27 January 2023
Friday of the Third Week in Ordinary Time
“This is how it is with the Kingdom of God; it is as if a man were to scatter seed on the land and would sleep and rise night and day and the seed would sprout and grow, he knows not how.” – Mark 4:26-27
The Letter to the Hebrews speaks to those who, for the sake of faith in Jesus, had suffered violence, been imprisoned, had their property forcefully taken away, etc. The first readers of the letter had paid dearly in this world for their hope in the next. And yet, they had not given up their faith and their hope. As Our Lord describes in the parable, they continued to sow the seed of their trust in God, without knowing how God would make that trust bear fruit. And in that quiet, simple trust, God’s grace grew the Church from a small group gathered in Jerusalem to those gathered from every people and nation under heaven.
As we hear Our Lord’s words today, let us ask for the grace of faith. Particularly in our efforts to increase the unity of the hearts and minds of those who believe in Christ, even when we do not see the fruit of those labors, let us trust that God will lead those seeds to sprout, with or without us knowing when or how.