29 January
January 29th, 2010
Mark 4 : 26 - 34
While reflecting on today’’s Gospel, we see that the power of God’’s kingdom is in our world ever since the time of Jesus, even if its growth is sometimes in the secrecy of night, or from tiny unlikely beginnings. The emphasis in today’’s parable is on the power inherent within the seed and not the quality of the soil. The parable invites us to think, pray and ponder the way the Kingdom of God grows in our lives.
The seed is the grace of God, sown in our life through the Word of God. When we were Baptized, we received the life of the Spirit, and this power is at work in our lives, day and night. Nature is a great teacher. That is why Jesus so often pointed to the fields to bring out his lesson. And the same holds true regarding our spiritual growth. We are encouraged to wait patiently and with hope which inspired a prisoner of war to write : I believe in the sun even when it is not shining; I believe in love even when I feel it not: I believe in God even when He is silent.
Prayer
Prayer : Lord God, I dedicated my life in your service. Pour out your Holy Spirit and grant me the strength to serve you with courage, joy and love.
The prayer for each day has been prepared by various members of the Holy Family Association. All who visit our website are remembered in prayer. If you would like us to pray for a particular need, simply complete and submit the form on the right hand side of this page. You may wish to leave a comment in the space below.
Just a Thought
Hope
John XXIII, referred to as the ‘caretaker Pope’, realising the widening gap between the Church and the world of his day, wrote: “An old world is disappearing. Another one is being formed, and with this I am trying to conceal some good seed or other that will have its springtime, even if it is somewhat delayed, and comes after I’m dead.”
Thomas Merton writes: “One must not give in to defeatism and despair: just as one must hope for life in a mortal illness which has been declared incurable.”
Even when dark clouds surround us, even when everything appears to be falling apart, we must continue to believe for a better future. Whatever the problem, there is a way forward.
So, my hope is in God alone because I believe in him; this is my faith. It is in him I put my faith and that faith, my belief in God’s love for me and all his creation, is the bedrock in which like an anchor, I put my hope. Together with that hope and faith is my love and fidelity in responding to that God in whom I live and move and have my being. In him I place my hope.
“Hold fast to the hope that lies before us. This we have as an anchor of the soul” (Heb 6:15-19).
