SMALL SEED, GREAT WONDER
It has always been a crisis for me to think of what souvenirs to bring home to my friends and parishioners whenever I go on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. My baggage is usually overweight many times over. I have psoriasis, so I need to buy Dead Sea products aplenty. They yield great results for my sensitive skin. Imagine the heavy soap packages, the mud, cream — plus the rosaries, crosses and other Holy Land souvenirs that I would have to bring home. It’s the same story each time I do a pilgrimage.
Four years ago, I thought of buying the lightest yet equally meaningful souvenirs for my friends. I saw small crosses being sold by the hundred per bundle, which was pretty light. I toyed with the idea of repackaging the crosses in small plastic bags at home with maybe a dried olive leaf or some soil from Tierra Sancta.
Then I saw the mustard seeds being sold at the souvenir shop. Voila! A cross and a few mustard seeds in each plastic bag for my friends. And how they loved it! It seemed like a foretaste of heaven for them. To think thay they were mere seeds.
Small wonder that Jesus thought of the small and what seemed to be the most unnoticeable of things. But that’s how the kingdom of Heaven works. What seems to be the littlest can grow into an enormous and sturdy shrub. We are men and women of little faith. But even the littlest of faith, when nourished well and consistently sprinkled with God’s Word and sacraments, would turn out to be an indestructible tower of strength. We may have small faith, but when we allow Jesus to consume the small seeds of faith in our hearts, it would sprout mightily and become the largest and most fortified of shrubs.
It is important that we surrender even the smallest of faith and belief in Him. In the end, we will witness marvelous growth and immeasurable grace abounding. In spite of our smallness, we will continue to grow in the Spirit. Fr. Erick Y. Santos, SFO
REFLECTION QUESTION: How do you value small things and people?
Lord, in my smallness and nothingness, nourish me and help me grow.
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