God's times are different from ours. He acts according to a different timetable. And this is what today's Gospel tells us: "The kingdom of God is like a man who sows seed in the ground. He sleeps at night and rises in the morning; the seed germinates and grows, without his knowing how. The earth produces fruit by itself: first the stalks, then the ear, then the grain. When the grain is ready, the sickle is put in, because the harvest has come."
This is faith, accepting that God does things in his own time and in his own way: there is so much that we do not see and so little that we can really control. We do not see the seed growing underground. We only see the black, ugly mud of the field. But the seed has to go through this phase: it is part of its growth. And it doesn't matter whether we are awake or asleep: staying awake will not make the seed grow faster. It is not our activity, our power... It is God's power.
In fact, we sometimes spoil things by over-activity, as when, for example, we open the oven too often when cooking to see how the food is coming along or to interfere with it. In doing so, we may spoil it. We must let God do things in his own time, in his own way. He simply asks us to be patient, have faith and pray. Sometimes we pray for an extraordinary invention of God and nothing happens. But then, with time and prayer, things work themselves out. In time.
This is not passivity. There are things we can and should do. The farmer must prepare the field, spread fertilizer, pull weeds, keep pests away... There are things we also have to do in our Christian life. We have to weed the weeds as best we can by fighting against bad habits and addictions. We have to keep away the pests, which may mean staying away from bad company, television or the internet. And then it's time to harvest. But ultimately, we can't grow the seed. That is beyond our power.
Nor should we worry about how small the beginnings are, Jesus tells us. A mustard seed is a very small thing. Many times our efforts, our good deeds, are mustard seeds. But we need faith to believe in the power of small things. God will give them growth and, in time, they will become a tree where many birds will build their nests, where families and communities can flourish and sustain themselves, making their own life.
Homily on the readings of the XI Sunday in Ordinary Time (B)
The priest Luis Herrera Campo offers its nanomiliaA short one-minute reflection for these Sunday readings.
