Seed Beginnings

Here are 4 examples of ‘mustard seed beginnings’…

1. In 1921, plans began for a mission church of St. James in Orlando to be built in Winter Park. It would be named St. Margaret Mary. Land was purchased by the Diocese of St. Augustine on the corner of Knowles and Canton Avenues. The blessing of this mission church’s foundation stone was held 3 years later on October 17th, 1924, the Feast of St. Margaret Mary, and the first Mass was celebrated that December 28. The seed was planted and would grow…
2. In 1853, 4 Dominican Sisters from Germany sailed to New York to teach religion to immigrant children. Soon the number of Sisters grew, and in 1879, 6 Sisters ventured westward to the cornfields of Adrian, MI to establish a convent and school there. The seed was planted, and it was from this Motherhouse years later that I, and many others, entered the Dominicans to serve God’s people in numerous ways.
3. In 2006, 4 SMM parishioners and Fr. Walsh made an exploratory trip to Haiti to see if and how we might be able to partner with the people there. The seed was planted, and the rest is history.
4. Last Sunday, Oct. 27^th, the Synod in Rome ended after a 3-year process which began when parishes around the world gathered input from people and continued when delegates in Rome listened to this input. Their goal was to discern how our church can achieve greater participation, live out our communion, and open itself more fully to the mission of Christ. Going forward now, the process will focus on the Synod’s proposals and actions our Pope chooses to implement throughout the church. The seed has been planted and the growth will come…

I thought about these examples of significant things that started small when I read the Gospel today and heard again about the mustard seed.  Jesus used this familiar example of a seed to teach us the importance of small beginnings. He didn’t describe the kingdom as a great cedar, but as a mustard seed.  As the seed certainly will grow to be massive, so will the kingdom inevitably come in all its glory. The seed is a promise.

In our lives, each act we do with faith, no matter how small, is important and builds up the reign of God. When we can forgive one person, right one injustice, or making room in our life for one person the world has ignored, that is our mustard seed that can make God’s reign grow.

Sometimes, don’t we all excuse our responsibility to do good because we think we are unqualified, or insignificant, or just a “little seed"? Instead, God wants us to rest our efforts in His hand and realize that in His hand, even the smallest seed can bring an eternal return. God will do the work. We just need to trust the quiet working of His Spirit who makes that tiny mustard seed grow and grow.