This is what the kingdom of God is like.

How does one begin to speak of the reign of God? Jesus looks around him and discovers, in everyday life, parables, stories that give some insight into the reign of God, stories that give insight into the work that Jesus himself was doing, the work that his disciples would share.

One parable was this: 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.

When I began to work for the archdiocese some 33 years ago my aim was to help young people come to know themselves as people of worth, people who were loveable and loved by God. I was throwing seed on the land. How it would sprout and grow I did not know. My task was to throw the seed on the land.

The seed would sprout and grow; how I did not know. Often I would wonder if the land would produce any fruit. Later I would meet past students and discover that they too were involved in ministry of one kind or another and I would marvel at the way the land was producing shoot, then ear, then the full grain in the ear.

Parents too experience something similar I think. The seed they throw on the land is growing even when they are not conscious of it. While they sleep, when they are awake the seed is sprouting and growing; how they do not know.

When they least expect it, the shoot appears, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. Think of the delight in the eyes and voices of parents as they speak of new accomplishments of their children.

Another parable Jesus discovered was the tiny mustard seed growing and becoming a big shrub, putting out branches so that the birds of the air can shelter in its shade.

Jesus himself was like the mustard seed - one man with twelve disciples in a small village in Palestine. Yet see how his work has grown, putting out branches all over the earth.
It happens with us too.

When I first stepped into a classroom at the Cascade School for Deaf Children to prepare a group for First Communion I was just one woman, untrained in anything to do with Deaf people or their way of communication. The mustard seed has become the Touch of Christ Catholic Deaf Community, putting out branches so others can come and shelter in its shade.

When Fr Gerry Pantin walked into Laventille in 1970, a mustard seed was being planted, a tiny seed which would grow into the shrub called Servol and put out branches not only throughout Trinidad but beyond, into other islands of the Caribbean.

At the time he was throwing that seed on the land, he did not know how it would grow. Yet while he slept, when he was awake, it was growing.

This is what the kingdom of heaven is like. One throws seed on the ground and it grows; how, one does not know. The tiny mustard seed becomes a shrub putting out branches so that the birds of the air can come and shelter in its branches.

Using many parables like these, Jesus spoke his word to them, so far as they were capable of understanding it.

The parables are all around us. But our ability to understand is itself like a tiny seed. It must grow. When we throw it on the land it will grow; how, we do not know.

Let us pray
Beloved God! All life and growth come from you. The tiny seed becomes a tree. The tiny fertilised cell grows into a human being. How? We do not know. You alone know.
Thank you for the freedom and confidence that this gives us. Life and growth are yours to give. You are God. You are the ultimate Source of all that is.
Thank you for the times we have thrown seed on the land and seen it produce first the shoot, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear.
Thank you for the times when our tiny mustard seed has grown into a shrub that could itself produce new seed for sowing.
But we are impatient. We want quick results. We become discouraged. We want things to work according to our plan. We complain. We want to take things into our control. Forgive us. We forfeit the joy that could be ours. We forget that the kingdom of God is like a seed that grows without our knowing how it grows.
Sometimes also we become puffed up with a sense of our own importance when we see how the seed has produced first shoot, then ear, then full grain in the ear. We lose sight of the fact that the new life and growth came from you. We act as if we were the ones responsible for it. Forgive us Lord.
Help us to discover in our daily lives the parables you give us. Open our minds as disciples to enter into times of aloneness, when you can explain these parables to us and, little by little, our understanding of your kingdom can grow.
Help all who at this time are faced with discouragement as they try to live out their commitment to your kingdom-values. They want to see society transformed. They are working so hard. Open their eyes to see where the tiny shoot is appearing and fill them with the joy of knowing that the seed is growing.
Amen

Christina Araujo, formerly of the Touch of Christ Deaf Community, is a Sinsinawan Dominican novice.