes from His hand . Only God is God.
That is why, as Psalm 91 says, it is good to confidently thank Him for all that we are and have, for what He mysteriously, almost without our realizing it, is working in our lives and around us. Inserting ourselves in him, allowing ourselves to be sown and led by him, opening ourselves to the fruitfulness of his Spirit through prayer, listening to his Word and participation in the Eucharist, will make each one of us healthy men and women. , leafy, fruitful.
And this will become a reality in a better way if we adopt the attitudes that Saint Paul suggests to us in the second reading: that of constant good cheer and that of the desire to please God in everything. We please God the Father more and better when in everything we think, say and do we become more like his Son Jesus Christ of him. What would Jesus do, how would he act, what would he say, in the face of this person or circumstance … these are the questions we have to ask ourselves to act better. Before him one day we will appear showing to what extent we have made him present with our words and deeds. Certainly, the constant good spirit is not easy, particularly in the present moment, with the pandemic, with so many derived and concomitant difficulties, with the situations of pain and unease that invade us, with the fear of the future and the precariousness of the conditions in which we live, with the problems of work and coexistence that plague us. But good cheer is not just a state of mind but an attitude, a desire, a way of life, a personal choice of the Christian and a gift that God the Father grants to those of us who totally entrust ourselves to Him and are capable of preserving the peace that only He gives us.
In today’s Gospel, Jesus speaks to us of the Kingdom of God –which we must witness to with our actions and attitudes– and he does so through various parables, in a simple way, so that we can all understand him. We bring here the commentary of Pope Francis to this passage from Saint Mark.
“In the first parable, the Kingdom of God is compared with the mysterious growth of the seed, which is thrown into the ground and then germinates, grows and produces wheat, regardless of the daily care, which is collected at the end of ripening. The message of this parable, what it teaches us is this: through the preaching and action of Jesus, the Kingdom of God is announced, bursts into the field of the world and, like the seed, grows and develops by itself, by own strength and according to humanly indecipherable criteria. This, in its growth and sprouting within history, does not depend so much on the work of man, but is above all an expression of the power and goodness of God, of the power of the Holy Spirit who carries out the Christian life in the God’s people.
“Sometimes history, with its events and protagonists, seems to go in the opposite direction to the design of the heavenly Father, who wants justice, brotherhood, and peace for all his children. But we are called to live these periods as seasons of trial, of hope and of vigilant waiting for the harvest. In fact, yesterday as today, the Kingdom of God grows in the world in a mysterious, surprising way, revealing the hidden power of the little seed, its victorious vitality. Within the folds of personal and social events that sometimes seem to mark the shipwreck of hope, it is necessary to remain confident in the tenuous but powerful act of God. For this reason, in moments of darkness and difficulty we must not crumble, but remain anchored in God’s faithfulness, in the presence of him who he always saves. Let’s remember this: God always saves. He is the Savior.
In the second parable, Jesus compares the Kingdom of God to a mustard seed. It is a very small seed, and yet it develops so much that it becomes the largest of all the plants in the garden: an unpredictable, surprising growth. The Lord exhorts us to an attitude of faith that exceeds our projects, our calculations, our forecasts. God is always the God of surprises. The Lord always surprises us. It is an invitation to open ourselves more generously to God’s plans, both on a personal and community level. The authenticity of the mission of the Church is not given by the success or by the gratification of the results, but by going forward with the courage of trust and the humility of abandonment in God. Go forward in the confession of Jesus and with the power of the Holy Spirit. It is the awareness of being small and weak instruments, that in the hands of God and with his grace can do great works, making his Kingdom progress ”.
Prayer
How good it is to stop…!
Sir, I would like to stop at this very moment.
Why so much agitation? Why all the frenzy?
I don’t know how to stop anymore. I have forgotten to pray.
I close my eyes now. I want to talk to you, Lord.
I want to open myself to your universe, but my eyes refuse to remain closed.
I feel a frenzied agitation invade my whole body,
that comes and goes, stirs, slave to haste.
Sir, I’d like to stop right now.
Why such a rush? Why so much agitation?
I cannot save the world.
I am just a drop of water in the immense ocean of your wonderful creation.
The really important thing is to look for your blessed Face.
The really important thing is to stop from time to time,
and strive to proclaim that You are the Greatness, the Beauty,
the Magnificence, that You are the Love.
The urgent thing is to do and let You speak within me.
Live in the depth of things and in continuous effort
for looking for you in the silence of your mystery.
My heart continues to beat, but in a different way.
I’m not doing anything, I’m not rushing.
I am simply before You, Lord.
And how good it is to be in front of You.
(Father Ignacio Larrañaga, Meeting 40)
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