The mustard seed and leaven are small and seem to be insignificant to the human eye. Nevertheless, the mustard seed gives growth to a much larger plant and the leaven gives rise to bread. Through the transformation that takes place something much larger comes forth from that which seems to be small and insignificant.
So too we must come to develop such faith in the Lord. When we look upon the world around us it can seem to be too large and difficult to overcome. This would be true if we had nothing to do with faith and entered into the world all alone. As those who have been incorporated into the life of the Church through baptism have been given the grace necessary to live for the Lord.
In the days of its foundation the Church seemed to be small and insignificant to those looking upon it. As time went by it began to grow and accomplish many great things because people were so convinced of the truth of the Gospel that they were willing to lay down their life in defense of it.
As Pope Benedict XVI had stated of the Church of our modern age, “From the crisis of today the Church of tomorrow will emerge- a Church that has lost much. She will become small and will have to start afresh more or less from the beginning. She will no longer be able to inhabit many of the edifices she built in prosperity.”
This quotation should not bring us to despair, but hope. There is hope because the Church has been established by Christ. There is hope because from the remnant will come people who believe and profess the totality of the Church’s teachings. From those unwilling to compromise the truth will come a new Pentecost that will set the world on fire for the faith.
We must be those who are so convinced of this reality and choose to live it now. We may be small and insignificant in nature like the mustard seed, but when we prevail ourself unto God and the gift of His grace we will be given all that we will need to be His disciple.
As was also said of this mustard seed earlier in the Gospel of Saint Matthew, “Because of your little faith. Amen, I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”
From this verse we can see the need to have faith. Let us not be filled with fear concerning the largeness of the world in all its difficulties. Compared to this reality faith seems to be small and insignificant, but it is enough to move mountains. Let us choose to live for the Lord that sends us out into His abundant harvest for through faith we given all that we will need to be His disciples.
